examples of short mystery stories

7 Short Mystery Stories

Lacey deShazo

Lacey lives in Birmingham, Alabama with her husband, son, and two cats. If she’s not teaching or writing, she’s probably re-watching one of the five television shows she’s already watched a zillion times (Buffy, anyone?) or getting into a new hobby (like skincare or calligraphy). She loves romance, mystery, literary fiction, and horror. Follow her on Twitter @ljdeshazo.

View All posts by Lacey deShazo

“The Little Men” by Megan Abbott (from The Best American Mystery Stories 2016 )

I’m especially partial to this one since I’m a recent Megan Abbott convert (late the the party, I know!). This short story is about Penny, who has recently moved into her dream home. However, the beautiful cottage seems to be haunted. After hearing strange noises and creepy rumors from her neighbors, Penny begins to wonder about the death that occurred in the home a decade earlier.

“In My Hands” by Sarah Cortez (from Hit List: The Best of Latino Mystery )

Every entry is fantastic in this short mystery stories anthology, but I chose this one because the twist ending left a pit in my stomach. Elizabeth and her husband Winston have just divorced. One night, our narrator gets a call from Elizabeth. She says, “If I ever get killed, find a PI or go to the police, because Winston will have done it.” Shortly thereafter, Elizabeth goes missing, leaving behind a shattered wedding picture and a cold cup of coffee. Read it on your commute and prepare to think about it all day.

“Miss Marple Tells a Story” by Agatha Christie (from  The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories )

Famed fictional detective Miss Marple recounts a locked room case she once solved. In it, one of Miss Marple’s friends asks her to save him from being charged for his wife’s murder. She requests all of the details of the ghastly crime before solving it on the spot, without ever leaving her chair. This satisfying story is short enough to read over your lunch break.

“Since You Went Away” by Frankie Y. Bailey (from  Shades of Black: Crime and Mystery Stories by African Americans )

This one is from another great anthology of short mystery stories. At the beginning, a young woman decides to tell her date a chilling true story. The tale is about her grandfather, who worked on a passenger train during a time when there was a ghastly murder on board. Reminiscent of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express , this whodunit is full of zany characters who will keep you guessing until the very end.

Ghost Girl in the Corner by Daniel José Older

This is a novella, but at only 107 pages you could definitely read it in a sitting. Its plot is connected to Older’s Shadowshaper , but you could read it as a standalone since it features two secondary characters from the novel. In it, Tee and her girlfriend Izzy have to evaluate their relationship while also confronting a ghost and looking for a missing girl. Older’s mystery also deals with how missing brown and black girls get less media attention than white ones. The kicker? You can get it for under a dollar!

“The Adventure of the Sealed Room” by Andy Weir

You can read this and other short mystery stories by the author of The Martian  for free! Part of Weir’s Holmesian fan fiction, it centers on Professor James Moriarty, who solves crimes as a criminal consultant. In this particular story, Moriarty himself has been charged with murder and his sidekick, Captain Moran, is called to bail him out of jail and exonerate him. Weir no longer writes these stories, but they are quick and fun reads if you like Sherlock Holmes variations.

“ Killer Fudge ” by Mary Kay Andrews writing as Kathy Hogan Trocheck

If you’re a reader of cozy mysteries, this short story is for you. Callahan Garrity is a former cop who has started a cleaning business in Atlanta. In the series of novels about this detective, she usually solves crimes committed at or around the houses she and her crew have been hired to clean. In this short story, one of Callahan’s “House Mouse” cleaning staff members asks her to help her grandson, Darius, who’s been charged with murdering an antiques dealer. (And if you like this fudge story, there’s another one called Fatal Fruitcake you can read next.)

Like mysteries? Get more recommendations below.

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8 Murder Mystery Books That Will Keep You Up All Night

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25 of the Absolute Best Cozy Mystery Series

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Penwings Publishing

10 mystery short stories you absolutely must read.

• November 22, 2021
• , Blog Posts

By Alisa Neeza

Are you hesitant with starting a reading habit because you simply do not have the time to spare to read a full-length novel? Or are you simply looking out for a new binge-worthy genre for your library because you’ve had enough of chick lits and dystopian novels? Fear no more! We are giving you the top 10 Mystery short stories for you to enjoy! Mystery stories enable us to face danger, fear, and suspense all from the comfort of our chairs. It is absolutely perfect for those who want to add a little bit of 💫spice💫 without having to actually endanger themselves. From solving a murder investigation🕵🏻 to uncovering truths in the realm of paranormal and science fiction👾, we got it all just for you. Prepare yourself for a ride into the unknown that could possibly build you up, or break you down. ⚰️

Mystery Short Stories #1: An Alpine Divorce by Robert Barr

“Marriage at best is but a compromise, and if two people happen to be united who are of an uncompromising nature, there is trouble.” – Robert Barr

In this story, we see that an unhappy couple decided to take a vacation in Alpines mountain. Unbeknownst to the wife, her husband, Mr. Bodman had planned to kill her by pushing her off to her death. However, things take a turn when his wife started to ask him strange questions that only he can answer, right before he was going to commit the crime.

Goodreads rating: 4.25/5

Goodreads review:

A great story around marital hate, with a strangely satisfying ending that illustrates how deep hate and resentment can grow. -Steph

I love the short stories of revenge. I think we have all been there at one time or another. I love how this author captures my attention in each story. -Lynn Shemeley

You can get this book at Book Depository: Here

Mystery Short Stories #2: A Jury of Her Peers by Susan Glaspell

This short story revolves around the investigation of a murder of a man named John Wright. We are taken along the investigation with the sheriff and the county attorney. While it is a norm for us to see men solving cases like these, the story took a different turn in showing how the women, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters solve the case and discovered a shocking clue that could lead to the arrest of the murderer.

Goodreads rating: 4/5

A powerful short story from 1917! An investigation of a rural murder where the victim’s wife is the presumed murderer. While clearly of its time,(I would hope that most men these days have moved on from the attitudes of the men here!) it still strongly resonated with me particularly as domestic violence is so prevalent in today’s society. -Janelle

A Jury of Her Peers was a very interesting and well constructed short story, but it was the undertones of social commentary on the position and sisterhood between women that made it a worthwhile read. It takes a while to get to the good stuff, but the level of skill it takes to make something like this work is evident in the writing. For what the plot is when you boil it down, two women in a home that happens to be a crime scene, it is surprisingly suspenseful. I can understand why this is used in classrooms. It’s an incredible example of what a short story can achieve. -Jessica-Robyn

You can get this book from Book Depository: Here

Mystery Short Stories #3: The Red-Headed League by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

This is the story of how a man, Wilson came to Holmes’s aid after finding out his workplace had suddenly disappeared and his employer’s vanished into thin air. Is there something a lot more sinister going on? As usual, we can see Holmes’ adventure in solving this case with his sidekick, Watson alongside him.

Goodreads rating: 3.96/5

I loved Holmes’ explanation to Watson of his motivations for sleuthing: It saved me from ennui,’ he answered, yawning. ‘Alas! I already feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort to escape the commonplaces of existence. These little problems help me to do so.” Perhaps that explains his cocaine habit as well! – Jamie

“My life is spent in one long effort to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little problems help me to do so.” Probably one of my favorite Sherlock Holes short stories and the perfect cosy read for a Sunday afternoon. (Not to mention, I needed something short to boost my reading challenge cough ) -maryliz

Mystery Short Stories #4 : The Hanging Stranger by Philip K. Dick

When you mix science fiction and mystery together, you know the story is going to be good. In this story, Ed is horrified to see a man dangling by the lamp post, but what is more sinister is that the townspeople have no reaction whatsoever to the event! Desperate to uncover the mystery behind the lynched man and the townspeople, he reach out to people he thought could help. Unbeknownst to him, however, his actions brought more harm than good.

Goodreads rating: 3.92/5

Okay, first of all, what the heck happened- Second, HOW the heck happened- And third, WHAT AND HOW AND WHY THE HECK THAT HAPPENED. -Booktastically Amazing

Tonight was definitely time for another PKD story, and this one was perfect. Ed Loyce was supposed to be at work. Instead, he was working in his basement. So when he heads across town to his store, he spots a man hanging from a lamppost… And so begins a paranoid adventure that sends Ed everywhere, but ultimately leads nowhere. He’s convinced that the town has been replaced with alien insects, and everyone is under their control. It’s why no one else thinks anything of the hanging man, and why they decide to chase him. I really enjoyed this atmospheric tale because the descriptions were creepy, the hidden message very apparent, and the paranoia embedded in Ed’s every action so disorienting. It felt like an episode of The Twilight Zone or The Outer Limits. Love how well he wrote weird and surreal in a way that makes you wonder if the character’s real problem is madness. -Yolanda Sfetsos

Ed Loyce has been working in his basement – he decides to take a break from the subterranean work and walks to town and checks in with his repair shop. On his way there, he sees a horrific scene: a dead body hanging from a light post in the town center. He is confused, scared, and angry – why is this here? How did this happen? Why do people walk by with no care? Ed soon realizes that this dead body in the plaza is the least of his concerns… Great short story – like a Twilight Zone episode – originally published in 1953 in Science Fiction Adventures , and reproduced in many of the PKD compendiums. It was great! Solid 4.5 stars -Lauren

Mystery Short Stories #5: Murders in the Rue Morgue by Edgar Allan Poe

After a gruesome murder of Madame L’Espanaye and her daughter, Mademoiselle Camille, Dupin channeled his brilliant power of analysis in finding out who murdered these two ladies. The fact that the murder happened in a locked room in their apartment proves the impossibility of the crime to be committed, or is it? Who could the murderer be? Give this short story a shot and you will uncover the secret to the murders in the Rue Morgue.

Goodreads rating: 3.86/5

There are very few people with any knowledge of literature who have not heard of the character Sherlock Holmes. Beloved by readers for over a century, Conan Doyle crafted a pompous and overly confident detective that always seems to be on the trail of even the cleverest criminals. But this review is not about Sherlock Holmes. It is about the man who is responsible for influencing the creator of this character. His name is Auguste Dupin, a Frenchman. This detective created by Edgar Allan Poe appears in only three short stories but these stories really pack a punch and offer a very satisfying introduction to the detective fiction genre. Poe’s writing here is complex. Although these stories appear short they should be read slowly and require a little more concentration as usual because these stories (Murders in the Rue Morgue, Mystery of Marie Roget, and the Purloined Letter) feature very little action and are more of a discussion of the science of deductive reasoning. Although this is not for everybody, I believe Poe really shows off his literary genius here and can take credit for creating the entire mystery genre. -Sean

An outstanding work by Poe…I can proudly say that Poe is the best crime fiction writer that I have ever read. And this detective installment was the proof of it. -Rao Javed

Mystery Short Stories #6: The Monkey’s Paw by W. W. Jacobs

What would you wish for if you are given three wishes? Brought by a friend who once served in the army, Mr. White is now in possession of a cursed object that could grant his wishes. But a warning is accompanied: there will be dire consequences once you decided to tamper with faith. Will Mr. White cower from using the item, or brave himself to follow through with his desire at the price of his loved ones?

Goodreads rating: 3.85/5

Classic horror tale. A family and their son Herbert are visited by an old soldier named Morris. He tells them about his time in India and shows them a mysterious talisman, the monkey’s paw. According to him, the owner of the paw has three wishes. Since he already had three he throw the object into the fire. Herbert’s father is getting the talisman out of the fire and from here the horror starts. If you want to know how the family got the wish for 200 pounds you should take a peek now. The story is set up in three chapters and is very creepy. Stephen King certainly had this story in mind when writing Pet Cemetery… Can you guess what the father’s final wish was? It is a classic and absolutely recommended. -Peter

“Be careful what you wish for, you may receive it.” There couldn’t be any better epigraph for this story. Monkey’s Paw is one of the most amazing short stories I have ever read. The writing is so terrifyingly enjoyable. The atmosphere is one of the darkest ones I have ever read! I loved the atmosphere, loved the plot, loved the writing, and loved everything. OVERVIEW Mr. and Mrs. White get a talisman which is a mummified monkey’s paw from the friend of Mr. White. This Monkey’s Paw can fulfill three wishes of yours. But for a very heavy price that you will regret your wish… This story shows that if you interfere with the working of Fate, you will regret it. The ending is a little vague. Not that confusingly vague. But vague in a good manner. I liked this thing, particularly in the story. I will highly recommend this to everyone. -Ahmed Ejaz

I remember reading this story (or a slightly modernized version of it) as a child, and I’m happy to tell you after reading the original version of the story it is still as impressive and outstanding as I’ve remembered. It’s a peerless piece of short story, the elements of horror and suspense are used masterfully by the author, it’s nearly impossible to add more words into the text nor take words away from it without damaging the story—The Monkey’s Paw is perfect as it is. No wonder it’s a classic. Mizuki, Goodreads.

