The Handler's Cold Case
At the retirement party of an esteemed police dog handler, a retired German Shepherd reacts in an unexpectedly aggressive way towards a guest. Construct a story where this incident unravels a cold case the handler and his canine companion never managed to solve, leading to a series of events that might provide closure.
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.
- Make the detective wrong at the midpoint, for a good reason.
- End with the solution in a single line of dialogue.
- Plant the key clue in the first scene, in plain sight.
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 Police Procedural prompts
- The Memento in the AlleyA notorious gang leader is found dead in an alley, and the first officer on the scene takes a personal memento from the crime scene - a decision that…
- The Evidence Room CluesDuring a routine audit of the evidence room, a young detective notices irregularities with the items logged from a decade-old unsolved case. Explore…
- The Detective's Last CaseA notoriously dedicated small-town detective, set to retire in a month, stumbles upon a series of cryptic notes left in random locations around town.…
- The Missing Museum ArtifactsCraft a narrative around a coastal town police officer who discovers maritime artifacts that are linked to thefts at local museums. Explore the…
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