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Writing Prompts

70 Mystery Writing Prompts That’ll Keep Your Readers Hooked

From whodunits to unsolved crimes, here are over 70 mystery writing prompts that will keep your readers hooked from beginning to end.

The mystery genre is all about gathering clues and evidence to solve a crime or mystery of some sort. Common mysteries to solve may include murder, kidnappings, theft and any other unsolved crimes. The thing that makes a mystery story so appealing is that no one knows who the true culprit is until the very end of the story. And the big reveal at the end is always shocking to the reader. The secret to a good mystery lies in the plot twist . You have to be two steps ahead of your readers – Get inside the head of your readers and think, “Who would your readers think the main culprit is?” Then switch it around, and pick someone who is highly unlikely to be the real baddie.

You can pick a random prompt from our mystery writing prompts generator below to practice your plot twist skills on:

In a mystery novel, characters are a huge part of the mystery. Common characters may include:

Street smart detective – They ask all the right questions, but are the answers to be trusted?
Bent cop – Known for planting fake evidence at crime scenes.
Mysterious guy – No one knows anything about them, and therefore they could be an easy suspect in the case.
The scapegoat – The one everyone is blaming.
The obvious suspect – All clues point to this person.
The unobvious suspect – No real evidence against this person, but somehow they link to the crime in question.

When writing your mystery story think about the characters you would include carefully before diving in. We even recommend creating character profiles for each character, and maybe even a mind map to show their connection to the crime in question.

Take a look at this collection of the best mystery books for teens for some more ideas! Or this list of 156+ thriller writing prompts .

70 Mystery Writing Prompts

List of over 70 mystery writing prompts, from unsolved murder cases to items that vanished into thin air:

The richest man on Earth has a hidden vault filled with millions of dollars, expensive jewellery and gems. One night he goes to add to his collection of gems and notices a sentimental piece of jewellery missing.
One-by-one random things keep on going missing in your house. First your watch, then a teapot. Who is taking them and why?
One of your classmates mysteriously stops coming to school. It’s been nearly 2 weeks since you last saw them. What could have happened to them?
A police officer finds a dead body at a barber’s shop in town. The cause of death was drowning. No one knows how the body got there and who did it.
A person takes a game of snakes and ladders too literally. In random locations around the city, snakes and ladders have been placed. Where do those ladders go? Why are snakes placed in these random places? Can you solve this strange mystery?
You wake up in a warehouse with no memory of how you got there. The warehouse office is filled with newspaper clippings of missing people from the past 20 years. Who is the kidnapper and why are you in this warehouse?
Last night a series of supermarkets and warehouses across the city were robbed. The thief or thieves only steal toilet paper. Can you solve this case?
Meet Benji, the cat detective. Benji is a feisty feline who is on a mission to capture the great tuna can thief.
At exactly 7.08 pm last night a scream was heard from 59 Pebble Lane. The neighbours knocked but no one was home. Later that night, the police arrived at approximately 2.13 am to find a cold dead body on the floor in a pool of spilt tea.
You are a reporter for the Imagine Forest Times newspaper, you are writing an article on the missing bird eggs in the local forest.
Imagine you are a security guard. It’s your first night shift at the local art Museum. The next morning a priceless painting goes missing, and you are blamed. You need to prove your innocence before you are sent to prison, but how?
Write a time travel mystery story where the main character keeps going back in time to find out who really murdered their parents.
You and your friends go to the fairground. You decide to ride the carousel. Round and round you go, and then the ride stops. When it stops you notice one of your friends is suddenly missing. Where did they go? (See our list of writing prompts about friendship for more ideas.)
The main character in your story is caught red-handed with the missing jewel in their hand. But did they really steal this jewel?
Write a diary from the perspective of a paranoid person who thinks their neighbour is stealing from them.
Write down an action scene where the main character trails the secondary character to an abandoned warehouse. What do you think will happen next?
Someone has been stealing mobile phones at your school. You think you know who it is, so you set up a try to catch the thief.
A bent police officer has been planting false evidence at crime scenes for years. Who are they protecting and why?
Write a script between two characters who are meeting in secret to discuss some new evidence in a murder trial.
Imagine you are a detective interviewing a suspect in the crime of jewellery theft. Write down some questions that you might ask the suspect. If you have time, you can also write the possible answers from the suspect’s point of view.
You discover a note in your bag. It says, “I know what YOU have done!” – Who can have left this note, and what are they talking about?
Write a story about a young police officer who is solving the murder case of his best friend from high school. The twist is that this police officer turns out to be the murderer.
For over 10 years, your twin sister was missing. But there she is – Suddenly walking in the middle of the street. Where has she been? What happened to her?
Imagine you are an investigator examining the scene of a murder crime. What types of clues would you look out for? Can you make a list of at least 10 possible clues you might find?
A police car is chasing a potential suspect in a murder trial. Halfway through the chase, the police car disappears. The suspect slows down their car, and wonders, “What happened? Why did they stop coming after me?”
You come home from school one day and notice that your mother’s things are gone. Your first thought is that she left you and your father. But the truth is that she was kidnapped by someone.
A mysterious person has stolen all your teddy bears and is holding them for ransom somewhere. Each day you get a cryptic riddle. If you can solve each riddle you will receive one teddy bear back each time.
It’s the year 3,000. Your main character is a lawyer for a robot. They must prove this robot’s innocence in a human murder trial. (See this list of sci-fi writing prompts for more inspiration.)
Someone keeps stealing textbooks from your school. One day you go to school and see a huge statement art piece outside the school made from the stolen textbooks. Can you find out who did this?
Cinderella has turned into a detective. She needs to solve the case of the stolen glass slippers. After all those glass slippers are super rare.
The main character in your story must prove their innocence in a murder trial. How would they do this? What evidence would they need?
The main character in your story discovers that their brother is the real killer. They then try to destroy all evidence linked to their brother to protect them.
“Poppy! Poppy! Where are you, buddy?” Mindy searched for her pet Labrador everywhere. But she was nowhere to be seen. It turns out all the dogs in town have been missing since last night. What could have possibly happened to them?
Someone has been leaving embarrassing photographs of various people all over town. Can you track down this person? Why are they posting these photos?
Write a mystery story titled, ‘Piece-by-Piece’ about a jigsaw puzzle thief who is stealing random puzzles pieces.
You notice some muddy footprints leading into a thick forest at your local park. You follow this trail of footprints to a secret hatch in the woods. The door of the hatch has been left open. When you go inside you discover something shocking.
Your dog digs up an old lunchbox in your backyard. Inside the lunchbox, you find a key, an address and some old newspaper clipping of missing people. You think you can solve this case of the missing people by just visiting that address. But things get a little more complicated…
This is a mystery story about a boy named Billy who’s home alone and is playing with a toy truck when he finds a strange box. His mother, a lady with a past, is suspicious of this mysterious box, so she calls the police. Billy’s mother is a detective, and they find that the box is really a trap, and Billy is kidnapped.
Write a crime mystery story about how a little girl’s dream of becoming a scientist led to her death. Why would anyone murder a young girl who wants to be a scientist? How did this happen?
A small-town sheriff gets caught up in the biggest robbery in history. When over a million dollars just vanish into thin air, people are quick to blame the shifty-eyed sheriff from out of town. But is he really the culprit in this crime?
When Sara was a young girl she was kidnapped by a strange man and woman who took care of her. But now Sara wants to know what happened to her real parents. Are they still alive? Are they still looking for her?
The clock is ticking. Somewhere in the city, a group of hostages are locked up. With every hour that goes by, one hostage will be killed. The main character, a street-smart detective must solve the clues to find the location of these hostages in time.
A police officer finds himself in a very unusual situation. It is just before 6 pm on a Friday night when police were called to a disturbance in the street. The call came from a man who was allegedly threatening a woman with a knife. The man was arrested at 6.05 pm and taken to the police station. However, it was later revealed that the woman left at home has been murdered by someone else, but who?
A murder mystery party takes a dark turn when one of the guests is murdered for real.
Write a mystery story titled, ‘Who Stole My Homework?’ The main character’s A* worthy English essay is stolen by someone, but who?
Use this sentence as inspiration: Inspector Robins pulls out his notebook and writes down two words: Green fingers.
“10 car windows broken in 10 days! What does it all mean? What does it mean?” Exclaimed Detective Riley.
During a stop and search, a police officer finds a dead body in the boot of a car. But is the car driver really to blame?
A lost bracelet ends up in your best friend’s locker at school, along with other precious items. Your best friend is wrongly accused of stealing these items.
One girl must find her stolen prom dress before the prom. In the days leading up to the prom, more and more of her accessories for prom night are being stolen. Who is this thief?
Write a mystery thriller titled, “Come and Get It”. It’s about an arrogant criminal who is stealing sentimental items from each police officer in the state, He leaves these items in random locations in the city, along with a note that says: Come and get it!
Every night the car alarms for every car on your street turn on at exactly 2.03 am. why is this happening, and who is responsible?
A mysterious hacker has hacked into the city’s power grid. They have the power to on and off electricity whenever they want. Can you catch them before they do any more damage?
A secret admirer is leaving expensive gifts for your main character. At first, these gifts seem great, but then they soon take a dark twist (see our Valentine’s Day Prompts for more inspiration).
Your main character is at their senior prom. Dancing the night away. Suddenly the lights go off. Pitch darkness for a minute. When the lights come on, your best friend is gone. And there’s a message in red paint on the wall: You’re next!
Your teacher gives back your English assignment, and you got an F! Looking closer, you realise that this is not your assignment at all! The same starts happening in your other classes. Someone has been swapping your assignments – But who?
For the past few days, you have been receiving anonymous emails from someone. The emails are telling you not to be friends with him. You don’t take any of these emails seriously until the police come knocking on your door.
A family picnic at the park becomes unbearable when you open up the basket to discover every family members untold secrets.
You are at a Chinese restaurant with your family. It’s time to open up the fortune cookies. When your mother opens up her fortune cookie, it says: “One of your children has been very naughty!”. Then your father opens his cookie up, it says: “Who’s been sneaking around behind mommy’s and daddy’s back?” All eyes at the table are on you. But what did you do?
Your main character is a bent cop. Trying to manipulate the course of justice, and helping real criminals get away with murder. One day, someone plants evidence that gets this bent cop arrested for a murder they did not commit.
Write down a scene between two characters. In this scene, the ‘real’ criminal is trying to convince a detective that someone else is guilty of the crime of stealing from a church.
There are three potential suspects in the murder case of Phillip Green. You are the lead detective on this case. What questions would you ask these suspects to find the real murderer? Make a list of at least 10 questions you may ask.
A health inspector arrives at a vegan restaurant to discover rotten vegetables, and raw, old meat. The owners know nothing about this and believe someone planted this as sabotage. Who can have sabotaged the vegan restaurant?
Write a short mystery story for kids titled, ‘Why is the sky blue?’ One child’s curiosity about the sky leads them to discover a secret playground in the park.
Your main character is a news reporter who is convinced that the killer of Rosie Moore is still out there. They know that the police have convicted the wrong person for this heinous crime. Can your main character find the real killer before the wrong person is sentenced to life in prison?
Someone has been replacing all shampoos around town with a hair removal solution. When half the town’s hair starts falling out, it is up to you, a top detective to solve this crime.
Write a mystery story set in the future where a secret cyber group called the ‘Merry Man’ are hacking the bank accounts of rich people and giving this money to the poor. Your main character is a police detective trying to hunt the members of this cyber group down.
A mysterious person is playing a nasty game of hide and seek with you. They have kidnapped your friends and family members and hid them in various locations within the city. You have exactly 1 hour to find each person before something bad happens to them.
Someone has left a note in your locker at school. The note reads: Help me, please! You ignore this note, but more notes start appearing in your notebooks, bag and even at home. Until eventually you get a package through the mail. You open this package and scream…
Write an animal mystery tale about a dog who wants to find the original owner of a doll he found in the park.
Can you solve this bonus mystery prompt: Someone has been stealing socks from the locals at night. Who could this be and why would they be doing this? (See video prompt below for more ideas.)

Did you find these mystery writing prompts useful when writing your own story? Let us know in the comments below!

Marty the wizard is the master of Imagine Forest. When he's not reading a ton of books or writing some of his own tales, he loves to be surrounded by the magical creatures that live in Imagine Forest. While living in his tree house he has devoted his time to helping children around the world with their writing skills and creativity.

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67 Thrilling And Chilling Mystery Writing Prompts

You’re a huge fan of riveting mystery plots.

You’ve read some of the best mystery fiction ever written (some well-known, some not), and you just know you could create a mystery that would keep your readers enthralled to the shocking end.

Think how gratifying it’ll feel to hear readers raving that you kept them guessing until the final reveal!

All you need right now are some high-quality murder mystery ideas like the ones in this post. Read on to find the seed of your new bestseller .

May it lead to many others.

67 Mystery Writing Prompts

Look through the following mystery story ideas and make a note of those that get your mind working in strange and vaguely uncomfortable ways. You know better than anyone the prompts that speak to you louder than others.

If you get a chill as you’re developing the idea, chances are good, your reader will, too.

1. You’re a memoir writer with a complicated love life. An estranged cousin calls asking if you’ll help her write a “tell-all” memoir . Then she disappears.

2. You’re a private investigator looking into the murder of a philanthropist’s reclusive wife. Two people confess, each swearing they acted alone. You suspect another.

3. You’re the assistant to the creator of the first empathic AI, who disappears just as the first psychopath AI blows away the competition at a global tech convention.

4. Your candle shop wins a prestigious award. Last year’s winner is angry and slanders you and your products. You find their body behind your store, covered in wax.

5. You research your genealogy and find that several people from different branches all died in the same mysterious location — of unknown causes.

6. A well-known motivational speaker is about to give a TED talk when they take a drink from a fresh water bottle and collapse. Their assistant disappears.

7. She’s always been faithful to her husband. So, who’s been trying to frame her for adultery? And what does her husband’s dead lawyer have to do with it?

8. You’re lost in the woods, no thanks to a poorly-planned nature hike, when you find the hatch to an underground bunker. A picture on the wall stops you cold.

9. Someone is stealing items from the graves of historical figures buried in the New Orleans cemeteries near your home. What does your latest Etsy purchase have to do with that?

10. Every eligible woman was eager to claim his attention at the ball, but only one would add his name to her dance card — and something else to her collection.

11. A grandfather you never met has left you an unusual item in his will with a warning: “Don’t underestimate this gift. It’s always been meant for you.”

12. You’re a witness to the opening of an Egyptian sarcophagus that’s only just been discovered in a buried tomb. Resting on the mummy’s chest is an old camera.

13. A few minutes after you buy a friend’s older smartphone from them (for a bargain), you get a phone call from someone who’s tracking your every move.

mysterious man holding a sickle mystery writing prompts

14. Your business computer has just been hacked by a pro, who happens to be a resident in the local nursing home — and the father of last night’s date.

15. You’re on a solitary walk through the woods near your new home, and you find a set of fresh footprints leading deeper in, possibly toward the lake. You follow them.

16. You’re on your way home from a vacation when an airport official tells you your passport must be a fake. Your country of origin doesn’t exist.

17. You take a short walk out in the snow and come back to find a fresh, icy handprint on the glass by your door. There are no footprints leading to it.

18. You visit a tea shop, and a woman pulls you aside and convinces you to buy a special blend she’s created, warning you to only drink one cup a day — and only at night.

19. While looking for the cabin retreat you signed up for, you get lost and end up at a cabin that resembles what you expected. They welcome you.

20. Every night, a new house of worship in your town is ransacked. Each time, the thieves steal a hidden sacred object but leave more expensive things untouched.

21. A rogue doctor overseas has created a life-saving vaccine for a deadly pandemic but disappears before he can share it.

22. You’re a seasoned detective looking over a murder scene at your ex-wife’s residence. So far, her dog is the prime suspect.

23. The winner of the beauty pageant is the last person everyone expected. Then she wins the lottery jackpot and wakes up with a dead guy in her closet.

24. You’ve agreed to deliver a package to a recluse living in a neglected manor in exchange for $100,000,000. They never told you he’d want you to stay.

25. The night before you head home from college, someone calls you from the home phone and leaves a disturbing message. Now, no one’s answering the phone.

26. You think you know the identity of your “Secret Santa” until you see the most recent gift: a gem your suspect could not have afforded (and wouldn’t have given).

27. After the “prophecy,” he changed her name and never expected her to spell out the name “Petra” with her wooden blocks. The near-drowning was not an accident.

28. At night, she sleeps with a different stone beneath her pillow. This morning, she woke to feel as if she’d spent the night running. She wasn’t wrong.

29. The murder victims all had admitted to the same phobia. And all of them died just as they’d overcome it. Now, the hypnotist who’d helped them was missing.

How will you use these mystery writing prompts?

When it comes to storytelling, only a small share of the magic is in the gift of an inspiring prompt. The rest of it lies in you.

Begin by choosing one of these prompts and freewriting for a few minutes — or for as long as you like. Paint a picture for yourself, and describe everything your senses tell you.

Whether you lean toward horror or romantic suspense story ideas, you’ll find a way to make each chosen story prompt your own.

May each adventure teach you something new.

You’re a huge fan of riveting mystery plots. You’ve read some of the best mystery fiction ever written (some well-known, some not), and you just know you could create a mystery that would keep your readers enthralled to the shocking end. #writingprompts

Best Crime and Mystery Writing Prompts of 2023

By Krystal N. Craiker

Readers love mystery stories because of the suspense, the puzzle, and the plot twists.

The mystery genre is a great genre to explore for writers who love writing suspense and enjoy learning about true crime.

Writing a crime or mystery novel can be a lot of fun, but it can be difficult to come up with fresh ideas.

Writing prompts are a great way to get your creative juices flowing. These writing prompts and story ideas can give you enough fodder for everything from a short story to a whole series of novels.

The great thing about writing prompts is they aren’t restrictive. The prompt will probably be unrecognizable by the end of your story because you changed it so many times.

Even if you stay true to the prompt, you can still write an original story. If you give five authors the same story idea, you will get five unique stories.

So, take these mystery writing prompts and make them your own.

Use them as inspiration and change them up. Write a whole novel based on one of them. Take bits and pieces from several prompts for something epic. Or just use them as writing exercises .

Historical Mystery Story Ideas and Prompts

Police procedural and detective writing prompts, cozy mystery writing prompts, general suspense thriller novel writing prompts, serial killer mystery writing prompts, how to use mystery prompts in writing.

Bootleggers in 1920s Chicago keep winding up dead. Two detectives must partner together to solve the murders. One detective has dedicated his life to ending bootlegging, as his father was a raging alcoholic. The other is a homicide detective who dabbles in bootlegging on the side.

In World War II, an army nurse goes missing in the Pacific Theater of Operations. The disappearance is written off as a defection by superior officers, so it’s up to her nurse friends to discover what happened.

A dead body appears at a noble’s house party in Regency England. No one claims to know who the victim is, which leads to two mysteries: who is it and whodunit?

A town in the Mughal Empire falls victim to a serial killer. The victims are all middle-aged mothers. A young woman, whose mother was the first victim, works with a military general to find and stop the murders.

King Louis XIV’s favorite virtuoso is found dead. He tasks a reluctant lieutenant with investigating everyone at Versailles to find and stop the killer. Every witness tells the lieutenant a different version of the murder because they all have something to hide.

Someone has kidnapped the daughters of two prominent figures from both sides of the Mexican Revolution in 1912. Both leaders send a detective to investigate the kidnappings. The two detectives are from rival sides of the revolution, but they must put aside their differences to find the missing girls.

A detective in the Orlando Police Department must investigate the mysterious deaths of three Disney World princesses. The detective hates children but now spends every day at the most kid-friendly place on earth.

A Scotland Yard detective is at risk of being fired for her reckless behavior. She’s sent to a remote village to investigate the disappearance of a local baker. None of her superiors care about the case, but she quickly finds herself in a dangerous game of cat and mouse with the killer—and no backup.

Coffee is delivered to the police station by an anonymous donor. One of the cups doesn’t have a name written in the cup. Instead, there’s a creepy note, and the cup is filled with something far more sinister than coffee.

