Matthew MR Hall (William WC Ryan) Books in Order

Matthew Hall and William Ryan came to Writing Crime Fiction from different corners of the same genre. Hall had worked as a criminal barrister and screenwriter before writing the Jenny Cooper novels. Ryan had built historical mysteries around Captain Korolev's investigations in Stalin-era Moscow, then moved into other historical suspense. Both knew that a crime story needs more than a clever answer.

This is their practical writing project, not a fictional crossover.

The guide focuses on the basic decisions that shape a crime novel. Where does the crime happen? Whose point of view will carry the reader through the case? What does the investigator want, beyond simply solving it? How much should a writer reveal, and when? Hall and Ryan approach those questions as people who have had to make them on the page themselves.

Plot is naturally a major concern. Crime stories depend on information moving at the right speed, so the book looks at clues, suspects, false leads, motive, and the pressure needed to keep an investigation alive. The point is not to offer one rigid formula. A legal thriller, a police procedural, a historical mystery, and a quieter psychological crime novel will all work differently. What they share is the need for choices that feel fair once the truth comes out.

Character matters just as much. A mystery may begin with a dead body, but readers stay with the people affected by it. Hall's Jenny Cooper books often follow the human damage behind an inquest, while Ryan's historical novels put individuals under the weight of political violence and war. Their joint advice reflects that experience. The crime needs consequences, and the people involved need reasons to act, lie, hide, and take risks.

Research and setting get their share of attention too. Hall understands courts and legal procedure. Ryan has spent years working with the detail and atmosphere of past eras. Their advice encourages writers to use those details in service of the story, rather than piling them on for their own sake. A setting should shape what characters can know, where they can go, and what dangers they face.

It is a short guide, but it is aimed at the messy middle of actual writing.

For new writers, Writing Crime Fiction works as a clear introduction to the moving parts of the genre. For someone already drafting a novel, it can be useful when the plot feels loose, the suspect list is flat, or the ending has stopped making sense. The value of the collaboration is its straightforwardness. Hall and Ryan treat crime fiction as a craft that can be learned through attention, revision, and a willingness to ask better questions.