I used to make fun of mystery novel climax scenes, where the killer has the sleuth trapped and, instead of shooting him and escaping, the bad guy explains the reasons for the murder, giving the sleuth time to capture him. This is clearly a device to inform readers rather than realistic bad guy behaviour. But when I wrote my first mystery novel, A Deadly Fall, I understood the value of this literary trope.

-Susan Calder, A Deadly Fall

Opal Writers Magazine MAY 2022