A burnt-out police detective must work with his ex-wife, a renowned forensics expert, to solve the murder of a prominent member of the government.

A police officer is on a family vacation to an isolated mountain town with no active police department. When the owner of the lodge is found dead, and all the phone and internet lines are cut, it’s up to the officer to solve the case before the murderer takes another victim.

An investigative journalist believes that several high-profile thefts, spread over five decades, are related. The only person who believes them is a quirky small town sheriff.

An elderly small town librarian winds up dead in her own library. It appears to be from natural causes, but the day before she emails her most bookish patron with the subject line: Clue for my murder. The body of the email contains only a library call number for a book.

A star athlete on a full-ride scholarship and a studious aspiring scientist must solve a series of mysterious deaths in their dorms before their dream university is closed forever.

The grumpy owner of a local pub (who hates children) and a young girl from the local elementary school pair up to solve the disappearance of an elementary teacher who moonlights as a bartender.

A successful businessman returns to his coastal hometown for the holidays. After drinking spiked eggnog, he wakes up in the boat of his high school girlfriend, who is now a professional fisherwoman. He has no memory of the night before, but now he’s the prime suspect in a murder investigation. With the help of his ex, his overbearing mom, and his former chemistry teacher, he must work to clear his name.

The murder of the resort’s entertainment director rocks a peaceful resort town on a tropical island. No one particularly liked the victim, but the head maid and a quirky bellboy feel obligated to solve the murder to avoid losing guests and, therefore, hotel income.

An accountant has always believed that her mother died in a car crash. When her grandmother passes away, she finds a half-finished investigation in the old woman’s basement. Her grandmother suspected murder for almost two decades and never told a soul! She picks up her grandmother’s investigation to discover what really happened to her mom.

A sweet 90-year-old woman enters a police station and confesses to a series of murders spanning 70 years. The problem is she is fuzzy on the details due to her age—or is she? Detectives must investigate the murders as she remembers the names and locations of her murder victims.

Fed up with the bureaucracy and corruption of the criminal justice system, an assistant district attorney fakes their own death to enter the seedy underbelly of the organized crime world. They want to bring down the killers who keep getting away with murder—and their mysterious top boss.

A criminal psychologist helps profile an unknown murderer in a brutal triple homicide. But as she completes her profile, she notices some shocking similarities to her washed-up brother, who lives with their elderly father.

All over the country, people are dying of arsenic poisoning. They all had one thing in common, they took the same vitamins. An investigator from the Food and Drug Administration visits the manufacturer, only to find a sinister conspiracy that goes much deeper than just a few factory workers.

The office gossip winds up dead after a company retreat. Multiple people had a motive. The main character let their dark secret slip that weekend, and now they must solve the murder to avoid the truth getting out.

A series of bank heists occur on the same day in four different countries. The next week, several heads of crime organizations descend on Monaco. An Interpol agent must go undercover in the high-stakes world of organized crime and gambling to solve the mystery.

Prisoners keep winding up brutally murdered at a penitentiary. Several of the imprisoned serial killers are suspects. A federal investigator, with a hatred for even the most petty criminals, is sent to investigate the murders. He must work closely with inmates and learn that they are only human. Bonus: the serial killer is a prison staff member, not an inmate.

A serial killer terrorizes a major metropolitan area, but officials can find no common link between the victims except how they’re killed. When her sister is murdered, an Uber customer service representative takes matters into her own hands. The murderer is an Uber driver who saves addresses and waits months before returning for the victims to avoid suspicion.

Ten people, from across the country, wind up dead. They’re all killed in exactly the same way, and they all have a page from Shakespeare’s Complete Works pinned to their shirt. A detective pairs with a literature professor to solve the case before the Bard Killer can claim any more victims.

A series of murders occurs in the Midwest. All the victims fit the same profile: young with dyed hair. Every victim visited a busy truck stop the day they died.

Someone is murdering L.A. food truck owners, leaving only their charred remains behind. The protagonist is a forensic anthropologist who is married to a food truck owner.

The first victim enters a crowded store wearing a bomb. They are clearly under duress, but they steal a cheap item, only to be blown up remotely, causing many deaths. Organized crime and terror units investigate this, only for another victim to go in exactly the same way a few weeks later. By the third victim, it’s clear there’s a sadistic serial killer at play.

Using mystery prompts can help get your story flowing. It’s a great way to challenge yourself as a writer.

Prompts are open to interpretation, so it’s up to you to find the next great story within them.

Want to write your own spine-tingling mystery? Register for Crime Writers' Week, April 24-27.

Learn from bestselling authors like janice hallett, ajay chowdhury, and sophie hannah., sign up today. it's free register now.

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Check every email, essay, or story for grammar mistakes. Fix them before you press send.

Krystal N. Craiker

Krystal N. Craiker is the Writing Pirate, an indie romance author and blog manager at ProWritingAid. She sails the seven internet seas, breaking tropes and bending genres. She has a background in anthropology and education, which brings fresh perspectives to her romance novels. When she’s not daydreaming about her next book or article, you can find her cooking gourmet gluten-free cuisine, laughing at memes, and playing board games. Krystal lives in Dallas, Texas with her husband, child, and basset hound.

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50 Intriguing Mystery Story Ideas!

Mystery story ideas often follow a similar pattern. Early on, a dead body turns up, a valuable item goes missing, or a puzzle begs to be solved. The reader knows that by the end of the book, questions will have been answered, which is a comforting element in even the most gruesome murder mysteries.

This simple structure allows for endless creative and original variations. And ten different writers could take the same writing prompt here and write ten vastly different stories! I’ve been reading a lot of mystery novels lately — mostly cozy mysteries, not gritty crime novels, although I might enjoy those, too. That inspired me to write this list of prompts for mystery story ideas.

You can also use this list as an idea generator for free-writing. Whether you stumble across a story idea you love in the process, or you just get your creative writing juices flowing again, it’s so worth it.

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Although I had mystery novels in mind, some of these could become a subplot in a different fiction genre, from fantasy and romance (especially romantic suspense), to historical fiction and thrillers. (And you might also be interested in my list of 50 thriller plot ideas !)

Be sure to save the post for future reference (or pin it on Pinterest!)

Mystery Story Ideas

1. A woman asks a writer to write the story of her life. Then she goes missing.

2. Murder victims are found buried with some of their wordly goods, Viking style.

3. Three people close to the murder victim have confessed. Each of them swears they acted alone.

4. Notes and gifts from her “Secret Santa” at work take a strange turn.

5. It’s going to be a beautiful wedding at a beautiful destination, but two people in the wedding party have been murdered.

6. The creator of a high-tech prototype that will change an industry has gone missing.

7. Her parents believe her to be their biological child, but they all learn otherwise.

8. The dead woman’s wedding ring is found in a ditch forty miles away.

9. A museum conservator is restoring an old painting, and an X-ray reveals something shocking or mysterious painted or written in the layer beneath.

10. A sorority sister who bullied prospective pledges is found dead.

11. As a man researches his genealogy, he finds that ancestors from a few different generations and a few different countries made visits to the same remote place.

12. Someone replaced the woman’s contact lens solution with a damaging liquid. (This mystery story idea brought to you courtesy of a phobia of mine!)

13. He’s always been a faithful husband, but someone has planted false evidence of his having an affair.

14. A detective is hired for a high price to find a thief who stole something that doesn’t appear to have any real value.

15. Every unmarried lady at the ball wanted to dance with the duke, so it’s too bad he was found stabbed in the garden.

16. In the middle of a wilderness, someone finds an abandoned bunker with security cameras, powered by a generator.

17. The graves of historic figures are being robbed.

18. Clues to the mystery come to him in dreams, but nobody believes him.

19. Serial murders in cities in two different countries are very similar.

20. A man she didn’t know left her a valuable and unusual item in his will.

21. A writer researching his biography of a Golden Age movie star comes across something that makes him suspect that contrary to the official story, she was a murder victim.

22. The accidental death of this investigative reporter seems a little too convenient.

23. The murders all relate to common fears, such as public speaking, flying, and heights.

24. A woman wakes up with a headache and goes into work, only to learn that she’s been missing for a month.

25. Writers are being murdered at the mystery writers’ convention.

26. The painting must have been stolen from the museum in broad daylight, but the security cameras malfunctioned and no witnesses have come forward.

27. Three different guests at the Air BnB died later under mysterious circumstances.

28. A practicing witch or voodoo priestess is accused of murder.

29. The murders are re-enactments of famous murders in novels or movies.

30. He claims to be the rich man who was lost at sea two decades ago.

31. The inspector’s friend is murdered while he is talking on the phone to the inspector.

32. A dead body is found in an unclaimed piece of luggage at the airport.

33. He was murdered on his honeymoon on a cruise ship, and his new, much-younger bride was the only one on board who even knew him.

34. A woman who didn’t know she was adopted meets her twin sister, who gives her a dire warning.

35. One of the pies submitted to the state fair contest was poisoned.

36. The report of a celebrity’s death is false, but he dies soon after.

37. The murder victims all have the same tailor.

38. Who would kill the guest of honor at their 100 th birthday party?

39. The victim was found drowned in a whiskey barrel at the distillery.

40. A wife arranges a romantic “scavenger hunt” for her husband, but someone else changes a few of the clues.

41. The thief who steals rare books always leaves a sonnet behind. (As someone who’s written a few sonnets, I’m particularly fond of this mystery story idea, but you can think of all kinds of creative “calling cards” for criminals!)

42. The wrong body is in the casket at the visitation. No one knows who it is, or where the other body is.

43. The murders were definitely committed by a human, but resemble the attacks of wild animals.

44. After the woman returned the lost wallet, someone began stalking her.

45. The book she’s reading seems to be telling the story of her own life, though she doesn’t think she’s ever met the author.

46. A man who faked his own death must be found in time.

47. Someone in a villain costume and mask attempts to kill an actor at a fan convention. The actor is saved by a fan dressed as a superhero.

48. An Egyptian mummy, or what appears to be one, is found in an unlikely place.

49. A man is found murdered following a heated argument with several people on social media.

50. A body is found in the organic vegetable garden at a hippie commune.

Do you have some thoughts on mystery story ideas?

If so, I’d love to hear from you in the comments!

And if you want more inspiration, please check out my book 5,000 Writing Prompts ! It has 100 more mystery writing prompts in addition to the ones on this list, plus hundreds of other master plots by genre, dialogue and character prompts, and much more.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and happy writing!

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Home / Book Writing / Mystery Writing Prompts: 35+ Ideas to Get You Started

Mystery Writing Prompts: 35+ Ideas to Get You Started

From classic whodunits and cozy capers to hard-boiled crime novels and police procedurals, there's a lot of fun to be had in the mystery genre. Being able to give the reader the thrill of uncovering a mystery along with the protagonist is a special talent. And it all starts with the idea. So keep reading for special tips and a list of mystery writing prompts.

What makes a good mystery?
Examples of great mysteries to read.
Mystery story ideas.

The Crime is the Thing
Plot-Driven but Character-Supported
Only Tell the Reader What They Need to Know
Red Herrings Abound
Increase the Stakes
Write What You'd Like to Read
Great Mysteries to Read (Or Re-Read)
Cozy Mystery Writing Prompts
Crime Mystery Writing Ideas
Mystery Thriller Writing Prompts
Random Mystery Writing Prompts
Getting Your Mystery Book in Front of the Right Readers

Ingredients for a Good Mystery

There are certain commonalities among mystery novels or short stories . And while you want to avoid doing a cookie-cutter version of another story, you will want to ensure certain tropes and story beats are present in your tale. Just make them your own!

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Whether you're a discovery writer or someone who likes to plot everything out, it's essential to have some idea about the crime. Every mystery needs a crime as a catalyst for the story . And to avoid a lot of false starts or dead ends, it's good to know the who (the culprit/antagonist), and the why. With these two factors in mind, you can fill in the other things as you go along. Or “discover” them, as some like to say.

Mysteries are known as plot-driven stories, but that doesn't mean you can have static or flat characters . Your protagonist, whether a hard-edged detective or a golden-years grandma, needs to be likable, complex, and imperfect. You’ll notice that many protagonists in mystery fiction are a bit of a mess. But they still have redeeming qualities that are usually apparent early in the story . This helps the reader get invested in the story.

Of course, we can’t forget about the bad guy (or gal). The antagonist should also be complex and possess a clear reason for committing the crime (even if that reason is unfathomable, as is the case with serial killers).

Mystery readers like to put the pieces of the puzzle together as the story progresses. Even if there's no way for them to figure out who did it or why until the climax, they'll try anyway. So the last thing you want is to give the reader too much information too fast. If the clues are too obvious, the reader may be disappointed. And that's the last thing a mystery author should want!

A red herring, otherwise known as a false clue or a bit of misdirection, is an essential element of any mystery. Don't be afraid to point the finger at other characters in the story before the protagonist finds out who really did it. This is to be expected, and it's the bread and butter of many a mystery novel.

Any well-written popular fiction book will consist of increasing and easing tension . And mystery stories are no different. As the protagonist gets closer and closer to solving the mystery, in fits and starts, the stakes should get continually higher. Much of the time, the stakes are life or death, but not always. As long as they increase to the point of ultimate danger at the climax, you should be good.

And, perhaps the single best writing tip anyone can heed: write the story you'd like to read . As an avid mystery reader, you will instinctively have a feel for a good mystery. You can refine and perfect it when you edit. But if you write a story that excites you, chances are a lot of other readers will feel the same!

To write a first-rate mystery, you have to have read many mysteries, both good and bad. The good so you know what to do, the bad so you know what not to do. Fortunately, the good will most likely outnumber the bad. And the recommendations below are all good.

Anything by Agatha Christie
Any Sherlock Holmes story
Gone Girl , Gillian Flynn
The Big Sleep , Raymond Chandler
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo , Stieg Larsson
The Thin Man , Dashiell Hammett
The Girl on the Train , Paula Hawkins

Mystery Writing Prompts

There are a lot of sub-genres under the mystery umbrella, so I've split the following creative writing prompts into sections. Use them as story starters or simply for inspiration. Make them your own or use them as-is. And remember: the more you write, the more inspiration will come to you.

Cozy mysteries are lighthearted in both tone and description. Although usually having to deal with murder, these stories focus more on the quirky characters than the brutal crime. And usually, the murder victim is a bit of a stinker (so the audience doesn’t feel too bad about their death).

1. A local baker is found murdered in her home just as the town baking contest approaches. All signs point to her arch-rival, old Mr. Dillard. But did he really do it? It falls to Mr. Dillard's understudy to find out.

2. The irate butcher in a small town winds up dead from a heart attack. But as life goes on and cuts of his meat sell, town citizens discover clues in their dinners. And it quickly becomes apparent that the butcher was murdered – and he left clues leading to the culprit.

3. Sue and John's marriage is on the rocks. They just don't have the spark anymore. But when they're thrust into the middle of a murder mystery, they soon find that their love is stronger than ever.

4. While taking a long ferry ride from the mainland to their hometown on an island, a small group discovers the body of a crotchety old man dead in the engine room. One of the people on the ferry did the deed, but which one?

5. A woman goes chasing after her dog one night, only to literally stumble across a stranger's dead body in a ditch. Afraid she'll be implicated in the crime, she must solve it before the bumbling local police get involved. Luckily, her dog is a bit of a sleuth.

6. When a man comes home to his small town for a reunion, he has a bit too much to drink. He wakes up to find a gun on his person, but he has no idea where it came from. Turns out, it's a murder weapon, and the victim is none other than his old rival.

7. When a snowstorm strands a group of strangers in a ski chalet, one of the guests ends up dead. Most everyone (but the main character) denies knowing the murder victim, but it quickly becomes clear that all the guests know each other in one way or another.

8. A lowly zoo janitor must solve a murder with the help of the zoo animals when her terrible boss turns up dead in the gorilla cage.

9. The quirky characters attending an office party suddenly become murder suspects when the company president turns up dead.

10. When the town psychiatrist turns up dead, everyone is a suspect. The psychiatrist knew everyone's deepest secrets, and it turns out she was using them for nefarious purposes.

Gritty crime novels don't skimp on the gory details. They often feature a deeply flawed detective who's just holding on by a thread. But they can also feature ordinary characters who find themselves in extraordinary situations. Use the following plot ideas to get your creative juices flowing.

11. A detective nearing the end of his career starts receiving strange texts. He soon learns that the texts reference murders that are happening around the city. He must rally to catch the murderer.

12. A young woman enlists the help of a brand new detective to solve her sister's disappearance. But they soon find that there's much more happening than one girl's abduction.

13. A kid sneaking into an abandoned building to sleep for the night stumbles on a murder scene. He sees a man shoot the victim. The murderer sees his face and chases him, but the kid gets away. The only problem is, the kid saw a badge on the murderer's belt. He's a cop.

14. A new crime lord is moving into the city. He's ruthless and not afraid to go after cops. But there's one cop who won't look the other way.

15. When a serial killer starts targeting teachers at the local college, a campus police officer must move fast to find the killer.

16. Everyone suspects the young man of killing his father at sea for the inheritance money, but no one can prove it. No one but your main character – the suspect's own brother.

17. Part of the murder was caught on social media, but the murderer was wearing a mask. It's up to one new officer to solve the case.

18. A teenage girl is kidnapped, but there's no ransom note. The girl herself calls and tells the police to leave her alone. But her parents are a mess and the detective promises he'll get the girl back.

19. A newly married woman finds clues suggesting her husband isn't at all who he says he is. As she searches for the truth, she finds there's a massive criminal conspiracy at play.

20. After finding a bunch of tapes at a garage sale, one young woman sees some startling images in one of the videos. She must track down where the tapes came from so justice can be done.

Mystery/thriller stories have steadily been among the most popular out there. But this subgenre isn't always about unraveling the mystery. Much of the time, the reader already knows who the antagonist is. The suspense comes from wondering whether the main character will prevail in the end. If you enjoy thrillers, choose a creative writing prompt below and see where it takes you.

21. A retired black-ops special operator finds that his friends keep turning up dead. And at each murder scene, there are clues that point to top-secret missions only a handful of people could possibly know about.

22. While staying at an exclusive resort in the South Pacific, your main character stumbles upon a human trafficking operation. She tries to go to the police, but they're on the take. It's up to her to bring the bad guys down.

23. Your protagonist starts seeing a half-familiar face around town. But every time he looks closer, the person is gone without a trace. The problem is, your protagonist has a murky past. And the face he keeps seeing belongs to someone he killed many years ago.

24. A drifter catches a ride on a bus, headed nowhere in particular. But when he hears half of a phone conversation from the woman behind him, he can't help but try and help her out of her predicament. The thing is, she doesn't want his help. And the half of the conversation he heard is far from the whole story.

25. People are spontaneously combusting in one detective's city. But a killer soon starts taking credit for the strange deaths. The detective and an arson investigator must team up to get to the bottom of the mystery.

26. An ex-soldier comes home to find his sister in deep with a local drug dealer. When he tries to get the dealer off his sister's back, he accidentally kills the guy. Pretty soon, he's wanted by the police and the drug organization. And he has to find a way to make things right.

27. An undercover narcotics officer finds himself in the middle of a conspiracy to kill a high-ranking state politician. The only problem is, they're holding his girlfriend hostage to make him do what they want.

28. With his dying breath, an old man admits that he's not your main character's father. This sends the protagonist on a journey to find out where she really comes from. And the truth is stranger than she ever could've thought.

29. The story opens with a SWAT team breaking through the windows and arresting your protagonist. They've found his DNA all over a murdered CEO's body. But your protagonist has never met the CEO in his life. He must break out of jail and uncover the truth.

30. When involved in a minor fender-bender, your protagonist gets out of the car and finds that the other driver is dying. He says he's been poisoned and whispers the name of the person who did it just before he dies.

Here's a mix of historical, science fiction, and even horror mystery writing prompts to use for your creative writing exercises. Whether you're writing a short story or drafting a novel, it all starts with an idea and a word on the page!

31. A serial killer is using the cover of the German invasion of France to kill people. It's up to one detective to find the murderer – while also being involved in the resistance movement.