You can get this book at Book Depository: H ere

Mystery Short Stories #7: The Wind in the Rose-Bush by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman

In this paranormal story. a spinster called Rebecca, went to a town called Ford Village to visit her niece, Agnes, and asked her to follow her back to Michigan, where she is staying after leaving her teaching job. When Agnes’ stepmother gave excuses as to why Agnes is not home, Rebecca started to feel that something is wrong. Things then took a turn when she realized that a paranormal entity is trying to communicate with her. Will the truth finally be unveiled?

Goodreads rating: 3.84/5

Goodreads rating:

This is a creepy, fun story about an aunt who comes to retrieve her niece after her father has died. She is met by the father’s second wife who is less than helpful. There is a rose bush that is moved by a nonexistent wind. This is available in Weird Women: Classic Supernatural Fiction by Groundbreaking Female Writers, 1852-1923. -Liz

A ghost story full of sorrow and regret -Madah J

You can get this book from Book Depository: H ere

Mystery Short Stories #8: Locked Doors by Mary Roberts Rinehart

In this thrilling tale of mystery, we follow Miss Hilda Adams in her adventure of being a nurse for an eerie family while assuming the role of a detective to uncover the secret of the locked doors during nighttime in the family’s mansion. They don’t have a servant, their phone doesn’t function, and their children aren’t permitted to leave their room at night. What goes on in the mansion at night, and what is the secret of this eerie family? Read more to find out!

Goodreads rating: 3.81/5

This is the second story in the Nurse Hilda Adams mysteries (the first is  The Buckled Bag ) and although they do not need to be read in order, I enjoyed seeing the changing dynamic and mild hint of growing affection between the nurse detective and the police detective. This story was creepier than the first but still not creepy enough to hurt my very tender heart, it’s good for those who like mysteries with no murder or “murder-lite”. I thoroughly enjoyed this short book even though there were a few things that didn’t quite fit and the author threw in a few eye-rolling moments where the normally sensible Nurse Adams became a quivering, silly mess. I’m a fairly novice mystery reader and yet I presumed to think I had figured out part of the mystery. Well … I was sort of in the ballpark … but not really! The mystery “reveal” was unique to anything I’ve ever read. I’m looking forward to reading the third installment,  Miss Pinkerton . -Jane

Woo hoo. I love getting lost in a doorstopper, but it takes a skilled writer to squeeze the right emotions out in a shorter work. Roberts Rinehart got mad skills. And a truly modern feel. Hard to believe this was first published more than 100 years ago. We get a quick and dirty setup: Miss Adams is a trained nurse who investigates for the cops from the inside. She packs her gun and a suitcase and is on the scene in a big family home trying to find out what the family is hiding, what happened to the nanny, and what freaked out the last nurse so badly. I am delighted to say I never predicted that solution. Happily, there are plenty of stories available in the public domain. Collect them all. Personal copy from Gutenberg -Kaethe

Mystery Short Stories #9: August Heat by W. F. Harvey

An artist in the tale named James Clarence Withencroft experiences a flash of inspiration and paints a sketch of a criminal that was sentenced in court earlier that day. Later, he runs into a monumental mason who looks eerily similar to the perpetrator in his sketch. When the mason shows him the inscription he has etched on the headstone he had been carving, his fear grows, as what was inscribed is his date of death which coincidentally, falls on that very day. What do the two men have in common, and what will become of Withencroft?

Goodreads rating: 3.73

A short story set in the early 1900s. In the beginning, it’s like a normal story but as we read ahead it does give you a creepy feeling. As a reader, you wait for things to go wrong because there is this heavy feeling in the air you know somehow that it may not be a happy ending. The day starts like every other day but you never know the turn of events that a normal day can take. The most horrifying bit of this story is it can happen to anyone at any time because destined it may be but for the folks who are living it, it can be as unpredictable as it can get. In the end, it also makes you think if there is anything in your hands in this world or the course of your life is already charted and at the most, you can do is go with the flow… -Poonam

A wonderful thriller about future happenings with an unexpected open ending. ‘August heat’ is considered to be one of the best short stories of all time. This tiny tale is a self-narration of the main protagonist about the most unusual day of his life. The storytelling resembles that of a horror one even though there is nothing but unexpected circumstances. -Simon Saha

You can get this at Amazon: Here

Mystery Short Stories #10: The Prophetic Pictures by Nathaniel Hawthorne

On the night of their wedding, Walter Ludlow and young Elinor decide to purchase a picture from a famous painter whose works are so exquisite that they appear to be alive on the painting. There’s even talk that they’re more real than the actual subjects and that the painter is capable of capturing the true soul of the people he depicts. Though this may seem like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, the couple will learn that obtaining the painting may not be such a good idea.

Goodreads rating: 3.28/5

First published in The Token and Atlantic Souvenir of 1837, this tale expresses eloquently and with keen insight what it means to be an artist–one like Hawthorne–who explores the spiritual heights and depths of our human nature. Although he cannot claim to be a clairvoyant or a fortune-teller, yet he may “prophesy” the eventual state of his subject’s soul by observing closely and meditatively the man who appears before him. Walter–the young man who wishes to hire the prophetic painter for a pair of bridal portraits–describes the artist’s gift to his fiancee Elinor: “They say that he paints not merely a man’s features, but his mind and heart. He catches the secret sentiments and passions, and throws them upon the canvas, like sunshine–or perhaps, in the portraits of dark-souled men, like a gleam of infernal fire. It is an awful gift…I shall be almost afraid to sit to him.” It turns out, of course, that Walter and Elinor should have been afraid. The beginning of this tale–as good as “Rappacini” or “Major Molineux”–is so fateful and atmospheric, the descriptions of the artist’s mission so apt, that at first, I was sure I had discovered a neglected Hawthorne masterpiece. Alas! The ending is rushed and melodramatic, and “The Prophetic Pictures” betrays its promise. No masterpiece here. Still, half a great Hawthorne story is better than none. Much better. -Bill Kerwin

Don’t forget to also visit our other book recommendation post, ‘5 Classic Halloween Books that you must absolutely read once in your lifetime to get in the spooky mood!

Link: 5 Classic Halloween Books that you must absolutely read once in your lifetime

Don’t forget to also visit our other book recommendation post, ‘5 Malaysian Published books to look out for in 2021’ to support our local writers!

Link: 5 Malaysian Published books to look out for in 2021

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Summaries, Analysis & Lists

Mystery and Suspense Short Stories

These suspense short stories have a mystery that has to be solved, or a tense situation that will keep readers wondering. This page has a good mix of stories. If you’re looking for a more specific type, there are many categories listed below to explore. For younger readers, check out Two-Minute Mysteries .  In the Amazon preview, you can read the first three stories—a restaurant robbery, a delivery driver suspected of murder, and a possible suicide. See also:

• Dark Academia
• Locked-Room
• Christmas Mystery
• Agatha Christie
• Hercule Poirot
• Historical Mystery
• SciFi/Fantasy Mystery

Mystery & Suspense Short Stories

“Detour” by Joyce Carol Oates

Abigail feels light-headed as she’s driving home. Three-quarters of the way there, she sees a “Detour” sign. She thinks about ignoring it, but it’s not in her nature. She follows the signs through the country roads.

“Detour” can be read in the preview of  Night, Neon: Tales of Mystery and Suspense .

“The Whole Town’s Sleeping” by  Ray Bradbury

Lavinia and Francine walk to Helen’s house. Francine is worried about the Lonely One, someone who’s been strangling women in the area. Lavinia is dismissive of the danger. They take a short cut through the ravine. They come across the body of a missing woman. Francine is distraught; Lavinia convinces her to continue their evening. ( Summary )

This story can be read in the Amazon sample of Bradbury Stories . (10% in)

“A Scandal in Bohemia” by Arthur Conan Doyle

Dr. Watson drops in on Holmes after some time apart. Holmes has received a note saying a masked visitor would come by that evening with a sensitive case. The man is tall, muscled and richly dressed. He’s a Count of Bohemia. A picture that could cause problems for the King of Bohemia is in the possession of Irene Adler. His attempts to retrieve it have failed.

This is the first story in the preview of  Big Book of Best Short Stories: Mystery & Detective .

“Puncher’s Chance” by Doug Allyn

Mick McGuire is preparing for his comeback fight after a shoulder injury. His sister Jilly, who’s also fighting on the same card, hurts him with a body shot in sparring. Mick realizes his shoulder has lost some mobility, leaving a gap in his defense. Against an experienced boxer or trainer he’ll only have a puncher’s chance before it’s exploited. This development turns out to be even more devastating, as Mick’s father reveals they’re in debt.

This story can be read in the preview of  The Best American Mystery Stories 2017 .  (29% in)

“Hot Springs” by James Crumley

Benbow and Mona Sue are hiding out at a mountain cabin. They’re waiting for her to give birth. Then they’ll go to Canada; no one will follow them there. Mona Sue warns that R. L. is coming. Benbow took off with his money and with Mona Sue.

This story can be read in the preview of  The Best of the Best American Mystery Stories: The First Ten Years .  (18% in)

“The Speciality of the House” by Stanley Ellin

Laffler takes Costain to Sbirro’s, a dismal looking restaurant. Laffler has an extremely high opinion of the establishment. Costain is the only person at work who has shown an appreciation for fine food, so Laffler wants to share this experience with him. There are no menus. Occasionally, a special is served. Their meal begins with a rather bland broth.

This classic mystery can be read in the preview of The Speciality of the House .  (18% into Kindle preview)

Mystery and Suspense Short Stories, Cont’d

“The Cat’s Paw” by Stanley Ellin

Mr. Crabtree has taken a room in a boarding-house because it’s near the public telephone in the hallway. This allowed him to include the phone number on a job application. He was a perfect match for the job description, and he’s anxiously awaiting a response. Two weeks later, a call with a job offer comes through. It seems an ideal position.

This story can also be read in the above preview of The Speciality of the House .  (53% into Kindle preview)

“Death on Christmas Eve” by Stanley Ellin

The family lawyer goes to the Boerum house to visit Charlie, who’s wife, Jessie, has died. Charlie’s sister, Celia, answers the door. The authorities have cleared Celia in the death, but the lawyer makes it clear he knows she did it. There’s lots of tension in the house. Celia is planning on getting rid of Jessie’s things.

This story can also be read in the above preview of The Speciality of the House . (82% into Kindle preview)

“The Death of Mrs. Sheer” by J oyce Carol Oates

Jeremiah and Sweet Gum, cousins, ride down a dirt road in a dilapidated jalopy. They’ve made some sort of promise to their uncle Simon. Jeremiah pulls into a hotel, which bothers Sweet Gum. He wants to get right to their business. They asks the hotel clerk how to find a man, Nathan Motley. Sweet Gum gets hostile during the exchange. Jeremiah wants to gather some information.

This story can be read in the preview of  Extenuating Circumstances: Stories of Crime and Suspense . 

“The Man Who Knew How” by Dorothy Sayers

Pender reads a mystery while riding the train. The man sitting across from him has an unsettling expression, which upsets Pender. They get talking about murder mysteries. The man claims to know a sure and undetectable way of killing people, by adding a simple solution to the targets bath water. Pender becomes obsessed with scouring the newspaper for reports of people dying in the bath.

This is the second story in the preview of  A Moment on the Edge: 100 Years of Crime Stories by Women .

“The Love of a Good Woman” by Alice Munro

A museum in Walley has a box of optometrist’s instruments that were owned by D. M. Willens, who drowned in the Peregrine River decades ago. It was found by an anonymous donor. Three boys who were out exploring on a spring morning first spotted the car and the body submerged in the river. In another thread, Enid is providing homecare for Mrs. Quinn, a young woman dying of kidney failure.

