Every crime writer has heard the advice, “Kill your darlings.” The original quote was “Murder your darlings,” which is more apt to the genre. Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch coined the phrase.
 
But like most writing advice (“Write what you know”), it’s easily misunderstood. (More on “Write what you know” later.)
 
And the underlying assumption is that you don’t know what you’re doing, most of what you write is garbage, and you should consign it all to the trash bin. This sort of soul-destroying advice, if it makes you start to doubt yourself and your abilities, is the surefire way not to get published.
 
If in doubt, set it aside, sure. Make a file labeled OUTTAKES, like I do. Or call it what you like, maybe INVENTORY. But kill or murder your darlings? Never.
 
Throw nothing away. It’s all inventory.

I am often asked for help by people who have written a book or who wish to write a book, but don't know how to reach a traditional publisher. Often these books I'm asked about are memoirs or historical novels or perhaps nonfiction books on a self-help topic.

Unfortunately, I know nothing about anything except the mystery novel market and even then, there are gaps in my knowledge, even after years at this game. I have referred several mystery novelists to my agent, but that's really the best I can do for them, all I have time to do. It really is a fulltime job just keeping to my own deadlines.

It's very hard to make anyone understand there are no magic shortcuts to success in this business. If I knew what they were, I would use them myself.

But here is some advice for those who don't know how to get started. Just know a good query letter is your key to success, and there are a ton of resources out there to help you.

Crafting Your Query Letter: The Gateway to a Literary Agent
Breaking into traditional publishing isn’t easy, and securing a literary agent is the biggest hurdle. The query letter is your first—and often only—chance to make an impression. It’s your introduction, your pitch, and your opportunity to convince an agent your book is worth their time. My agent, Mark Gottlieb of Trident Media Group, offers an online course in how to craft the query letter.

Agents receive many hundreds of queries every month, and they’re searching for the one that sparks excitement. Your letter has to stand out. It needs to be concise, polished, and specific to the agent you’re querying. Think of it as a snapshot of your story and your ability to write it. Hook them with your premise, show them the stakes, and demonstrate why you’re reaching out to them in particular. Let them know about your writing awards or special expertise. Don't be shy ... but don't boast, either.

Here’s the truth: you’ll usually only get one shot with an agent. If your letter doesn’t resonate, they’ll move on. That’s why your query letter and sample chapters must be as strong as possible. If you've written a nonfiction book, you'll need a chapter-by-chapter summary. Revise and seek feedback, then revise again.

Resources like QueryTracker and AgentQuery can help. These sites allow you to search for agents based on genre, track your submissions, and connect with fellow writers.

Nearly every NYT-bestselling author started with a query letter and the hope that someone would say yes. Write yours with care, passion, and confidence—it might just be the beginning of your publishing journey.

The Story Behind Vanished: A Novella

Have you ever experienced a burst of creativity so intense it feels as though the universe has conspired to hand you an idea fully formed? That’s how Vanished: A Novella came into being. It wasn’t planned, and I wasn’t even sure I was going to write that day. But sometimes, the best stories find you when you least expect them.

Vanished began several years ago, on a flight back from a book event in Dallas. There’s something about being in the enforced stillness of a plane—no distractions, no escape, just you and your thoughts. I wasn’t particularly interested in the book I’d brought along, and rather than dwell on the fact that I was sitting in a tin can hurtling through the sky, I started to write. What unfolded was something I can only describe as writing in a white heat. The words poured out as if they had been waiting for just this moment of clarity.

True Crime Meets Fiction
I've always been captivated by true crime cases that seem to defy explanation. Like so many of us, I’ve been mesmerized by the way journalists like Keith Morrison and Andrea Canning weave the threads of a story, keeping us riveted as the mystery unfolds. Their mastery of pacing and suspense inspired me to try my hand at something similar—but with one key difference. I tried to build on a story that captured the immediacy of true crime while giving readers a satisfying but imaginary resolution.

Many of the stories we see on Dateline or similar shows can only be reported once someone has been charged and found guilty. In Vanished, I wanted to sidestep those constraints and offer my own take on how a case might unfold. You could call it fan writing, or maybe wishful thinking—a writer's response to the unanswered questions in real-life mysteries.