32. Using special deepfake technology, one killer beats the cameras in the futuristic society to commit his – or her – murders.

33. A dark underground society preys on those in poverty-stricken areas, recruiting and tricking people to use as human sacrifices. When a found-again Christian learns about this, he knows he must stop it, but he's unsure of how far he should go to face such evil.

34. Navigating the South during the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, one detective must bring to justice the Klansmen who are responsible for several deaths. But given the protection these men get from those in their close-knit community, it will be much harder than he ever expected.

35. A woman survives a car accident that kills her partner. She blames herself until she starts having strange dreams that suggest something much more sinister is at play.

There's no better way to increase your writing skill than by practicing with story prompts. But what about when you're ready to put your finished book out into the world? You'll need to bring several factors together to give your mystery novel the best chance of success. These factors include cover design, categories, keywords, and marketing.

The problem is, getting these things right can be difficult and time-consuming. That's why we made Publisher Rocket . This self-publishing tool can help you bring all the factors mentioned above together to help your book succeed. It does this by pulling and aggregating information directly from Amazon. You can do it all manually, but it takes hours and hours. With Publisher Rocket, you can do it in minutes.

See the book covers of the top-selling books in various mystery categories. You can use the similarities to inform your designer about what you want.
Decide on the right categories with the category search function. It can help you find the sweet spot with categories that have high demand but low or medium competition.
You need to put 7 keywords in your book's metadata on Amazon. Publisher Rocket can help you decide which keywords are best.
Using the AMS Keyword search, you can get a list of appropriate keywords to use in your Amazon Ads campaigns, which help you get visibility and sales.

Check out Publisher Rocket here to learn more!

Looking for more prompts? We've got more to choose from:

Horror Writing Prompts
Romance Writing Prompts
Children’s Book Ideas

Better Keywords & Categories Fast

See why over 47,000+ authors and publishing companies use and love Rocket to help them sell more books.

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Mystery Story Ideas: 25 Murder, Mystery, and Mayhem Prompts to Inspire Your Story

by Ruthanne Reid | 61 comments

What makes a mystery such a compelling type of story? Maybe it's the puzzle, the details that keep us guessing, or the quirky sleuth or investigator. If you love to read mysteries, too, why not give on of these mystery prompts a try today?

The mystery genre begins with a crime, a puzzle, or other situation that requires solving. Authors leave clues and red herrings that the sleuth (and reader!) follow to solve the case. Some of the most famous authors in this genre include Edgar Allan Poe, Agatha Christie, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Raymond Chandler, and Dorothy Sayers.

There are a number of sub-genres in the mystery category: cozy mysteries, police procedurals, detective, capers and heists, noir and more.

Need help with a structure to get you started? Take a look at our article on the nine types of stories here . And you might also like our full guide on How to Write Mystery Novel .

Today, let's look at some mystery writing prompts to get your creative juices flowing and your own mystery started!

Five Cozy Mystery Creative Writing Prompts

A librarian happens across a crime scene when they clean the basement archives.
A murder mystery party goes wrong and potential suspects point at each other to avoid arrest. (Especially effective if set in an enclosed location.
A secret society of mystery readers realizes that there is a real killer still on the loose and the clues are hidden in a dead author's books.
A murder scene on a movie set becomes reality when the star is found dead, and the prime suspect discovered missing.
A new restaurant owner in a small town uncovers a long-forgotten mystery from the town's past but the mysterious circumstances unearth a real killer.

Ten Crime Solving Story Ideas

6. Charles McDougall, Scotland Yard's best Inspector, is laid up in the hospital with a badly broken leg, but that doesn't mean he's off the clock! An online news headline describing a tragic gas leak/explosion catches his eye. Four people died: a housewife, a minor politician, a young chemist, and the daughter of a local mobster. Somehow, using only clues from the internet (and what he can worm out of his coworkers), he has to figure out which of those people was the actual target, and why.

7. Agatha Christoph (get it?) is a retired schoolteacher in a beautiful little town in New England. She never married and has no children, so her friends are everything to her. That's why when her best friend, Martha, is blackmailed with vague threats about some risqué photos from Martha's youth, Agatha jumps to the rescue. But Martha's youth was a LONG time ago. Who could have those photos? And what could they possibly want?

8. Mars is colonized, though there's no air outside the domes. Travel from dome to dome is by train. The Eberswalde Express is the “luxury” locomotive, filled with old-timey elegance and charm. It takes a day and a half between stops to give wealthy patrons full time to enjoy the amenities. AND WOULDN'T YOU KNOW IT…THERE'S A MURDER! Weirdly, this murder mimics the plotline of The Orient Express, and Elsa, a librarian and mystery buff, recognizes the details. With a murderer on board and nowhere to go, everyone is in danger. Can Elsa solve this murder before the killer strikes again?

9. Ever heard the phrase, “It is not who fired the shot but who paid for the bullet”? This is a philosophy Tomoe Gozen lives by. Tomoe (who, by the way, was a real female Samurai ) serves her general well, but when a fellow soldier dies mysteriously one night after a game of Chō-Han, she can't simply accept that the death had no meaning. Brave and clever, Tomoe follows clues until she learns who ordered the murder: Emperor Antoku himself. But why would the emperor of Japan want to kill a lowly soldier? And why the subterfuge?

10. Medieval France. Fourteen-year-old Amée is a servant girl with a genius IQ stuck as a scullery maid in her fief lord's castle. She leads a lonely life, with plenty of time to think and analyze, though—and this is important—she can't read. But something strange is happening here. The fief lord keeps bringing new brides home… and within two weeks, those brides disappear. A new one—nearly Amée's age—has just been brought to the castle, and Amée knows the clock for survival has already begun to tick. She has time to figure this out. Will she before it's too late?

11. Omar Yehia is a colonel in Cairo's police department. The government is unstable, and the people are unhappy; he has his hands full with violent cases all the time. Unfortunately, one day, a slain prostitute turns out to have something on her person that no one in Egypt should have at all: Queen Mary's Crown . How on earth did she get that ? More importantly, what will Omar do with the 48 hours his superiors give him to crack this case before they report this to foreign authorities?

12. Sandra is a mystery-lover. She sees mysteries and hidden conspiracies everywhere they aren't , and her sister Carrie laughs this off as a silly quirk… until Carrie is framed for the murder of the man in the next apartment. Carrie's DNA is somehow all over the place, though she swears she's never even been in that apartment before. No one thinks Carrie is innocent but Sandra… and she has a limited amount of time to prove her sister is innocent.

13. Twelve-year-old Alexandra is a leader . She runs her school's newspaper, manages three after-school clubs (the book club, the fencing club, and the junior stamp-collector club), and doesn't have time for nonsense. Which is why when she sees a man dressed all in black carrying a manilla folder as he climbs out of her principal's window, her determination to get to the bottom of it knows no bounds. Look out, data-thief. Here comes Alexandra!

14. David is a senior software engineer for a major tech company, and he spends most days knee-deep in other people's databases, trying to figure out what they did wrong. One day, he happens across a piece of malicious code designed to steal financial information. He reports it and deletes it, but he comes across that same code again—in the database of a completely different company. He finds it again; and again. And the fifth time around, his manager drops a hint that the higher-ups think he's the best person to figure out who's planting it. Undercover, they send him to each of the company's data centers: one in London, one in Boston, one in Dallas, and one in Seattle. It's going to be his job—socially anxious as he is—to interview everyone and find out who's planting that code and why.

15. General March hires Detective Thomas to try to find the person who's been blackmailing March for the past twenty years. Thomas tracks the miscreant down, but finds that the man behind the threats has been dead for the past ten years. So who's carrying on the blackmailing? And is the secret that's held March prisoner this long something that should stay a secret?

10 More Murder Mystery Story Ideas

16. Defense attorney Bob Larson enjoys his job. He likes justice; he likes being right. Usually, he thinks right and wrong are really easy to spot. Then he ends up representing a young Navy Seal who shot and killed an elderly woman—and claims it was in self-defense. Who's really the bad guy?

17. Samuel sleepwalks. He also thinks he loves another man's wife. He's more surprised than anyone when he's arrested for that man's murder. Did he do it? Or is he being set up to take the fall?

18. Mystery writer Dan Rodriguez takes the subway every day. Every day, nothing happens. He wears earbuds and a hoodie; he's ignored, and he ignores. Then one evening, on his way home from a stressful meeting with his publisher, Dan is startled out of his funk when a frantic Middle-Eastern man knocks him over at a dead run, then races up the stairs—pursued by several other mysterious looking thugs. The Middle-Eastern man is shot; and Dan discovers a small, wrapped package in the front pocket of his hoodie. What's inside, and what does he need to do to survive the answer?

19. Wealthy, unmarried Anne Lamont is murdered, and she leaves her entire fortune to a man she met two weeks before, putting suspicion squarely on him. Detective Arnold thinks the man is innocent. He has a week to make his case before this goes before a jury. But when he digs into Anne's background, he finds the sweet old matron wasn't at all what she seemed.

20. A headless corpse is found in a freshly-dug grave in Arkansas. The local police chief, Arley Socket, has never had to deal with more than missing gas cans and treed cats. His exploration of this weird murder digs up a mystery older than the 100-year-old town of Jericho that harkens all the way back to a European blood-feud.

21. Someone is murdering homeless people in Phoenix, Arizona. Detective Sally Fortnight is determined to get to the bottom of it… but what she uncovers may be more deadly than she could ever guess.

22. On the Lovely Lady riverboat in 1900's Louisiana, professional gambler Lacroix is just doing his thing when a scream startles him and the other players from the poker table. It turns out the captain of the steamboat has been murdered, and only someone on the boat could've pulled it off. Lacroix already has a record. In two days, the Lady will pull into Shreveport, where he stands a good chance of being arrested… unless he can suss out the killer first.

23. Detective Donna Madison is on a completely routine case (bootleg watches, just so you know) when she stumbles across a ring of jewel thieves. Two murders, a clever fortune-teller, and a stuffed cat filled with clues later, and Donna finds herself uncovering a far bigger mystery than where stolen watches go.

24. It is the Cold War era. Private Eye Charles Nick searches for a missing cryptanalyst, all the while dodging an obsessed FBI agent who thinks Nick is a communist spy. The cryptanalyst, by the way, went missing for a good reason: he might have cracked the latest Russian spy code, and he's running for his life.

25. 1850's England: elderly Doris and her six young wards are caught in a storm and forced to ask for shelter at an enormous manor deep in the English countryside. But all is not well in this home, and before long, Doris faces a bizarre problem: the manor's lord, Sir Geoffrey, claims his estranged wife Alice is going to murder him that evening. Alice, meanwhile, claims that Geoffrey is going to murder her. After dinner, both are found dead, in the library, seated as if having a rational discussion, but dead as mice. There is no obvious murder weapon, and quite possibly, the murderer is loose in the manor. Doris is no detective, but she might as well figure this out. Given that storm, help won't be coming until it's too late.

(This is the fourth in my series of story ideas, by the way. If you're interested in the others, check out 20 fantasy story ideas , 20 sci-fi story ideas , and 20 romance story ideas. )

Do any of these story ideas get your inner-criminal devising? Let us know in the comments .

It's time to play with story ideas! Take fifteen minutes and develop one of these story ideas into at least one scene. Don't edit yourself! Set your imagination free, then post your results in the practice box below. Don't forget to leave feedback for other writers! Share your practice in the Pro Practice Workshop , and leave feedback for a few other writers. Not a member? Join us .

Ruthanne Reid

Best-Selling author Ruthanne Reid has led a convention panel on world-building, taught courses on plot and character development, and was keynote speaker for The Write Practice 2021 Spring Retreat.

Author of two series with five books and fifty short stories, Ruthanne has lived in her head since childhood, when she wrote her first story about a pony princess and a genocidal snake-kingdom, using up her mom’s red typewriter ribbon.

When she isn’t reading, writing, or reading about writing, Ruthanne enjoys old cartoons with her husband and two cats, and dreams of living on an island beach far, far away.

P.S. Red is still her favorite color.

61 Comments

I hate giving presentations.

I am a software engineer. Or I used to be, until that fateful day my boss called me into his office to figure out who’s been trying to hack into our clients’ code. Now, I am a reluctant detective.

I got the job purely by chance. I happened to be the only guy working the evening (it was Valentine’s) that the malicious code first showed up. I deleted it and reported it to the higher-ups. I was then tasked with the incredibly boring task of searching through the millions of lines of client code that we had access to in order to ensure there had been no other security breaches. The work may have been tedious and time consuming despite the clever automation I baked in, but it was not as pointless as I’d expected: the same code was present in four other code bases.

And that is why I was standing there, sweating bullets and trying to keep my hands from visibly shaking as I presented my findings to the CEO of our company.

“All that’s great, Dave,” said the CEO, calm as ever, “but what are you going to do about it?”

“Well, we’ll have to find the parties responsible, Mr. Zheng.”

“And who do you think that could be, Dave?” He sounded mildly curious about the breach that could cost us our entire reputation and millions of dollars in lawsuits.

“The only people with access to the code bases of all these clients, and I confirmed this with them, is, well, us.” I said.

“So, what are we going to do about it?”

“Find the person and turn them in?”

“Wrong. First, we figure out a way to enhance security of our code base to prevent future attacks, even from within. Jane, put your best engineers on the job.” He said to my manager.

“And Dave, you have been relieved of all your duties so you can focus on finding me the person responsible. You have one week. You may leave now.”

I had a meeting with Jane the next day. I’d never seen her so frazzled before. But the CEO had that effect on people. It’s like he sucked the calm out of you. But he was a brilliant man. That’s why he was CEO.

“So, do you have any ideas, Dave?” she asked.

“I have one. But it’s risky and it may not work.”

“Go on…” she said, carefully.

“A coding competition open to all our employees. An amazing prize besides bragging rights that should draw any hacker in.”

“Ah, and the problem would be to hack into our system?”

“No, that would be too obvious. You see, after all these years on the job, I’ve learned that each person has a distinct coding style, a coding signature, so to speak. Code is personal. It tells you how a person thinks, how careful they are, how considerate etc. Even something as simple as formatting or variable declaration becomes ingrained in a person after years of coding. I believe I can find the hacked using this competition.”

“Well, it’s not like we have any other ideas. Whoever it was used a ghost ip so we cannot track them. This may be our only shot.”

If this were a novel-length piece, I’d go into the nuances of how I designed a problem that was original and yet challenging enough to entice a brilliant programmer working at the best tech company in the world. But suffice it to say that while solutions are difficult, they’re a piece of cake compared to designing problems.

The day of the contest came and entries flooded in. Everyone was interested in getting out of a day of work. Even Janice from accounting was there.

The contestants spent 24 hours hacking up a solution, powered by free pizza. I spent the next 24 hours scouring through thousands of lines of code to find the suspect.

Finally, I found a match. The aha moment turned into a head scratching one when I realized who had sent it in.

I couldn’t believe it. The hacker, and the person with the best solution, was Janice from accounting?!

Sana, I ABSOLUTELY LOVE what you’ve done with this! You’ve managed to make it interesting, to set up characters, and to have a complete beginning, middle, and end. Terrific practice!

I find this interesting 🙂

Some great ideas in this post Ruthanne, I might have to take some of them with me to my writer’s group tomorrow as I know one of our members loves writing mystery. Number 16 really grabbed my attention and makes for a great paranormal mystery.

That would be great, Amanda! I hope they really enjoy them! 🙂

Feel free to turn any of these paranormal. 😉 I tried to keep them largely “normal” for the sake of the audience, but I personally love a little magic in my mystery. 😉

I was woken up by a loud thunder…. I shot out of bed, just to look out my large window and find out its pouring rain!! “Ping…ping…ping..”. I tun around back to my bed to see what all that noice was. It was my phone. Probably my boyfriend texting me and seeing what im doing, but the thing is, its not that hes not a good boyfriend, its just that im in love with someone else, someone whose name is Anthony… Anthony works with me in English class, were partners. My boyfriend hates when I hang out with him.. “HAZEL! TIME TO GET UP! SCHOOL STARTS IN 1 HOUR!”. What is she talking about? Whats all the rush? I have 1 hour left. That’s plenty of time! Whatever, im just going to go get ready and not fight about it. I walk to my new grey dresser, and open the handle in which leads me to my make-up and hair stuff, I sit down and look in the mirror while putting foundation on. After doing my makeup, it was time to do my hair, what am I going to even dress my hair up today? A pony tail? A messy hair bun? What would my thick, brown, long hair even look good in? its probably best just to straighten it. In the middle of straightening my hair I burn my hand, and threw the wand. “OW! OW! OW! OW!” I Scream, “ Stupid fucking straightener!” I swear. “EXCUSE ME YOUNG LADY! WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY!” My mom yells from down stairs. “ sorry mom! I burned my self! It wont happen again!”. My mom hates when I swear. She hate when anyone swears. But what was I supposed to do if I got a 3rd degree burn on a hair straightener? which is least likely to happen. “ PINGGGG- PINNNNGGGG-…..PINGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG…PINGGGGG….PINGGGG.PINGGG” My phone kept on going, and going. And going. “GOD DAMN IT HAZEL ROYAL! JUST PICK UP THAT DAMN PHONE!” Ughhhhh why does she always make me do stuff!!!!!. So I go and grab the stupid phone. “ What? Why do you keep calling me adan?” I said as calm as can be. “ why are you not answering the damn phone babe?” well… PROBABLY CAUSE IVE GOT A LIFE OF MY OWN. But was I going to say that? No. I wasn’t. “sorry, im just in the middle of doing my hair. Can I call you later babe? I don’t want to be late for school, theres only 20 minutes left.” I replied. “okay, but youll make sure to hang out with me instead of Anthony?” adan russed while he spoke, “ yeah, I will, bye babe!” I mimicked his tone. “ bye” adan said. Finally, why does he always have to call me when im in the middle of doing things!? (thats what ive got down so far, im still trying to finish it)

These are the best by far in your story ideas!!!! I love them SO much, especially #20, #14, and #7. I am a mystery lover (I have all of the old Nancy Drew, some of the Trixie Belden, and several of almost 100 – and over- year old Girl Scout mysteries.) and these really “tickle my storytelling bones”. ;-D

Awesome, Renee! I grew up on the old Nancy Drew, too! I hope you take these ideas and turn them into something absolutely wicked fun!

What a great list. I’ve been skipping the other lists because they aren’t in my genre, but I had to read this. And not only because I’m currently stuck on my current work in progress.

I confess that I’m especially drawn to Number 7. Can you blame me?

Thanks for the boost!

This is awesome, Carrie! I’m so, so glad to hear it! I hope you can take that idea and spin it into something fabulous. 🙂

I’ve read all of your ideas and discover that you’ve provided more than just a list of ideas. Far more.

The ways you’ve played off known people and known characters (Agatha Christie and Nick Charles of Thin Man fame) have opened up a couple of doors to me that I hadn’t previously considered. All a of sudden, every novel I love and every character I admire has the potential to influence my own fiction.

Carrie, it delights me that you caught those silly references! 🙂 I’m just thrilled.

I’m also glad this has inspired you. I really believe that creativity is an ocean; if you’re in it, you’ll get wet! We’re all influenced by one another, and that’s the way it should be. 🙂

Hey! Those are pretty good! Thanks!

I’m glad you like them, LaCresha! Enjoy! 🙂

15. Just the smell of it makes me want to run home and hide under my bed. The sight of it, on the other hand, is enough to make me dizzy and feel as though I was going to pass out and vomit at the same time. All my life and throughout my career as a police chief, I’ve never had to deal with any big cases. Nothing ever happens in small towns in Arkansas. But, now, after fifteen years of being a chief and twenty five years of being a police in general, something interesting was finally happening. It just so happened that this happening happened to be a disturbing, horrific, gut-wrenching homicide.

