It sounds fascinating and clearly, you have a good grasp of what you want to achieve. Just to throw something into the pot, so to speak, could this be your ‘hook’ instead of the inciting incident?
Just a thought.
One thing to bear in mind is that most readers will know the inciting incident of something like this before they start to read the book. There’s no avoiding it being made explicit in the blurb on the back.
So don’t worry about it so much, and just focus on telling it in the most interesting way.
As you say. Agatha Christie is not a particularly good model for modern mystery writers to emulate.
I think we agree, as that would be my conclusion as well. (nothing against AC, of course).
Thanks for your thoughts on this.
My intention was simply to state an opinion and make a recommendation for the OP based on that.
As you say. Agatha Christie is not a particularly good model for modern mystery writers to emulate.
I’m convinced that Mrs Marple is actually an horrific serial killer whose long line of imaginative cover stories have helped her evade prosecution for her decades-long spree of death and deception.
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I have the same suspicions about Jessica Fletcher. Ever notice how one of her relatives is always the original suspect? In the DNA era, she would have been caught years ago.
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Maybe Agatha Christia/Jessica Fletcher are the same person – vampire, Highlander-style immortal, something like that…and it’s a centuries-long crime wave.
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