A Crime Writer´s Manual

While reading The Herring Seller´s Apprentice I couldn´t help noticing plenty advice for crime fiction writers.

Here are a few examples. Which piece of advice do you think is most useful?

“It was Elsie too who taught me that the royalties on a 300-page book are generally greater than those on a 200-page book, even if the story could be told better in 200 pages.”

“But one cannot lie to one´s readers, particularly when it comes to crime writing. There is a standard of honesty to be maintained that runs strangely contrary to the murky subject matter. Above all, the reader must be given a fair chance to identify the murderer by (say) three-quarters of the way through the book, and the murderer cannot be some obscure character glimpsed briefly in chapter seven and never mentioned again.”

“There is an important difference between fiction and real life. Fiction has to be believable.”

Dear reader: WHY can´t I help feeling someone is pulling my leg?