When I got the call I could barely believe what I was hearing. Someone had found an uncovered grave, in which was a fresh (yes, fresh) corpse. Oh, and I forgot to mention-the corpse had no head. After years of dealing with petty middle school criminals and rabid cats, there was an actual crime to be had. But the crime seemed completely unbelievable. So, I sent a few men down to the local cemetery to investigate. The news I received about ten minutes later was enough to send shivers down my spine. The men had found the body, just as the eyewitness had described it. And on top of that, a close inspection of the surrounding land revealed various body parts hidden in books and crannies around the cemetery. Body parts! For Pete’s sake, why did this have to happen in my town? I didn’t have time to ask questions, though. There was a killer on the loose, a psychotic, genuinely dark, and horrifying killer.

I already feel sympathy for your character, and your description is very thorough without being overly so. Your pov is consistent throughout, and the revelation of there being more body parts keeps me wanting to read. A very captivating piece. Well done.

I really like how you make this shocking by making the sheriff so shocked! Good stuff. plus your description of the smell made me sick (in a good way ) 🙂

Great start, Annie! I really hope you continue this. I see characterization and solid voice, and your pacing is great. 🙂 I love what you did!

Can I use this?

Nope! Sorry :/

While Wein cannot copy Annie’s writing (which was fab), I doubt anyone can stake a claim to the prompt of “small town police force has to deal with actual real crime” as a plot–it’s been done before, it will be done again. It’s how you write it, the characters, details, twists and locations you craft that will make it your own!

So, SmartWein, make something originally yours based on the foundational concept. It will be better because it came from your brain and is shaped around the story you create! Find a different crime, or a different protagonist, pick a different setting, write it yourself and you’re golden! Pick a setting that means something to you. Pick a crime that personally horrifies you. Then drop in that bored detective who hasn’t solved anything more complicated than Roe the Regular Drunk, Annie the Irregular Drunk and Jen the Incontinent domestic squabbling, one single “hit and run” that left a sixteen year old with a broken ankle and he saw the license plate number and Matt fessed up straight away, and Laurie’s cat climbing into the rafters of Jo and Ted’s grill… in ten years… but this crime has shocked everyone in this sleepy quiet town down to their ruffled toilet cozies.

It will be better for it.

When I can’t think of an idea, I pick a story I consider to have been terrible and think about how I would take its foundational idea and run it to a superior place. In this case, I recommend you took at Annie’s writing and figure out why it appealed to you, what aspects of it worked. Was it the sensory description? The character? The horrific crime? Once you understand why it appealed to you, you will then have an idea of what to tweak in your own ideas! Perhaps now you know you need to describe the crime with more. But will it be the reeking decomposing head covered in wriggling white maggots, the slimy femur covered in slick moss recovered from the dog’s mouth, the red bloodwashed room that tastes of iron when you breathe, or the ear-splitting shriek that comes from the direction of the dock and endless ocean? What twisted, demented ideas can YOU come up with? What a great mystery indeed! Aha! Ahahahhaa!

If you’ve come up with all these ideas yourself, I do take my hat off to you. Or doff the old top hat, as P G Wodehouse would say. I could spend a week on these!

Agreed! These were fun and interesting ideas!

Thank you, Kat! 🙂 I’m so glad you like them.

Haha! Thank you, Christine! I definitely take inspiration from the stories our world is filled with, but I do my best to make each one unique. 🙂 Enjoy!

Yesterday I sat down and started with #1, writing an opening scene. Will post it here as a separate comment, but it’s LONG. 🙂

This is my first time doing a practice exercise.

20. It was Helen who had found the bodies of their hosts. The poor girl had gone into the library after supper at the invitation of Sir Geoffrey to find herself a book to read to the younger children. Her scream had ricocheted through the eerily empty halls, alerting both Doris and the manors’ butler Wilfred. That had been a while ago, and Doris was still attempting to comfort the girl unsuccessfully. Wilfred also had his hands full attempting to keep the younger children from entering the room where the bodies still sat. A single look passed between the two adults, followed by a slight incline of both their heads. Doris stood up, guiding Helen up the staircase with one arm around the girls still shaking shoulders. The other reached out towards the butler as they passed, a flask being swiftly stowed away for use on the unsuspecting children. As she reached the first floor landing, Doris turned to look back. He still stood at the foot of the stairs, watching after them. A silent sentinel, a pillar of strength in a time of such uncertainty. She allowed the briefest expression of gratitude to cross her face before continuing on. They would have time to talk she knew, once the children were asleep.

Intriguing! I like the pace. I feel like you have the beginning of a solid story line.

I LOVE it! Working on the characterization of the butler as well really helps to expand this beautifully. I hope you keep writing it! Great first-time practice. You’ve caught my attention!

#9 from the top half-this is a really rough draft – 15 minutes is very short. I like this idea a lot and hope to expand it to something real at some point

David lifted his head from the monitor screen, and pushed the thick frame of his glasses so they perched on the bridge of his nose. He stared down at the lines of code. This was no ordinary scripting. If allowed to exist in this environment the company would be a gateway for any hacker with any know-how at all to abscound with sensitive data, financial information, possibly even money itself. Anyone that got through that gateway would easily be able find their way to whatever information they desired. He looked over the code once more and checked the interface as well to see if there were anything obvious to the end-user. He decided the interface looked normal.

He took screen shots of the code and the interface, and logged the occurrence. Then he notified the project manager, Sam Wolfe.

He used instant message:

Hey, I found some strange scripting while updating the firewall. I sent u screenshots and logged the problem Check log h259.

Wolfe shot back

I’ll take a look and let u know what I think. Thanks 4 the heads up.

Back to the code. He deleted the miscreant code. Just for good measure he ran a scan on the machine and on the servers as well.

*grins* Oooh, I was hoping someone would grab this one! It’s one of my favorites (probably because this IS my husband’s job, haha).

I think this is a GREAT first draft. Your writing practice is terrific! Thank you for sharing it! I hope you continue it, too.

Scotland Yard’s top Inspector, recovering from a fall, has read about an explosion at a chemist’s. (I’m using the English term for drug store in this tale.) Four people died, including the chemist. ( Pharmacist over here.) Now McDougall is trying to determine the intended victim and the why.

“Nasty piece of work, that. I read the account in The Times Online last night.” Charles McDougall shook his head. “Hate to see innocent people killed. Or were they innocent? Which of them was the real target?”

Tony, his younger colleague reproved him. “Mac, old pal. You’re here to rest, relax, and heal up. You’re not to give a thought to mini bombs and targets right now. And the next time you go flying down some stairs, take a cushion. You could have broken your neck, you know, and Scotland Yard can’t function without you.”

“Right. The wisdom of my hoary head and all that. So who’s got the case and what has he found out so far?”

“Are you deaf, Inspector? I just said…” Tony paused as a pretty nurse entered the room. His dark eyes gave her the once-over as she set a small paper cup on McDougall’s bed table.

“Here’s your pain meds. Now let’s take your temps, love.” She stuck a thermometer prong in McDougall’s mouth. “Can’t have you getting infection on us.”

Tony grabbed at his stomach. “Ow! Help! I’ve got this sudden, awful pain. Gall bladder maybe, or appendicitis. Will you stick me in a bed somewhere and nurse me back to health, too, sweetie?” He gave her a big grin.

With one hand the nurse pulled a wicked-looking hypodermic needle out of her pocket and waved it in Tony’s direction. “See this? We poke everyone who complains of a pain with three of these. Hospital policy. You’d be surprised how many visitors it cures on the spot.” She set the syringe down beside him where he could fully appreciate its size, then turned to record her patient’s temperature on the chart by his bed.

Tony eyed the needle lying beside him. “Three, eh? I feel so much better already. Fancy dinner some evening — away from these barbaric devices?”

She laughed. “I’ll see what my boyfriend has to say about that. He’s quite partial to seafood, if that’s what you’re thinking of having.”

“Oh, well. Another time, then.”

She picked up the needle, gave him an exaggerated wink and walked out of the room.

“Some friend you are,” McDougall grumbled. “Here I am at death’s door and all you’re thinking of is running off with my nurse.”

Tony turned back to his fellow Inspector. “Hey, I’m a lonely guy. No one to come home to; no one to cuddle with in the wee hours. Can’t blame me for trying.”

McDougall snorted. “Maybe if you’d quit loving them and leaving them you’d have someone to come home to. You get distracted so easily, Weekes. I asked who got the case.”

“Barrows was asked to take a peek at it. Which he did, and reported the basics to us in a briefing this morning. Scotland Yard hesitates to get involved; minor stuff like this the local police should be able to handle. The only reason we’re looking into it at all is because two of the victims are ‘persons of note’ so there could be a bigger picture.”

“Adam O’Connor being one.”

“Right. Even though he’s small potatoes in local politics, it never hurts to take a look.”

McDougall shifted in his bed and wiggled his broken leg in the brace that held it. The younger man jumped up and stepped toward the bed, extending his arm and a bit of TLC. “Need some help getting settled there, Mac?”

McDougall grabbed onto Tony’s solid forearm and heaved himself up a bit. “Thanks. I’m good now. Hate this traction business! All because my sister’s grandson dropped his ice cream cone on the top stair step. Anyway, maybe someone didn’t like O’Connor’s particular policies? Or had he some shady involvement that got out of hand?”

Tony sat back down. “Doubt it. Pretty mild sort. At least not involved in any controversies apt to get him killed. And the other victim ‘of note’ was the daughter of Pierson Rathmore.”

“The mob boss? So that was the school girl. Rat-tat-tat.”

“Yeah. Her name wasn’t released in the news, least not as of this morning.” Tony brushed his fingers through his dark hair. “I wouldn’t want to be the bloke who planted that bomb. Not with Pierson Rathmore on my trail — and he will be. He’ll have several of his boys out looking for the fellow. As you say, ‘rat-tat-tat.’ If we don’t get the perp first, he’ll be floating down the stream without a boat.”

“But she couldn’t have been the target. Someone wanting to settle a score with Rathmore plants a bomb that hits her happenstance at a drug store? Not likely. Rathmore has a couple of sons, too; if this were to hurt him, seems the perp would have aimed for one of them rather. ”

“Well, the girl — his only daughter— was dear to his heart. Everyone knew it. And maybe not quite as much security clustered round her as around the heirs. Also, apparently, she had this regular habit: every Monday on her way home from school she stopped in at this particular chemist’s to buy a chocolate bar. One of our agents kept tabs of Rathmore’s children for awhile back when we were trying to nail him over some mysterious disappearances.”

“Every Monday? And she was eleven? Now that is curious.” McDougall’s gaze turned toward the window as he pondered this fact. How many eleven-year-olds would have a regular habit like that?

“We’re checking out the chemist who was killed, too. Blake Mederach, late twenties. Seems his name’s been mentioned in police notes a time or two. Possible traffic in prescription drugs. Nothing proven, though.”

“And the unidentified woman? Your average housewife stopped to fill a prescription?” McDougall frowned. “Hand me that glass of water, will you.”

Tony stood and passed him the glass. “Mrs Annette Reeves. Nothing on her at all. Active in the church ladies, PTA, that sort of thing. Likely an innocent lamb who stayed longer than she intended. A witness who left the drug store a few minutes earlier said they heard O’Connor nattering to her about one of his future projects for the community. Unless something turns up, we’re assuming being there at the time of the explosion was simple happenstance for both of them.”

“Yeah. A jealous husband or lover may pop in waving a gun, but bombs are a little out of their league. As you say, just in the wrong place at the wrong time. My wife should be dropping by shortly; I’ll get her to attend the lady’s funeral and keep her ears open. She won’t mind doing that.”

“I’ll mention that at the next brief. Now I’d best be off. Oh… Hello!” Tony’s eyes lit up as a slim young woman stepped into the room and looked around. Her long blond hair was pinned up on her head with a barrette and she was wearing a stethoscope round her neck.

“Hello, gentlemen. Hope I’m not interrupting something? I was just passing by and thought I’d take a peek in, see how you’re doing, Mr. McDougall.”

Her bright blue eyes studied him. He could almost hear Tony’s heart rate shooting up.

“I’m surviving,” he replied, taking note of her bright blue eyes. He could almost feel Tony’s pulse rate shooting up. Right now his visitor’s eyebrows were waggling up and down, signalling frantically for an introduction. McDougall sighed.

“Sorry, Love,” he said. “I know you’re the Resident for this ward, but I’ve forgotten your name.”

“Doctor Lundgren. At your service, sir.” She grinned at him, then picked up the patient’s chart. “All vitals well, I see. Much pain.”

“Not really. One bad one right now. Allow me to introduce my colleague, Anthony Wolf — I mean Weekes.”

“Pleased to meet you, Doctor Lundgren. Delighted. Enchanted, even,” Tony held out his hand. Behind her back, McDougall rolled his eyes upward.

She gave it a firm shake, responding to his smile with one of her own. “Nice meeting you as well, Mr-Wolf-I-mean-Weekes.”

“Sorry you have to go, Tony,” McDougall said pointedly. “Do come again this evening and bring more news.”

Dr Lundgren turned back to the patient, replacing his chart. “Well, keep up the good work, then. Get lots of rest.” She chuckled and patted his braced-up leg, then spun around and marched out of the room.

Tony followed her into the hall and McDougall heard him offering some worried-tone malarkey. “You know, Doctor, I’m quite concerned about my pal. He seems edgy and uptight, letting work issues bother him too much. Could we maybe discuss this over lunch?”

McDougall didn’t hear her answer. He shook his head. What was that old saying about chasing the butterfly of happiness?

Then he opened the laptop sitting on the night table in front of him. For now he’d do what he could to puzzle out the drug store bombing. Later, once he had his leg all plastered up with a sturdy walking cast, he’d give Tony a good swift kick in the pants.

I. LOVE. What you did with this. The humor is just fantastic! The pacing is really fun, and I wanted to keep reading! I hope you want to continue with it. 🙂

In fact I do. This is one “exercise” where I saw not just the opening scene, but more of the story unfolding and I want to work it all out. When I do, I’ll post it in parts on my fiction blog and leave you the link here.

And then I’ll start on suggestion #2. 🙂

This is TERRIFIC! Did you ever finish the story?

Thank you! No, I didn’t — shame on me! It got shoved to the back burner and seems to have fallen off the stove — but I think of it now and then. 🙂

Okay, here we go… #3 ( and I have never read The Orient Express either!)—

Elsa hops on the train and, book in hand, takes a seat. She relaxes and opens her book. Elsa looks around before she begins to read. She is a librarian and a mystery buff, and she enjoyed anything related to mysteries. Growing up, she was an only child and found ‘brothers’ and ‘sisters’ in the books she read. As Elsa reads, a scream pierces the air. Startled, she looks up; half thinking that she imagined it. But this was not true; people are nervously glancing around and an elderly woman had fainted. Elsa gets up and closes her book. She steps into the aisle, puts her book on her seat, and walks to where she thinks the scream came from. ‘In the back of the train… The bedrooms, maybe!’ Elsa thinks. She pushes her auburn hair away from her face and walks to the bedroom hallway. Elsa notices a door is slightly ajar, so she steps closer to it. In one movement, she flings the door open and steps inside. She gasps. A man lies prostrate on a bed, purple finger marks on his neck. Elsa turns on the light and walks to the man’s side. Suddenly, she thinks that she might be blamed for the murder, so she steps away. Almost immediately, a policeman and the conductor appear in the doorway. The conductor faints on the spot while the policeman rushes over to the dead man. With a quick glance, the policeman compares Elsa’s hands to the marks on the man’s throat. “You didn’t do it; I know better than that, anyway,” he assures her. Elsa nods and tells him, “A man did it, judging by those fingerprints.” The policeman covers the body with a bed sheet and blanket, and motions for Elsa to help him with the conductor. The policeman and Elsa drag the conductor from the room and into the hallway. Once there, the policeman releases his hold on the conductor and closes the bedroom door.

Elsa runs back to her seat in the front half of the train and something strikes her as odd. She picks up her book and flips to a certain page. Elsa finds that the murder (and the setting!) is identical to her book, The Orient Express. Elsa again flips through the book to see what happens next. The train crashes into a snow bank, the people on board are stuck, and the murderer is on the loose.

That night, Elsa lies in her bed looking out the window at Mars’ scenery, wide-awake. She tries to banish the bone chilling, fleeting thoughts flying through her head. A small thud announces the presence of something… or someone! She turns on the bedside lamp. A half-day more on this trip- and more if the train crashes! Elsa thinks wearily. She grabs something from under her pillow. Elsa turns the light off, while silently hopping out of bed and pulling on fluffy bunny slippers. She pads out into the hallway with a penlight and runs over the events in the story again. What was that? She spins around and flashes the light in the direction of the cargo/baggage hold. Elsa backs into a corner. The blood freezes on her veins when the sound of footsteps – not her own – filter through the cargo door. Elsa flicks the penlight off and hides behind a large vase nearby. There was just enough room for her to maneuver into a position where she could see the cargo door. The door opens and a person clad in black steps out from the shadows. Elsa stifles a gasp when she sees the person’s face. But she calms down when she holds the penlight tin one hand- and a gun in the other. She covers the penlight’s small bulb, turns it on, and throws it to the other side of the small hallway, creating a spinning light sure to catch the person’s eye. The person (or should I say man) quietly speeds to the light and Elsa courageously steps out with the gun pointed at the man. “Hands up!” she orders calmly. The man, startled, spins around. By the look on his face he is shocked… and amused. Elsa sure was a sight to behold: pink-and-red pajamas, bunny slippers, and tangled hair. The man slowly laughed and sped down the corridor only to be stopped by the policeman. The man gives; he puts his hands up. The policeman closes in on him and handcuffs the man. Elsa takes a breath. “Why, conductor?” she asks incredulously. The murderer was the conductor. “I’m a retired actor and I needed fame again, even if people didn’t know who I really was. The stupid movies makers thought I was getting useless, so they kicked me out with a coulpla’ hundred dollars in payment!” he shouted. “I was going to be the star in the movie production of The Orient Express, but they traded me in for some guy five years my senior. And plus, I knew how the plot went!” Elsa nodded.

Then, she explained her part: “I went to the policeman here and told him how it fitted tight along with the plotline of The Orient Express, and my suspicion of what was to happen. He agreed and he gave me one of his guns. Thankfully, I was right and now you are caught, the people are safe, and I can sleep.” Elsa handed the gun to the policeman and padded back to her room, where she collapsed on her bed and fell asleep.

WOO! What an exciting ride! I love that you chose present-tense for this; it made all the action more immediate, like I was walking alongside her.

The bunny slippers were a great touch, too! 🙂 Thanks for sharing!

As the president of the drama club and debating society, a member of the music club and the vice-president of the Leaders Book Club, Tolu had a lot on her plate. She was also the Student Head of the junior school where she had only just enrolled at the beginning of the school term despite being a transfer student. She had had to turn down the position of class president when she turned Student Head.

She knew her classmates snickered behind her back everyday but there was nothing she could do about it. She was called an over acheiver and all sorts of names that made her ire rise but she turned a blind eye.

With just one more term to go before the end of the session, her parents were quite worried that she had not invited any friends home nor had she mentioned any. They had tried to broach the matter with her but it was futile.

Meanwhile, her studies did not suffer and she was the school’s darling. She was very organised and precise. But when the school decided to set up a chess club and make Tolu the president, without any votes, other children began to plot. The taunts became more obvious. The jeers became louder.

And so on a certain sunny afternoon when she left her class to make her way to the teachers office for a meeting with one of her tutors, she decided to take the long route in order to avoid some of her enemies. In her thirteen year old mind, she was plotting moves using an imaginary chess board. She was winning the chess game when a shadow momentarily blocked out the light. It lasted only for a few seconds but her curiosity overtook her. She was walking behind the windows and it seems that someone had just risked the principals wrath by sneaking into his office.

Worse yet, that person was holding a file, the kind opened in every students name when they join the school. The files that have details of students lives and the things that teachers observe without wanting the student to find out. As Tolu saw this, she decided to investigate. Still carrying her heavy school bag on her back, she decided to find out who it was and who was coward enough to steal students file. She resolved that she would investigate and inform the principal, afterwards.

Crouching, she stole closer to the principals window and peeped into the office.

Hi, is it alright if I use some parts of the ideas listed here in my own stories, rather than following the prompt word by word? I’ve been working on an episodic detective series for my college portfolio and I’m out of ideas. I really like a few of the mysteries presented here and would like my teen detective to solve them.

