Make each such incident
another step upward toward your climax proper; hold back the "big"
surprise, the startling denouement, until the very end. The most
enjoyable feature of Anna Katherine Green's "The Leavenworth Case" was
that she kept the reader in the dark until the last chapter as to who
was the real murderer. All the many detective novels that have since
appeared have been successful exactly in proportion as the solution of
the mystery has been withheld from the reader until the end of the
story.
Naturally, this requires careful planning. About twenty years ago, one
of the high-class fiction magazines published a story in which a
reporter who had been interviewing the leading woman of a theatrical
company was caught on the stage as the curtain rose on the first act.
The leading woman was supposed to be "discovered" at the rise of the
curtain, but the newspaper man was both surprised and embarrassed by
_his_ being discovered. Nevertheless, having his overcoat on and
carrying his hat in his hand, with great presence of mind he turned to
the actress and said: "Very well, madam; I will call for the clock at
three this afternoon." Then he made a deliberate exit, and the leading
woman read her first speech. But, as the play progressed, there was
scarcely one in the audience who failed to wonder why the "actor" who
had spoken the line about the clock did not reappear according to
promise.
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