If the reader accepts the challenge, he is immediately presented with clues. A crime novelist asks the reader to take part in working out the puzzle, and that is what engages us. Is the theme money, greed, power or love? None of these themes are new they circulate throughout the literature of crime. That extra layer is what blends puzzles and mystery so well together––the extra step, the intrigue, the need to uncover the truth behind the puzzle. Sometimes to start piecing the puzzle together, we must find the theme within. When we pick up a new mystery novel, we immediately begin to look for clues as we search with the hero. Those of us who read crime novels are addicted to the genre. Who is the killer? Why did they do it? When will the main character catch up to the evil architect behind the maleficence raining down? The reader becomes the metaphorical fly on the wall as he or she and the protagonist try and figure out the who, why and when that every good crime novel presents. Together they provide the recipe for a story that draws the reader in. The puzzle and riddles within a crime novel are the mystery that must be pieced together to reveal the truth. What is a mystery without a puzzle? What is a puzzle if not a mystery in and of itself?

The puzzle is the novel, and the novel is a puzzle-they go hand in hand. The plot is the trail of breadcrumbs the reader follows with the main character a crime novel is a puzzle formed out of prose.

Style, depth, wit and plot-a four-letter word for storyline-make for a good crime novel.

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