This isn’t any of the above just another story idea:

21. Cody is a casual teenager who wants to fulfil his dream of being hypnotised; when hypnotist David finally comes to town Cody pays a visit. David’s attempt to hypnotise Cody ha gone wrong; Cody is stuck in an unbreakable trance which has made a connection between his and David’s mind. Whatever David thinks, Cody does. Will David’s biggest desire of vengeance succed or will it fail….

This is the first time in years thats im trynna write fiction. This is #13 here, i forgot the name so came up with Mark.

It was a typical Sunday in the metro station, deserted. On any other day, the platform would be swarming with daily office commuters but on the weekends and especially Sundays there would be but handful. As Mark entered the platform, he was pleased to see the emptiness. Travelling in the stuffed metros was always a pain. He checked the clock hanging over head, 10 minutes for the next train. Less people meant lesser frequency of trains. He stationed himself right where he always stood , beside the first of many pillows along the length of the platform. A train hustled itself behind him on the opposite route. Among the people coming out were couples, families on a holiday trip and few other men and women. But one particular person caught Mike’s attention. He wore an old discoloured shirt and shorts, not what people wear when travelling. He looked sort of in his 30’s, physically well built but of stout height. He bad bruises on his cheeks, clear sign of being on the receiving end of punches. Walking hurriedly on the platform, he kept watching backwards. Suddenly he started running, tripped and collided with Mark sending both men on the ground. Before Mark could react, the man was up and away. It did not take Mark long to figure out why the man had started running, he saw a group of men coming towards him, apparently chasing that guy. They did not give him a second look and kept running.

Mark was surprised at the happenings. In his 3 years of travel though the metro, he had never witnessed anything like this. He was still coming back to his senses when another train pulled up. This time, it was on his desired route. He quickly walked to the edge of platform waiting for the train to stop. At that moment, he heard a loud bang ricochetting in the underground. He froze right where he stood. Unmistakably, that was a gun shot!

I just read these mystery ideas. I love them all so much. I was planning on writing a mystery for my first Nanowrimo novel in November. Idea #7 gave me so many great ideas for my novel! Do you mind if I use it?

I loved the ideas. I was looking for an idea to apply to a bunch of background material I have, but couldn’t find anything that fit, so I thought I’d mention it here and see if you have thoughts. In short, I’ve been in contact with the descendants of the mutineer’s on the HMS Bounty. If you recall, after taking the ship, they found an uncharted island in the Pacific called Pitcairn where the 30 descendants live today. I just happen to have tons of material on how they live, celebrate Christmas – many colorful stories for background color. I was trying to think of a cozy mystery idea on, or off, the island with a hypothetical descendant. They are visited by supply ships every other month and small cruise ships three times a year. Not much to go on. Any thoughts or ideas would be appreciated. Note – I’m a maritime history writer that’s looking to move the the Mystery genre.

16. Running though streets, abandoned, was something he had never seen himself doing in his mind’s eye. The steady rhythm of his feet was echoed by the equal rhythm of his attacker’s footsteps. Blood mixed with sweat ran down the lean, wrinkled face of the victim, his heart pumping as he realized that his fate would be the same as Melissa’s: death. He had reached a dead end in the street…and his life. His attacker grabbed him, threw him on the ground, then took his time in creating pain for the victim.

Sally Fortnight put her brick-red hair into a neat french braid as she remembered how nearly she had lost her head earlier on that year. She was tired of sitting at home on leave. Being a cop in the police department of Phoenix, Arizona, was her life, her being, and a psychopath cutting a careful line along her collarbone and a cut starting at her ear and making its way to halfway along her cheek, intended to go to her mouth, slow and painful without anesthetic. She touched her scars on her hands and looked down at similar scars on her bare feet where she had been drilled into a metal table. Her green eyes teared up as she remembered the look on his face as he went about his work. She had loved him, and she never knew what had hit her. Her daze was interrupted by a ring on the doorbell. She quickly grabbed her 9 millimeter and looked through her oaken door’s eye hole. A Phoenix detective badge was held up at the hole, and a female voice called out, “Detective James, Phoenix Police Department, Homicide!” Sally opened her door and embrace her best friend, her partner, and her confident in everything.

Could i take number 7 and turn it into a story and publish on Wattpad? Would that be okay?

Thank you very much!

You use Wattpad too?

My timer went off right as I was finishing up the last sentence… how ironic! I used #13 for this story.

Daniel Rodriguez – Dan to his few friends – was a simple man. He took the subway in the mornings to his day job, he always wore a hoodie (the train was cold, thank you very much), and he had to have his music. The swaying train coupled with the complete separation from outside noise made the perfect environment for him to write. He hadn’t been published yet, but he wrote nonetheless. He loved mysteries – he wanted to be famous for them some day. “Hey! Watch it!” “Look where you’re going!” Annoyed exclamations and shouts that Dan could actually hear over his music made him snap out of his thoughts. With a scowl on his face, he took out his earbuds, and looked up to see what the commotion was about. He saw a man, shoving past people and trying his hardest to run. The man had dark, tanned skin and intense features, but he couldn’t make out much else besides that and his clothes, which were distinctly middle-eastern. He stood to get a better look, but as soon as he had, the man nearly ran him over. With an ‘ooph!’ and a loss of breath, he was practically slammed back into his seat. Dan couldn’t even find the will to react; he only gave an incredulous look and shook his head. Whatever, it wasn’t his problem. By the time the middle-eastern man was out of sight, however, another strange occurrence happened. A group of men in dark-colored suits and sunglasses pursued him, moving equally as fast, if not faster. Saying nothing to anyone – and ignoring the cries of the people they pushed over in their pursuit – Dan watched them go by with intrigue. “Is it the feds? Are they chasing that guy?” he asked the woman sitting next to him, who seemed equally as intrigued as he was. She only shrugged. “No idea. Oh, hey, I think you dropped your notebook.” She pointed to Dan’s composition journal, which he wrote down all of his ideas and character designs. He mumbled a ‘thank you’ to the woman, embarrassed, but leaned down to pick it up. When he did, something small fell out of the pocket of his hoodie. His eyebrows furrowed and he looked at it for a second. It was a small package, neatly wrapped in newspaper and tied with string. He had no idea what it was or where it had come from. He picked up his journal and the package, but before he had much time to think about it, there was a gunshot. Startled, he shoved both of them in his bag and stood. Everyone in the train car went deadly silent, waiting for what happened next. With a squeal, the train slowed to a halt. Police bombarded the subway when it stopped, and when the door to the next car opened, Dan could see what happened. “Oh my god… that guy was…” he choked out. The middle-eastern man from before was clutching a bloody stomach wound, barely holding on. The men in suits were nowhere to be found. With the last of his strength, the man looked Dan dead in the eye. Dan gulped, feeling a chill run down his spine. The man gave a short nod, and then his eyes slid closed and did not open again. Dan felt frozen in place – he could hardly process what was going on. Then, suddenly, he remembered the package. With trepidation, he pulled it out of his bag. “What in the world have I gotten myself into…?” he murmured, eying the package. And yet, even as he thought this, he knew he shouldn’t turn it in to the police. The man’s nod was one of trust, one that said he was depending on Dan. He couldn’t just give it up so easily. There was only one problem nagging at his mind: what was in the package?

I need a murder mystery escape room idea. U see, the group I was working with kicked me out but kept my idea as the purge. So I have to start all over, so I decided to start all over. I’m not sure what kind of clues I need AND materials. HELP!!

Hi! I’m 14 years old and I’m writing a story that is about a murder of a 14 year old girl’s boyfriend. I need some more ideas about how I should continue… Please help me!

Make it interesting by making the girlfriend murder him

Ahh… I should make her have a demon that controlled her that night and have her remember she killed him! Great idea! Thanks so much!

I’m thinking of using #18 (and adapting it, maybe for NaNoWriMo). Maybe the watch is a time machine.

Thank for sharing your crime Solving Idea’s. NeedAssignmentHelp provides the best python assignment help, python homework help in the US, Australia & UK at a pocket friendly price. https://www.needassignmenthelp.com/python-assignment

I like the ideas. They catch your attention and let your imagination free. It helps a lot for the young ones who want to take up writing in the future. Thanks. Waiting for a lot more ideas to help me become an author.

I spent nearly a year on my first book. It was easy because I inserted myself into the story line. It’s published and I am now working on a private detective novel. The ideas here are great but after 38,000 words I hit a brick wall. I have been stalled for 2 days now. thanks for the article

#1 Charles’ eyes riveted around the unfamiliar room. He stared at his leg, feeling perturbed. This had to be the WORST time to be a clumsy detective. He folded his arms and gave a sulky pout, like a five year old. Then, Christina, his lowly nurse, burst in with a large food tray. She gave Charles a big smile. “Looks like today’s full of mystery.” She set the food tray down. Charles’ eyebrows flew up. “What?” She looked around the room to see if anyone else was up. “Some gas leak caused an “explosion that killed 4 people.” Charles’ eyeballs almost bulged out of his head. “Killed who?” “There was the housewife, a minor politician, a young chemist, about twenty or so, and… oh yeah! Damian’s daughter.” Damian was THE worst mobster Scotland Yard had ever seen. Charles realized there was a mystery to solve. He smirked. I am a preteen so I know my little paragraph wasn’t the best. Any feedback on how to improve and polish my story will be great, thanks.

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Novel writing ,

80 story prompts from top thriller writers.

By Rachael Cooper

80 Thriller Prompts To Get Hearts Racing

Thrillers are commercially one of the most competitive genres to write in. Walk into any bookstore or visit any online shop and you’ll see bestseller tables covered with thrillers . So how do you make your thriller stand out from the crowd? How can you ensure your story idea is unique and engaging and able to stand up against the greats?

We’ve reached out to some of the best thriller authors around for their story ideas , as well as adding some writing prompts of our own. Whether you’re writing a psychological thriller, a thriller suspense, murder mystery, crime drama, historical or contemporary, we have something for everyone.

Why Use Thriller Prompts?

The key to all successful thrillers is creating a sense of suspense. Your reader wants to be kept on the edge of their seat while they fly through the pages of your novel because they simply can’t put it down.

Thrillers don’t tend to have many (if any!) comedic events, instead you must maintain a level of suspense, excitement, and interest throughout. Your aim is to pull your reader in, and keep them there, with your suspenseful and plot-driven narrative.

Although ‘thriller’ is the over-arching term, there are a number of sub-genres you might choose to explore.

Psychological thriller
Crime thriller
Mystery thriller
Spy thriller
Action thriller
Political thriller
Legal thriller
Historical thriller
Sci-fi thrillers

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Why Are Thriller Writing Prompts Helpful?

Thriller writers find the interesting in the ordinary, everyday things. But sometimes the pressure in making the ordinary into the extraordinary is overwhelming. That’s where our thriller writing prompts come in – here to help break you out of the self-imposed pressure to find the right twist and simply encourage you to start writing.

So welcome to our 80 writing thriller prompts! These won’t necessarily be the basis of your next novel, but what they will do is inspire you and help you break through the writers’ block and think outside the box. They may even remind you of something, maybe a character will resonate with you, or perhaps all they’ll do is encourage you to write your own prompt.

Thriller Prompts

Psychological Thriller Prompts

If your thriller focuses on the psychology of its characters as well as a pacy and plot-driven narrative , then it’s likely you’ll find these psychological thriller writing prompts helpful. If you’d like to see some comparable titles then try Gone Girl (Gillian Flynn), Misery (Stephen King), and The Girl on the Train (Paula Hawkins).

On the third Friday of every month, you switch off your phone and disappear for 24 hours. No one knows where you go, until now……
When clearing out your late husband’s things, you discover a list of names titled ‘conquests’. The first name shocks you to the core.
When your daughter doesn’t come home on Friday night, the last person you want help from comes to your aid.
Two women catch the same 7:20am train every day, never talking. Until one day when one desperately needs the other…
You barely knew your neighbour. So why did they have your name on a note in their pocket the night they died?
Your daughter says a man has hurt her. You know she’s lying because that man is dead – except no one but you knows that.
It’s 10pm on Monday night. You haven’t left the house in 271 days. If you don’t leave before midnight tonight, you never will.
An email lands in your inbox with instructions for how to save a life. But the email was never meant for you.
You’re walking through the city centre when a woman hands you a package then flees. What’s inside turns your stomach.
You’re a happily married father of two. So why has no one seen your wife for 36 days?

Crime Thriller Prompts

A crime thriller tends to focus more on the premise that a future crime hangs in the balance, while your characters work to prevent it. Think: Both of You (Adele Parks) and The Thursday Murder Club (Richard Osman).

A man gets off the Eurostar in Paris. His luggage seems oddly heavy. Opening his suitcase in the taxi, he finds a severed limb. Whose is it?
The old ghosts club: A detective, a judge, and a hitman can’t go to heaven – they haven’t learned enough on earth. But figuring out crimes and making people pay? That’s easy for them. Not just easy, it’s a pleasure. And maybe they’ll learn something on the way …
Eight years ago, a young woman disappears from a Welsh valley. A sexual crime is suspected, but no body is ever recovered. Today, a different woman is found, dead, in a nearby village. There are no marks of violence. The first incident suggests a crime without a corpse, the second one suggests a corpse without a crime. What’s going on? (This is the actual premise of Harry Bingham’s The Dead House , by the way, but you’re welcome to use it.)
The IT guy keeps himself to himself. But he used to work for the Pentagon. His coding skills are exceptional. He’s a highly skilled diver and a judo black belt. And what exactly does he get up to at the weekends?
Cally had truly loved him. It had taken her years to get over his death in a train wreck. Her marriage to Noah now always seemed like a bit of a second best. But why does she have a letter from him today? And how the hell could he be quoting yesterday’s newspaper headline?
The British Crown Jewels are the best defended precious objects in the world. No one in the world could steal them. No one except …
Moriarty’s Story: Sherlock Holmes always gets all the publicity, right? But Moriarty’s story is darker, older and more interesting. It all began one foggy London night in 1889 …
A man wakes up in Texas / Wolverhampton / at the end of your street. It is a starlit night. He has what looks like a bullet-wound in his thigh. A scrap of paper in his hand, with an address on it. No name. The man remembers nothing except for one word – “run.”
Wall Street’s most famous hedge fund manager, Ponzi Scheme owner and all-round bad guy is finally in court facing a 150-year sentence. But one juror isn’t who he claims to be. For the juror, this isn’t business, it’s personal.
The first paragraph of your story: “The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?” I stare at the court and the judge. “You must know by now that I am an expert liar. It’s my superpower. I’ll raise my hand if you want me to, and say whatever nonsense you have on this paper, but truth? No. I’ll lie and lie and make you believe me anyway. So help me God.”
The last paragraph of your story: “Reader, I murdered him.”
Detective Inspector Ryan Jackson is diligent, successful, hard-working, boozy, and sometimes a little too prone to use his fists. What worries him, though, is these memory blackouts he tells no one about. Ten of fifteen minutes, to start with. Then an hour or two. Once a whole weekend. And why are his fists sometimes red and blooded? And why did his shotgun smell of powder?
She’s the perfect wife, with the perfect home, and the perfect husband. There’s nothing wrong with them, nothing . Her husband isn’t too controlling. And that’s definitely not arsenic in the cleaning cupboard.
“A murder club?” I asked. “Do you mean solving it?” It was Davina who answered. 16 years old. Pretty, pouty, preppy: all the Ps. “Don’t be boring, darling,” she said. “Solving it, committing it. We go both ways you know.” She kissed the tip of her finger and ran it down my face, over my lips to my heart.
A detective in recovery from Cotard’s Syndrome – a real life condition in which sufferers believe themselves to be dead. (That’s Harry’s detective character, by the way, but you’re welcome to take the idea and use it however you want.)

Mystery Thriller Prompts

Mystery thrillers tend to work in the opposite direction to a crime thriller: revealing a crime, and then working backwards so its characters can solve it. You could try You (Caroline Kepnes), Sharp Objects (Gillian Flynn), or The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle (Stuart Turton) for inspiration.

No-one believes you, but you are certain the daily newspaper crossword is spelling out a warning… or a threat.
You check into a secluded hotel where you’ll sleep in a luxury stilted hut on the private beach. The first morning that you wake up, someone has written ‘DO NOT TRUST THEM’ in pebbles.
From the comfort of your bed, you check your video doorbell to see if a disputed delivery was left yesterday and who took it. Instead, you see a stranger letting themselves into your house. You do not see them leave.
Someone is sending you diary extracts, a new one every day…
You go to collect your teenager from school, but they aren’t there. When you ask in the office, they are confused – they’d agreed you could take your child out of school for a holiday, they show you the form with your signature on it and look at you strangely. But you didn’t sign that form and you had no plans to take them anywhere…
You move into a new house and start to dig in the garden. You find bones and they look human. But there’s a reason you can’t call the police…
Your father died when you were still a baby, but you’ve just been sent an obituary for him, dated last week.   
You wake in the night and can’t find your partner. There is no trace of them in the house and no-one knows where they are. When you report them missing to the police, they say there is no record of them existing. So who is the person you’ve been living with for five years? 
When you turned 10, your parents died in mysterious circumstances. On your 20th birthday, your best friend was murdered. It’s your 30th next week… 
Best friends are both accused of murder. Each insists the other one is innocent. Who is to blame?

Spy And Action Thriller Prompts

Spy and action thrillers tend to focus on secret agents and espionage. Packed full of action-adventure, suspense, and spy stories – think race against time to uncover an unseemly plot or overthrow a coup! Try Jason Bourne’s The Bourne Identity , Robert Ludlum, or Clear and Present Danger by Tom Clancy for some background reading in this sub-genre.

You’re a special agent, chasing an international art thief across Europe. Finally, you find something in Prague that leaves you wondering: is the art theft a cover for something even more heinous? And are you the right person for the job?
You’re a probationary special agent. The lowest of the low on the career ladder. You’re charged with research and filing. When you find something that could finally bring in an international arms dealer, no one believes you. It’s up to you find the proof needed to bring him in.
8.07 am on the tube was always an experience. Commuters crammed into carriages. Hot air emphasising the distinctive sweaty, stale smell of the Circle Line. While a tinny voice proclaimed “Euston Square” over the tannoy. A pair of eyes found her through the crowd. They trailed her as she hopped off the carriage, narrowly avoiding the gap between platform and tube. They followed her as she ran up the escalator; clearly late, again. And surveyed the path she took as she made her way through the commuters, her red hair glinting in the sun. A different route this morning. It could only mean one thing.
It was a short walk back to the house after Lou’s surprise birthday drinks, but it took an age. Blisters threatened to render Kat’s toes useless for days to follow. Toes throbbing and head dizzy from the vodka lime and sodas, Kat reached for the door. Before the tip of the key could graze the lock, the door swung open. Stepping over the threshold, a neon yellow post-it note caught Kat’s attention. Sitting on the hall table, beside a lidded sharpie, a note lay expectantly.
You’re the victim of a crime, but you don’t report it. Why? Are you guiltier of something worse? What are you hiding? Who are you hiding from?
James is a creature of habit. Everyday the same routine. Until one day he starts running…in the wrong direction.

Political Thriller Prompts

Your political thriller should be set against a political backdrop – perhaps a power struggle or political intrigue with suspense and high stakes throughout. Try reading The Sum of All Fears (Tom Clancy), or House of Cards (Michael Dobbs) for some ideas.

There in the tree line a gloved hand waited; a finger poised and ready to take the photo they’ve come for. Crunched-up leaves and broken branches litters the ground beneath their feet. Biding their time. Waiting. Patience has always been his gift.
You’re a journalist and receive a tip that could change everything in the election next week. But first, you need to validate it.
An assertive knock on the inner door announced the visit she’d been dreading.
COBRA’s been taken hostage.

Legal Thriller Prompts

Similar to the crime thriller, a legal thriller focuses on the procedures and investigation, whether that’s the police procedural or the court case. Think The Partner (John Grisham), The Devil’s Advocate (Steve Cavanagh) or You Don’t Know Me (Imran Mahmood).

