When creating a protagonist for a mystery series, you want a character who
possesses a purpose, someone who stands out among the multitude of detectives
snooping, deducing, and sniffing out crime. Give your sleuth quirky and endearing
qualities, strengths and weaknesses—make her likable, yet irritating; ideal,
yet flawed. In other words, create a protagonist who is unforgettable.
Mystery
writer Martha Grimes has created such a character. Can you identify this amateur
sleuth? She lives in a hotel, works part time as a waitress and moonlights as a
cub reporter for the local newspaper. Her fascination with the death of a young
girl sends her to another hotel, another town, and another time where mysteries, new and old, unfold faster than her taxi driver can deliver her to the scenes.
Who
is this twelve-year-old sleuth?
photo from google images