This longer story, not a traditional mystery, can be read in the preview of Family Furnishings: Selected Stories .  (13% into Kindle preview)

Suspense and Mystery Short Stories, Cont’d

“The Blue Cross” by G. K. Chesterton

Valentin, head of the Paris police and famous investigator, is in London on the trail of criminal mastermind Flambeau. While having breakfast at a restaurant, Valentin gets his first lead when he learns that two clergyman had stopped in earlier and one of them had made a mess before leaving. Valentin is open to oddities so he follows up on this unusual incident.

This story, which is the first appearance of the famous Father Brown, can be read in the preview of  The Complete Father Brown Mysteries .

“The Murders in the Rue Morgue” by Edgar Allan Poe  

The narrator shares a residence with Dupin, a man with superior analytical skills. They like spending their time in seclusion reading, writing, and talking to each other. One day, they read a newspaper report of the violent murder of two women.

This story can be read in the preview of  The Black Lizard Big Book of  Locked-Room Mysteries .  (7% in)

“Justice” by Pamela Blackwood

William can’t sleep. He’s sore from work and his bed is empty. He gets up, goes outside, and sits on his front porch. He imagines Hannah coming back to him. There’s a terrible barking of dogs down the road.  The next day, he hears there was a killing near his place.

The first few pages can be read in the Amazon preview of  Best American Mystery Stories 2020 .

“The Weapon” by Jeffery Deaver

On Monday afternoon, a government man meets with Colonel Peterson. There’s intel on a weapon that can do significant damage, and it’s going to be used on Saturday morning. The government is looking to IAS, run by Peterson, to get the information they need. An Algerian professor and journalist is the best lead—he’s recently been in contact with the group in question. He’ll need to be taken to a black site.

This story can be read in the preview of  Thriller 2: Stories You Just Can’t Put Down .  (17% in)

“The Bully” by Jeffrey Deaver

Henry is in the Eagle tavern when he spots his bully, Stan Whitcomb, a very big man. He wants to get out of there, and hopes his friend Larry won’t notice any problem. Henry has complained to the Sheriff’s Department about Stan and now he has to again after Stan confronts him.

This story can be read in the preview of  Exit Wounds .  (22% in)

“Before Insulin” by J. J. Connington

Wendover wants his friend, Chief Constable Driffield, to look over a situation that has come up. Robin Ashby was the sole heir to his father’s money, provided he came of age. He had been sick for years with no treatments helping. As a last resort, he put himself under the care of a French doctor and his English nurse. Robin lived just long enough to inherit the money and leave a will.

This story can be read in the preview of  Bodies from the Library: Lost Tales of Mystery and Suspense from the Golden Age of Detection . (26% in)

“The Inverness Cape” by Leo Bruce

Sergeant Beef recounts a violent crime that shocked him. An old lady was clubbed to death in view of her wheelchair-bound sister. They were kindly ladies, and rich. Eventually, their nephew Richard, a spendthrift, came to live with them.

This story can also be read in the above preview of Bodies from the Library: Lost Tales of Mystery and Suspense from the Golden Age of Detection . (61% in)

“Dark Waters” by Freeman Wills Crofts

Weller, a lawyer, is panicked when his client, Marbeck, wants his stocks to be sold—the stocks are long gone. Discovery of this fraud will mean prison. Weller can only think of one way out of the situation. If Marbeck were dead, he could falsify papers that would put him in the clear.

This story can also be read in the above preview of Bodies from the Library: Lost Tales of Mystery and Suspense from the Golden Age of Detection . (82% in)

“Before and After” by Peter Antony

Nurse Stephens discovers the body of her employer, Mrs. Carmichael, on a summer morning. She had a tiny hole in her right temple. Inspector Swallow is in charge, but he also brings in Mr. Verity, a man with a remarkable record for solving crimes. The time of death is determined to have been 10:30 to 11:00 the previous night. The problem is, Mrs. Carmichael was alone at that time.

This story can be read in the preview of  Bodies from the Library 2: Forgotten Stories . (58% in)

“My Heart is Either Broken” by Megan Abbott

Lorie is dealing with the loss of her daughter, Shelby, but in a way that people disapprove of. The police and reporters are still asking questions. Lorie and her husband have told the story of Shelby’s disappearance many times. There are some inconsistencies with eyewitness accounts.

This story can be read in the preview of  The Best American Mystery Stories 2014 .  (31% in)

“The Frightening Frammis” by Jim Thompson

Mitch is trying to hitchhike back to Los Angeles. He’d recently robbed his wife and some business associates and had nearly twenty thousand dollars. Now, after falling victim to a scam while riding the train, he has nothing. He figures getting back to his wife is probably his best bet. A big Cadillac slows down, and the woman in the passenger seat looks him over. Mitch catches a ride and finds himself with another opportunity.

This story can be read in the preview of  Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine Presents Fifty Years of Crime and Suspense .  (13% in)

“Oh, Yeah” by Mario Acevedo

The narrator and Enrico have taken on Canela as a third partner in a job. They’ve done time before and they don’t want to again. Canela is their guarantee—he’s not too bright, so if anything goes wrong they’ll ditch him. They go over everything with Canela, and make sure he knows the plan.

This story can be read in the preview of  Hit List: The Best of Latino Mystery .  (35% in)

“The Dead Witness, or, the Bush Waterhole” by Mary Fortune

A detective is riding through the Australian bush and plains. A young photographer who had been staying in a public-house has been missing for a few days. A contact informs the detective that some cattle have uncovered a large blood stain in a field. They make an appointment to investigate the scene.

“The Case of the Dixon Torpedo” by Arthur Morrison

Hewitt, an investigator, receives a visit from Mr. Dixon. The drawings of a top secret torpedo have been stolen from his office. He doesn’t suspect either of his employees. No one had entered or left the office during the time in question. Hewitt and Dixon set off for the office.

Read “The Case of the Dixon Torpedo”

“Miss Hinch” by Henry Sydnor Harrison

An old woman and a clergyman on the subway talk about the latest sensational story—Miss Hinch, an actress and expert impersonator, killed John Catherwood with a sword. She was seen minutes after the killing, but then seemingly disappeared for the next ten days. With her uncanny ability to become someone else, the police—and a famous detective, Jessie Dark—are stumped.

“A Study in Emerald” by Neil Gaiman

The narrator, who is looking for a roommate, meets a man who deduces he has just been tortured in Afghanistan. They agree to share accommodations in Baker Street. The narrator’s roommate is a consulting detective. He is visited by Inspector Lastrade of Scotland Yard.

Read “A Study in Emerald”

“A Bottle of Perrier” by Edith Wharton

Medford, from the American School of Archaeology at Athens, goes to visit his friend, Henry, an amateur archaeologist living in the desert. When he arrives, Henry isn’t home. The servant, Gosling, says he was invited to some unexplored ruins. Medford waits for his friend’s return.

“A Bottle of Perrier”

“The Cross of Lorraine” by Isaac Asimov

Rubin is hosting the monthly gathering of his club, the Black Widowers. Their custom is to have an interesting guest who agrees to answer all questions put to him. Tonight’s guest is the Amazing Larri, a stage magician who debunks supernatural claims. The conversation eventually turns to a mystery that even Larri can’t solve.

“Have A Nice Death” by Antonia Fraser

Sammy Luke, an English novelist, is in New York. His latest book is on the best-seller list. He’s in the city to do some television appearances. The trip has gone surprisingly well. The concerns expressed by his wife, Zara, and others seem unfounded. While staying at his hotel, he gets a call that changes his mood.

I’ll keep adding mystery & suspense short stories as I find more.

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TOP TEN BEST SHORT STORY MYSTERIES OF ALL TIME

I cannot think of a quicker way to start an argument than with a “Top Ten” anything list.  And when you dare to do so in a field peppered with friends whose work undoubtedly deserves mention, you’re guaranteed to find yourself crossed off a lot of holiday greeting card lists.

Yet, as a former adjunct professor of English teaching mystery writing at a college that’s decades older than the modern detective novel, how could I refuse the honor of such a request from The Strand Magazine ?  Though, I must admit to prayerfully falling back upon my one-time lawyerly skills to ameliorate the potential fallout by offering up, in roughly chronological order, this ten best list of seminal short stories penned by writers no longer with us .

“Murders in the Rue Morgue,” by Edgar Allan Poe (Graham’s Magazine, 1841)

On Paris’ Rue Morgue at 3AM, a mother and daughter are brutally and inhumanely slaughtered in their heavily locked-down fourth-floor apartment. Neighbors heard their shrieks but also two additional voices coming from within the apartment, one identified as male and French, the other as shrill and foreign. When the neighbors break into the apartment, they find only the daughter inside, dead and stuffed feet-first up the chimney in a show of superhuman strength, while her mother lay decapitated on the ground, four unscalable stories below a still locked window. Though newspapers call it an impossible crime to solve, and the police remain baffled, a man known to Dupin is accused of the murders.  Through the application of his “ratiocination” investigatory methods that do not ask “what has occurred,” but rather, “what has occurred that has never occurred before,” Dupin determines what transpired and frees an innocent man; establishing in the process an enduring classic formula for mystery writing.

“The Red-Headed League,” by Arthur Conan Doyle (The Strand Magazine, 1891)

It’s hard to pick a favorite Holmes story. In “The Red-Headed League,” experts see themes of man-to-man confrontation and greed, plus Holmes’ high opinion of himself and distain for lesser minds. To me, there’s an added lesson: know your setting well, because from that knowledge you may find your answer. The assistant to a red-headed pawnbroker shows his boss an ad offering a busy-work office job paying male red-heads exorbitant wages and convinces him to take the job.  Eight weeks later the pawnbroker finds the office suddenly closed and that the landlord never heard of the League, He turns to Holmes, who visits the pawnshop with Watson and concludes he knows the answer to the mystery. Conan Doyle considered this story his second favorite. “The Speckled Band” was his first.

“Locked Doors,” by Mary Roberts Rinehart (1914)

In much of Rinehart’s work the challenge is discovering what’s hidden from view, because the “hidden situation” looms more important than whodunit. An accomplished mystery writer trained in nursing, Rinehart combined those talents in her series featuring nurse Hilda Adams a/k/a Miss Pinkerton, who at times works undercover for the police.  In “Locked Doors,” she’s recruited to replace a badly shaken nurse who came to the police after four days of living in a large eerie house, working for a peculiar family with no servants, no working telephone, two young children confined to their room, and doors barred shut at night. Its spine chilling, not-your-normal-mystery sort of “Gothic thrills” plotting, might just keep you from guessing the “perfectly macabre solution to this mystery.”

“The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb,” Agatha Christie (The Sketch Magazine, 1923)

The widow of a famous Egyptologist asks Poirot to journey to the excavation site of a Pharaoh’s tomb where her husband died by heart attack, the wealthy backer of the dig died from blood poisoning, and from which the backer’s nephew left for New York only to commit suicide soon after arriving there.  The widow fears for the life of her son who intends on continuing his father’s work. Poirot cables New York for information on the nephew, and leaves for the dig. By the time he and Hastings arrive, another American has died, this one from tetanus, and talk of an Egyptian Curse fills the papers. Tension builds as Poirot suddenly begins choking on tea he’s been served.  It’s a tour de force example of how Christie’s least likely characters so often turn out to be the guilty, and of Poirot’s penchant for gathering the guilty together for their unmasking.

“Blackmailers Don’t Shoot,” by Raymond Chandler (Black Mask, 1933)

“Blackmailers Don’t Shoot” is Chandler’s first mystery story, written when he was 44. Αll the dames, guns, gangsters, shady dealings, lies, deceptions, crooked cops, fights, tough guy talk, and elements of the mythical quests knight Marlowe feels compelled to pursue are there. But not yet the Marlowe name. That change doesn’t happen until 1939 in “The Big Sleep.”  In 1933 he’s Mallory and at center stage in a swanky club attempting to blackmail a beautiful movie star over love letters she’d long ago sent to a gangster. She dismisses the attempt, leaves the club, and is kidnapped.  Mallory leaves later, only to be strong-armed into the middle of a falling out among gangsters over her kidnapping. He turns the situation to his advantage, leading to the Star’s ultimate rescue, the death of her gangster ex-boyfriend, and the return of her letters.  But Mallory has more left to do. Chandler likes it that way.