“Decisive” was not a word you’d use to describe DC White. Changeable; dim; easily manipulated. But “Decisive”? Not at all. Or at least that’s what they banked on.
After finishing work late one night, you find a brown paper packet neatly tied with red string on your passenger seat. Alongside a note: “He’s innocent.”
The cell door clangs shut behind you. Looking down at your hands you see dried mud, dirt, and something that looks a lot like blood.
You arrange to meet your client in your office. When they don’t arrive, you go out to find them.
12 years, 17 days, 6 hours and 32 minutes. That’s how long she had been locked away for. Away from her family. Away from her child. Away from the world as she knew it. But, 12 years, 17 days, 6 hours and 32 minutes is also how long she’s had to plan her revenge. And in 12 minutes she’ll finally be free to do it.
There’s something not quite right about Mr Hallow.
They’re hiding something. You can’t put your finger on it, but you know. Your 30 years on the force is telling you there’s something they’re not saying.

Historical Thriller Prompts

The historical thriller is just that, a thriller set in the past. Make sure to research how to write historical fiction novels too, so you can get the balance between embedding the story within the historical period and keeping the narrative pacy and suspense filled. Titles for background reading could include The Alienist (Caleb Carr), The Doll Factory (Elizabeth Macneal) and Liar (Lesley Pearse).

The rain came early that year. Forcing Fowler and his farmhands to sprint back to the field to bring the rest of the harvest in. It was now or never. Stealing out from behind his hiding place beside the carriage, he headed towards the house. Tucking himself into a dark corner of the entry room, he waited.
The truth behind Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein: who was the real Frankenstein and how was he injured so unrecognisably?
The year is 1536. A time when everyone was at risk of losing their head, even the queen. Clay did what he had to do to survive, even if that meant he was the executioner.
Her masque hung listlessly on a seat in the corner of her bed chamber. The blue damask gown she had ordered specifically for the masquerade that night lay ruined at her feet. Tinged with the brownish-red hues of now dry blood. What had she done? What was she going to do now?
Somewhere in the French Quarter a saxophone serenaded the inky night sky. The streets thrummed with music and laughter, while colours rebounded off the buildings and along the streets. New Orleans in 1932 was something to behold. But here, in this tiny side street taunted by the distant celebrations, a private investigator was finally closing in.
The funny thing about not attending your wife’s execution is that you didn’t actually witness her death. In Henry’s case, his wife is back and she’s ready for revenge.
Life in Victorian London is hard, but especially so when your fiancé has been accused of murder and you have to fight to find the true killer.

Science Fiction Thriller Prompts

A science fiction thriller tends to place the action in an alternative reality – whether that’s a dystopian society or a different planet all together – the action and intrigue of the thriller will be heavily laced with Sci-Fi themes but will remain within the confines of existing science to create a believable risk scenario. Think 11/22/63 (Stephen King) or 1984 (George Orwell).

Fairgrounds are normally bright and colourful, alive. But today, today it feels different. Cold. Empty. Dark.
You’re on a carousel. High up above the crowds you spot something in the distance. Unsure what you see, it takes a while for your eyes to adjust, but when they do, you realise things will never the be same again.
You run a Detective Agency with a twist: specialising in paranormal crimes and activity.
Liam is tired of being called a conspiracy theorist, but nothing will stop him from proving that the president is not from this earth. His proof? He isn’t either.
Some might want to use a time machine to see the future, but I know where I’m going. Back to 7th February 2004 to find out who really killed Suzy.
In a post-apocalyptic world, all that stands between building a new future and certain death, is you.
In a dystopian world technology has become the currency that life depends on, that is until something threatens the very core of that technology.
No kissing is allowed in this world, let alone sex. Babies are made by machines and love is against the law. But one couple have fallen for one another and she’s pregnant. Will they escape before it’s too late?

Ten Bonus Prompts

68. Two non-identical twins are separated at birth. One of them is murdered and the other twin’s DNA is found all over the dead body. 69. Sarah Daniel’s credit card is rejected at a coffee shop. She calls her bank who tell her she isn’t Sarah Daniels. Sarah Daniels is dead.

70. A stranger hands Michelle a phone before jumping off a building to her death. The phone contains a voice message from the stranger accusing Michelle of her death. 71. Tania’s best friend Mariah disappeared fifteen years ago. Her body was never found. A young woman moves in next door who looks exactly like Mariah did, back then. But then she vanishes too. 72. Rachelle wakes up to her sleep talking husband confessing to a murder. 73. A man lies on his death bed in hospital. He whispers into the nurse’s ear. ‘I know what you did and your son will pay.” Her son doesn’t return home from school that afternoon.

74. You come across a news story about a missing person. A woman in her forties, with mid-length black hair, brown eyes, 5’5. It’s you. Your face, your description, only… a different name. The story is dated with tomorrow’s date. But you’re safe. Aren’t you?

75. You’ve been getting away with minor crimes (fraud, theft, a little arson) for a while now. And you’re ready for something more challenging. But what will it be? Maybe you could do something about your rude neighbour…

76. Your cat saunters in, carrying what you imagine is yet another mouse in her mouth. Only it’s not a mouse. It’s a finger. 77. A woman returns home after a work trip away. She opens the front door and there is a strange family sitting in her kitchen, at her table. They claim to be her family, but they’re not the family she remembers at all. 78. A woman tweets ”Live or die”. The votes are 65% in favour of death. The next day she is found murdered in her home. 79. A recent widow takes a sole cruise around the Atlantic. One by one passengers start to go missing. Scraps of paper found in their rooms spell out the name of her dead husband.

80. A woman wakes up in a stranger’s bed with no memory of what happened last night. Then she sees the dead man lying next to her and his blood on her hands.

Follow The Footsteps Of Top Thriller Writers

A huge thank you to our guest contributors for sharing some of their psychological and crime thriller story ideas and prompts. Find out more about them and their latest projects here:

Harry Bingham Harry is not only the founder of Jericho Writers, but he’s also the bestselling author of a dozen thriller novels and multiple works of non-fiction. Published all over the world, his work has been adapted for TV, he’s been on prize short- and long-lists, and had worldwide critical acclaim. Click here to discover his books.

Holly Seddon Holly’s first thriller novel, TRY NOT TO BREATHE, was published in 2016 and went on to be a bestseller in the UK, Ireland, Germany and Australia. A USA Today bestseller , it was also an audiobook, paperback and e-book bestseller in various countries. Her second novel, DON’T CLOSE YOUR EYES, was published in July 2017 in the UK, USA and in many other countries. In May 2018, it hit number one in the audiobook charts. LOVE WILL TEAR US APART was published in June 2018 and THE WOMAN ON THE BRIDGE is out March 2022. She’s also one half of the Honest Authors, co-hosting a fortnightly podcast on the realities of life as a published author. Click here to pre-order her new book!

Sophie Flynn Sophie is a Cotswolds based psychological thriller author with an MA in Creative Writing from Oxford Brookes. Her debut novel ALL MY LIES was published by Simon & Schuster in April, 2021. Alongside writing, Sophie is also the Head of Marketing at Jericho Writers .

Meera Shah Meera Shah is a psychological suspense writer based in London, UK. Her debut novel will be published by Hodder Studio, an imprint of Hodder & Stoughton, in Spring ’23. To follow her journey to publication you can visit her author website or Twitter page .

More Thriller Writing Tips

I hope these thriller writing prompts helped you fight off your writers’ block and sparked a source of inspiration for you.

If you want to learn a little more about thriller writing, check out our favourite Jericho Writers thriller articles below.

How Crime Writers can Research Police Procedure
Tips for Writing Crime Fiction and Thrillers
How to Get an Agent for Your Thriller
7 Top Tips for Writing Gripping Thrillers
How to Plot a Novel (Using our Easy Plot Template Technique) – Jericho Writers
How to Create a Great Inciting Incident – Jericho Writers

And remember, even the very best thriller writers started out staring at a blank white blank page. So don’t worry if you haven’t hit upon the perfect idea yet; start out by looking through the story ideas we’ve listed here, or better yet, start listing your own prompts from inspiration you find in everyday life.

You never know, a tiny spark of an idea may inspire you to write something you weren’t expecting and you will be joining the greats at the bestselling thriller table at your favourite bookstore!

About the author

Rachael is the Head of Publishing and AgentMatch here at Jericho Writers. She has a Masters in Eighteenth-Century Literature and Romanticism; specialising in female sociability. She's currently working on a series of articles based on her research. Rachael lives in Oxfordshire; and spends most of her time writing, reading, walking her very overweight Labrador in the countryside, and staking out second-hand bookstores for overlooked treasures.

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BEST MYSTERY WRITING PROMPTS

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Reap what you sow, write a story in which a character learns something unexpected about someone they thought they knew well., in a small town, a powerful family have a dark secret that nobody wants to discuss. one day, an outsider arrives, who's not happy to simply drop it., a photographer captures an image of something unexplainable. what happens next, write a story about discovering a lost manuscript. it can be from a famous (or infamous) author, or an unknown one., a character overhears something at a black-tie event that puts the night in jeopardy..

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People have gathered to witness a once-in-a-lifetime natural phenomenon, but what happens next is not what they expected.

Start your story with a character staring at a picture they don’t remember taking., write a story with a strong sense of place. how is the setting of your world the same as, but different to, our own, a crumpled piece of paper holding an unexpected message is carried by the wind. where did it come from, and where is it going, write a story in which an important message is cut off, leaving characters to wonder or puzzle out what was left unsaid., subscribe to our prompts newsletter.

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Write a story about someone finally gaining access into their family’s very old computer.

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The best mystery writing prompts

Great mystery writing is full of suspense and intrigue that gets your readers to ask questions. The key to the gripping whodunnit mystery books you love is the unique mysterious story ideas behind them. If you’re currently waiting for a lightbulb to go off in your head before you embrace your inner Agatha Christie, you’ll enjoy these mystery writing prompts!

There are several types of mystery stories you might want to consider writing: 1) Cozies, which usually take place in — as the name would suggest — cozy settings, such as small towns. They are meant to be a “light read” meaning they don’t involve graphic violence, although the crime in question can still be a murder or death. 2) Hard-boiled. Typically feature a professional detective. As the story unfolds, not only is the mystery untangled, but so is the protagonist’s character development as they face their own internal struggles. While chasing up alibis and collecting evidence to try to bring the killer to justice, the investigation forces our protagonist to confront parts of their own personalities they may have buried. 3) Procedurals. Distinguished by their very in-depth explanation of how a mystery was solved. Fine details will be explored, and the drama often culminates in a courtroom, with a judge and jury deciding whether the suspect is innocent or guilty.

To get you started, here are our top ten mystery writing prompts:

A crime’s been committed, and the only clues left behind are a half-eaten apple and a bobby pin.
Write a mystery where the detective realizes at the last moment that they have the wrong suspect.
You are legally allowed to commit murder once, but you must fill out the proper paperwork and your proposed victim will be notified of your intentions.
You discover a trap door in your home that you never knew about.
You thought he was dead, but there he is, right in front of you on the street, smiling at you.
You're shaking hands with a stranger at a networking event when you ask for their name. I have no name, they reply.
You’ve forgotten the last year of your life, and have to retrace your steps to figure out how you got here.
Write a story about a valuable object that goes missing.
You open a book and note with a letterhead falls out. At the top it says: If you are reading this, you have been chosen.
Write a story that starts with the reveal of a long-kept secret.

If you’re an author looking to write a mystery novel or short story, check out some of our resources on the topic, full of helpful tips for mystery writers:

What is Exposition? Examples of Backstory in Action — When writing mystery fiction, anything could be an important clue — or a red herring. How are you going to drip-feed your reader information? Rather than holding their hand through the story, you’re going to want to provide clues slowly and subtly. That’s where exposition comes in. And don’t forget to check out our guide to Show, Don't Tell while you’re there!
Understanding Point of View (free course) — Our ten-day guide to choosing and mastering your POV. In a genre like mystery, where facts are hazy and everything is up for debate, choosing the right POV is crucial in deploying information and keeping the narrative compelling. Perhaps you’ll opt for an unreliable narrator, oscillate between different POV characters, or go for an omniscient third-person narrator. The possibilities are endless.
How to Develop Characters (free course) — The key to a great mystery is not just a great hero. You’re going to need an entire cast of interesting characters, to keep readers guessing and give them a reason to be invested in the events they’re witnessing. This requires a lot of work, which is why you’ll want to dedicate plenty of time to character development.

Want more help learning how to write a short mystery? Check out How to Write a Short Story That Gets Published — a free, ten-day course guiding you through the process of short story writing by Laura Mae Isaacman, a full-time editor who runs a book editing company in Brooklyn.

Ready to start writing? Check out Reedsy’s weekly short story contest , for the chance of winning $250 , plus potential publication in our literary magazine, Prompted ! You can also check out our list of writing contests or our directory of literary magazines for more opportunities to submit your story.

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31 Crime Thriller Writing Prompts

By Brittany Kuhn

Are you writing a crime thriller novel ? Do you need some inspiration? Check out the 31 crime thriller writing prompts below!

General Crime Thriller Prompts

1. a ransom note arrives with only 48 hours to pay. but who’s been kidnapped.

The thrill of this story prompt is in the high pace of having only 48 hours to discover the crime and prevent from getting worse (through murder or injury). This will move your story quite quickly but also opens up to doing a lot of flashbacks to explain connections or discovered clues.

2. A criminal partner has been captured by a rival gang. Can they be rescued before it’s too late?

Like the prompt above, there’s a time pressure in this story prompt to prevent the partner (be it family, friend, lover) from getting hurt. Depending on the crime, you can really ramp up the thrill by forcing the main character to complete other crimes in exchange for their partner or as a way of getting to their partner (think of the films Taken or Gone in 60 Seconds )

3. After standing up to the local mob, a man must protect himself and his family from their vengeance.

The thrill here comes from the reader wondering whether the man will succeed in saving himself from the mobsters. The crime comes from not only the mob but also whatever crimes the man will have to commit to keep his and his family’s safety.

4. Having just returned from prison, a notorious safe cracker is called upon to help with another big heist.

The crime in this story prompt IS the story, so the thrill comes from whether or not they succeed in their heist. That might come from deciding whether the safe cracker wants to continue on with a life of crime or if they want to retire at the end.

5. A hoard of drugs has gone missing, and the local criminal must find them before he’s blamed for their disappearance.

Put your main character in peril from the start: the mobster threatens their life even though they had nothing to do with the disappearance. This raises the stakes from the start and gives your main character investment in discovering something they wouldn’t normally care about. For a bit of a twist, you could always have them double-cross the mobster and become the new drug lord.

6. After three low-level goons rob the casino of an upper-level mobster, the mobster’s second-in-command must track them down and make them pay.

This is a bit like a detective story but because the investigator isn’t a police officer, there’s scope for way more crime. You could do a lot with this one by exploring character motivations: why did the goons need the money; why did they choose that mobster; what will happen when they are found.

7. A man walks into a police station claiming to be a missing child from twenty years before. He escaped his captor and wants to stop the kidnapping from happening again.

This is a good prompt if you want to work with flashbacks or unreliable characters. Is the man telling the truth? If he is, what child or children are due to be kidnapped next? How can the kidnapping be stopped?

8. A local police detective must go deep undercover to stop a host of recent bank robberies. But does he go too far?

This prompt is good if you want to write about criminals as people and focus more on their relationships than the crime itself. The thrill comes from whether the police detective will stay true to himself as a police officer or if he will prioritize his new friendships.

9. The police station has been receiving cryptic notes referring to a series of murders. But no murders matching the description have been discovered.

What makes this prompt so interesting is both the code-breaking element of the cryptic clues and the discovery of the murders themselves. You could also potentially have the clues referencing murders that are about to happen so that the story eventually becomes about them preventing murders rather than discovering them.

10. A man goes missing but the clues to his disappearance are not what they seem.

What makes this an open prompt is the reason the clues to his disappearance don’t match up. Did he fake his own death? Did he get involved in something secret? Are his family suspects or are they at risk? Making the family in danger might add a bit more ‘crime’ to this crime thriller.

11. During a family reunion on a secluded island, family members start turning up dead. Why? And who’s next?

A bit like a ‘whodunit,’ this story prompt focuses on the family working together to solve the crime of who’s next and how to stop it. Be sure to keep having family members pop up dead or injured to keep the ‘thrill’ alive throughout.

12. After a new couple moves in down the street, a neighbor discovers a note seemingly from the wife of the new couple, crying for help. Except she denies it.

The thrill here is both criminal and psychological as the main character (ideally the neighbor who discovered the note) must decide two things: if the wife is telling the truth and what is happening to whoever did write the note. There is potential for a lot of intrigue and red herrings.

13. An airplane pilot who has been smuggling drugs for a drug lord discovers they’re being framed for missing drugs and money.

For this prompt, focus on the pilot delving into the drug world in order to prove their innocence. Have them initially work on discovering who is framing them and uncovering their guilt to the drug lord before the pilot themselves gets killed.

14. A teen is the sole survivor of a gangland hit on their whole family. They must fight back or risk being murdered themselves.

If you really want to ramp up the ‘crime’ element of this prompt, have the teen start training to seek revenge on those who murdered the family. They must find their way into the dark underbelly of their city to get advice and training. The question then becomes will they commit the crime or die trying?

15. Only one member of a gang of criminals is left alive after a mass execution. Who ordered it and are they next?

This crime thriller can be told as it unfolds or through a series of flashbacks by the survivor. In either case, the thrill should be in discovering what they were doing together and why they were all murdered in the first place.

16. Trapped into helping an assassin, a man must decide if and how to stop the hitman from murdering again.

How you trap these two people together will determine how the story unfolds. Make sure the assassin is committing crimes throughout the story so the thrill for the reader comes in wondering which crime will be that step too far for the man.

17. A group of criminals have had an unexpected run-in with the cops and now must work to discover who ratted them out.

The thrill of this crime story comes in discovering there’s a mole in their midst and figuring out who it is. Have your characters commit further crimes (kidnapping, torture, etc) to find this mole, then make the discovery a real twist at the end.

18. A girl is found murdered in a ritualistic manner. It’s clear that she’s not the first, nor will she be the last.

To add to the reader’s suspense, explore the supernatural element to make this more of a thriller. Have your main characters be investigating the murder and the ritualistic clues lead them ever deeper into a strange cult nobody knew was operating before.

19. Two criminals have made a bet over who can commit the most heinous and public crime to become famous. Can they be stopped?

This can start out as a garden variety police procedural until the bet is discovered. Then, the thrill becomes wondering which one can be stopped first before it gets out of control.

20. A band of criminals come together for one last heist: a casino.

Spend a few chapters at the beginning of your story building the band of criminals and exploring why they want to rob this particular casino. Spend the rest on the thrill of the heist and whether they’ll succeed.

21. One job. Fifty assassins. Who will win?

Exploring the motivations and methods of all fifty characters would really make this an interesting and thrilling crime story. Why are they all battling for this one job? Who wins and why?

22. People start going missing after the new neighbor moves in next door.

Why the neighbor is abducting people will really set the tone for the rest of this story. Spend a good chunk of your story trying to discover that then the second half needs be whether your main character can stop them.

Historical Crime Thriller Prompts

23. in 1920s louisiana, bootleggers across the state are coming up murdered. who’s next and will they be stopped.

If you choose to have the police investigate this, then you can include a sense of ‘should we really help save the criminals’ that a lot of police had at this time. This will add a sense of purpose to your main character (who should want to discover the answer) and give them a reason for diving into the dark world of Prohibition-era bootlegging.

24. A series of seemingly unrelated deaths in Victorian England all start to seem strangely related, with hints of future deaths to come.

This prompt is less ‘whodunit’ and more ‘discovering the gritty underworld of Victorian aristocracy.’ It’s not the murders themselves that should be the focus but where investigating leads your main character to explore: secret societies, fetish clubs, black market trades. Think Jack the Ripper but bigger.

25. It’s the 1960s, and a rich, young heiress falls to her death during a raucous party in New York City. What seems a harmless accident results in the discovery of a strange and interwoven world of drugs, sex, and murder.

