Mysteries Part II: The “Red Herring”

Do you know what a red herring is? No, it isn’t a crimson-colored fish. A “red herring” is a false clue that a mystery writer includes to throw his readers off track and keep them from guessing the truth. Here’s an example.

A murder takes place at a large country house. Staying at the house are several people, including a man named Bob. Bob has played golf for many years and has a collection of golf clubs. Now, let’s say that the murder weapon is a golf club. Readers will automatically suspect that Bob had something to do with the murder—perhaps he even committed it himself. But what if the golf club clue is actually a “red herring”—a false clue just to get the reader guessing wrong?

“Red herrings” can take many shapes. A red herring clue can be an object, like the golf club in our example. It could be a piece of information about a character’s past that makes them seem untrustworthy. A “red herring” could be a noise, like the sound of footsteps in the night. The footsteps could be the murderer leaving the crime scene—or they might simply be the steps of a guest going downstairs for a midnight snack.

When you write a mystery, you may want to throw in a few subtle “red herrings” to get your readers off track. You don’t want them to guess the ending right away—after all, the best part of a good mystery is the suspense.

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