In the structural design of detective fiction, well-executed tricks are rarely built around a single device. Instead, they emerge from the gap between how information is arranged, how the story is structured, and what readers expect.
A common technique is to create cognitive confusion through the use of “similar elements.”
At the core of this type of trick is the construction of multiple characters, events, or situations that are highly similar in appearance, behavior, or narrative function, causing readers to naturally confuse them when processing information. This method does not rely on concealing information itself, but rather on a basic feature of human cognition: our tendency to categorize similar things together in order to simplify processing. When a narrative contains multiple similar individuals, events, or temporal points, readers will often, without realizing it, merge, substitute, or conflate them, thereby arriving at incorrect conclusions.
This type of trick is typically achieved by constructing multiple entities that are highly similar in appearance, behavior, or narrative function, or by introducing recurring events with closely resembling patterns—for example, through the use of twins or cases that mirror one another. John Dickson Carr’s The Hollow Man is a classic example of this technique.
Dynamic tricks triggered by “plans being unexpectedly disrupted”
The key to this type of trick does not lie in the plan itself, but in the unforeseen changes that occur during its execution. These disruptions complicate an otherwise simple structure, forcing the characters to continuously adjust their strategies. In terms of narrative design, this kind of trick is often used to create sequences of actions that are individually reasonable yet collectively misleading, so that when readers reconstruct the events, they find that every step makes sense on its own, but their overall understanding of the situation has shifted.
This structure is not about “what the original plan was,” but rather in how characters maintain consistency of outcome under constantly changing conditions. As a result, this type of trick often has the following characteristics: multiple layers of overlapping motives and actions and a gradual divergence between surface behavior and underlying intent. Soji Shimada’s The Moai of the Screws (The Tokyo Zodiac Murders / Suri-ishi no meiro depending on edition naming conventions) is an example of this kind of trick.
Breaking down “impossible crimes” into a series of solvable steps
This type of trick is one of the core structures of traditional honkaku detective fiction. Its key lies in breaking down an outcome that appears impossible as a whole into a series of steps that are each step makes sense on its own. This design relies on the reader’s holistic understanding of time, space, or information, while the author fragments these dimensions, making a complex result gradually achievable through a sequence of seemingly ordinary actions. This type of design typically relies on the breaking up time and splitting perspective. Yukito Ayatsuji’s The Clock Tower Murders makes clever use of manipulation of time gaps to achieve this effect.
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