This is a lot like the prompt above but with a focus on the art world of the 1960s. You could also choose to explore some of the ‘old money’ families that might be losing their grip on society and the economy as the world changes.

26. During the 1980s Cold War, a Russian operative is arrested and admits a nuclear bomb is heading towards a major city. But which one?

Start with the Russian operative already arrested and have them state this fact to the investigators. Then, spend the rest of the story with your characters under high pressure, trying to get more information out of them while also trying to find the bomb before it goes off.

Romantic Crime Thriller Prompts

27. after discovering the body of a woman in the woods, two small-town amateur detectives fall in love while avoiding danger and intrigue in discovering who the murderer is and who’s next..

Have the two detectives only realize their love for each other as they discover some major break in the case, which leads to them being targeted by the murderer. This will raise the stakes by having the love and their lives at stake while they work to solve the crime.

28. While trying to protect a prostitute from being killed, a man falls deeply in love with her and goes to the depths to protect her.

To keep this a ‘crime thriller,’ make sure the focus of the story is keeping the woman from being killed by a criminal of some kind. Just add bits of romantic intrigue and flirtatious dialogue here and there to show their connection and why they fall in love by the end.

29. A couple falls in love and goes on a nationwide crime spree.

This story focuses more on whether the couple gets away with the crimes they commit (because of their love) or whether they are stopped at some point. How romantic you want your story will largely depend on how you want it to end: they both get away, only one of them gets away (and forever misses their love), or they both die tragically together, doing what they love (like Bonnie and Clyde).

30. While investigating a murder, the investigator falls in love with the only witness. And only suspect, too.

What makes this such a thriller is in keeping the reader in the dark about whether the love interest is the killer or not. And if they are, does the investigator choose them or their duty to the law at the end?

31. A man marries a corrupt businessman’s daughter. Is it love or is it revenge?

The crime element of this prompt is around whether the man is planning some sort of attack on the businessman. The thrill is in whether he will get caught. The romantic subplot comes from exploring whether he will allow himself to truly fall in love with the woman he married or whether his revenge will win.

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50 True Crime writing prompts

December 7, 2023 by Richard 1 Comment

Do you love true crime? Here are 50 True Crime writing prompts that can help you turn your hobby into a passion. Write the next great crime novel with these 50 true crime sounding writing prompts. (Writing prompts are not real crimes, no one was harmed during the making of this list). These true crime prompts can get you writing with ideas that sound like they were ripped right from the headlines!

True crime continues captivating masses as one of the most popular genres, with avid fans endlessly speculating on unsolved mysteries, criminal psychology, and masterful investigative work unfolding in news reports and headlines. Audiences love dissecting enigmatic cold cases, theorizing serial killer motives, and imagining how they’d outmaneuver corrupt officials evading justice.

Now arrives an imaginative blog series fusing this prevalent fascination with suspenseful true crime tales and creative writing. Readers can expect fictional vignettes and character studies directly inspired by the most bold, shocking and macabre cases occupying our national obsession.

Over 50 riveting posts, expect to encounter short stories featuring secret smuggling rings infiltrated by tenacious journalists, wrongly imprisoned citizens unraveling vindictive conspiracies after daring prison escapes, detectives decoding visual clues left by elusive murderous siblings spreading fear, and ordinary individuals pulled into dangerous criminal webs while investigating deceased loved ones’ hidden lies.

Combining a lifelong love of suspense literature with more recent true crime intrigue, this blog presents fascinating “what if” spins on the ever-intriguing true crime stories currently dominating headlines and feeding society’s undying macabre curiosity.

Here are 50 True Crime writing prompts

Even forensic experts were baffled – how did an intruder bypass advanced security systems to steal priceless artifacts without leaving a trace? His daring heist would come to be known as The Case of the Ghost Thief.
Shannon thought she found happily ever after – until private investigators uncovered her new husband’s murderous past lives hidden under aliases. She was now the hunted.
Jimmy always skirted the rules growing up – but law enforcement must finally bring his car theft ring screeching to a halt before more hot vehicles vanish.
They thought moving to an elite gated community guaranteed protection. That belief shattered violently the night a serial squatter left a trail of bodies inside their barricaded paradise. Safety was now the illusion…danger the new reality.
Emotions running fiery-hot – that was Chief Inspector Davis’s initial theory when a beloved community elder and her family wound up slain in a remote cabin amid the ashes. But science would soon reveal cold calculations behind the vengeance.
If walls could talk inside Cell Block D. What the guards can’t contain and the razor wire fences can’t cage are the secret worlds unfolding through whispers and stashed notes between unlikely allies. The true power dwells inside…
“We were the last ones to see little Susie alive…” Three witnesses hold clues that don’t line up when piecing together the 10-year old’s final joyful afternoon – before her devastating fate just 10 miles outside town.
They assumed reports were exaggerated – until their humanitarian mission encountered the child trafficking ring thriving right under the world’s nose. Now ensuring justice requires playing chess against ruthless warlords and corrupted politicians.
When the mysterious copper box appeared atop the police chief’s desk sealed in wax imprinted with a serpent insignia, he knew this case would brand his career – and likely claim lives before shocking town secrets finally crawled into the light.
Criminal masterminds often slip up with small oversights. So when Jake noticed the pharmacy robber’s odd accent slipped slightly, detecting the imposter became his lone chance to solve the undiscovered crime network hiding statewide.
Even behind the fortress of Sing Sing’s reinforced walls, ruby red secrets passed illicitly through inmates’ cunning hands held the power to silence snitches and elevate new criminal royalty – if ever whispered to cunning ears on the outside.
They were the most savage contract killers Chicago ever produced – until two detectives decode the murderous siblings’ visual calling card and broadcast their identities citywide under a simple symbol printed on matchboxes and tucked into victims’ pockets.
My journalism mentor once said chasing truth often demands unlawful maneuvers. But infiltrating the smuggling ring as an undercover boat hand to uncover their offshore operations proves my breaking point might meet the ocean floor instead.
As lead prosecutor, I must sway the suspicious jury to convict the charismatic, cutthroat Wall Street tycoon guilty of swindling millions from innocent pensioners. Little do they know we shared steamy history I’ve done everything to bury – but if it guarantees he finally pays…
Bumping off low-level street dealers was child’s play for Vincent’s upstart cartel. But rubbing out a top enforcer from the old-guard narcotics gang as a brazen power move would ignite all-out war across Miami – and likely redraw the city’s trafficking empire.
Master burglars live by simple rules – disable alarms, grab valuables quick, torch remnants that might identify. But when one veteran thief’s signature arson accelerant technique links a startling number of cold cases together, findings short-circuit investigator’s expectations.
We expecting riveting war stories interviewing Sylvia for our documentary on little-known heroes. While the plucky French freedom fighter certainly dazzled describing sabotaging Nazi supply lines, something about her cagey manner hinted at buried secrets too dark for celluloid.
As the trial’s ringmaster directing lawyer lines of inquiry, all knew DA Preston Brooks owned the courtroom – unless the defense somehow exposed his Achilles’ heel, an affliction even his savviest opponents currently remain unaware.
While the mysterious Poison Pen letters mailed to wealthy elite seemed relatively harmless at first, the handwritten death threats and secrets exposed about powerful figures suggested an elaborate web of vengeance – with citywide implications if culprit isn’t quickly collared.
They considered clever Checkbox Carl’s suburban spree an anomalous blip explaining the rash of burglaries targeting only worthy 18th century maps and globes worth millions as strange midlife crisis. But when a body surfaced matching his contexts, authorities shifted focus to more sinister theories.
Investigators traced the assassin’s origins when scans of his forged passports and covert communications revealed subtle regional spelling slip-ups, blowing his dangerous cover.
Jason’s prison escape plan counted on inmates providing distractions while he climbed fences. But overnight the convict code turned against outing snitches, leaving him solo against the spotlights.
While Pickpocketing Peggy’s hotel robberies proved harmless at first, when an elderly guest died from heart failure after the sneak thief invaded his room, her petty crimes turned deadly.
When “The Nun” kept showing up at mob hits wearing a habit over her signature red dress, police struggled tracing her identity through networks of lookouts ever covering this phantom’s lethal tracks.
They were the Bonnie and Clyde of cyber hacking – until global intelligence agencies decrypted the romantic partners’ secret online communications revealing the tools behind their digital heists.
Metro Crime’s finest joined forces following a tip declaring Sherlock’s Gentleman’s Club the perfect money laundering front. But bringing down its network of corrupt officials backing this secret den proved far more scandalous.
Mesmerized by her handsome biologist tutor since freshman year, star student Valerie stole rare toxins to spike his nagging wife’s gin and win her dream man – at least until suspicious scratches appeared on his arms.
As the tenacious small-town reporter investigating corrupt sheriff kickbacks, Sam never expected to be tied as a traitor and dumped unconscious into the bayou’s hungry jaws. This time the story itself might just devour him.
While the Cavendish Museum gala promised glitz showcasing Imperial Russia treasures, when assassins took patrons hostage demanding access to the Tsarina’s jeweled Faberge egg, the dream night soured into a tactical nightmare.
Tracking South Boston’s elusive smuggling gang leader “Lucky” felt near impossible given his triple bolt deadlocks and savvy camera maneuvers avoiding identification – until a bright drug sniffing police canine brought new tricks locating his hidden vault.
Even struggling as an ex-con and recovering addict, Nina’s counseling youth and penning cautionary addiction memoirs earned community respect – at least until criminology students correlated timing between her relapses and local pharmacy break-ins.
As lead archeologist unearthing ancient funerary treasures, Scarlett knew tomb raiders and black market dealers craved the priceless icons we discovered. But mummifying a traitorous dig team member as a brutal warning seemed extreme escalation.
While rural police wrote off the campground stalking incidents as harmless wildlife, Cryptozoology professor Artie Adler’s personal encounter suggested more sinister theories – perhaps explaining certain missing person cases spanning decades too…
Having trained vicious attack hounds for high profile clients wary of kidnappers and assassins, canine security consultant Bruno knew never to ask names or motives. But the bounty hunter currently tailing him indicates one guard dog may have switched allegiances, to dangerous personal cost.
As the reigning “Queen of Illegal Poker” in shady casino circles, lady luck let players assume Bianca’s wins came through chance alone. When bitter rivals with brutal reputations arrive to compete, however, her skill and charm may no longer protect the card empress.
Seeing another inmate sneak away into solitary always elicited curiosity what rules were violated. But when Charise recognized the visitor’s Italian loafers and signet pinky ring slipping inside, she knew Omerta’s code now demands her silence… under penalty of a more permanent isolation yet to come.
While the Faceless Butcher evaded capture leaving no traces at gory slaughterhouse crime scenes, newly promoted Lt. Aaliyah Nasser discovers surveillance tapes showing a masked figure without gloves at the stainless steel sinks.
Coded ledger entries tied clean cut broker Elliott Hays to the lucrative art theft ring fencing stolen Warhols and Rembrandts via Swiss accounts. But could his surprise release on lack of hard evidence trigger a brazen museum robbery the very same night?
Turning rats usually reduced prison sentences substantially. But Norris failed to realize the sharp consequences after he snitched to the DA about the Aryan Clan’s gun running operation from behind bars – consequences now hunting him on the outside.
While the mysterious Poison Pen letters seemed relatively harmless at first, the handwritten death threats exposing dark secrets about powerful city figures suggested an elaborate insider campaign of coercion and vengeance brewing on anonymous elite typewriters.
When beloved Father Pat’s troubled past came to light after an exposé revealed the once admired clergyman fabricated his entire identity and background with the Church, investigators shift focus to unraveling what other altar boy secrets “Patrick” hides behind the holy cloth…
As lead prosecutor, all expected ADA Alexis to steamroll the violent empire of a ruthless drug kingpin whose muscle intimidated witnesses citywide into silence. Little did observers know she shared an intimate past with the golden-toothed dealer – one with photos to prove it.
While Metro PD anti-corruption squads wiretap organized crime fronts, under scrutiny Judge Terencesynchronizey Terence subtly communicates his sway over closeted city officials through coded dinner menus dropped at usual dead drop takeout joints. But can anyone decipher the orders?
When his daughter Allison disappears walking home from calculus tutorials, gut instincts tell pop psychologist Dr. Malcolm one of his unstable clients now targets his own family. As encrypted therapy session tapes trickle in taunting his powerlessness, outsmarting a diabolical psychopath becomes Malcolm’s only recourse to ever see Allie again.
No one expected Ferdinand to survive San Quentin much less keep his humanity given the horrors there. But salty convict poems he secretly scrawls beyond night sticks and constant shakedowns reveal how creating art and probing society’s gaps helps imprisoned minds find fleeting freedoms within confining walls.
While curating the soon-to-open National Museum of Organized Crime fulfilled Susan’s academic dreams, when a mysterious fedora-wearing patron keeps appearing alone on off hours obsessively gazing at exhibits featuring one display-encased tommy gun in particular, Susan realizes nightmare history shrouded in legend threatens her and possibly others bound by blood oath.
The framed photograph of their supposedly estranged mother arrives in nine year old Nina’s mailbox without explanation days after they buried their devastated father. But her name signed on the back in familiar feminine script suggests the deceased parent they knew was tangled in criminal deceit – pulling Nina into the dangerous web.
As lead detective haunted by the serial child killer somehow always vanishing moments before cops arrive to grisly suburban scenes over two states, Vinny notices through photos that one familiar middle school guidance counselor grayscale vehicle sits parked in multiple old crime scene backgrounds…
While intrepid student sleuth Kendra didn’t expect unmasking her prep school headmaster’s hidden DUI manslaughter past would catalyze his resignation, the threatening late night voicemail referencing her “meddlesome nature” suggests this Walter White shirt-wearing teacher harbored even darker secrets yet to unravel.

And so concludes our chilling collection of 50 true crime writing prompts pulled straight from the headlines. These fictional snippets aim to ignite your creative sparks and have you penning the next gripping thriller. With tales covering everything from alluring art heists to scandalous poison pen letters tormenting elites, this series allows your imagination to run wild theorizing “what-if” scenarios about the ever-intriguing world of crime. Use these creative launches to develop short stories, expand into novellas, or even inspire full-length novels filled with the intrigue and complex characters that make true crime tales irresistible page-turners. Wherever these prompts lead you, embrace your fascination with the genre and let the writing take hold until “The End” arrives. Just be careful if you find yourself identifying a little too closely with the criminal masterminds…We hope you enjoyed these writing prompts. If they were not your cup of tea, we have many other prompts on our site . Also, please leave us a comment, we’d love to hear from you!

100 "Twist on a Classic" writing prompts

About Richard

Richard Everywriter (pen name) has worked for literary magazines and literary websites for the last 25 years. He holds degrees in Writing, Journalism, Technology and Education. Richard has headed many writing workshops and courses, and he has taught writing and literature for the last 20 years.

In writing and publishing he has worked with independent, small, medium and large publishers for years connecting publishers to authors. He has also worked as a journalist and editor in both magazine, newspaper and trade publications as well as in the medical publishing industry. Follow him on Twitter, and check out our Submissions page .

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December 7, 2023 at 8:49 pm

I loved this list. I got some great ideas from it.

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Crime fiction is as popular with writers as it is readers. Fans of the genre often try their hand at writing the gripping noir and twisting tales they love. But writing crime fiction comes with its own unique challenges as crime readers demand tight plots, dark settings and gripping mysteries like no other.

This comprehensive list of 25 crime writing tips will help you craft great crime fiction, using genre best practices as well as specific advice from National Centre for Writing course tutors. Find out more about our Introduction to Crime Writing course here →

1. Read crime

If you think this is obvious, then you’re probably already doing this. However, it’s not rare to find someone who wants to write a particular genre, but isn’t reading it. And in case it’s not obvious, you need to immerse yourself in the genre – you need to understand the style, the language, the tropes, the themes, the plot devices, the characters and how the genre has changed over time so that you can not only write great crime fiction, but work on what you can bring to the genre to make it your own.

Read like a writer: what do you like, and why? What works and why? What doesn’t? And why? Importantly ask yourself, how would I do this differently?

Read crime’s many sub-genres: from the hard-boiled thrillers of Raymond Chandler to cosy mystery and the suburban crime stories of Harlan Coban.

2. Read the greats

Think about how each book uses point of view, interesting characters, plot twists and cliffhangers. Crime fiction, more than other genres, often has a formula. As such it’s essential to understand that formula and its variations and how you can bring your own twist to your tales.

The Crime Writer’s Association details the top 10 crime novels of all time as:

The Daughter of Time – Josephine Tey (1951)
The Big Sleep – Raymond Chandler (1939)
The Spy Who Came In From the Cold – John le Carré (1963)
Gaudy Night – Dorothy L. Sayers (1935)
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd – Agatha Christie (1926)
Rebecca – Daphne du Maurier (1938)
Farewell My Lovely – Raymond Chandler (1940)
The Moonstone – Wilkie Collins (1868)
The IPCRESS File – Len Deighton (1962)
The Maltese Falcon – Dashiell Hammett (1930)

3. Read the current heroes of crime

Harlan Coben
Peter James
Martina Cole
James Patterson
John Grisham
Michael Connolly
Ann Cleeves
Patricia Cornwell
Val McDermid.

4. Read the new heroes of crime fiction

And finally, don’t just read the big names, find out who is new and hot. Who’s bringing something new to the genre? Who is the Ian Rankin of tomorrow? This is particularly important if you want to get published, as editors will be looking for that new, exciting ‘something’, not that familiar ‘something’ that made Kathleen Reichs’ work bestselling.

5. Take a course in writing crime fiction

Figuring out how to write great crime from blogs and extensive reading may work for some new writers, but few things are as effective as a purpose-built course for acquiring the specific knowledge and skills needed to write great crime fiction. Some people take a general fiction course which will, of course, give you the generic rules of fiction, but, because crime fiction has so many particularities, a crime course will provide particular insight into the art of twists, climaxes, tying up loose ends and watertight plotting.

Learning is rarely a one-way thing: we will have questions and queries about the received wisdom as well as questions about our own work. This is why tutored courses in particular are great for learning how to write crime fiction, but also building your own writing routine.

There are lots of types and formats of course available, but with so much being accessible online today, there are some fantastic online courses which also include 1-2-1 tutor feedback, such as our Introduction to Crime Writing course – tutored by established crime writers such as Julia Crouch. The course includes modules on The Elements Of A Crime Story; Ethics and Edits; Genre and Detail; and Endearing Monsters.

6. Start with the crime

Great stories usually make a ‘promise’ to the reader: the protagonist will fall in love, find the gold, solve the mystery. It is the carrot on the end of the stick. This promise is what drives a reader through a story – and helps them ride out its less dynamic parts.

The crime itself will ignite your plot and drive the narrative. This is why many writers open with the crime, to grip readers from the off. The promise of crime is that the reader will get to find out whodunnit – and how and why. As one of the most popular fiction genres, this promise is a compelling one.

Great fiction is about characters trying to achieve something (and usually failing to until the end). Characters with no aims are boring. By introducing the crime at the beginning, we immediately give our protagonist an aim.

Get into the heads of the victim, the killer – witness as the former dies. Make it real, make it terrifying. This will help to create a monster and build sympathy for the victim, thereby raising the stakes: the more gruesome the murder, the more important it is to catch the killer. And this will be reflected in your reader’s need to keep reading.

7. Use conflict

National Centre for Writing crime course tutor Julia Crouch says: ‘Conflict is the root of all drama. In no genre is this more apparent than crime fiction. Fill your story with conflict – the obstacles standing in the way of your protagonist, the conflicts inside their head, their moral/ethical conflicts, the opposition of other characters, the opposing forces of the setting, the weather, the broken-down car, the bad sex, the drinking, oh, the drinking. Make their life as difficult as possible, then make it just a bit worse.’

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8. Surprise your reader

This may sound obvious if not simple, but readers’ appetites for crime fiction have always been large, and it’s only ever grown. This means that the more simplistic plots will fail to grab and grip readers because they’ll probably see it coming – or be disappointed if your story had a straightforward end. Simple won’t sell.

