The Women's Museum Heist
When priceless works of art start disappearing from a new women-only museum, an acclaimed detective renowned for her art theft recoveries is brought in. Hidden beneath the museum’s celebration of female artists, she uncovers an intricate web of former art thieves turned security experts, challenging her to discern ally from adversary.
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 Female Detective prompts
- The Beach Town PostsSet in a small beach town where everyone knows everyone, a woman detective specializing in digital forensics finds her skills put to the test when a…
- The Novelist’s Robbery CluesA seasoned detective fighting to prove herself in a predominantly male police department is tasked with solving a high-profile robbery case. The…
- The Missing HeiressSet in the 1920s, a sharp-witted woman running a private investigation firm takes on a case that society’s elite deem too scandalous to touch. She…
- The Unsent Love LetterA cold case heats up in a small coastal town when a novice female detective stumbles across an old, unsent love letter that hints at the motive for a…
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