The Detective's Unfinished Case
In a quiet suburban town, a retired detective receives a mysterious letter hinting at an unsolved case from their past. The letter leads them down a trail of cryptic clues, each signed by a different alias. As they reconnect with old colleagues and enemies, they begin to realize the case might be closer to home than they thought.
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 Detective prompts
- The Detective and the Coded ArtAfter receiving a mysterious letter in the mail, an aging detective comes out of retirement for one last case. The letter leads to a series of coded…
- The Missing SpousePen a story about a retired detective who is drawn back into the field by a personal plea from an old friend whose spouse has suspiciously…
- The Stolen WatchesFollowing a high-profile robbery at a luxury watch store, a rookie detective is assigned her first major case. She quickly realizes that each stolen…
- The Academy's Murder CaseAt a prestigious private detective academy, students are assigned cold cases to solve as their final exam. One student uncovers new evidence in a case…
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