In my Marshall Plan® books I have always recommended writing the genre you love to read. It gives you several advantages. First, the passion you have for reading a particular genre carries over into the writing. Second, you’ll already have a good idea of what’s been done and what hasn’t.

But what if you read several genres? Or what if you’re looking for a new genre to love? There’s an old saying: “It’s as easy to fall in love with a rich man as with a poor one.” Similarly, it’s as easy to fall in love with a “hot” genre as with a “cold” one.

Here, then, is a rundown on a few of the hot genres editors are hankering for more of.

Urban Fantasy

In urban fantasy novels, supernatural beings/creatures living among “regular” people in a world that seems normal, but really isn’t. Some of the more popular writers in this genre have series in which the main character appears in more than one novel. According to Kensington Publishing, “There are no set rules when it comes to these novels. The more creative and imaginative, the better!” Publishers will consider urban fantasy novels featuring female protagonists but will consider projects with male protagonists, too. The series character can be human or inhuman (i.e., vampire, werewolf, shapeshifter, etc.). Some authors in this genre are Mark Henry, Jess Haines, Kim Harrison, Patricia Briggs, Jim Butcher and Karen Chance.

Changes, Book #12 in Jim Butcher's Dresden Files series

Succubus Blues by Richelle Mead

African American

This market embraces novels in virtually every genre, from humor to drama to romance to suspense. There are publishers specializing in books for the African American market, such as Genesis Press and Urban Books, as well as imprints such as Amistad at HarperCollins, Dafina at Kensington and Kimani at Harlequin. Some leading names are Kimberla Lawson Roby, Carl Weber, E. Lynn Harris and Mary B. Morrison. Writers in this genre are nearly always African American themselves. 

Big Girls Do Cry by Carl Weber

The Right Wedding Gown by Shirley Hailstock

Dark Teen

These aren’t your parents’ young-adult novels. With utter frankness, the newly dark and stark teen (12-17) novels address such brutally real subjects as arson, violence, anorexia, terrorism, disfigurement, sexual abuse and mental illness. Some writers carry these elements into the paranormal; most of us are aware of Stephenie Meyer’s ”Twilight” vampire series. In 2008 Suzanne Collins published The Hunger Game, a novel set in a dystopian future where teens are pitted against each other in televised death matches. Some popular authors are Maggie Stiefvater, P.C. Cast, Alyson Noel and Sara Shepard.

Perfect by Sara Shepard

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

Amish Romance

These super-chaste “bonnet rippers” (a play on “bodice rippers”) are a G-rated subcategory of Christian/Inspirational fiction. In Amish romances, readers expect a safe, gentle read. The sexiness nearly always goes only as far as a few kisses. Plots often center on an Amish man or woman who falls in love with someone outside the Amish community. These novels are so popular that we are starting to see Amish thrillers and Amish murder mysteries. Interestingly, Amish novels are becoming popular among the Amish themselves—the women, for the most part—who admit to reading the books “under the covers” because many Amish leaders condemn the books. A few authors to watch in this genre are Beverly Lewis (who started it all), Cindy Woodsmall and Wanda E. Brunstetter.

A Cousin’s Promise by Wanda E. Brunstetter

The Bridge of Peace by Cindy Woodsmall

Issue-Driven Women’s Fiction

These upscale, intelligently written novels deal with problems real women face in their lives. For example, Jodi Picoult’s House Rules tackles Asperger’s syndrome; in several of her novels Emily Griffin addresses infidelity. Randy Susan Meyers’ The Murderer’s Daughters opens with young Lulu finding her mother dead and her sister wounded at the hands of their alcoholic father, who has failed at killing himself after attacking the family. You get the picture. Some authors to check out, in addition to Picoult, Griffin and Meyers: Lori Lansens, Robin Antalek and Pam Lewis.

The Girls by Lori Lansens

A Change in Altitude by Anita Shreve

Comfort Food Cozies

We all know what cozy mysteries are–mystery novels that eschew gore and violence in favor of knitting and cats. Well, a cozy subcategory has appeared and is currently enjoying enormous success: the cozy featuring down-home food. Joanne Fluke’s mysteries feature bakery owner and part-time sleuth Hannah Swensen; each book in the series bears the name of a sweet treat: Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder, Apple Turnover Murder and so on. JoAnna Carl writes the Chocoholic Mysteries, Cleo Coyle the Coffee House Mysteries, and on and on it goes. The trick is coming up with something new, and something you know well, because more often than not these novels contain lots of sumptuous recipes. Readers look forward to reading and trying them, so any recipe you insert in your cozy food yarn had better be carefully tested. Also check out: Diane Mott Davidson, Avery Aames (cheese), Jessica Beck (doughnuts) and Laura Childs (tea).

Holiday Grind by Cleo Coyle

Fudge Cupcake Murder by Joanne Fluke

Remember, write what you love. John Scognamiglio, editor-in-chief of Kensington Publishing, sums it up nicely: “Yes, there are many hot genres in bookstores right now, but when it comes down to it, authors need to write a book that they’re passionate about. If they’re not, it shows in the writing and an editor can always pick up on that. Don’t go through the motions. Write what you want to write but always be aware that you’re going to need to aim it at a particular niche market.”

As the author of thirteen murder mysteries and counting, and a literary agent who represents a number of mystery authors, I keep a list of “musts” for writing a compelling mystery that really holds together. Build all of these points into your mystery novel and your book will be stronger for it.

Make sure your sleuth has a compelling reason to want to solve the murder. Mysteries always work best when the sleuth has a strong, preferably personal reason, to want the murderer brought to justice. For instance, in my first mystery, Missing Marlene, Jane Stuart wants to find out who killed her son’s live-in nanny. In my mystery Evil Justice, sanitation supervisor Anna Winthrop wants to find out who killed a member of her crew because another worker, who she knows to be innocent, has been arrested for the crime. It’s not enough to say, “These are amateur-sleuth mysteries; that’s what she does.” There’s got to be good reason.

