The Case from the Past
A renowned private detective famous for never having an unsolved case is now retired. However, a letter arrives one morning, postmarked 25 years ago, containing a case's details that was famously ruled as accidental. An urge to correct the past brings them out of retirement for one last case.
Suggested length: A short story: 1,500 to 5,000 words, or flash fiction under 1,000
Start the clock
Pick a sprint, press start and keep going until it stops. Momentum beats polish on a first draft.
Make it yours
Three ways to take this prompt somewhere nobody else will.
- Start with the confession, and make the story about why it's false.
- Make the detective wrong at the midpoint, for a good reason.
- End with the solution in a single line of dialogue.
Writing mystery books
Who did it? You get every clue and a fair shot at the answer.
A mystery opens with a puzzle, usually a death, and closes with the solution. In between, a detective (professional or not) gathers clues and suspects while the reader tries to get there first. A mystery looks backward, at a crime that has already happened.
What readers expect
- A crime or puzzle early on
- Clues, suspects and red herrings
- A detective the reader follows
- A solution that is surprising but fair
A tip before you start
Play fair. Every clue your detective uses should appear on the page first, ideally hidden in plain sight.
More Mystery and Crime prompts
- The Pets' Crime CluesIn a quiet suburban neighborhood, all the pets start behaving oddly, leading their owners to uncover clues to a decades-old unsolved crime. Write from…
- The Retired Detective's LettersA retired detective receives an anonymous letter one morning, listing the dates and locations of forthcoming crimes, eerily precise. Driven out of…
- Sunday Service BurglariesIn a quiet suburban town, a series of houses have been burglarized, all while the families were attending Sunday service. The local sheriff, who was…
- Puzzles for the Crime ReporterA local journalist, known for their crime column, receives anonymous, cryptic puzzles that seem linked to recent disappearances in the city. Each…
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