{"id":30949,"date":"2026-10-27T01:00:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-27T08:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/?p=30949"},"modified":"2026-10-23T03:50:29","modified_gmt":"2026-10-23T10:50:29","slug":"the-red-herring-in-a-mask-decoy-suspects-and-love-interests-by-m-jayne-ladow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/2026\/10\/27\/the-red-herring-in-a-mask-decoy-suspects-and-love-interests-by-m-jayne-ladow\/","title":{"rendered":"The Red Herring in a Mask: Decoy Suspects and Love Interests by M. Jayne LaDow"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/a>Let\u2019s welcome back monthly columnist M. Jayne LaDow<\/a> as she shares with us \u201cThe Red Herring in a Mask: Decoy Suspects and Love Interests.\u201d Enjoy!<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

A red herring is, at its core, a costume.<\/p>\n

A character or thing disguised to trick us<\/strong> — the suspect with the convenient alibi, the love interest who says all the right things.<\/p>\n

And like any costume, it only works if it\u2019s convincing.<\/p>\n

Nobody\u2019s ever been fooled by a bedsheet with two eye holes cut out.<\/p>\n

Which is, coincidentally<\/strong>, the whole plot of Halloween.<\/p>\n

Same Skeleton, Different Costume<\/h2>\n

Strip a red herring down to its bones, and a simple structure appears: a character built to look like the perfect answer.<\/p>\n

In a mystery, the suspect with the obvious motive<\/strong> and the alibi is the person the detective really, really wants it to be because it would be so satisfying. In a romance, it\u2019s the charming love interest.<\/p>\n

The one who says all the right things, who the protagonist starts rooting for like it\u2019s a contest.<\/p>\n

How many of us were rooting for Tamlin in A Court of Thorns and Roses <\/i><\/a>by Sarah J. Maas?<\/p>\n

Be honest.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

All of us?<\/p>\n

And then Maas taught us a thing or two about romantic red herrings.<\/p>\n

The decoy has to feel like a legitimate answer before we can enjoy discovering it isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Plausibility is the costume.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Both mystery and romance authors are, in a sense, running a little con on the reader — a fun one, if it\u2019s done right.<\/p>\n

Because the goal isn\u2019t to fool the reader, it\u2019s to make them fool themselves.<\/p>\n

The Three Things Every Decoy Needs<\/h2>\n

1. A genuine reason for being included<\/h3>\n

The decoy suspect needs a real reason to be at the scene and a real secret, even if it isn\u2019t the one the detective is looking for.<\/p>\n

The decoy love interest can\u2019t be a<\/strong> cardboard placeholder waiting to be dumped.<\/p>\n

They need their own reason to want the protagonist, their own place in the story — even if they\u2019re not the person the protagonist belongs with.<\/p>\n

In my novel, A Pilgrimage of Whispered Truths<\/i><\/a>, Brian\u2019s father does a lot of things a reader expects from someone hiding something.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s related to the victim<\/strong>, yet hustles his family out of a funeral early.<\/p>\n

He has tense words with a stranger nobody can place.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s clearly on edge.<\/p>\n

But his reasons for being on edge have to exist independently of the mystery.<\/p>\n

He has a real job<\/strong>, a real family to protect, and a real reason to be uncomfortable around certain people.<\/p>\n

His behavior can\u2019t exist solely because I needed the reader to suspect him.<\/p>\n

Half-built decoys read as half-built decoys.<\/p>\n

Readers can smell a character who<\/strong> only exists to be wrong, the same way you can spot the guy at the Halloween party whose costume is just his regular clothes and a plastic pumpkin bucket.<\/p>\n

2. A trait that reads two ways<\/h3>\n

The best red herrings have a quality that looks sinister in one light and completely innocent in another.<\/p>\n

Nervousness that could be guilt<\/strong> — or is just a guy who\u2019s terrible at eye contact.<\/p>\n

In romance, a love decoy might look devoted in one light and controlling in another; the perfect boyfriend one day might be a loser the next.<\/p>\n

In The Deal<\/i><\/a>, the first book of Elle Kennedy\u2019s Off-Campus<\/i> series, Justin Kohl isn\u2019t a placeholder.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s the reason Hannah has spent a semester<\/strong> quietly pining after him, and that crush kicks off the fake-dating scheme.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s a real target with real weight in the story, just not the person the story is ultimately about.<\/p>\n

Authors aren\u2019t lying to the reader; they hand the reader a flashlight and let their own assumptions do the work.<\/p>\n

3. A door that closes for a reason<\/h3>\n

A red herring can\u2019t be written off-page like a guest slipping out at the end of a party.<\/p>\n

They need to reach the end of their arc.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Perhaps a lie unravels, or their self-interest slips, and suddenly the reader can see what\u2019s underneath the costume.<\/p>\n

This is where a lot of books and shows need to take better care.<\/p>\n

Pretty Little Liars<\/i><\/a>\u00a0is an example.<\/p>\n

After years of red herrings and suspects<\/strong>, the show\u2019s final reveal pinned everything on a character the audience had never met: a secret twin with no meaningful connection to the story.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t a door closing.<\/p>\n

It was a door bolted on at the last minute.<\/p>\n

And readers notice.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

They know when an author has pulled a new rabbit out of a hat instead of revealing the rabbit from chapter three.<\/p>\n

Why This Is Worth Noticing on Halloween<\/h2>\n

Costumes make an unusually good metaphor for red herrings because a disguise isn\u2019t really a lie.<\/p>\n

Everyone at the party knows it\u2019s fake.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Half the fun is guessing who\u2019s underneath.<\/p>\n

A good red herring works the same way.<\/p>\n

The genre-savvy reader already<\/strong> assumes something is being hidden.<\/p>\n