“Death Threats,” by Georges Simenon (cir. 1936-42)

SIMENON, Georges, 1963, Ecrivain (F) © ERLING MANDELMANN ©

Belgian writer Georges Simenon is one of the most prolific authors of the 20 th Century, estimated to have written over 400 novels, plus as many as 1200 stories under his own name and more than a dozen pen names. His sales total more than 500 million copies, and his highly popular Inspector Jules Maigret appears in 78 novels and 28 short stories, often confronting serious themes rarely touched upon by more traditional detectives. Maigret does not adhere to the genre’s conventional approach of searching for clues and using deductive reasoning to solve a case. Rather, he immerses himself in the surroundings and life of those who interest him, much as would a therapist or professor looking for psychological insights to help better understand the human condition and criminal mind.

“Death Threats” has Maigret dispatched to spend the weekend at the country villa of the senior member of a wealthy merchant family. The merchant received an anonymous note threatening his death before 6PM on Sunday. His twin brother reaches out to Maigret trying to convince him that his brother is paranoid and the threat must be a joke.  At the villa, Maigret discovers a family of ambitious, self-absorbed, greedy narcissists wracked by mutual hatred for each other, who despite all their advantages, utterly fail to appreciate life. Things get exciting around 6, but don’t go quite as Maigret had expected even though he knew from the outset who’d sent the note.

“Kiss Me Again, Stranger,” by Daphne du Maurier (Gollancz, 1952)

“Kiss Me Again, Stranger” is neither a ghost story nor a supernatural tale, but rather a classic example of du Maurier’s uncanny ability to keep the reader thinking it just might end up being one of those. A nameless young man narrates the story of his evening at the cinema where he’s irresistibly taken by a beautiful usherette.  He follows her onto a bus, sits beside her, pulls her close to him, and rests her head on his shoulder. I shall not tell you what happens when they later go off together into a cemetery, except to quote what another has written about the usherette: “it is hard to think of any female character in British fiction, before this husky siren, who does what she does and with such cool aplomb: an unexpectedly powerful proto-feminist role model.”

“The Oblong Room,” by Edward D. Hoch (The Saint Magazine, 1967)

In “The Oblong Room,” Captain Leopold is called to investigate what seems an open and shut case of murder on a college campus. A man is found stabbed to death, locked in a room for 24 hours with his roommate. All that is needed to convict is the roommate’s motive, but the roommate will not make a statement.  The ensuing investigation establishes, (a) the victim possessed an uncanny ability to manipulate anyone into obeying him, (b) no one was more devoted to and protective of the victim than his roommate, and (c) the two were known to use LSD. But why did the roommate kill someone he’d die to protect? And why a 24-hour vigil after the slaying? Our answers arrive in a do-not-see-it-coming solution.

“The Last Bottle in the World,” by Stanley Ellin (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine 1968)

In this story about the last bottle of a famed vintage that a mega-rich man is determined to buy from the narrator-wine merchant, the merchant unexpectedly comes across the rich man’s wife in a café, and there’s a flashback to when the two first met. She’s now in a difficult marriage and showing interest in another man.  The tension rises, until the plot unexpectedly twists in a most satisfying yet realistic of ways.

“Blood Lines,” by Ruth Rendell (Hutchinson (UK), Crown (US), 1995)

“Blood Lines” features her popular Inspector Reginald “Rex” Wexford investigating a murder that’s shattered the tranquility of a small bucolic community.  A young woman discovers her stepfather’s brutally beaten body.  She firmly denies knowing the identity of the murderer, but Wexford is convinced his primary suspects include the victim’s extended family. Wexford’s patient investigation reveals evidence of spousal abuse, infidelity, avarice, and betrayal, reminding him that the criminal impulse may be present in even the most routine or intimate of situations. It is vintage Rendell.

© 2023 Jeffrey Siger

JEFFREY SIGER fled his career as a name partner in his own New York City law firm to live and write mystery thrillers on the Greek island of Mykonos.  The New York Times  picked him as Greece’s thriller novelist of record, and Reader’s Digest Select Editions described him as one of its “new favorite authors.” He’s received Lefty and Barry “Best Novel” nominations, been Chair of Bouchercon, and served as adjunct professor of English at Washington & Jefferson College teaching mystery writing.  Jeff blogs Saturdays on  murderiseverywhere.blogspot.com  and the 13 th book in his Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis series will be published by SEVERN HOUSE in February 2024. Visit him  www.jeffrey siger .com

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9 Quintessential Short Stories Every Mystery Fan Needs to Read 

These classic short mystery stories will keep you guessing while introducing you to beloved authors.

• Photo Credit: "The Purloined Letter" by Edgar Allan Poe

Detective fiction began with a short story , Edgar Allan Poe’s The Murders on the Rue Morgue . For many decades afterwards, the cases of the world’s greatest fictional sleuths were usually gobbled down by readers in bite-size pieces from newspapers or magazines. Carefully constructed to deliver maximum mystery per sentence, the short story remains a great way of sampling the writer’s wares.

The Holloway Flat Tragedy

By Ernest Bramah

Ernest Bramah’s kindly, wise, and humorous blind detective, Max Carrados , once rivaled Sherlock Holmes for popularity. You get a good feeling in this fine story of an ingenious crime in a seedy part of North London. The unsighted Carrados is able to use his senses to detect things other detectives don’t—smells, sounds, even changes in the atmosphere—and Bramah puts these factors to ingenious use in a story of passion, deceit, and Italian anarchists.

The Purloined Letter

By Edgar Allan Poe

The third and last of Poe’s highly influential tales featuring C. August Dupin sees the eccentric Parisian sleuth puffing away on his pipe as he uses his logical brain to unravel a knotty case of royal blackmail. A letter from one of the Queen’s lovers has been stolen by an unscrupulous government minister, but how he took it and where the letter is now hidden baffles the regular police. The plot twist in this story, written in 1844, has been reworked hundreds of times since, but never to greater effect.

The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans

By Arthur Conan Doyle

There are 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories, and picking out just one is difficult. But this 1917 tale wins, thanks to the setting of fog-bound London—and a rare appearance from Holmes’ brilliant but lazy brother, Mycroft. The case revolves around a dead government clerk and some top secret plans for a Royal Navy submarine. Holmes is at his arrogant best throughout, and his genius is duly, if discretely, rewarded by Queen Victoria .

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The Case of Oscar Brodski

By R. Austin Freeman

R. Austin Freeman pioneered a new type of mystery fiction: the inverted detective story . Tales like “The Case of Oscar Brodski” are divided into two parts. In the first, the reader is given an account of the crime—in this case the murder of a London diamond dealer—that takes in every detail including the name of the killer, his method, and his motivation. In the second half, Freeman’s great criminal pathologist, Dr. John Thorndyke, arrives on the scene, using physical evidence, questioning, and logical deduction to catch the criminal. The fun for the reader is following the process of detection as it takes place. In the masterful hands of Freeman, it’s a remarkably exciting ride.

The Blue Cross

By G.K. Chesterton

The first appearance of Chesterton’s much loved priest-detective , Father Brown, comes in his entertaining tale from 1910. “The Blue Cross” features French master-thief Flambeau and his pursuer, the suave and swell-headed Parisian private eye, Aristide Valentin. Flambeau—a master of disguise—has vanished in London. Nobody knows where he is, and when the evidently bumbling Father Brown appears on the scene apparently carrying a parcel containing a valuable church relic, it only seems to complicate matters. Witty and ingenious, “The Blue Cross” is a classic mystery story that opens a window onto the world of Edwardian England.

The Companion

By Agatha Christie

Miss Marple and a group of acquaintances gather after dinner in St. Mary Mead to swap crime stories, the solution of which is known only to the teller. The second tale is told by Dr. Lloyd. The set-up of “The Companion” is simplicity itself—two women go swimming on the Spanish Island of Gran Canaria, one of them drowns. However, a series of strange events surround the death, and no one is certain what they mean. The answer should be easy, but predictably Miss Marple gets there faster than her friends—or the reader. 

Related: The Queen of Crime: 10 Best Agatha Christie Books

By Dashiell Hammett

Hammett’s unnamed Continental Operative is the archetypal hard-boiled private eye —a tough, cynical loner with a pure heart hidden beneath a sharp suit and a shoulder holster. In this classic noir tale, the Op finds himself on the trail of the wild, runaway daughter of a wealthy man. Soon he’s deep in a murky world of extortion, double-crossing, and murder, which is just the way his fans like it.

The Man Who Knew How

By Dorothy L. Sayers

Sayers is most famous for tales involving her upper-crust investigator, Lord Peter Wimsey. His Lordship, however, does not feature in this twisting and darkly comic tale of two strangers—Pender and Smith—who meet on a train. Smith claims to be able to pull off the perfect undetected murder, but is he for real, or is it all a complex confidence trick? Shot through with macabre humor and with a real sting in the tail, it’s easy to see why this was one of film director Alfred Hitchcock’s favorite stories.

Related: Dorothy L. Sayers: Meet the Doyen of Crime Fiction Who Created Lord Peter Wimsey

They Never Get Caught

By Margery Allingham

Harold Brownrigg, a married pharmacist with money-worries and a roving eye, begins an affair with Phyllis, a woman half his age. When Phyllis dumps him for a younger man with a smarter car, Brownrigg’s imagination takes a darker turn. If his wife, Millie, were dead and he inherited her money, perhaps life would be different... A well-plotted, acidly comic, and pleasingly twisty tale from Margery Allingham —one of the Queens of Crime from the Golden Age of Detective Fiction .

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Short Stories

The Clued in Mystery podcast explores mystery and the different ways we enjoy the genre through books, TV, film, and podcasts.

Your hosts Brook Peterson and Sarah M Stephen love reading, watching, listening to, and talking about mysteries. Join us as we celebrate good mysteries everywhere.

Reading in bite sizes is a great way to test out a new genre or author. This week, Sarah and Brook share some of their favorite short stories.

Works and authors mentioned

“The Three Apples” 1001 Nights

Gongan Stories

“The Lottery” (1948) Shirley Jackson

The Haunting of Hill House (1959) Shirley Jackson

“The Tell-tale Heat” (1843) Edgar Allan Poe

The Cask of Amontillado” (1846) Edgar Allan Poe

“The Monkey’s Paw” (1902) WW Jacobs

“A Terribly Strange Bed” (1852) Wilkie Collins

The Moonstone (1868) Wilkie Collins

Six Against the Yard (1937) The Detection Club

FaceOff (2015) Thriller Writers of America

“The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb” (1924) Agatha Christie

Black Lizard Big Book of Locked Room Mysteries (2014) Otto Penzler (ed.)

The Adventures of Philip Marlowe

The Cabinet of Curiosities (2022) Netflix

Marple: Twelve New Mysteries (2022)

For more information

Instagram: @cluedinmystery Contact us: [email protected] Music: Signs To Nowhere by Shane Ivers – www.silvermansound.com

Reading bite-sized stories are a great way to test out a new genre or author. This week, Sarah and Brook share some of their favorite short stories.

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10 Essential Mystery Short Story Anthologies

Who doesn’t love a good mystery short story? Like many, I was hooked into the mystery genre by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories. Each one was a bite-sized package of suspense laced with danger and tied up with a tidy, cerebral conclusion. Since reading the Holmes tales, I’ve become a huge fan of mystery fiction and would probably describe it as my favorite genre of all.

As you can tell by my list of the best YA short story anthologies , I’m big into short fiction collections. It’s a perfect way to be introduced to new genres and authors. In this article, I’m recommending great collections of mystery short stories. You’ll find some of the best mystery anthologies of the best crime short stories here, featuring a wide breadth of the genre’s most celebrated and overlooked authors, past and present.

The Best American Mystery Stories series

This is a recurring series that is each year edited by a leading author, like James Patterson, Louise Penny, and Elizabeth George, with Otto Penzler as the series editor. The stories that qualify have been published in a periodical. If you want to get introduced to some of the best mystery writers, this series is a great way to do just that as you’re reading stories by prominent and up-and-coming authors who are publishing right now.

How to read it: Purchase The Best American Mystery Stories 2018 on Amazon and add it on Goodreads .

The best american noir of the century – edited by james ellroy and otto penzler.

Noir fans will definitely want to pick up The Best American Noir of the Century , edited by legendary neo-noir author James Ellroy and Otto Penzler. From James M. Cain and Patricia Highsmith to contemporary noir masters like Dennis Lehane, Elmore Leonard, and Harlan Ellison, this anthology of short noir fiction is a must-read. (And yes, that’s the same Otto Penzler who is the series editor of The Best American Mystery Stories series. This prolific editor has arranged several themed anthologies of short fiction. His name is a hallmark sign of quality and expertise. Any anthology by him will put you in good hands.)

