Blog Tour: Death of a Billionaire by Tucker May: A Guest Post
Today I am taking part in the blog tour for Death of a Billionaire by Tucker May. It is a murder mystery novel and focuses on what some people dream about: killing their boss… until Alan Benning’s boss actually ends up dead! Today Tucker shares what he considers to be the absolute must-haves for any great whodunit.
Book Description:
Ever dream of killing your boss? Alan Benning knows how you feel.
The problem: his billionaire boss actually winds up murdered. And the whole world thinks he did it.
When globetrotting tech billionaire Barron Fisk is found dead on the floor of his swanky Silicon Valley office, all evidence points to Alan.
Alan must venture into the glitzy, treacherous world of tech billionaires to clear his name by sorting through a long list of suspects with motive aplenty. If he can’t find the real culprit, Alan’s going down. The clock is ticking.
Who killed Barron Fisk? The truth will shock— and change— the entire world.
Fans of Richard Osman’s The Thursday Murder Club series, Carl Hiaasen’s tales of high-stakes hijinx, or Ruth Ware’s page-turning mysteries will love Death of a Billionaire.
Buy Your Copy Here:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
The Bones of a Great Whodunit
Hello! My name is Tucker May, author of the comedic murder mystery novel Death of a Billionaire. Putting together that story, as well as the numerous mystery novellas that are available for FREE on my website here, taught me a whole lot on what it takes to put together an enjoyable and engaging mystery tale. Below is a list of what I consider to be the absolute must-haves for any great whodunit.
- Basic Story Elements
Mysteries are no different from any other story in that if the basics aren’t done well, the overall book will likely fall flat. Without a solid foundation, no house can stand for long. The story’s protagonist must be multidimensional with a satisfying character arc, meaning that the reader should be able to see how the main character has undergone change over the course of the book. The story’s setting needs to be well-defined and hint at a larger world to spark the reader’s imagination. The pacing should be appropriately varied so that the reader feels engaged without being overwhelmed. Each beat, scene and chapter must present new information, an unexpected twist, or a clear obstacle for the characters to confront. Each of these story elements could have (and have had) entire books written about them. If these are neglected, none of the below items will even matter. They won’t be able to save the story on their own. They must stand upon a solid foundation of basic story.
- An Intriguing Puzzle
Mysteries are, at their core, puzzles. I’m a big fan of mysteries for that very reason: on top of the satisfaction of a good story, I also get a fun riddle that I can try to solve as I move through the pages. The puzzle can center on almost anything, as long as there is a question to be answered: a missing item or person, a perpetrated crime, an unexplained phenomenon. The more impossible-seeming the event or phenomenon, the better. The higher the stakes are for the person trying to understand it, the better. A well-written mystery will lay out the core puzzle early on and keep the reader hungry for answers through the whole book.
- A Varied List of Suspects
What fun is a mystery with only one person who could be the culprit? The answer: very little fun at all. Having a long list of potential perpetrators isn’t enough, though. They need to be varied. The suspects need to be individuals with different thoughts, feelings and potential motivations for the crime. There’s no problem if each character is after the same goal, i.e., money or prestige, but the reasons propelling them should reflect their different life histories and points of view. Someone, or something, represents the solution to the story’s core puzzle, and I enjoy mysteries most when the possible answers are distinct and interesting in their own right.
- A Few Red Herrings
Twists! Turns! Shocking revelations! A good mystery needs all of these, and it needs at least some that are not directly connected to the core puzzle, though it seems like they might be. The literary term for this is a “Red Herring,” a bit of information that appears to be leading the reader toward the mystery’s solution, but ultimately proves to be inconclusive or irrelevant. A good mystery story has the ability to convince the reader multiple times that they’ve cracked the case, only to pull the rug from underneath them and send the tale in a whole new direction.
- An Unexpected Expected Ending
That’s not a typo. A satisfying mystery conclusion needs to be both UNEXPECTED and EXPECTED. How is this possible? In the best mysteries, once the final truth is at last revealed, the reader is left thinking, “Of course! How did I not see it?” That means the story must be peppered with just the right amount of hints toward the puzzle’s solution. This is why mystery writers often require a more deft hand at plotting than other genre writers. Too many clues, or too obvious, and the reader will guess the solution before the grand reveal. Too few clues, and the answer will feel like it comes out of nowhere, which can be a deeply unsatisfying experience for a reader. The answer to the mystery’s core puzzle should be present in the story all along, so that the final revelation isn’t new information added but rather something the reader already knew that gets recontextualized.
Go ahead and grab a copy of my novel Death of a Billionaire right here and let me know if you think it fulfills all those whodunit must-haves. Feel free to reach out to me directly! I’m on Instagram, BlueSky, Facebook or via email, which can be found at the foot of my website. Thanks for reading!
About the Author:
Tucker May was raised in southern Missouri. He attended Northwestern University where he was trained in acting and playwriting. He now lives in Pasadena, California with his wife Barbara and their cat Principal Spittle. He is an avid reader and longtime fan of the Los Angeles Rams and Geelong Cats. Death of a Billionaire is his debut novel.
Contact Tucker:
Bluesky
Instagram @tuckermaymysteries
The Entire Blog Tour:
