What’s So Funny About Murder and Mayhem by Judy L Murray

Comedy intwined in mysteries and thrillers fascinates me. Let’s face it. We mystery writers spend much of our time mulling over murder. “What do you do,” a stranger asks. Our reply, “We kill people.” It’s macabre.

Recently the Grand Canyon Chapter of Sisters in Crime offered an excellent webinar entitled “What’s So Funny About Murder and Mayhem” with best-selling author Tim Maleeny. Publishers Weekly describes his style: “Tim Maleeny smoothly mixes wry humor and a serious plot without sacrificing either.” Since my Chesapeake Bay Mystery series infuses moments of wise-cracking dialogue, I was excited to hear his advice. (I can always use it.)

Tim reminded me that comedic dialogue interwoven can elevate my mysteries. • Don’t try to be funny. Overreaching, unless you’re a comedic master, often falls flat.
• Humor affects pacing. It can provide a welcome break in between fast-moving scenes. Or it stops and starts your storyline like an old car engine that keeps stalling out. Be careful.
• Humor can provide a tool to bring your readers closer to your characters.
• Humor can be used to emphasize conflicts. Think of characters’ conflicting goals, misunderstandings, mismatches in personalities, or collisions in different cultures or backgrounds.
• Humor humanizes characters. It can reflect their setbacks and mistakes.
• Criminals are not always smart.
• Dial back humor when needed. Sometimes less can be more.

His points made me consider the breakout blockbuster movie Die Hard with lead Bruce Willis as John McClane, a New York cop who joins his estranged wife in Los Angelos at her company’s holiday party. Moments later, brutal terrorists take over. John quickly realizes there’s no one to save the hostages – except him. The tension is high and viewers’ hearts pound as he crawls on his belly, bloodied and breathless, through the skyscraper’s heat vents. Does he curse these monsters as we would expect? No. Our world-weary hero mutters under his breath a sarcastic “Come out to the coast, we’ll get together, have a few laughs.” It’s a pure gold scene among many because it relieves our tension, helps us catch our breath. It tells us in very few words a great deal about the protagonist. McCane is a likeable, imperfect man with grit. We fall in love.

I’ll be open with you. Thrillers and hard crime novels or movies are not typically my first choice - as much as I admire those writers. I’m a wuss and hide my face during scary scenes. But Die Hard brought us a clever script, an actor with a deft sense of humor, a feel-good movie cloaked amidst terror. It was anything but predictable. That’s talented writing.

Every writer approaches murder mixed with humor differently. From Shakespeare to Agatha Christie to Janet Evanovich or Richard Osman, we’ve all got our unique style.

If you would like to get to know my characters’ humor styles, I hope you’ll stop by. Find me at www.judylmurraymysteries.com

Judy L Murray, Winner Silver Falchion, IPPY First Place, PenCraft Gold, Agatha Nominee