How to read it: Purchase The Best American Noir of the Century on Amazon and add it on Goodreads .

The big book of female detectives – edited by otto penzler.

Some of the genre’s most famous sleuths are female, and it is precisely those detectives and PIs that you’ll find in The Big Book of Female Detectives , another excellent anthology by Otto Penzler. In this epic collection of 74 short works suspense fiction, take a tour through history’s greatest female detectives as Penzler shines a light on lesser-known, overlooked, and influential stories featuring kickass ladies who solve crime.

How to read it: Purchase The Big Book of Female Detectives on Amazon and add it on Goodreads

The black lizard big book of locked-room mysteries – edited by otto penzler.

My last Otto Penzler anthology, I swear, but I couldn’t pass up the chance to plug this one. Of all the subgenres within the mystery, thriller, and suspense genre, my absolute favorite is the locked-room mystery. In these “impossible crimes,” the crimes defy logic: a girl who somehow managed to disappear from a remote island ( The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo ), a man dies under puzzling circumstances locked in his study ( The Murder of Roger Ackroyd ), and more. Who could the villain be? It must be someone on the scene… but that doesn’t mean it’s an easy solve. I just love these tales that tickle the brain and befuddle even the most intelligent detectives. And here in this mega anthology, you’ll find some of the greatest locked-room mysteries. An all-star cast of writers, like Stephen King, Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, pepper this essential collection of 68 of the best crime short stories.

How to read it: Purchase The Black Lizard Big Book of Locked-Room Mysteries on Amazon and add it on Goodreads

A moment on the edge: 100 years of crime stories by women – edited by elizabeth george.

Powerhouse mystery writer Elizabeth George, best known for her Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley series, anthologizes mystery short stories by female writers. George starts with some of the earliest women authors of the genre, from 1917 to 2009. George provides illuminating introductions to each piece, providing a biography of the writer and situating her within her cultural and historical context. Anyone who thinks that crime fiction was strictly a male endeavor could stand to read this anthology.

How to read it: Purchase A Moment on the Edge on Amazon and add it on Goodreads

Odd partners: an anthology – edited by anne perry.

This collection by the Mystery Writers of America focuses on a theme: unforgettable—and often unlikely—duos in crime fiction. If you love the quirky, affectionate relationship between Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson, add this to your TBR. If you adore epic clashes between arch-enemies, you’ll also want to add this to your TBR. And if you want to see how far the idea of “odd partners” goes, like crime-fighting partnerships between animals and humans, put Odd Partners on your TBR. Edited by acclaimed mystery author Anne Perry, Odd Partners includes writing by bestselling, Award-wining, and promising young authors, like Jeffrey Deaver, Charles Todd, Jacqueline Winspear, and many more.

How to read it: Purchase Odd Partners on Amazon and add it on Goodreads

Tiny crimes – edited by lincoln michel and nadxieli nieto.

If you only have a few minutes to spare, but you’re dying for some of the best mystery short stories, you’ll want to pick up the anthology Tiny Crimes . Edited by Lincoln Michel and Nadxieli Nieto, Tiny Crimes spotlights micro fiction and flash fiction (stories that are very short, sometimes even only a page long) that deal with the theme of crime. This quick read shows off how nimble writers can be about packing a ton of emotion, suspense, and tension into a small space.

How to read it: Purchase Tiny Crimes on Amazon and add it on Goodreads

The penguin book of gaslight crime – edited by michael sims.

What is “gaslight crime,” you might be asking? This term simply refers to crime fiction that was written during and often set during the era when streets were illuminated by gaslight, as opposed to the modern era where streetlight are electric. In The Penguin Book of Gaslight Crime , anthologist Michael Sims, assemble a bang-up introduction to mystery short stories from this era, tales from H.G. Wells, Sinclair Lewis, and others, that feature famous detectives, rogue scoundrels, and legendary criminals who thrilled readers during the gaslight days. Read more about this book in an interview with Sims here .

If you liked this anthology, consider also checking out The Penguin Book of Victorian Women in Crime , also edited by Michael Sims, which highlights female characters in crime fiction during the Victorian days. I didn’t include it here because… well, space!

How to read it: Purchase The Penguin Book of Gaslight Crime on Amazon and add it on Goodreads

The noir series by akashic books.

This long-running series collects noir short stories set in a particular location, like New Orleans, Amsterdam, and Berlin, but also settings like Wall Street and Prison. Chances are they’ve put together an anthology about your country, region, or city. I’m highlighting the Philadelphia book here since that’s closest to me. You can find the complete list on Akashic Books’ website .

How to read it: Purchase Philadelphia Noir on Amazon and add it on Goodreads

Faceoff – edited by david baldacci.

This unique collection pits rival enemies, detectives, and villains against each other. You’ll recognize these characters from the pages of famous mystery and thriller writers. For example, Michael Connelly’s cop hero Harry Bosch goes head-to-head with Patrick Kenzie from Dennis Lehane’s Kenzie & Gennaro series. If you love these stories, you’ll definitely want to check out the sequel, MatchUp , which focuses on beloved heroes and heroine from mystery fiction working together.

How to read it: purchase FaceOff on Amazon and add it on Goodreads

For more mystery anthologies, check out… short crime fiction collections by the mystery writers of america , anthologies from the international thriller writers , and mystery anthologies from the publisher black lizard ., share this:.

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Sarah S. Davis is the founder of Broke by Books, a blog about her journey as a schizoaffective disorder bipolar type writer and reader. Sarah's writing about books has appeared on Book Riot, Electric Literature, Kirkus Reviews, BookRags, PsychCentral, and more. She has a BA in English from the University of Pennsylvania, a Master of Library and Information Science from Clarion University, and an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts.

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How to Write a Mystery Story

Last Updated: July 7, 2023 References

This article was co-authored by Lucy V. Hay . Lucy V. Hay is a Professional Writer based in London, England. With over 20 years of industry experience, Lucy is an author, script editor, and award-winning blogger who helps other writers through writing workshops, courses, and her blog Bang2Write. Lucy is the producer of two British thrillers, and Bang2Write has appeared in the Top 100 round-ups for Writer’s Digest & The Write Life and is a UK Blog Awards Finalist and Feedspot’s #1 Screenwriting blog in the UK. She received a B.A. in Scriptwriting for Film & Television from Bournemouth University. There are 10 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been viewed 567,320 times.

A good mystery story will have fascinating characters, exciting suspense, and a puzzle that keeps you turning the pages. But it can be difficult to write an engaging mystery story, especially if you have never tried to before. With the right preparation, brainstorming, and outlining, you can create a page-turning mystery of your own.

Preparing to Write

• When it comes to mystery, one of the key elements is tension and making the story compelling from the very beginning. [1] X Research source
• In mystery stories, your reader does not know who committed the murder until the end of the novel. Mysteries are centered on the intellectual exercise of trying to figure out the motivations behind the crime, or the puzzle.
• Mysteries tend to be written in the first person, while thrillers are often written in the third person and from multiple points of view. In mystery stories, there is usually a slower pace as the hero/detective/main character tries to solve the crime. There are also limited action sequences in mysteries than in thrillers.
• Because mysteries are often slower paced, the characters are usually more in-depth and well rounded in a mystery story than in a thriller.

• The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins. The 19th-century mystery novel was originally written in serial form, so the story moves forward in measured steps. Much of what became standard in crime fiction was done by Collins in this novel, so it is an engaging and instructive introduction to the genre.
• The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler. Chandler is one of the genre’s greatest writers, creating engaging stories about the trials and tribulations of private detective Philip Marlowe. Marlowe is a tough, cynical, but honest P.I. who becomes entangled in a plot with a General, his daughter, and a blackmailing photographer. Chandler’s work is known for its sharp dialogue, great pacing, and riveting hero, Marlowe. [3] X Research source
• The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. One of the genre’s most famous detectives, along with his equally famous sleuthing partner Watson, solves a series of mysteries and crimes in this collection of stories. Holmes and Watson inject their unique character traits into the stories along the way. [4] X Research source
• NANCY DREW by Carolyn Keene. The whole series is situated in the United States.Nancy Drew is a detective. Her close friends Helen Corning, Bess Marvin and George Fayne appear in some mysteries. Nancy is Carson Drew's daughter. Carson Drew is the most famous lawyer in River Heights, where they live.
• "Hardy Boys by Franklin W. Dixon.This is similar to Nancy Drew.It is about two brothers: Frank and Joe Hardy, who are talented detectives.They are the sons of a very famous detective, and they sometimes help in his cases.
• A Crime in the Neighborhood by Suzanne Berne. This recent mystery novel is set in 1970s suburban Washington. It centers on the “crime” in the neighborhood, the murder of a young boy. Berne intersperses a coming of age story with the mystery of the death of the young boy in bland, boring suburbia, but manages to make the story anything but bland or boring. [5] X Research source

• For example, in The Big Sleep , Chandler’s first-person narrator describes himself through his clothing on the first page: “I was wearing my powder-blue suit, with the dark blue shirt, tie and display handkerchief, black brogues, black wool socks with dark blue clocks on them. I was neat, clean, shaved and sober, and I didn’t care who knew it. I was everything the well-dressed private detective ought to be."
• With these opening sentences, Chandler makes the narrator distinct through his way of describing himself, his outfit, and his job (private detective).

• For example, in the second paragraph of the first page of The Big Sleep , Marlowe places the reader in the time and setting: “The main hallway of the Sternwood place was two stories high.”
• The reader now knows Marlowe is in front of the home of the Sternwoods and it is a larger home, possibly wealthy.

• In The Big Sleep , Marlowe is hired by General Sternwood to “take care” of a photographer who has been blackmailing the General with scandalous pictures of the General’s daughter.

• In The Big Sleep , Chandler complicates Marlowe’s pursuit of the photographer by having the photographer killed in the early chapters, followed by the suspicious suicide of the General’s chauffeur. So Chandler sets up the story with two crimes that Marlowe has to solve.

• The resolution of the mystery should feel surprising to your reader, without confusing them. One of the benefits of a mystery is that you can pace the story so the solution unfolds gradually, rather than in a rushed or hurried manner.

Developing Your Main Character and Outlining the Story

• Body size and shape, hair and eye color, and any other physical characteristics. For example, you may have a short female main character with dark hair, glasses, and green eyes. Or you may want a more typical detective character: tall with slicked-back hair and a five o’clock shadow.
• Clothing and dress. Your character’s clothing will not only create a more detailed image for your reader, it can also indicate what time period your story is set in. For example, if your main character wears heavy armor and a helmet with a crest, your reader will realize your story is set in medieval times. If your character wears a hoodie, jeans, and a backpack, this will tip off your readers that the story is likely set in modern times.
• What makes your main character unique. It’s important to create a main character who stands out to your reader and feels engaging enough to sustain many pages in a story or novel. Consider what your character likes and dislikes. Maybe your female sleuth is shy and awkward at parties, and has a secret love of reptiles. Or perhaps your detective is a complete klutz and doesn’t consider himself a strong or smart person. Focus on details that will help to create a unique main character and don’t be afraid to draw on details from your own life or your own preferences and tastes. [7] X Research source
• What matters most is that your main character has a burning question or burning need to solve the mystery.

• If you decide to set your story in a time period or location you are unfamiliar with, conduct research on the time period or location through your local library, online sources, or interviews with experts in a certain time period or location. Be specific with your research and during your interviews to ensure you get all the details of a setting or time period right.

• An item is stolen from your main character or someone close to the main character.
• A person close to the main character disappears.
• The main character receives threatening or disturbing notes.
• The main character witnesses a crime.
• The main character is asked to help solve a crime.
• The main character stumbles upon a mystery.
• You can also combine several of these scenarios to create a more layered mystery. For example, an item may be stolen from your main character, a person close to the main character disappears, and then the main character witnesses a crime she is later asked to help solve.

• Create a list of possible suspects your main character may encounter throughout the story. You can use several suspects to point the detective and/or the reader in the wrong direction to build suspense and surprise. [8] X Research source
• Write a list of clues. Red herrings are clues that are false or misleading. Your story will be stronger if you include several red herring clues in the story. For example, your main character may find a clue that points to one suspect, but it is later revealed the clue is actually tied to a different suspect. Or your detective may find a clue without realizing it is the key to unlocking the entire mystery. [9] X Research source
• Red herrings are all about saying "follow this thread" when the "thread" in question is completely wrong. A good writer can put something in the way that stops readers from realizing what's going on.

