A small point that I have been ignoring up to now on A Habit for Killing has been the genre. It’s historical mystery really, but the mystery features accusations of necromancy. Does this mean the necromancy actually happens in the story or is this merely the motivation for the murders that take place. Up until now I have been fairly coy in the synopsis about this point, as it hasn’t really mattered. However, I have now reached the point where I am plotting the ending in more detail and I really need to know how my protagonists save the day. One option is that they use magic to save the day, for positive rather than fouls ends. But I think that this means, in order to keep the reader with me, that I need to allow for the possibility of magic working throughout the earlier part of the story. This could also then push the story genre into fantasy rather than historical. A good thing or a bad thing? I’m not sure. I do want to write a sort of cross-over book that explores the historical beliefs of people who thought that magic was real, so maybe for my characters it will seem real, so it can really help them solve the mystery at the end. But what about the reader. Should I as a narrator indicate that they know better, or should they be going along with the belief of the characters?