Make sure you have enough suspects. You can’t keep your readers guessing unless there is a large enough selection of suspects to choose from. Having too few suspects also makes it difficult to complicate your plot as you should. Remember that suspects can be either people your sleuth suspects, or people your sleuth isn’t considering but whom your readers will suspect because of clue’s you’ve dropped.

Make sure each of your suspects had motive, means, and opportunity. This sounds obvious, but be sure to give each of your suspects a compelling reason to have wanted the victim dead. Also make sure this person could have done it, physically; i.e., was he or she in the right place, and at the right time.

Place your sleuth in danger. Feedback from my readers has taught me that they most enjoy books in which the sleuth, as a result of her snooping, is put in danger, usually from the murderer who doesn’t want to be exposed. Many writers skip this element, but I think it adds a lot.

Teach the reader something new. Set your mystery in an industry or place readers may not know about. My Jane Stuart and Winky mysteries are set in the world of publishing and literary agents. My Hidden Manhattan mysteries feature little-known places in New York City, and also provide a lot of inside information about the sanitation industry.

Put in some really good twists. Readers love to be shocked. So at least three times in your story, spin your story in a new direction by inserting a shocking revelation or development. (Spoiler alert:) In Missing Marlene, I reveal that a murdered woman Jane thinks is Marlene isn’t Marlene at all, but her best friend with whom she traded places.

Keep the story moving. Mysteries aren’t overly long in terms of word length, so you really can’t afford to be leisurely with your writing. Keep the story moving by having a lot of actual plot action and not so much introspection and reacting to things. My trick is that I write nearly all of my novels in direct action rather than summary.

End with a bang. The classic Agatha Christie ending, in which Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple assembles everyone in the drawing room to explain exactly what happened and then unmask the murderer, won’t work nowadays. I always like to make the revelation of the killer a dramatic climax, sometimes putting my sleuth in jeopardy. At the end of my mystery Death is Disposable, the murderer chases Anna through the abandoned subway tunnels under Grand Central Station in order to ensure her silence.

Once the mystery is solved, wrap things up quickly. Once the murderer has been revealed, that’s pretty much the end of the story. Use the pages after the climax to do any leftover explaining, tie up any hanging threads and, if there’s a romance thread, bring your lovers together.

These aren’t absolute laws. They’re ways I make sure my books are page turners that keep readers wanting more from me. Try some or all of them and your amateur-sleuth mystery will be better for it.

The mystery novel has never been more popular than it is today. People love reading them . . . and writers love writing them. Editors are swamped with manuscripts and can afford to be extremely fussy as to what they take on. How can you make your mystery novel rise above the others and make an editor want to buy? Keep the following three vital points in mind when writing your novel:

Look for the Hook

In fiction, a hook is a way to promote a book through some aspect that has commercial appeal or provides publishers with a gimmick or “handle” that lends itself to publicity.

Your detective might have an occupation that is of high interest in the current culture, is especially timely, is interesting for its very obscurity, or is the same as that of the author. For instance, Patricia Cornwell’s series of mysteries featuring Dr. Kay Scarpetta first became popular at a time when public interest in the world of medical examiners had been heightened by such nonfiction books as Coroner by Dr. Thomas Noguchi, L.A.’s coroner to the stars, not to mention the tremendous public fascination with true crime. That’s Ms. Cornwell’s hook

For my first mystery series, I gave my amateur sleuth my own occupation—that of literary agent. This was my hook, something I could talk about in interviews. It was also something reviewers of my books often commented upon.

Hooks in fiction give publishers, booksellers, and the authors themselves a better chance to grab the attention of browsing book buyers.

Dig Into Your Characters

Today’s readers want richly textured characters, especially in the series detective. A clever puzzle for your mystery novel is important but not enough. We must know all of your major characters as people, just as we would know the characters in any well-written novel. For purposes of characterization, think of your book as a novel with mystery, not a mystery novel. Tell us about your characters’ pasts, their psychologies, their faults and weaknesses, their relationships to one another. Remember, it’s your characters who will bring your readers back for more.

Devise a Clever, Stunning Plot

Don’t settle for a plot device if you can recall seeing it in another book, in a movie, or on TV. Work hard to come up with something different. Granted, there are only so many ways to kill someone, but the canny mystery writer will give one of those ways a new twist. The same goes for motive. There’s no excuse for stale clichés; your plotting is truly your own and should bear your distinctive fingerprint.

Keep these three points in mind as you craft your next mystery and you’ll have a decided edge in this highly competitive marketplace.

The first question you should ask yourself when naming a character in one of your novels is whether a name you have in mind fits the character’s personality as you’ve defined it so far. This is a “gut” thing—we all have preconceived ideas of how people with certain names look and act. When writing my own novels, I never select a name first and then define the character, because when I do this I find that the character’s personality ends up suiting the name.

• When weighing names, keep these questions in mind:
• Does the character’s background suggest any names or types of names?
• Would the characters’ parents have been likely to choose a certain name or kind of name?
• What names were in fashion when the character was born?
• Would a nickname or less formal version of a name be appropriate for this person?

Additionally, consider applying these rules:

1. Try (at least with your major characters) to have all first and last names start with a different letter. You can keep a simple alphabetical list.
2. Vary the sound and length of characters’ first and last names.
3. Avoid using all Anglo names.
4. Avoid using names that end alike or similarly.
5. Try to avoid using names that end in s, which make for awkward possessives.
6. Avoid overly long names, especially for major characters. The stars of my two mystery series are Jane and Anna.