• The main character is investigating a possible lead alone and encounters the murderer or killer.
• The main character begins to doubt his/her abilities and lets his/her guard down, allowing the murderer to kill again.
• No one believes the main character and he/she ends up trying to solve the crime alone,and he/she ends up getting kidnapped.
• The main character is injured and trapped in a dangerous place.
• The main character is going to lose an important clue if he/she can’t get out of a certain location or situation.

• The main character saves someone close to them, or an innocent person wrapped up in the mystery.
• The main character saves himself/herself and is changed by his/her courage or smarts.
• The main character exposes a bad character or organization.
• The main character exposes the murderer or person responsible for the crime.

• Introduction of main character and setting.
• The inciting incident, or the crime.
• The call to adventure: The main character gets involved in solving the crime.
• Tests and trials: The main character finds clues, encounters potential suspects, and tries to stay alive as he/she pursues the truth. Close ones might be kidnapped as a threat
• Ordeal: The main character thinks he/she has found a key clue or suspect and believes he/she has solved the crime. This is a false resolution, and is a good way to surprise your reader when it turns out the main character got it wrong.
• Major setback: All seems lost for the main character. He/She found the wrong suspect or clue, someone else is killed or harmed, and all his/her allies have abandoned him/her. A major setback will amp up the tension in the story and keep the reader guessing.
• The reveal: The main character gathers all interested parties together, lays out the clues, explains the false leads, and reveals who the murderer or guilty person is.

Writing the Story

• Think what your main character might see in a certain setting. For example, if your character lives in a home much like yours in a small town, you may describe his/her bedroom or his/her walk to school. If you are using a specific historical setting, like 70s California, you may describe your character standing on a street corner and looking at the unique architecture or the cars that drive by.
• Consider what your main character might hear in a certain setting. Your sleuth may listen to the birds chirping and the sprinklers on the lawns on the way to school. Or your detective may hear the roaring of cars or the crashing of ocean waves.
• Describe what your main character might smell in a certain setting. Your main character might wake up to the smell of coffee being made in the kitchen by his/her parents. Or your detective may be hit with the smell of the city: rotting garbage and body odor.
• Describe what your character might feel. This could be a light breeze, a sharp pain, a sudden jolt, or a shiver down his/her spine. Focus on how your character’s body might react to a feeling.
• Think about what your character might taste. Your main character may still taste the cereal she had for breakfast in his/her mouth, or the drink from the night before.

• Think about being concise with your language and description. Most readers continue reading a good mystery because they are invested in the main character and want to see his/her succeed. Be brief but specific when describing the main character and his/her perspective on the world.
• For example, Chandler’s The Big Sleep starts by situating the reader in a setting and gives the reader a sense of the main character’s perspective on the world. “It was about eleven o’clock in the morning, mid October, with the sun not shining and a look of hard wet rain in the clearness of the foothills. I was wearing my powder-blue suit, with dark blue shirt, tie and display handkerchief, black brogues, black wool socks with dark blue clocks on them. I was neat, clean, shaved and sober, and I didn’t care who knew it. I was everything the well-dressed private detective ought to be. I was calling on four million dollars.”
• With this beginning, the story starts in action, with a specific time, date, and description of the setting. It then presents the main character’s physical description and job title. The section ends with the main character’s motivation: four million dollars. In three lines, Chandler has covered many of the essential details of the character, the setting, and the story.

• Think about how you would react in a situation if you were angry or scared. Have your character react in ways that communicate angry or scared, without telling the reader about the character’s emotions. For example, rather than “Stephanie was angry,” you could write: “Stephanie slammed his/her water glass down on the table so hard his/her dinner plate rattled. She glared at him, and started ripping the thin, white napkin into shreds with his/her fingers.”
• Showing, rather than telling also works well for descriptions of setting. For example, in The Big Sleep , rather than tell the reader the Sternwoods were wealthy, Chandler describes the luxurious details of the estate: “There were French doors at the back of the hall, beyond them a wide sweep of emerald grass to a white garage, in front of which a slim dark young chauffeur in shiny black leggings was dusting a maroon Packard convertible. Beyond the garage were some decorative trees trimmed as carefully as poodle dogs. Beyond them a large greenhouse with a domed roof. Then more trees and beyond everything the solid, uneven, comfortable line of the foothills.”

• Plot. Ensure your story sticks to the outline and has a clear beginning, middle, and an ending. You should also confirm your main character shifts or changes at the end of the story.
• Characters. Are your characters, including your main character, distinct and unique? Do all the characters sound and act the same or are they different from each other? Do your characters feel original and engaging?
• Pacing. Pacing is how fast or how slow the action moves in the story. Good pacing will feel invisible to the reader. If the story feels like it is moving too fast, make the scenes longer to draw out the emotions of the characters. If it feels like the story gets bogged down or confusing, shorten the scenes to only include essential information. A good rule of thumb is to always end a scene earlier than you might think or want. This will keep the tension from scene to scene from dropping and keep the pace of the story moving.
• The twist. The twist can either make or break a good mystery story. This is completely optional, but many of the best stories have a twist at the end. Make sure that a twist is not too "cheesy". The more unique a twist is, the easier it is to write. When writing an overused twist, such as "then they woke up", you'll need to be a very good writer to make it sound good. A good twist not only fools the audience, but fools the character(s) too. Consider hinting towards the twist during action scenes, so that when the reader looks back on the story, they'll wonder how they missed it. Try not to make the twist evident too early on.

Mystery Story Help

Community Q&A

Things You'll Need

• Paper and pen and/or a computer with a word processor (like Word)
• Mystery books/stories
• An idea/plot for the story

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-fiction/7-tips-writing-great-mystery-suspense-novels
• ↑ http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/tip-sheet/article/59582-the-10-best-mystery-books.html
• ↑ http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/bigsleep/summary.html
• ↑ http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1661/1661-h/1661-h.htm
• ↑ https://www.nytimes.com/books/97/07/20/reviews/970720.20careyt.html
• ↑ http://blog.karenwoodward.org/2013/10/how-to-write-murder-mystery.html
• ↑ http://www.creative-writing-now.com/how-to-write-a-mystery.html
• ↑ http://blog.karenwoodward.org/2014/03/how-to-write-murderously-good-mystery.html
• ↑ http://www.creative-writing-now.com/how-to-write-fiction.html
• ↑ http://blog.karenwoodward.org/2013/10/how-to-write-murder-mystery-part-two.html

About This Article

Before you write your mystery story you’ll want to create some characters and outline the plot. You might make your main character a detective or just a curious citizen who witnessed a crime. Once you have characters, choose a setting and a mystery such as a murder or a robbery of a precious artwork. If you want to make your story dramatic, add in cliffhangers and red herrings, or clues that lead to dead ends. When you’re ready to write your story, scroll down for tips from our Creative Writing reviewer on creating a well-paced and exciting narrative. Did this summary help you? Yes No

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75 Short Short Stories

Stories to enjoy when you have five minutes to spare, grouped by category to suit your mood: Witty Stories , Introspective Stories , Morality Tales , Other-Worldly Stories , Feel-Good/Love Stories , Dramatic Stories , and Political Farce Stories

Had a rough day? Cheer up with 50 Great Feel-Good Stories and a generous helping of comforting Foodie Stories

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Introspective Stories

Morality Tales

Other-Worldly Stories

Feel-Good/Love Stories

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Looking for more? Check out our Favorite Short Stories Collection . You may also enjoy 100 Great Poems Read about the authors' own stories in American Biographies

BRYN DONOVAN

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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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62 thoughts on “ 50 intriguing mystery story ideas ”.

• Pingback: 50 Mystery Plot Ideas and Writing Prompts! – All About Writing and more

I love cozy mysteries and I love these prompts. A couple of them have spoken to me already and I’ve never written a mystery before.

Thanks, KC! And yeah… cozy mysteries are a whole new world for me, and I love them. 🙂

And I thought I could come up with some off the wall stuff…Thanks Bryn! You’ve offered up several gems.

Haha, thank you Anne!

Your writing prompts should get the writing juices flowing. Thanks for sharing.

Hey, thanks for reading! And for commenting!

Thanks for the mystery prompts, Bryn! I’ve queued up a link to share tonight for Write it Wednesday on my blog.

Oh, thank you. It’s always an honor!

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Is 46 a transvestite mystery then?

It’s either a typo, transvestite, cross dresser, a man who was dressed as a woman as part of his job, or dressed as a woman as a way of hiding from the trouble he’s in. Your choice 🙂

Ha! It’s a typo. I corrected it. 🙂 Thank you!

PS I do that ALL THE TIME in my writing! I always have to correct a few pronouns when I edit a story.

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Number 2 is brilliant and I would binge watch an entire Scandi-noir series based on it.

Hahaha! Thanks, Maggie!

You helped me a LOT, thanks! I wrote stories on #9 and #11. I liked several others, but couldn’t think of ways to put them into stories. I tweaked #9 quite a bit. You have awesome ideas! ??

Hi Bryn, just to say your “Master List for Writers” rocks – love it!

Thanks a lot Bryn… the ideas were nice… can work as a kick starter…!!

this was very helpful thank you so much (they were also in a very understanable english, im only 13 and from denmark)

These ideas are genius! Please write more for mystery and other types of books. (if you have time.) I LOVED EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOUR IDEAS.

Hello, Bryn! Thank you so much for making this! it’s really inspire me:))

these are useless

just kidding there good

is it okay to use these prompts for movie ideas?

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Its really good to have these prompts…..they speaka lot for the forwarding story

so glad to have found you! Love it! Story Ideas for a whole Lifetime!!

Hi there! I’m so glad it’s helpful! Thanks for the nice comment; I really appreciate it!

Yayyyyy I wanna be a author can I know how to become a AUTHOR BTW I’m 11 yrs old and I love reading and writing stories Love it!

thank you i am 11 with my friend we are writing a book

Saul, that’s awesome! I wish you and your friend good luck on your book. Have fun!

Hello, I just found this, and thanks so much! I really wanted to write a mystery novel but I couldn’t come up with anything. Thanks a lot for the effort u put into these ideas and I’m so glad that people like you exist…. ❤

im 12 and im writing a mystery series! so helpful !

Good luck on your mystery series!

Thanks for the prompts!

What a lovely collection of mystery ideas!

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A lot of good ideas here Bryn. Thanks for the inspiration!

I think 99% of content that could lead to a mystery story, comes from people. In solving the mystery, usually it’s a question of finding out what happened, right? I think it’s just as important to know WHY someone did something. The human factor, not just the event, is like, so important, right?

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Nice, and helpful. Let me see if I can connect two or more together and come up with a good plot.

thank u so much! i am 11 yrs old and I’ve been writing short and simple stories since 7 or 8 years old. i came up with the idea to write a mystery novel/murder mystery when i remembered the “Sweet Valley High” series that i read most of by Francine Pascal and how much murder and drama got developed after the 94th one. Anyway, my mind was blank and the ideas i did came up with weren’t exactly genius. i was searching and stumbled against your ideas. they are sooo helpful!! i can literally imagine one of those ideas that u wrote into a movie (for example, your 1st one where everyone is searching for the woman and find nothing. then her adopted brother who had a bond discovered where she was and knew that he should tell no one. he talked to her through lights and letters written on the wall(i got that from STRANGER THINGS) and rescued her from the people who were holding her hostage) i stretched that but i can really imagine this in my mind right now. well, i am so grateful for your ideas. i hope more people can find your ideas helpful worldwide. thank again 🙂

i think that that is really cool. i used to start stories like that around 8 and 9 and i am also 11 looking for more stories

i will also be really happy if u reply 😉

hiya im also 11 i was wondering if you could help me on a 100 word unsolved writting challenge?

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Be careful kids. You do not know that the people contacting you are not adults pretending. Never give out your details to strangers. Keep safe. Keep writing.

will do, thanks 🙂

Number 41 is awesome!! I might use it, but in my story the thief leaves behind haikus. Thanks for the prompts!!!

Hi can you please help me out on a private dective story

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I have been reading posts regarding this topic and this post is one of the most interesting and informative one I have read. Thank you for this!

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A cult believes the victim is not human/heretic.

