Mystery and Writing Panel Discussion Topics

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If you're looking for speakers for your club or event, you've come to the right place. The Usual Suspects, a diverse group of mystery authors, are willing and able to visit your town for a lively discussion of crime fiction.

We offer a wide range of panel discussions of interest to book clubs, library patrons, and event coordinators. To learn more, visit The Usual Suspects.

Panel Discussions Available for 2006/2007 . . .

The Importance of Family and Relationships in Mystery Fiction

Mystery and crime fiction offers so much more than just “whodunnit.” While entertaining us with intriguing stories, authors of this popular genre frequently use family ties and interpersonal relationships to define their protagonists and bring them to life on the page. A panel of working mystery writers gives a behind-the-keyboard look at their inspiration and methods for developing sleuths with depth and resonance.

New Directions in Mystery and Crime Fiction

Today’s mystery and crime fiction offers so much more than just “whodunnit.” While entertaining us with compelling stories, this popular genre can introduce the reader to nontraditional detectives, unique subcultures, and almost forgotten historical enigmas. A panel of working mystery writers gives a behind-the-keyboard look at their inspiration for some fresh takes on the traditional mystery.

Building Detectives from the Ground Up

Just how do mystery authors come up with their protagonists? What literary or real life inspirations do they draw from? How much of their personal backgrounds and thought processes do they share with their fictional sleuths? A panel of working mystery writers gives an insiders look into the stories behind their characters.

Writing the Opposite Sex

Whether an author’s main character is the opposite sex or not, mysteries are often populated with characters vastly different than the author. How does a guy write an elderly grandmother? How does a woman write a tough male detective? A panel of working mystery writers gives a behind-the-keyboard look at the challenges and fun of writing someone who’s so fundamentally different.

Come into Our World—Making a Fictional Setting Real

Whether writing about 18th-century Venice, the Kentucky mountains, or the backside of a racetrack, setting becomes the anchor for the story. A panel of working mystery writers gives a behind-the-keyboard look at the techniques they use to pull you into the world they’ve created.

The Writer’s Life

A panel of working mystery writers gives a behind-the-keyboard look at what being published truly means. They’ll share how their backgrounds and interests impact their writing and discuss how they balance the creative side (building a world full of characters and develop exciting plots) with the business side of meeting deadlines, negotiating with editors, dealing with rejection, and furthering their careers. Get the straight scoop on what the publishing world is really like.