Blog

I’m delighted to welcome award-winning author Fleur Bradley to the blog. I first discovered Fleur when I devoured her middle grade mystery Midnight at the Barclay Hotel. With its clever clues and spectacular twist, it felt very Agatha Christie for kids. I became an instant fan. She followed with Daybreak on Raven Island, another page-turning mystery that kept me guessing right to the very end.

Now Fleur is sharing her sleuthing secrets in Get a Clue (available April 7th) , a smart, practical guide for anyone ready to crack the code of writing MG and YA mysteries. Packed with clear, actionable advice, the book offers valuable insights for writers at every stage. Even with a couple of books under my belt, I had several “aha” moments that will serve me well moving forward.

Time to follow the clues to Fleur’s success . . .

Lisa: What inspired you to write a craft book specifically about MG and YA mysteries?

Fleur: I had been teaching mystery writing to kidlit authors for years, and kept looking for books to recommend my students. I realized there wasn’t anything out there that speaks specifically to writing MG or YA mysteries, so… I wrote it. It took me a while, but Get a Clue: How to Plot, Write, and Sell Your MG or YA Mystery is out in April. I really hope it helps writers and gets them excited about writing mysteries for kids or teens.

Lisa: You talk about “picking the crime”. What makes a crime appropriate for MG versus YA?

Fleur: For MG, you have to remember that kids as young as seven or eight years old will read your book, so it’s best if the crime happens off-screen or isn’t too gory—like in a cozy mystery. For older MG or YA, anything goes, but you do want to think about your target reader. MG readers (and YA readers often, too) read a mystery to put the clues together and solve the puzzle—that’s the fun. So focus your story on that element of the mystery,
particularly for younger readers.

Lisa: You discuss building an outline using sequences. Can you explain that approach?

Fleur: When I got my start writing mysteries, I mainly wrote short stories. I struggled with keeping track of my plot and character ARC for the length of a novel. I learned that script writers often use sequences to build their story—eight to ten of them, forming the building blocks for a screenplay. You can use that same approach to plot or revise your novel; it makes an entire novel’s worth of words more manageable. One sequence builds upon the next, in a classic story arc. It’s very practical way to plot, but not so restrictive that it takes the fun out of drafting the story.

Lisa: How do you avoid info-dumping while still giving readers enough evidence?

Fleur: This sequence method I use makes it a lot easier: I simply make sure that there’s a clue (or usually more than one) in each sequence, so I’m playing fair with the reader. By the end of the story, you want to make sure that there’s only one conclusion to the mystery (the aha! whodunit). The reader should be able to go back and put together the puzzle—this is not easy to accomplish as writer. A lot of this careful revelation and pacing is done in revision. So don’t be too hard on yourself if it takes a while to get it right.

Lisa: Do you recommend outlining before drafting, or can discovery writers succeed in mystery?

Fleur: You can take either approach; sometimes people think that writing a mystery means you have to outline in detail, and that’s not the case at all. I use the sequence method to create a rough framework, but then I discover the story as I write. For my MG mystery Midnight at the Barclay Hotel, I had no idea who had murdered Mr. Barclay—I simply investigated the mystery along with the kids in the story (it was so much fun, y’all…). Once I finished writing the rough draft and uncovered whodunit, I simply revised and placed clues so it became the only natural conclusion.

On the flipside, you can outline in detail, which means there’s less editing to be done after… I just struggle with outlining, so I use a mixed approach of broad outlining and fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants writing.

Lisa: How do you plant clues without making them too obvious—or too invisible?

Fleur: I use that sequence method of outlining to sprinkle clues like breadcrumbs, leading the reader to solve the mystery. It’s very much like a game. You can use beta readers to check if your clue revelation is too obvious or not obvious enough. This is definitely a balancing act—some readers will catch on quickly, while others might not ‘get’ the mystery until the reveal.

Lisa: What is the most common pitfall you see in mystery manuscripts?

Fleur: I often see writers start slow, or have character moments that go on a bit too long and drag the pace. Mysteries do need a certain amount of tension surrounding the clue hunt, and characters who are going places and doing stuff. You still want three-dimensional characters and depth, but those moments must be woven into plot in mysteries. So have your characters in conversation while they’re following a lead, rather than slowing the plot down.

Lisa: If a writer wants to start writing their mystery this week, what is their first step?

Fleur: Find your crime, character, and setting, and just test the waters with a scene or two. See if you like where it’s going enough to make a book out of it. You can then work on an outline, a character arc, your whodunit, etc. But remember that this is supposed to be fun. Mysteries really are the best.

Lightning Round:

Lisa: One must-read MG mystery?

Fleur: No fair, I can’t pick just one…! Adrianna Cuevas’s The Ghost of Rancho Espanto. Chris Grabenstein’s Lemoncello
series. Varian Johnson’s The Parker Inheritance. Hart & Souls by Lisa Schmid. I could go on for a while…

Lisa: Favorite mystery trope?

Fleur: The gathering of all suspects (in the library) while the detective does their spiel to reveal whodunit. Classic fun.

Lisa: One word that defines a great mystery.  

Fleur: Aha!

Lisa: What great answers! This has been informative and inspiring. Thank you so much for visiting From the Mixed-Up Files to chat about your new book. I truly appreciate your time and expertise. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a most intriguing crime to plot—strictly on the page, of course. 

Pre-Order GET A CLUE

Goodreads 

About Fleur Bradley:

Fleur Bradley is the author of award-winning middle-grade mysteries Daybreak on Raven Island and Midnight at the Barclay Hotel (Viking/PRH), and the Double Vision trilogy (HarperCollins), as well as numerous non-fiction titles for the educational market. Recently, she compiled her
process for writing mysteries for tweens in Get a Clue: How to Plot, Write, and Sell Your MG or YA Mystery (2026).

Fleur’s short stories have appeared in the MWA anthology Super-Puzzletastic Mysteries, SCBWI’s The Haunted States of America (a story representing Colorado). How to Teach Yourself to Swim, originally published in Dark Yonder, was chosen for The Best Mystery Stories of the Year 2024. Fleur’s work has been nominated for the Agatha and Anthony Award and has won the Colorado Book Award and Colorado Authors League Book Award, among others.

A reluctant reader herself, Fleur is also a literacy advocate and speaks at events on how to reach reluctant readers. Originally from the Netherlands, she now lives in a small cottage in the foothills of the Colorado Rockies where she fosters rescue animals.

For more information about Fleur visit fleurbradley.com.

Listen to an in-depth interview with Fleur on Writers With Wrinkles.