How do you create a mystery story?

I hope this is in the right place.

Anyways, I have this great story idea. It's a mystery series set in Colonial America circa 1776 and it follows the adventure of fourteen-year-old Colin Parrish who lives with a largely loyalist family. He, his brother Robin, his sister Emily, and a family friend named David Maywalker basically solve mysteries in their hometown.

The catch? Colin is blind and everything's from his POV.

But here's the thing. I know the basics of a mystery story, but I'm not sure where to begin. I've heard tips everywhere ranging from the character has to have a personal interst in wanting the mystery solved to the character has to be connected to a law firm of some type. (Colin's father is a lawyer if that helps)

Plus, I worry about accidentally pulling cliches like "zomg it was the victim's relative!!"

I've got two mystery plots I thought up to be the first mystery:
#1- One involves an amulet a blacksmith supposedly stole off a dead body and Colin has to clear things up.

#2- The second involves a Frenchman on the run from a vigilant, revenge-driven French and Indian War veteran (A British soldier) who wants to avenge the death of his family at the hands of the Indians that were allied with the French.

What do I do? I've got a good concept, two neat plots with the second one more intriguing, but I don't know how to properly lay it out.

Thanks.

Now that it's moved, here's my idea:

Start from the end. Find the answer to everything, and then make clues that lead there.

Hmmm...That makes sense. Start from the ending and work my way backwards.

I was also thinking I have a document set aside where the culpri explained what he did, why he did it and what had been happing a few days before the event itself, places he went, people he met, his friends and family's behavior around him.

Ooh, those sound like awesome ideas. I'm not sure how to help, other than what Amanda said, but for the first plot, maybe change the supposed thief to the undertaker?

Ahh, mysteries. xD Good luck, Meer! I've always been a little scared to try writing one just because they seem so hard . . . but I would definitely agree with Amanda's advice, because if I were writing one, I'd start planning from the end too. Try being very detailed about it, though, and keep a close watch on the emotions of the characters. When you actually get to writing, you could also try doing a few scenes from the other characters . . . not necessarily to become a real part of the story, but to help you express better what they're feeling when in the normal perspective.

Cyn431 wrote:Right now I'm agreeing with what others said, and I agree that the second one is more intriguing. But back to the reason I'm typing.

Don't walk backwards until you know how to avoid what you're going into. In other words, keep a general idea of what you want to do next so you don't hit a block in the road. You know what I mean?

Gosh, the advice I want to give is more on plots than the actual creation... xP But hey, I'll throw it out anyway: try to create some obscurity. Maybe one of the suspects is a madman who keeps trying to blame himself for the murder he didn't commit--or a lover "confessing" to protect their other.

Interestingly enough, that bolded part is a future plot of a story in the series. The detective's family shelters a madman who blames himself for all the deaths and woes in his family, trying to paint himself as the big bad killer and the detective has to "go back in time" for lack of a better phrase to peice together what really happened.

I think it might be helpful if you jot down any ideas that you have for clues. I find that many of the best mysteries have interesting ways for the characters to discover clues, as well as having significant clues that actually contribute to the overall story. (More than simply leading to another clue.)