Suspense Writing

In her wonderful autobiography, Kitchen Privileges, Mary Higgins Clark describes one approach to writing Suspense.
She refers to the old Hansel and Gretal tale in which Hansel dropped smooth stones and Gretel dropped breadcrumbs. The birds, of course, ate the breadcrumbs.
"The mystery/suspense writer is dropping both smooth stones and breadcrumbs. The smooth stones are ambiguous statements, never cheating the reader, but sometimes leading them astray. The breadcrumbs are the real clues to the perpetrator of the crime and the solution of the plot." Clark claims that this method of writing has never let her down.

Kitchen Privileges A Memoir by Mary Higgins Clark, Simon & Schuster, 2002.