Contemporary crime is packed full of twists, so you will have to plot intricate and complex narratives that deliver twists and surprises at every turn – while also remaining entirely plausible.

Getting this right is one of the most challenging aspects of writing crime fiction. While it is easier to describe, it is harder to plan the mystery, hide it from view and eek out the clues bit by bit, with just the right amount of misdirection for the reader.

One way of tackling this is to define a key clue discovered in each chapter and, where possible, make each clue lead to the next. If your clues lead from one to another, disrupt this rhythm with a surprise clue from a subplot. Take your protagonist on a goose chase. Or make them think they’re on a goose chase when they’re not.

Take care not to just pack your plot with twists for the sake of it. Twists should be because of the plot and serve the plot – don’t rely on them. Great crime writing also comes from building suspense, tension and mystery.

9. Don’t use victims and violence as plot devices

There have been many criticisms leveled at crime writers – especially within TV and film – for using victims and violence (including sexual violence) simply as plot devices to move the story forwards. Rather than sympathetic people with complex backstories, victims are too often introduced simply to develop the perpetrator. This reduces the victim to voiceless and passive, unable to reflect on what’s happening to them. We see the crime through the criminal’s eyes – the physical, the tangible – but don’t feel it from the victim’s point of view. We miss out on the power of a well-developed victim-type character – not just the physical pain inflicted, but the emotional. The before, during and after for both criminal and victim.

10. Do your research

Crime can be a tricky genre to write as most of us aren’t forensics experts, lawyers, police officers or murderers. We’ve never worked a case, arrested anyone, seen a dead body or (hopefully) killed anyone.

So, how can we create a rich, real and convincing story in a world we don’t know well?

This is also a challenge as many of our readers will be avid crime readers, and be able to feel the cracks in our story if it’s not solid.

Research is the key. Ensure that you understand any key aspects of your story. It can be valuable to read around the subject matter: non-fiction books about murderers, crime, political intrigue and espionage. For example:

The limits of forensics
How DNA works… and doesn’t
How the legal system works, from warrants and arrests through to trials and sentencing
How the police works, from ranks and departments to internal politics and procedures
The crime scene. How do the police work a crime scene, from clothes and equipment to who gets access?
What happens to bodies when they’re cut, shot and killed?
How do murderers think? There are many types of murder and so there are many types of murderer. How does yours think? What’s their motivation and is it realistic?
Most of us can use a mobile phone, but do you understand how various computer hacks work? Or how certain technologies are used to find and track criminals?

Research will help you not only ensure your story is realistic and accurate, but will help you add the details that make it rich and convincing. Maybe, your whole story will hang on such a detail.

Research is also a great source of inspiration. In the course of sitting in the public gallery at your local court or watching real police press conferences you might be struck with an idea you haven’t seen explored yet, or just one that you’d be excited to explore.

Just be sure not to data-dump your findings in an effort to convince your reader that you know about police dog units or how chloroform works. It needs to be accurate not exhaustive. Never forget that you’re writing for your reader’s gut, not their brain. While the plot should stand up to scrutiny, technical detail shouldn’t overwhelm, slow down or distract from a yipping yarn.

Crime writer Fiona Barton says:

‘The research period for my psychological thrillers has been long. More than 30 years, if I’m honest. I suppose you could say that my whole career as a journalist has been an apprenticeship for the Domestic Noir genre.

‘As a reporter, I was watching and listening to people caught up in dramas, tragedies and conflicts. I squirreled away characters, snippets of conversations, encounters, the emotions I felt covering difficult stories. And when I came to write fiction, I had the best imaginable cast of characters to draw on – my own internal archive.

‘I’ve revisited themes I wrote about in newspapers, themes that hit me hard. The issue of online child sexual abuse is a strong thread in The Widow and is based on my own investigations and research. I used real quotes from interviews I conducted with a group of men accused of accessing this vile pornography, including this defence: ‘They’re not really kids in those pictures. They’re women who look really young and dress up as kids for a living. Some of them are really in their thirties’.

‘Those words still make me shudder, even now.’

‘For my second novel, The Child and my third, The Suspect I have delved deeper into the world of journalists. I wanted to give a clear-eyed vision of what it is to be a news reporter on the road, and have used my own experiences and memories to people the newsroom and bring to life the cast for the story. It feels a bit like coming home when I write these sections.

‘But, of course, like any good newspaper investigation, I need experts to make the whole story authentic – the pathologist who can walk you through a post-mortem on an embalmed body, the forensic scientist willing to show you how DNA can turn something on its head, the detective who quietly corrects your schoolgirl errors in police procedure…

‘I talk to my contacts – the brilliant retired Murder Squad detective DCI Colin Sutton and Home Office pathologist Dr Debbie Cook – during early stages of writing to make sure the crucial plotlines cooking in my head are possible. And at the end of the first draft, they read the manuscript and make sure I’ve got the technical detail right. I’m learning all the time…

‘I’m just beginning the research for my fourth book. It features a character in her seventies who has been in a wheelchair since she was 21, so I have tracked down women who went through Stoke Mandeville Hospital spinal unit in the 1960s. I want to know what it meant to them to be young and paralysed, how they were treated, how they coped with the indignities, what made them laugh, cry, howl with rage. How they squared up to life.

‘Some of the tales are hair-raising, some devastating. Not all will be used this time but all will be filed away in my internal archive to join the tiny fragments of information that can startle, amaze and make your story sing.’

11. Create flawed heroes

Protagonist

Perfect people don’t make for interesting characters and it’s hard to think of a flawless personality from the fiction greats, from Mr Brocklehurst to Harry Potter.

Your characters need weaknesses to make them rich and relatable. It also gives you the opportunity to send them on a journey of realization and/or change.

Crime and noir is littered with fantastically flawed characters, struggling with their own demons that help readers empathise with their plight – hoping they might overcome their weakness. Raymond Chandler’s hard-boiled detectives are often alone because they are unable to love, while Harlon Coben’s recurring detective Myron Bolitar feels too much.

What is your protagonist’s flaw? Are they:

Why do they have this flaw, where did it come from? How does it affect their life and the people around them? What would be the solution?

Note: Avoid well-worn cliches unless you can bring something new to the trope. For example, alcoholics, drug addicts and those on the autistic spectrum.

Now raise the stakes by putting your protagonist at risk. What are those stakes? Emotional, physical? What’s on the line? Their job, their partner, their sanity, their life? High stakes will make your protagonist active as they try to fight against the odds to achieve their goal.

It is important to note that your protagonist should still be a hero – at least to others. Let your reader know why they’re the hero of your novel. Did they simply solve the crime, win the case and get the killer? Or did they change in some fundamental way? Did they win against their demons? Did they make a sacrifice to do the right thing?

National Centre for Writing crime course tutor Nicola Upson says: “For me, the most important issue between me and my characters is not whether I like them or not, but whether I can empathise with how they feel and what they’ve done. If I can’t, I shouldn’t be writing about them. It’s essential to get yourself into the mindset of your characters, to write for them, not about them, and for the crime novels I write – which deal exclusively with murder – I have to believe myself capable of taking a life. No one is black and white, but it’s not my job to judge or condone my characters; it’s my job to get under their skin and show you why they do what they do.”

Killers and criminals

What makes a compelling killer? One we hate and fear. One that makes us want them locked up, killed or met with revenge. Here are some tips:

Make the killer powerful in some way
Make their crimes make sense to them
Show their motivation (though not always at the beginning).

Your killer will not be your hero, but we enjoy complex and conflicted criminals. Why does your criminal do what they do? While not necessarily justifying their crimes, show the reader what drives them – complex criminals compelled by things in their own unpleasant past. It is interesting to note that ‘baddies’ often see themselves as the good guys. What is their motivation and why does it make sense to them? Do they have an internal struggle? What emotions drive their actions?

Think of these infamous killers; what is their motivation? What is their power and their weakness?

Hannibal Lecter
Patrick Bateman ( American Psycho )
Norman Bates.

And don’t limit yourself to fictional killers for inspiration. Do the same exercise for these real killers:

Aileen Wuornos
John Wayne Gacy
Harold Shipman
Myra Hindley
Geoffrey Dahmer.

These lists are, of course, famous serial killers, but what about the hitmen and the one-offs, the people who kill by accident, as a means to an end, or commit crimes of passion?

12. Characters: focus on interesting, not likeable

National Centre for Writing crime course tutor Julia Crouch says: ‘Your characters don’t have to be likeable, they just have to be interesting. They could be charming; they could be so dull they are fascinating; they could be so evil they are car-crash watchable. You keep the reader onside by the language your characters use, the things they do, the way they do them, the way people around them react to them. The aim is to get the reader, despite their higher self, siding with your psychopath (e.g. Hannibal Lecter).

‘On the subject of cats, the Hollywood trope is that if you have a character who is going to do something abominable in the second act, in order to get the audience behind them, have them save a cat from a careering truck in the first: instant hero.’

13. Dialogue: keep it real

National Centre for Writing crime course tutor Nicola Upson says: ‘Dialogue can make or break a piece of fiction. The way a character speaks can say as much about them as what they are actually saying – and what they don’t say is also important, particularly in a crime story. It varies according to character and situation, but a couple of simple rules apply: never write something you wouldn’t say; and less is more – never give your character an absurdly detailed sentence just because there’s something you need your reader to know. Always read your dialogue aloud to make sure it sounds authentic.’

14. Use location and setting as a character

Bring your story to life by giving your location a personality.

Is the city dark and grimy, a decaying relic riddled with vice and corruption?
Does the chocolate-box village give a misleading picture of what lies beneath?
Does the suburban street promise security but deliver death?

What does the location look like, smell like, sound like, feel like? And how does this affect the characters? What are its key features? Buildings, weather, volcanoes, darkness. Who lives in this place?

Create an atmosphere in which your crime happens and that your characters inhabit. What is their relationship to it? Are they desperate to leave? Or does it promise the life they always wanted? Are they able to leave if they wanted?

National Centre for Writing crime course tutor Nicola Upson says:

‘99% of crime writers flout that golden rule ‘write what you know’. Most of us are lucky enough not to have personal experience of violent death or other crimes, but we have to convince a reader that our stories mirror life, and it’s vital that setting, character and plot work together to create a tangible reality. For me, the starting point of a book is always its sense of place: whether a location is real or imaginary, I want the reader to breathe the same air as my characters, to live in the rooms that they chose the furniture for. Setting affects the mood of the book and the people who live there, it roots clues firmly in the minutiae of daily life – and it should be a character in its own right.’

15. Avoid first-person narrative

Many people are drawn to writing in the first person, as it’s an effective way for a reader to identify with the protagonist. Writers can really get inside a character’s head when he or she is the one directly telling the story.

However, this approach has many disadvantages when it comes to plotting.

If the story is told from the point of view of a single character, every notable event in the book has to happen while the character is present. The only alternative is for this to be relayed to them by another character.

One way around this might be to use the first person in some chapters – those that focus on the protagonist – while other chapters are from or more characters’ points of view. This ensures that the reader can be a few steps ahead of the main characters while still seeing the world through their eyes.

Having said that, you should never lose sight of the fact that you’re targeting the reader’s gut, not their brain. The plot should stand up to scrutiny, but the technical work should never overwhelm the desire to tell a good story.

16. Introduce the gun in the first act

‘If there’s a rifle hanging on the wall in the first act, it will be fired in the third act.’ Anton Chekhov.

This header covers a few things:

Write your first draft, and revise to make sure it’s solid. It may be that you get to a stage where you realise you need to introduce a person/weapon/fact earlier. Go back once you’ve finished your first draft and weave it in.

While this may sound obvious, you can also use this principle as misdirection to throw your readers off the scent. You may use a ‘bigger rifle on the wall’ to hide the knife you also introduced.

National Centre for Writing crime course tutor Julia Crouch also cites Chekhov when she writes: ‘One must never place a loaded rifle on the stage if it isn’t going to go off. It’s wrong to make promises you don’t mean to keep. Every sentence you write, ask yourself, does this advance my story? If so, how? If so, can I make it better? Weave the cause and effect right into the heart of your novel.’

‘Conversely, don’t just let the gun appear. Use it to build a sense of threat, of foreboding. Make it so the reader will not be able to forget that gun in the corner of the room (and no, the way to do this is not to keep mentioning it). Want to up the tension? Give your character a kitten they need to look after as you put them into their most challenging situation.’

17. Use character beats

Crime and thrillers are all about action, but it’s easy to forget that character beats are important and powerful. Yes, we want our readers to be compelled to turn the page to peel back the next layer of the onion, but we shouldn’t forget that all of the action is happening to someone – a person, a character – and we need to bring them to life or our reader won’t care.

Take time for your key characters to reflect on what’s happening: what they want to achieve and, importantly, what’s holding them back.

As well as reflection and contemplation, they may be doing something mundane or talking to a side character about something that sparks an idea, makes them realise something or communicates something important to the reader.

18. Plan a watertight plot

More than most genres, crime stories need watertight plotting, because the devil is so often in the details and crime readers won’t tolerate plot holes. Some writers (‘pantsers’ or ‘gardeners’) can just work from a single idea or character to create a great story. This will be a challenge for most crime writers, where plot is central. This makes crime and thriller plots complex. And increasingly so: crime plots have layers of subterfuge, misdirection and twists which are hard to think up and drop in at the end. For example, writers will usually know whodunnit before they begin.

Many crime writers start with detailed timelines and spreadsheets with chapter breakdowns that detail exactly what is said, done and revealed (or not) in each one. This helps you to see the bird’s-eye view of your story and plot – checking that it holds together. It also allows you to manage the layers of the onion – for example, inserting ‘the rifle on the wall’ – at the beginning so you don’t have to worry about it when you write.

That said, if and when you do come up against something you hadn’t thought of (something you might need to introduce earlier on), keep track. Having your plot broken down and planned will make it easier to thread this person/fact/weapon into the relevant places.

This is particularly useful for more complex thrillers and those with multiple sub-plots.

National Centre for Writing crime course tutor Nicola Upson says: “Some writers map out the path of a story before they start, others just see where it takes them. Whichever way you do it, structure – the way you present your story to the reader – is crucial. There are two levels of reality going on in most crime fiction: what the reader is learning page by page and what you – the author – know and are keeping to yourself.”

Booker-longlisted author Robert Edric took a break from writing literary novels to create a crime trilogy set in Hull. He explained that “When I’m working on a literary novel it’s less important to me whether I write a, then d, g , x then e. The meaning of the book might be in the middle. The goal is not the end, but whether it fails or succeeds in your own mind. With a crime novel, you’re less organic. There has to be a logical process.”

19. Series or stand-alone?

Decide early on if you’re writing a series or a stand-alone. Don’t introduce a great character only to kill them off at the end of the first book of a series.

20. Build backstory

Character backstory helps readers understand who a person is and why they are the way they are, why they do what they do. This means you can avoid simply explaining why they’re doing what they’re doing when they do it – boring! Let the reader make the association between the abuse of their childhood with their crimes, or the unsolved murder of their husband with their distrust of authority.

This also helps to bring peripheral and walk-on characters to life, from the postman to the waitress.

Don’t worry, you don’t need to create a detailed backstory and explore every aspect of their early life. A few lines or even a sentence can help to frame a character and what they do:

“It reminded the postman of his own father’s drinking”
“Liz liked the book, and not just because it reminded her of her doctorate degree”
“It would be hard to talk to the girl’s father, bringing back too many memories of his own daughter’s death that had laid buried underneath decades of denial.”

21. Avoid cliché

Unpredictability is more important in crime than many other genres. The clue is in the name ‘mystery’, ‘whodunnit?’. A thriller would be less thrilling if you knew the outcome, and clichés make books more predictable.

Consider avoiding the following cliches (some of which we’ve already mentioned):

Heroes with drink/drug problems
Obsessions with particular types of music
Gender stereotypes such as the prim and proper female character who eventually caves to the male protagonist’s charms
The genius crime-solver who is rubbish with humans – the maverick loner
And similarly, the wacky, funny sidekick who can’t stand the sight of blood
Similar again, the brilliant serial killer
Cops from broken families
Murderer monologues in which they describe exactly why they did it
Some personal link between the detective and the murderer
The partner who has to have everything explained to them
The hard-ass police chief
Car chases and shoot outs
The estranged wife/daughter/parent
The young female they underestimated
(Middle-aged) men who are irresistible to (young) women.

Of course, some elements will be hard to avoid, so, if you do want to include something that has been used frequently, ensure you can bring some

50 (or so) Fabulous Resources For Crime Writers

Writers Write creates and shares writing resources. In this post, we share 50 (or so) fabulous resources for crime writers .

Crime fiction will always be one of the most popular genres for readers and writers.

If you’re thinking of writing a thriller, a mystery, or a police procedural, you will appreciate some of our previous posts on the subject. I’ve put together a list of all our writing resources for crime writers in one place.

13 Questions To Ask Before You Turn Your Idea Into A Crime Novel
5 Fabulous Tips for First Time Crime Writers
5 Reasons To Write Crime Fiction
7 Important Crime-Writing Guidelines
9 Examples of Sub-Genres in Crime Fiction
Crime Writing For Beginners – An Infographic
Why People Read Detective Novels
Why Revenge is Such a Brilliant Plot for Beginner Writers
Thriller Book Title Generator
The 5 Pillars Of Thrillers
How Much Blood Do You Need In A Crime Novel?
Mystery, Horror, Thriller – What’s The Difference?

Characterisation

10 Essential Tips for Writing Antagonists
10 Ways To Create Dangerously Nuanced Antagonists
3 Dastardly Different Villains & Why We Love To Hate Them
4 Ways To Get Your Reader To Identify With An Unsympathetic Character
7 Deadly Rules For Creating A Villain
9 Anti-Social Fictional Characters We Can’t Forget
9 Useful Character Questionnaires For Writers
9 Ways To Make Readers Care For An Amoral Protagonist
How To Use Your Antagonist To Define Your Story Goal
Personality Disorders – DSM-5 Resource for Writers
Resources For Writing About Troubled Fictional Characters
The 9 Types Of Unreliable Narrator
The Antagonist As A Literary Device
The Least You Should Know About Your Protagonist And Antagonist
Torture Your Character – The 3 Most Effective Types of Inner Conflict
Use The 7 Deadly Sins To Strengthen Your Antagonist’s Motives
Use These 7 Gaslighting Phrases To Make Your Antagonist More Manipulative
When Crazy Is Good – 9 Good Reasons For Your Character’s Bad Behaviour
10 Deadly Poisons – A Crime Writer’s Resource
20 Things A Crime And A Novel Have In Common
32 Ways To Write About Fear
37 Ways To Write About Anger
50 Ways To Say ‘Villain’
6 Things Alfred Hitchcock Can Teach You About Writing
7 Invaluable Lessons For Writers From James Patterson
Cheat Sheets For Writing Body Language
Crime Writer’s Resource – The Human Body After Death
Dashiel Hammett’s 24 Rules For Detective Writers
Professions With The Most Psychopaths
Famous Fictional Detectives
The Man With The Golden Pen — 5 Writing Secrets From Ian Fleming
10 Elementary Tips For Writers From Sherlock Holmes
How To Write The Death Scene

Techniques And Devices

10 Cliffhangers That Make Readers Turn The Page
5 Tips To Help You Write A Gripping Read
7 Awesome Foreshadowing Tips For Fiction Writers
7 Ways To Create Suspense In Your Memoir
Adding Suspense To Stories
Creating Tension In Characters, Plot, And Setting
Literary Devices For Crime Writers – A MacGuffin And A Gun
The Locked Room – A Simple Way To Test Your Plot
What Is A Plot? – A Writer’s Resource
What Is A Red Herring?
What My Six-Year-Old Taught Me About Storytelling
Getting Away With Murder: A 5-Point Plan On How To Kill A Character

Top Tip: If you want to learn how to write a book, sign up for our online course .

If you enjoyed this post read:

The Writers Write Book Reading Challenge
A Checklist For Beginner Bloggers
Practical Hacks For Planning Your 2018 Blogging Calendar
How To Think Like A Writer Every Day
3 Things Your Characters Should Not Be Doing
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