I think some of the best advice I've been given is to create tension on every page.  I got this from one of Donald Maas' books.

This led to my first rule of writing crime fiction:  Never bore the reader.  That means there needs to be figurative thunder and lightning on every page.  It can be overt or subtle, physical or psychological, and without a doubt it can be real or perceived.  But in all cases it means making your…

Start with action.  I hear it every week in my writer's group.  I say it myself.  But is it right?  P.D. James is adamant that she wants her readers to know the characters before something unpleasant happens to them. That way, the impact is greater.  It's usual for her detective, Adam Dahlglissh, not to show up in the first fifty pages.  I think that breaks another writer's group rule:  Get your main character on stage right away.

Anne Perry started "Face of a Stranger", her…

In the last few days, I've had an amazing experience.  Amazing  because I discovered a natural story that no one I know of has written.

It began when I mused about what it would have been like to be an honest detective in Berlin during the Nazi era.  (The thought came from a reference to Nazi I made in a short story).  I figured it would have been difficult at best.  I started some research on-line and found it wasn't just difficult, it was a horror.  That brought the thought…