Wyndham

I've never done this type of thing with a novel, but I did it with a short story. In this case a man's wife was cheating on him. All the signs pointed to the lover being one person, but it turned out to be someone else–– the narrator. Everyone who ever read it was very surprised.

My suggestion is that you first plot the story as though the obvious person is the killer. What are some things he would do or say to make the reader believe that he is the culprit? Next, throw out anything that only the killer would do, e.g. actually pouring poison into the heroine's glass, and add things that could be taken both ways, e.g. the heroine walks in on him holding a glass and a packet of rat poison. In reality, he just happened to find it and is concerned for her safety, but we won't know that until the real killer is revealed.

The final step is the hardest. You need to throw in hints that the less suspicious character could also be the killer, but they can't be so obvious as to lead the reader to that conclusion. Doing any less would be cheating.

With a well-crafted surprise ending the reader should be able to go back through the story and see all the reasons why they should have seen it coming.

Lynn

Thanks everyone for your ongoing advice on this situation. It has been very helpful.

One decision I have made is to write story from heroine's POV only.(Nothings wrote in stone though) This may change you never know.

Not to leave anyone out, because all suggestions have helped.
But I would like to thank Wyndham and Ed Parnell for their recent suggestions.

Thanks everyone,
Lynn

River1034

There is a term i'm looking for and i cant grasp it, misdirection, use misdirection in your writing, and a little bit of deception. You can make the reader switch between who they think is trying to kill your protagonist by using misdirection, if the protagonist gets in a fight with her sister, just bring up dialogue or thoughts that gives the reader the impression that she is the antagonist, simple, if you dont want them to have ANY idea you could just simply leave out all thoughts from the antagonists that might give the impression that he or she is the bad guy. I've never written a mystery, but i have authored some thrillers that have the close to the same effect, it usually works.
Good luck
-River

Lynn

Thanks River1034 for your comments. My story is moving along well. Using most of the techniques that have been suggested. Hoping to start posting chapters for critique by December.

Happy Writing,
Lynn