Most good stories start with a fundamental list of ingredients: the initial situation, conflict, complication, climax, suspense, denouement, and conclusion. Great writers sometimes shake up the recipe and add some spice.
Exposition
A New Sheriff in Town
Everything is hunky dory in Tupelo Landing, a small southern town that readers are introduced to through the eyes of a scrappy eleven-year-old named Mo, who has a nontraditional family. But as Mo works in her family's café one day, a stranger comes in. His name is Detective Joe Starr, and he's here to investigate a murder. How exciting, right? And with that, our plot is officially off and running.
Rising Action
Mr. Jesse's Demise
Things heat up when another body turns up—that of Mr. Jesse, Mo's neighbor. At the same time, Dale (her best friend) is freaked out because he's the last person who saw Mr. Jesse alive. Not only that, but Dale stole the guy's boat. It doesn't look good. Detective Starr continues to investigate, though, and concludes that Dale isn't the murderer. Starr still doesn't know who is, though. He also discovers that Mr. Jesse had given the church one hundred bucks a week for the past eleven years. Where'd he get so much money? And so the plot thickens.
Climax
Missing Miss Lana
Things go from bad to worse when Mo comes home one day to find Miss Lana missing and their house ransacked. And the Colonel is still gone, too, though his whereabouts are also a mystery. They figure out that the murderer is a man named Robert Slate, who was just in jail for bank robbery… and that Mr. Jesse was probably his accomplice. With both her guardians M.I.A., poor Mo is super sad and worried and ends up going to stay with Dale and his mother, Miss Rose.
Falling Action
Double-Crossed
The Colonel calls Mo to tell her that he's escaped but that he's going back to save Miss Lana. On his instruction, she goes over to the house to find a packet of papers that he wants her to get, and while she and Dale are there, Deputy Marla comes in and points a gun at them. Oh no, they've been double-crossed. Curses.
Luckily, though, they overpower her and rush back to Miss Rose's house, only to find that Dale's abusive dad has returned and is admitting to helping out Robert Slate. The Colonel shows up right then and helps them subdue Dale's pops, and then they all go to Mr. Jesse's place to look for Miss Lana. With the Colonel back, and Marla exposed, things are starting to wrap up, even if they still feel tense.
Resolution
The Truth Comes Out
They capture Robert Slate and find Miss Lana unharmed. In the process, the Colonel learns that he used to be Robert Slate's attorney, and that he hasn't forgiven himself for getting the jerk an easy sentence. In the end, everything goes back to normal and Miss Lana reopens the café. Dale and his family are also super happy because Miss Rose officially divorces her husband and opens a touring business at her tobacco farm. And everyone lives happily ever after.