Learn to layer intrigue and deepen your story in this afternoon workshop with best-selling author Patricia Crisafulli.

Every good mystery has a hook—but the best ones weave in a second thread to keep readers turning the pages. In this workshop, you’ll learn how to create layered mysteries that connect across time, place, and character. These techniques work for a wide range of genres beyond mysteries!

Tragedy befalls someone. A crime is committed. A terrible wrong grips an individual, a family, a community. These kinds of inciting incidents open the pages of a mystery. But the quest to solve the crime—discovering the perpetrator and their motivation—often takes you into other mysteries: a long-ago cold case, an unsolved crime, revenge extracted years or generations later. Or even seemingly unrelated incidents that turn out to be deeply connected.

The presence of a mystery-within-a-mystery adds depth, texture, and greater intrigue to a story. But the secret is in the proportion and the propulsion: In other words, which mystery drives the story? And which will be secondary/supplementary?

Patricia Crisafulli, author of the bestselling Onita Harbor Mystery series, deploys the mystery-within-a-mystery approach in her own work. In addition to investigating a present-day crime, an artifact must be identified and authenticated. Solving one mystery intersects with the solution of the other. Along the way, seemingly disparate circumstances begin to overlap–until they become part of the whole.

In this hands-on workshop, you’ll learn how to:
-Plot both the primary and secondary mysteries
-Create disconnection and disparity to keep readers guessing
-Pull the threads together in satisfying ways
-Craft a denouement (big reveal) that ties it all up with intrigue and surprise

By the end of this workshop, you’ll have:
-A framework for building a layered mystery
-Writing exercises and prompts you can use again and again
-Strategies for connecting incidents across time and place
-New skills in crafting plot twists and seeding clues
-Community and encouragement from fellow writers

Date: Saturday, Nov 22, 2025

Time: 1-5 pm

Price:
Access: $119 – if you have limited access to funds

Sustainer: $159 – the actual cost of this program

Patron: $199 – if you have more access to resources and can support others who need to pay less

Choose the ticket price that best reflects your financial capacity. We trust you to discern your level of need or ability to help others with less access to wealth.

Learn more about our Pay From Your Heart Pricing: https://wordcrafters.org/pfyh/

Scholarship info: We want everyone to have access to our writing programs. If you need additional support, please complete our scholarship request form: https://wordcrafters.org/scholarships/

Your instructor

Patricia Crisafulli (she/her) is an award winning, New York Times best-selling author. Her latest novel is The Secrets of the Old Post Cemetery, released fall 2025 from Woodhall Press. Her debut novel, The Secrets of Ohnita Harbor, published in 2022, followed by The Secrets of Still Waters Chasm in 2023 (both from Woodhall Press). She earned a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree from Northwestern University where she received the Distinguished Thesis Award in Creative Writing.