The Taxi's Unknown Destination
In a bustling city, taxi drivers begin to disappear one by one, each after dropping off a mysterious passenger. Despite the lack of communication between drivers, they all share one commonality — they all logged an unknown destination before vanishing. A rookie detective decides to go undercover as a taxi driver to solve the disappearances.
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.
- Let the most helpful witness be the one with the most to hide.
- Tell it from the point of view of a suspect who is lying about something else.
- Give the victim a secret the reader learns before the detective does.
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 Detective prompts
- The Investigator's Missing TwinDuring a high-profile charity gala, a celebrated private investigator is startled by a familiar face — her long-lost twin, presumed dead after…
- The Riddle of the Missing ArtifactA renowned detective receives an anonymous letter containing a riddle that leads to the first of several historical landmarks. At each location, a new…
- The Secret in the Stolen PaintingImagine a detective who specializes in art theft. Their latest case involves a stolen painting rumored to hold the key to an age-old secret society.…
- The Circus and the Perfect HeistsA small coastal town, plagued by a series of inexplicably perfect burglaries, hires a retired detective renowned for his unconventional methods. The…
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