My problem right now isn’t finding an idea. It’s how to bring it to fruition. Any advice on that would be helpful

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100+ Mystery Story Ideas – A Guide to Spark Your Imagination

By: Author Paul Jenkins

Posted on Published: September 20, 2022  - Last updated: December 28, 2023

Categories Writing , Inspiration , Storytelling

Are you a lover of a gripping mystery? Well, you’re in for a treat!

As an investigative documentary film director, I’ve always been fascinated by the art of mystery storytelling.

In this article, I’ll give you a treasure trove of 100 mystery story ideas, sorted by genre, to ignite your imagination and get your creative juices flowing.

Whether you’re an experienced author or just beginning your writing journey, these imaginative prompts will inspire you.

As you explore these enticing story ideas, you will find intriguing plotlines and unique elements that make your mystery stand out from the rest.

From cozy mysteries and crime fiction to false clues and fascinating characters – we’ve got you covered!

Key Takeaways

• Discover 100 mystery story ideas sorted by genre, perfect for igniting your imagination
• Uncover unique plot elements and tips to create a captivating narrative
• Enhance your writing with intriguing characters, false clues, and unexpected twists

10 Mystery Story Ideas

• Lost Girl: Imagine a young girl vanishing from her small town, leaving everyone puzzled about her whereabouts and the events leading to her disappearance.
• Unsolved Murder: Picture a murder case with many baffling aspects, lacking a definite suspect or reason behind the crime.
• Forest Secrets: Envision a shadowy forest concealing innumerable mysteries and hidden forces.
• Haunted Mansion: Delve into a spooky mansion with dark, dust-covered halls and empty rooms echoing with peculiar sounds throughout the night.
• Murder Series: Think about a series of horrifying murders with no apparent links or discernable patterns, leaving law enforcement utterly perplexed.
• Cryptic Riddle: Explore a mysterious riddle guiding you along a winding path full of unexpected twists, resulting in disorientation and bewilderment.
• Ancient Secrets: Contemplate an ancient book containing cryptic symbols and mysterious text that appears to unlock forbidden or hazardous knowledge.
• Town Mystery: Visualize a quaint, eerie town where inhabitants seem to protect a deep, dark secret.
• Cult Mystery: Consider a person disappearing after attending an enigmatic cult gathering, never to be seen again.
• Family Secret: Ponder the sudden reappearance of a long-lost family member believed dead, not explaining their absence or return.

10 Murder Mystery Plot Ideas

• Werewolf Suspect: In a small town, the sheriff looks into the homicide of a local woman and starts suspecting that the murderer could be a werewolf.
• Vanishing Killer: A detective is on the trail of a serial killer who appears to vanish without a trace after each crime.
• Conspiracy Discovery: While trying to figure out the cause of their friend’s death, a group of friends stumbles upon a conspiracy, making them believe the government is involved in the murder.
• Crime of Passion: After discovering her husband’s infidelity, a woman kills him in rage, leading the detective on the case to start suspecting her involvement in the crime.
• Robbery Gone Wrong: A man’s death seems to be the result of a botched robbery, but the investigation goes awry when it turns out someone close to him might have been involved.
• Rose and Glasses: A murder victim is found in an alley with just a pair of broken glasses and a single red rose as the only clues to solve the case.
• Forest Symbols: The naked body of a woman discovered in the middle of the woods appears to be covered with bizarre symbols.
• Undercover at School: A detective goes undercover at an elite prep school to solve a student’s murder and begins to suspect that the killer may be one of the student’s classmates.
• Mysterious Cruise Death: After a wealthy businessman’s death at sea on a cruise ship is declared a suicide, his wife begins to question if there was foul play involved.
• Computer Clue: The mysterious death of a man leaves behind only a puzzling note on his computer as the sole clue to solving the murder mystery.

In each of these scenarios, you’ll have the opportunity to engage with elements of murder, whodunits, and murder investigations, all while keeping readers guessing until the very end. So, sharpen your detective skills and get ready to solve these captivating murder mysteries.

10 Cozy Enigma Ideas

Here are some cozy mystery ideas you can explore:

• Detective Retreat: Imagine a group of amateur detectives visiting a small-town bed and breakfast, only to find themselves entangled in an intriguing mystery.
• Bookstore Sleuths: Picture a cozy mystery series starring two sisters running a charming little bookstore while solving perplexing crimes together.
• Countryside Mystery: Imagine a retired detective moving to the countryside for a peaceful life but unexpectedly becoming involved in an exhilarating mystery when her neighbor is discovered dead on her front lawn.
• Book Club Conundrums: Contemplate a lively neighborhood book club that delves into thrilling mysteries and scandals while attempting to untangle each one.
• Sherlock the Cat: Think of a crime-solving cat named Sherlock, strolling through his snug neighborhood and assisting his human friends with investigating mysterious occurrences and disappearances.
• Sleuth’s Journal: Visualize an amateur detective with an insatiable curiosity, writing a personal journal that documents every case she cracks, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant.
• B&B Mysteries: Consider an aspiring detective who transforms her home into a bed and breakfast in the hope her sleuthing abilities will come in handy if any of her guests encounter trouble during their stay.
• Baking Detective: Ponder is a sleuth who loves baking and works as a private investigator, unfolding various exciting cases and striving to solve them all.
• Moonlit Mysteries: Imagine an amateur investigator haunted by images of a mysterious woman wearing a long white dress whenever she walks out under the moonlight.
• Divorce Dilemma: Picture a series of murders connected to a man’s acrimonious divorce, where both parties receive a fortune in truffles and a sinister warning, demanding they sign the divorce papers within a month.

These ideas feature elements such as small towns, cozy mysteries, and elderly women to enjoy as you create captivating stories.

10 Crime Fiction Ideas

• Heist Betrayal: Imagine a group of criminals joining forces to execute a daring heist, only to discover one is a traitor. The tension mounts as they scramble to figure out who’s betraying them.
• Detective’s Dilemma: Envision a seasoned detective hunting down a relentless killer. As the investigator gets closer to cracking the case, they are shocked to realize they might know the culprit better than anyone else.
• Amnesiac’s Mystery: Picture a woman waking up in a hospital with no recollection of her identity or how she arrived there. She soon learns she’s been accused of a crime she can’t recall committing, making her quest for the truth even more harrowing.
• Friend’s Quest: Consider a young woman brutally murdered, leaving her best friend determined to find the killer. As she delves into the investigation, she stumbles upon a tangled web of secrets and surprises.
• Wrongful Conviction: Put yourself in the shoes of a man wrongly convicted of a crime. Desperate to clear his name and uncover the perpetrator, every minute counts as he strives for exoneration.
• PI’s Predicament: Follow a private investigator as they take on what appears to be a simple case at first. But everything changes when they realize they’re on the trail of a ruthless psychopath who won’t go down without a fight.
• Writer Detective: Explore the world of a crime writer who doubles as a detective. They embark on a chilling cold case revolving around the murder of a woman with an enigmatic connection to their family.
• Officer’s Investigation: In the shoes of a police officer moonlighting as a private investigator, uncovering chilling evidence that deeply implicates a serial killer in a string of gruesome murders. The proof is so damning that it leaves everyone involved reeling.
• Underworld Debt: Picture a man trying to make quick cash to pay off his debts, only to find himself entangled in the dangerous underworld of organized crime. He quickly realizes that extricating himself from this web of deceit will be no easy task.
• Mobster’s Trap: Imagine a woman unwittingly immersed in a world of crime and corruption when she attempts to help a friend repay a debt owed to a ruthless mobster. The stakes couldn’t be higher as she navigates this treacherous terrain.

10 Murder Victim Mystery Writing Prompts

• The Stolen Dreams: A young woman’s life is tragically cut short before realizing her dreams and ambitions.
• The Silenced Musician: A talented young musician’s life is senselessly ended without any clear motive.
• The Deceptive Accident: An elderly woman’s death is ruled an accident, but suspicious circumstances suggest foul play.
• The Night Out Nightmare: A college student meets a gruesome end during a night out with friends, shocking everyone.
• The Businesswoman’s Unsolved Murder: A prosperous businesswoman’s baffling murder leaves her community in disbelief and confusion.
• The Innocent Victim: A tragic murder of an innocent bystander caught in a gang shootout, leaving a painful void in their family and community.
• The Philanthropist’s Dark Ties: A wealthy philanthropist’s death reveals deep connections to dangerous criminal organizations, shocking those around him.
• The Truth Seeker’s Demise: An investigative journalist’s dedication to uncovering the truth ultimately leads to their untimely death.
• The Tragic Addict: A young man’s life is abruptly ended due to his addiction, leaving behind a legacy of unfulfilled potential.
• The Lost Artist: A young woman with exceptional artistic talent and the power to inspire others is senselessly robbed of her future.

10 Murder Weapon Ideas

• Calculated Poisoning: Imagine a meticulously calculated poisoning where the ideal dosage is used to guarantee a swift, painless end.
• Sniper’s Choice: Envision a sniper rifle or another long-range firearm employed to eliminate a target from a safe distance, avoiding detection.
• Deadly Meal: Picture a razor-sharp blade secretly placed in someone’s meal or drink, causing a quick and excruciating end.
• Bomb Trap: Think of a bomb concealed in a person’s dwelling or office, resulting in instant death from the blast or a slow demise due to unattended injuries.
• Poison Dart: Consider an untraceable poison dart aimed with lethal precision and effectiveness at its target.
• Assassin’s Knife: Visualize a keen-edged knife in the hands of an expert assassin, capable of inflicting deadly wounds effortlessly and accurately.
• Savage Beating: A savage beating brings about various severe injuries to the victim, who eventually dies in agonizing pain on the cold ground.
• Hidden Gun: A firearm concealed within a folded newspaper or newsstand, ready to be used at any moment to abruptly terminate someone’s life.
• Remote Explosion: A remote-controlled explosive device set off by someone knowing their target would be nearby, granting the victim little opportunity to flee.
• Rampaging Fire: Picture a rampaging fire that burns uncontrollably, with an insatiable hunger to engulf everything in its path.

10 Investigative Agencies

• Shadow Police: You come across a shadowy organization functioning as a high-level police unit, focused on dismantling criminal networks.
• Secret Intelligence Agency: A secret agency gathers intel on various foreign governments and extremist factions, acting as a key crime-fighting asset for the government.
• Elite Agents Group: Discover a hidden group of elite agents highly skilled and trained to handle the most demanding cases.
• Private Detective Agency: A private detective agency partners with local law enforcers, offering valuable insights and support for complex cases.
• Missing Persons Organization: A private organization excels in locating missing individuals, acting as detectives for those who vanished without experiencing violence.
• Abduction Specialists: A detective agency specializes in finding abducted or forcibly detained missing people.
• Paranormal Detectives: A covert team of detectives and investigators focus on solving paranormal or supernatural cases that can’t be addressed through regular methods.
• Quirky Investigators: Meet a quirky and charismatic team of private investigators skilled in unraveling peculiar or challenging cases with grace and expertise.
• Innovative Crime Solvers: A group of proficient detectives armed with cutting-edge tools, much of which they invented, solves the most difficult crimes.
• Dark Secrets Uncovered: A team of seasoned detectives shares collective experience in uncovering the world’s darkest secrets and bringing them to light. Remember to keep a friendly tone and maintain a second-person point of view while discussing these investigative agencies in your article.

10 False Clue Ideas

• The serial killer’s deceptive trail : Imagine a serial killer leaving false leads to mislead investigators and keep them busy searching for non-existent clues.
• Accomplice-planted misinformation : Consider an accomplice or associate of the culprit providing investigators with false information to protect the true offender.
• Personal vendetta setup : Picture someone with a grudge against the victim planting fake evidence to frame them for a crime they didn’t commit.
• Deliberately withheld key details : Visualize crucial facts intentionally kept from investigators, possibly by the killer themselves or by someone shielding a loved one from punishment.
• Shifty informant misguidance : Envision an informant or criminal enthusiast willingly feeding false information to bring the case closer to resolution.
• The killer’s fabricated alibi : Ponder a killer weaving an intricate web of lies to appear innocent and drive suspicion away from themselves.
• Contradictory witness accounts : Think about witnesses providing conflicting accounts of the crime, whether due to faulty memories or intentional deception.
• An uncontainable rumor : Contemplate a rumor that spread rapidly after the crime, causing confusion among witnesses and investigators about the true events and perpetrator.
• The wildfire false lead : Reflect on a phony clue that gained traction and was taken as fact, further clouding the case and helping the actual culprit escape.
• The victim’s puzzling narrative : Imagine a story crafted by the victim before their demise to confuse investigators and guarantee the actual offender gets away.

