The Detective's Coded Clues
In a bustling urban city in India, a young detective of mixed heritage stumbles upon a series of coded messages left at the scenes of seemingly unrelated crimes. Decode the messages with the detective, revealing a deep-seated vendetta that intertwines the fates of the city’s most influential families.
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 Multicultural Mystery prompts
- The Stolen Inti Raymi RelicDuring the Inti Raymi Festival in Cusco, Peru, an ancient relic is stolen from a small indigenous museum. The museum's curator, a passionate advocate…
- The Stolen Tea Ceremony VaseSet your mystery in Tokyo during the crowded Cherry Blossom Festival. A renowned but controversial ceramic vase is stolen during a prestigious tea…
- The London Shop BurglariesDevelop a plot around a series of mysterious thefts in a multicultural area of London, where family-owned shops of different communities—Indian…
- The Jiu-Jitsu WitnessThe teen prodigy of a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu dojo in a multicultural urban neighborhood witnesses a crime that threatens to expose a local politician's…
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