An author isn\u2019t trying to dupe them so much as invite them to follow the clues and figure out who\u2019s in the costume before it\u2019s revealed.<\/p>\n

Giving the reader a fair, fun chase.<\/p>\n

The Tell<\/h2>\n

Here\u2019s the thing both genres share, and it\u2019s easy to miss:<\/p>\n

The unmasking should recontextualize, not contradict.<\/b><\/p>\n

Go back and reread the decoy\u2019s scenes after the reveal.<\/p>\n

The good ones still hold up and nothing about the character changes.<\/p>\n

The nervous suspect really was hiding something<\/strong> — just not murder.<\/p>\n

The charming love interest really did want the protagonist — just not for the reasons that would have made a good ending.<\/p>\n

The payoff is in the reread.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the difference between<\/strong> a decoy and a cheap trick.<\/p>\n

A good red herring says, You knew. I showed you.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

That\u2019s the sting — and the satisfaction.<\/p>\n

Which, if you think about it, is also good advice for trick-or-treating and for stories: don\u2019t be the person whose costume gives up the game.<\/p>\n

Let the reveal earn the payoff because<\/strong> the best costume hides just enough to make you look twice, and the reward tastes like candy when it\u2019s written right.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

About the Author<\/h2>\n

\"M.<\/a>M. Jayne Ladow writes rom-com and mystery romance where banter hides more heat than jokes.<\/p>\n

Follow her on TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook @mjayneladowauthor, read more on Substack at mjlong.substack.com<\/a>, and visit mjladow.com<\/a> for her full catalog and latest releases.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Curious about A Pilgrimage of Whispered Truths<\/i><\/a>?<\/p>\n

Here is the blurb:<\/p>\n

Dani Jones thought surviving her seventeenth year of teaching would be the hardest part of her summer.<\/p>\n

Then a student’s uncle corners her after class with a warning — and disappears before she can make sense of it.<\/p>\n

Days later, during a Chesapeake Bay cleanup, Dani finds his body hidden in the marsh, and the quiet coastal town she’s called home for years starts giving up secrets it should have buried for good.<\/p>\n

Gavin Larkhurst, a radio newsman with a protective streak and a voice made for late-night confessions, wants Dani far away from the arson, greed, and old lies clawing their way to the surface.<\/p>\n

But the deeper she digs, the harder he falls — torn between keeping her safe and letting her run straight toward the danger neither of them can walk away from.<\/p>\n

Set in June 1997 Virginia Beach, A Pilgrimage of Whispered Truths<\/i> is a steamy mystery romance where every whispered truth comes with a price — and not everyone survives paying it.<\/p>\n

You can purchase it here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Freebie<\/h2>\n

\"One<\/a>Get a free copy of my first rom-com, One Night Stands and Lesson Plans.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

Audrey Freemont, a professional middle school teacher, hasn\u2019t had time or energy to find romance in five years.<\/p>\n

When she sees Oz Taylor at a school happy hour, it\u2019s one look, and they are sneaking out.<\/p>\n

But after the one-night stand, reality catches up with them.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s the new algebra teacher at Marchfield Middle, and he wants more, but Audrey is caught between the world of expectations for teachers and her desire for more than a workaholic life.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/dl.bookfunnel.com\/d1pb8wtyfz<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Red Herring in a Mask: Decoy Suspects and Love Interests explores how decoys create satisfying reveals in mystery and romance. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":30950,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","tve_updated_post":"","tve_custom_css":"","tve_user_custom_css":"","tve_globals":{},"tcb2_ready":0,"tcb_editor_enabled":0,"tve_landing_page":"","_tve_header":"","_tve_footer":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[8435,8439,8430,8468,4444,231,5599,8440,2687,1903,8465,6891,8446,8452,8464,8428,8438,8432,8427,8448,232,8383,2865,8442,8467,5044,8469,8445,2611,8451,4107,8450,8453,8431,8287,8297,8433,8460,475,8463,8444,8449,8461,8437,5073,8455,1874,352,8299,8459,8458,243,2039,8470,8436,8456,4737,8454,7625,8429,669,8443,8434,8447,6601,8462,8457,8441,8466],"class_list":["post-30949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-writing-tips","tag-a-court-of-thorns-and-roses","tag-a-pilgrimage-of-whispered-truths","tag-alibi","tag-arson","tag-assumptions","tag-authors","tag-banter","tag-brian","tag-character-arc","tag-characterization","tag-chesapeake-bay","tag-clues","tag-controlling-behavior","tag-crush","tag-dani-jones","tag-deception","tag-decoy-characters","tag-detective","tag-disguise","tag-elle-kennedy","tag-facebook","tag-fake-dating","tag-foreshadowing","tag-funeral","tag-gavin-larkhurst","tag-genre-conventions","tag-greed","tag-guilt","tag-halloween","tag-hannah","tag-instagram","tag-justin-kohl","tag-lies","tag-love-interests","tag-m-jayne-ladow","tag-misdirection","tag-motive","tag-murder","tag-mystery","tag-mystery-romance","tag-nervousness","tag-off-campus","tag-payoff","tag-plausibility","tag-plot-twist","tag-pretty-little-liars","tag-protagonist","tag-readers","tag-red-herring","tag-rereading","tag-revelation","tag-romance","tag-romantic-comedy","tag-romantic-tension","tag-sarah-j-maas","tag-secret-twin","tag-secrets","tag-self-interest","tag-substack","tag-suspects","tag-suspense","tag-suspicion","tag-tamlin","tag-the-deal","tag-tiktok","tag-trick-or-treating","tag-unmasking","tag-victim","tag-virginia-beach"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Red Herring in a Mask: Decoy Suspects and Love Interests by M. 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