Death in a Mystery

Notice please the singularity of the title. I didn't write "Deaths in a Mystery." This is a problem i realized I had at about four this morning. I have one death in Toe the Line, and that murder takes place a moment before the book actually begins. This could be problematic.

I always liked the fact that a main character was murdered before page 1. I thought it would be neat for the reader to get to know this main character through the way the others spoke about him. This way the mystery in the novel is not just about who killed him, but who he was.

Well, I realized last night that I only have that one murder! I've just started J.A. Konrath's book, Bloody Mary, and he has already had about eight people dead or dying in the first hundred pages. I have 68,000 words and not a single death.

Toe the Line does have the mystery I described above, as well as the murderer chasing, (hunting rather) the protagonist throughout the Seattle area. Is that enough to sell the book? I don't know. We'll see I suppose. In the mean time I'm going to let my mind chew on the idea that there may need to be two or three other deaths in the book.