As many of you know I am writing an historical novel. I'm not planning on stopping at one, I want to make it into a series all based in the Elizabethan Era (Depending on how I do with the first one of course
) So I was thinking about how different actions bring about murder. Love of money, blackmail, jealousy, hatred, obsessions, hidden secrets, anger; and how the actions of one person can affect a lot of people: family, friends and loved ones. However, it can be so hard to portray them all. Basically in my current novel three people have died, however these people didn't have family, one was a girl off the street, another an old gamekeeper who lived alone in his hut with his dog, and one of the Queen's advisors. Basically the one that I can use the most to play on the emotions of my readers is the Queens Advisor, but he is not a nice man and generally everyone hates him, so they won't feel much sympathy for his death. So I'm struggling a little; my book I feel, needs to be expanded a lot, much more than it is at present, which is why I have stopped writing it at all and have begun to re write it. How do you play on the feelings of your reader when you have killed a person they do not like? How can you make them feel sorry for him? I don't want him to be married as he was having an affair with a married woman, so he has to be single. My ideas were a child, you see; someone who he left behind who needed him, but since he isn't married I veer away from that idea. I decided to come here for ideas to see what you all think; yes, I promise to post this on HWHF when it opens, but it's too long to wait for me to post it.
I need ideas now! 
Thanks in advance!