What makes Vanished different, I think, is its blend of realism and imagination. It’s a story that invites you to follow the clues, experience the tension, and—hopefully—be completely caught off guard by the ending. More than one person has told me they never saw the ending coming, and that’s a reaction I treasure as a writer.

Vanished is available on Amazon. If you’re a Kindle Unlimited subscriber, you can download it (as of now) for "free"; otherwise, it’s a few dollars. Either way, I’d be thrilled if you gave it a read. And if you enjoy it, I’d love it if you left a review. Hearing from readers is one of the best parts of this whole journey.

So, if you’re a fan of true crime, suspense, or just an intriguing story, I invite you to check out Vanished: A Novella. Who knows? It might just make your next plane ride a little more exciting.

London Between the Wars by G.M. Malliet

Reprinted by kind permission of Janet Rudolph, editor of Mystery Readers Journal.

Between the two World Wars, London became the home of what came to be called the Golden Age of Detective Fiction. Using the city’s cosmopolitan backdrop, authors like Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, Margery Allingham, and Anthony Berkeley crafted stories that mirrored society’s fascination with crime and played on the chaos of an unstable world, with few suspecting that the Great War was not the war to end all wars. These crime writers catered to a population craving escapism from lingering hardships with stories where sleuths and detectives restored law and order to an upended society.

The popularity of today’s true crime books and podcasts may be a modern-day twist on this craving, if often without the satisfying tying off of clues offered by the Golden Agers. Post-WWI, London’s contrasting neighborhoods helped feed the genre’s popularity. The difference between affluent Mayfair and the poverty-stricken East End fed the social commentary within many of these novels, where crime underlined the differences between the haves and have-nots. London’s foggy streets and stuffy drawing rooms created settings ripe for tales of intrigue where war’s atrocities could be reproduced in contained, domestic miniature.

In Agatha Christie’s The Seven Dials Mystery (1929), she took readers into a dodgy London club to expose layers of conspiracy, demonstrating how even high society could be marred by corruption and criminality. Perhaps like me you prefer her village mysteries, but London always offered more scope for her international thriller-style adventures.

Dorothy L. Sayers was another master of the London-based mystery, using the city as a canvas for her iconic detective Lord Peter Wimsey. In Murder Must Advertise (1933), set in a London advertising agency, Sayers made her mark with themes of consumerism and amorality. Since she worked at an ad agency herself, it is difficult to escape the certainty this book was based on her (unpleasant) experience there. Lord Peter works undercover in this his eighth mystery, solving a crime with links to London’s high and low societies.

Margery Allingham gave us Albert Campion, another detective who moves fluidly between London’s upper-class society and its criminal fringes. The Tiger in the Smoke (1952) is the book most think of as her London book, with its sky “yellow as a duster.” But one of her best books was written in 1940 in stolen moments between air raids, and although not entirely set in London, it includes London-based elements as it follows Campion through a high-stakes wartime mystery. Tense and atmospheric, Traitor’s Purse (1941), in which Campion effectively loses his mind, captures the fear and uncertainty of wartime.

Anthony Berkeley, creator of the popular amateur sleuth Roger Sheringham, embroidered his books with inventive plots and keen psychological insights. The Poisoned Chocolates Case (1929) is a famous hallmark of interwar crime fiction, with its witty satire shot through an intriguing whodunit. The novel features different solutions to a single crime, showcasing Berkeley’s innovation and feeding the era’s fascination with puzzle stories. By viewing the solution(s) through the prism of the London club where his characters convene to solve the mystery, Berkeley uses the city’s club culture and its posh denizens to expose the rifts in society.

The success of London-set crime novels between the wars stemmed from their clever plots and memorable characters, but also from their London backdrops. Many of the stories could have been transplanted to another city, but too much would have been lost in the move. By capturing the essence of interwar London—a city simultaneously recovering from one war and dreading another—crime writers offered readers both a thrilling escape and a sense of certainty in uncertain times.
In that way, these stories have never seemed more timely.

G.M. Malliet is the author of three mystery series—DCI St. Just, the Rev. Max Tudor, and PI Augusta Hawke—and many short stories featuring London-based, between-the-wars amateur sleuth Magdalene Duchateau. Her first novel was named one of the ten best novels of the year by Kirkus Reviews.

Debuting in January 2025, a fast-paced novella:

https://www.amazon.com/Vanished-Novella-G-M-Malliet-ebook/dp/B0DS6KT7SS/