We are all born with a talent for story-telling. Few people, though, have an instinctive understanding of how to develop their ideas into novels. This book encourages you to explore the ideas you already have and gets you looking step-by-step at your own work. It analyses the elements of the broad crime fiction genre, covering the classic detective story, the espionage thriller, comic crime fiction, romantic suspense, the feminist sleuth and more. Lesley Grant-Adamson guides you through the process of crafting your material recognizing an idea for a novel; setting the scene; shaping your characters; evolving plot; researching your background; maintaining style and using literary techinques; and finding a way out if you get stuck. It also includes advice on presenting your work to a publisher and enjoying your new role as a published crime writer.