Creating Believable Red Herrings

The red herring is one of the mystery writer's most powerful tools, but it's also one of the most misunderstood. A well-crafted red herring doesn't just mislead readers-it enhances the story, deepens character development, and makes the final revelation more satisfying. A poorly executed one, however, feels like a cheat that breaks the implied contract between writer and reader.

The art lies in creating misdirection that serves the story while playing fair with your audience. Let's explore how to craft red herrings that elevate your mystery rather than undermining it.

What Makes a Red Herring Work?

Authenticity is key. A believable red herring must have a logical foundation. It should be something that genuinely could be connected to the crime, with evidence that supports the false conclusion. The misdirection shouldn't rely on withholding information from readers or having characters act irrationally.

Consider Agatha Christie's masterpiece "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd." Without spoiling the solution, Christie plants numerous red herrings that all have legitimate foundations. Each suspect has believable motives, means, and opportunities. The false leads emerge naturally from the investigation rather than being artificially inserted.

The Difference Between Misdirection and Cheating

Good Red Herring: Your detective discovers that the victim's business partner had been embezzling funds and was about to be exposed. The partner had access to the crime scene, no solid alibi, and clear motive. All evidence legitimately points toward them-until your detective uncovers the real killer's more compelling motive and method.

Cheap Trick: Your detective focuses on a suspect for chapters, building a case against them, only to reveal that this person has an identical twin who was never mentioned before and is the real killer. This violates the fair play rule because readers had no way to discover this crucial information.

The difference is that good red herrings are based on genuine evidence that leads to reasonable but ultimately incorrect conclusions. Cheap tricks rely on withholding crucial information or introducing new elements at the last minute.

Types of Effective Red Herrings

The Obvious Suspect

This is the person with the most apparent motive-the cheated spouse, the disinherited heir, the business rival. The key is making their guilt seem so obvious that readers start looking for reasons why they might be innocent, which opens the door for the real killer.

Technique: Give this character a strong motive and damning evidence, but also subtle indicators of innocence that careful readers might catch. Perhaps they're too obvious a suspect, or their alibi has one small discrepancy that actually proves they're telling the truth.

The False Clue

Physical evidence that legitimately exists but points in the wrong direction. The classic example is a left-handed murder weapon grip found at the scene, leading investigators to focus on left-handed suspects-until they discover the killer deliberately used their non-dominant hand to mislead police.

Technique: The false clue must be something the real killer could realistically have planted or that genuinely exists for innocent reasons. Avoid clues that only exist to mislead.

The Red Herring Character

A character introduced specifically to draw suspicion, complete with suspicious behavior and hidden secrets. The key is ensuring their secrets are interesting and relevant to the story, even if they're not related to the murder.

Example: The victim's neighbor who acts nervously around police and lies about their whereabouts. Eventually revealed to be having an affair, not committing murder-but their guilty behavior was genuine and understandable.

Planting Red Herrings Naturally

Layer Them Into Character Development

The best red herrings emerge from character complexity. People have multiple secrets, conflicting motivations, and complicated relationships. Use this natural human complexity to create genuine misdirection.

Your embezzling business partner isn't just a red herring-they're a fully realized character with understandable motivations for their crime. Their guilt about embezzlement makes them act suspiciously around the murder investigation, creating natural misdirection.

Use Multiple Perspectives

Different characters will interpret the same evidence differently based on their knowledge and biases. This creates organic opportunities for misdirection without having to manufacture false clues.

Example: The victim's daughter mentions her stepmother seemed "relieved" after the funeral. The detective might interpret this as guilt, but readers later learn the stepmother was relieved to finally grieve privately after maintaining composure for others.

Build on Reader Assumptions

Readers bring their own biases and assumptions to your story. You can use these expectations to create misdirection without explicitly lying.

If you establish that your victim was a beloved community leader, readers might assume the killer had to be an outsider or someone with obvious grievances. This assumption can blind them to the possibility that the killer might be someone who genuinely loved the victim but killed for reasons unrelated to that relationship.

Classic Examples from Mystery Masters

Dorothy Sayers in "Gaudy Night" uses academic politics and personal relationships to create multiple compelling suspects. Each has believable motives rooted in realistic academic conflicts, making the misdirection feel natural and fair.

Raymond Chandler frequently employed red herrings that revealed the corruption and complexity of his characters' world. In "The Big Sleep," multiple crimes and mysteries interweave, with some serving as red herrings for others, but each remains a legitimate part of the story's fabric.

Louise Penny masterfully uses the quirks and secrets of her recurring characters in the Inspector Gamache series. Long-established character traits become red herrings in individual mysteries while maintaining series continuity.

Common Red Herring Mistakes to Avoid

The Irrelevant Distraction

Don't create red herrings that have nothing to do with your story. If a character's suspicious behavior stems from something completely unrelated to the plot, it feels like padding rather than clever misdirection.

The Obvious Plant

Avoid red herrings that feel artificially inserted. If evidence appears too conveniently or a suspect behaves suspiciously for no logical reason, readers will sense the manipulation.

The Cruel Mislead

Don't make your red herrings so compelling that readers feel cheated when they're revealed to be false leads. The goal is to misdirect, not to make readers feel foolish for following logical clues.

The Fair Play Rule

Every red herring must follow the fair play rule: readers should have access to the same information as your detective. If your red herring works only because you've withheld crucial information, it's not a red herring-it's a cheat.

The Test: Could a careful reader, upon re-reading your book, identify the clues that distinguish the red herring from the true solution? If not, you need to revise.

Advanced Techniques

The Double Red Herring

A suspect who appears to be a red herring but actually is guilty-of a different crime. This adds complexity while maintaining fair play.

The Reverse Red Herring

Present someone who seems obviously innocent, leading readers to eliminate them as a suspect. Their very innocuousness becomes the misdirection.

The Cascading Red Herring

One false lead naturally leads to another, creating a chain of misdirection that feels organic. Each step follows logically from the previous one, but the entire chain leads away from the truth.

Crafting Your Red Herrings

Step 1: Identify your real killer and their true motive.

Step 2: Create alternative explanations for the evidence that point to other characters. These explanations must be logical and believable.

Step 3: Develop your red herring characters fully. Give them secrets and motivations that justify their suspicious behavior.

Step 4: Plant clues that support your false conclusions while also including subtle indicators that careful readers might notice.

Step 5: Test your red herrings. Do they feel organic to the story? Could readers reasonably reach these false conclusions based on the evidence presented?

Remember, the goal isn't to trick readers but to give them a fair puzzle with multiple possible solutions. When you reveal the true killer, readers should feel satisfied that they could have solved it themselves while appreciating the cleverness of your misdirection. A great red herring makes readers want to immediately re-read your book to catch the clues they missed-and that's the highest compliment a mystery writer can receive.