Keep these false clue ideas in mind as you craft your mystery masterpiece, carefully weaving in elements of misdirection and intrigue to keep your readers enthralled until the very end.

10 Ideas for False Witnesses

• Bribed Witness: Imagine a witness who is bribed by the criminal to point the finger at someone else, effectively steering the investigation in the wrong direction.
• False Testimony for Escape: Consider a witness hoping to disentangle themselves from a crime by testifying falsely, thinking it will help them avoid being implicated.
• Perpetrator as Witness: Envision a witness who is the perpetrator, providing a dishonest testimony in hopes of receiving a lighter sentence.
• Protective Witness: What about a witness shielding the actual offender they care about and providing a misleading testimony?
• Evading Responsibility: Picture a witness trying to evade responsibility for their role in a crime by framing someone else entirely.
• False Claims for Leniency: A scenario exists where a witness makes false claims to dodge charges and achieve a more lenient punishment.
• Inconsistent Testimony: You may encounter a witness whose testimony is confusing, leaving the investigators puzzled about the truth and reliability of their recollections.
• Self-Protection: Consider a witness attempting to protect themselves from blame by avoiding another person’s accusations or appeasing their guilt-ridden conscience.
• Compulsive Liar Witness: Beware of a compulsive liar witness willingly fabricating stories to throw the detectives off the trail of the actual wrongdoer.
• Traumatized Witness: Sympathize with a witness who is so gravely hurt that their account of events is likely to be inaccurate due to their impaired mental state.

10 Crime Scene Ideas

• The Devious Setup: Picture a murder scene where the culprit cleverly staged everything to mislead investigators and throw them off track.
• Tampered Evidence: Imagine a dead body that has been manipulated to destroy evidence or plant false clues, making the case even more baffling.
• Gruesome Encounter: Visualize a crime scene so horrifying and shocking that it leaves you and other investigators feeling deeply disturbed.
• Calm Amidst Chaos: Consider a crime scene that appears eerily tranquil and peaceful, in stark contrast to the savage nature of the crime that occurred there.
• Clean Sweep: Envision a crime scene meticulously wiped clean of any DNA evidence, leaving investigators struggling to solve the case.
• Isolated Incident: Ponder a crime scene situated in a remote, secluded location, making it difficult for you to access and conduct a thorough investigation.
• Crowded Environment: Consider a crime scene in a bustling area, where constant interruptions make gathering evidence and speaking to witnesses challenging.
• Hidden in Plain Sight: Imagine a crime scene in an ordinary location, with no apparent signs that something sinister has occurred there.
• Public Sphere Complications: Visualize a crime scene within a public building, surrounded by witnesses and people with conflicting interests, further complicating the investigation.
• Contaminated by Accident: Consider a crime scene inadvertently compromised by first responders, unwittingly tainting any potentially useful evidence.

What Makes a Good Mystery Story?

Engrossing plot development.

An intriguing mystery story thrives on suspenseful plotting. You want your story to grasp the reader’s attention from the get-go and hold it until the very end. Incorporate unexpected twists and turns, keeping your readers guessing and deeply engaged with the story. Crafting a mysterious and puzzling plot will leave your audience hungry for more.

Multifaceted Characters

To create a captivating mystery, you’ll need complex characters. Not just your protagonist, but also the supporting characters should be well-developed and believable. The most compelling mystery stories are those that make readers genuinely care about the characters and their predicament. Make sure your audience feels invested in the characters’ journey and eager for them to uncover the secrets and motives behind the mystery.

Gratifying Conclusion

Lastly, a rewarding resolution is essential for a great mystery story. Ensure that your story is well-crafted, tying up all loose ends in a neat and satisfying manner. The conclusion should make sense while avoiding any sense of disappointment or deception for your readers. Remember, the power of your mystery lies in your plot twists, suspense, and the unwrapping of hidden secrets, all culminating in a satisfying ending.

What Are Some Good Mystery Genre Topics to Write About?

Here are some captivating mystery genre ideas to inspire your creativity in crafting short stories or thrilling novels:

• Delve into an unresolved cold case that has captured public attention for years, leaving readers wondering about the truth.
• Explore supernatural occurrences in a haunted house where no one can stay for more than a year.
• Uncover a dark secret simmering beneath the surface of a seemingly idyllic small town.
• Chronicles the search for a missing person with an unexpected outcome, either found dead or alive.
• Investigate an identity theft ring specifically targeting people within a certain profession.
• Connect the dots between a series of murders and determine whether they point to a single suspect or multiple perpetrators.
• Follow the elusive con artist who always manages to outsmart the police.
• Delve into the unexpected consequences of a botched hostage situation and who is responsible for it.
• Question the honesty of a witness who has come forward with vital information about a crime.
• Reveal the family drama stemming from buried secrets and lies, and the upheaval caused when the truth finally surfaces.

Remember to keep your writing engaging and friendly as you invite your readers to become part of these mystery genre stories. Good luck in your creative journey!

How to Craft a Cozy Mystery

Step 1: develop an intriguing set of characters.

To create a captivating cozy mystery, start by designing a group of characters readers can relate to and invest in. Your main character should be someone they can empathize with and support, while your villain should evoke dislike. Reflect on your favorite books and movies to identify the emotions you want to invoke in your readers.

Don’t forget to fill your story with an interesting array of supporting characters. They can offer humor, assistance, or play a role in the crime itself. Make sure each character is well-developed and captivating.

Step 2: Concoct an Ingenious Offense

Next, focus on the crime your main character needs to unravel. Consider creating a puzzling situation that is not immediately evident to keep things challenging. Rather than murder, opt for crimes like theft, embezzlement, or fraud. You can also personalize the crime for your main character, such as having their pet kidnapped or their home burglarized.

With the crime in mind, delve into the details. Who is the perpetrator? How did they commit the offense? And most importantly, for what reason? Addressing these questions will help shape your story with added intrigue for the readers. For instance, if the victim was at odds with your protagonist, it could provide an extra incentive for solving the mystery.

Step 3: Incorporate Deceptive Red Herrings

An essential component of any enthralling mystery is the use of red herrings—clues or information that mislead and distract both the investigator and the reader. Skillfully weaving red herrings into your narrative can add challenges for your main character and readers as they attempt to solve the case. However, be cautious not to overuse them, as excessive misinformation may result in confusion and frustration.

What Contributes to an Effective Clue in a Mystery?

The Importance of Clue Placement

An essential factor in developing an engaging mystery is the strategic placement of clues throughout the story. Providing key information too soon may leave your readers feeling confused, while delaying its reveal until the very end might result in frustration. To strike the perfect balance, aim to introduce crucial clues around two-thirds into the narrative. This strategy allows readers ample time to process previous events and gradually piece together the puzzle.

Subtlety: A Crucial Element

When crafting clues, it’s essential to be subtle and avoid any heavy-handedness. Overemphasizing vital information may cause readers to overlook or grow annoyed by its obviousness. Instead, sprinkle hints carefully and allow readers to make connections on their own. Trust us; they’ll appreciate the challenge and feel a sense of accomplishment when everything falls into place.

Focusing on Crucial Details

In a mystery, less is often more, especially when it comes to presenting clues. Including an excessive amount of evidence can overwhelm your readers and detract from the central storyline. Concentrate on one or two essential details that drive the narrative forward, and remember that additional information can be unveiled later if needed.

By following these guidelines, you’ll be able to craft engaging stories filled with satisfying clues and intriguing mysteries that keep your readers captivated until the final reveal. Make sure your clues are well-placed, subtle, and to-the-point to provide your audience with the gripping experience that they desire.

How to Create a Mysterious Character

Crafting a hidden past.

To establish an enigmatic character, it’s crucial to devise their hidden past. Consider the secrets they conceal, the hardships they’ve encountered, and the reasons behind their guarded nature. Developing answers to these questions will help you create a well-rounded character that intrigues your readers. As you work on their past, maintain a delicate balance—don’t disclose too much too early, but avoid making your character seem hollow. You may want to jot down potential secrets and gradually incorporate them throughout your story.

Describing Their Look

Another essential element for constructing a mysterious character lies in their physical appearance. Reflect on their appearance: do they don all black clothes and a lengthy trench coat, or do they have a more understated style? Similarly to their past, avoid revealing too much about their appearance too soon—only include essential details and leave the rest to the reader’s imagination.

Finding a Voice for Your Character

Discovering the appropriate voice for your mystery character can be challenging, as they should be hesitant to share information about themselves while avoiding being dull or flat. A helpful strategy is employing short, concise sentences for your character’s dialogue. This approach adds a sense of mystery and allows them to express themselves and engage with other characters throughout the story.

Deciding the Number of Suspects in a Mystery Novel

Choose suspects based on book length.

When determining the number of suspects in your mystery novel, consider the length of your book. A shorter book should have fewer suspects, as there’s limited space to develop multiple characters. On the other hand, a longer book can support more suspects, allowing you to explore their motivations and backstories in greater detail.

Keep Your Readers’ Abilities in Mind

It’s essential to think about your readers’ ability to track multiple characters. If your novel targets a younger audience, they might find it challenging to follow along if there are too many suspects. In this case, focus on one or two primary suspects. However, if your mystery novel appeals to adult readers, you can introduce more complexity by adding additional suspects.

What Do You Want the Story’s Resolution to Be?

Lastly, consider the type of solution you’d like for your mystery. If you want the readers to have a fair chance at guessing the solution, it’s better to limit the number of suspects. However, if you’d like to surprise your audience with an unexpected twist, more suspects can help you achieve that surprise element.

Mystery Writers to Study

As a budding mystery writer, immerse yourself in the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of the legendary Sherlock Holmes. Additionally, explore Chris Van Allsburg’s intriguing collection, The Mysteries of Harris Burdick. Happy reading!

Frequently Asked Questions

What are engaging mystery story themes.

You might be wondering what themes can make your mystery story more captivating. Some themes to consider include haunted places, secret societies, or even cursed objects. Drawing inspiration from a variety of sources can help create a fresh and engaging story.

How to Craft a Unique Mystery Plot?

To create a unique mystery plot, focus on developing interesting characters, unexpected twists, and a strong setting. You could also try experimenting with different narrative structures or incorporating subplots to keep readers on their toes.

What Are the Main Elements for a Mystery Romance Story?

When writing a mystery romance story , it’s important to mix elements of both genres effectively. This means crafting a suspenseful mystery while also developing a compelling romantic storyline. Add layers of intrigue, emotional connection, and conflict to create a gripping tale.

How Can I Create Intrigue for Young Readers?

To make a mystery story appealing to young readers, consider featuring relatable characters and age-appropriate themes. Keep the plot moving at a steady pace and be mindful of your target audience’s attention span. Remember to maintain a sense of fun and adventure throughout.

What Makes Exciting Mystery Suspense Ideas?

Great mystery suspense ideas can be found by combining elements of danger, tension, and unpredictability. To create an atmosphere of suspense, consider placing characters in high-stakes situations or introducing a ticking time bomb (literal or metaphorical) to keep readers engaged.

How Should I Add a Surprising Twist to a Thriller?

To add a surprising twist to your thriller story , you could include well-hidden clues, unexpected character motivations, or a shocking revelation that sheds a new light on the central mystery. The key is to keep readers guessing while staying true to the overall story and logic.

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Crime Fiction Mystery

This story contains themes or mentions of physical violence, gore, or abuse.

The summer I turned sixteen and got my license, Kyle Lewis was pulled dead from the lake. It was the week before Christmas and heat pressed down over the town. People went to the lake to cool off, but Kyle didn’t drown. There was no water in his lungs.

Coming back now, ten years passed, like always when I returned to visit my parents, I found myself slowing down when I reached the lake. The turn off was on the long road which led to their house and then on into town, and I felt myself pulled toward it, as if a magnet lay in the deep centre of it, drawing me. I stopped and got out the car and stood there on the side of the road, looking out toward the water, the shimmer of sun on the still surface.

The memories rushed back at me. The evenings my father and I spent out in the garage working on the car he’d bought for us to do up together. My sister sobbing at our table and my mother comforting her while my father stood silent. The long days of summer and the police and the rumours people whispered to one another. The swagger of the Ryan brothers around town.

And the last day of Kyle’s life, recounted to police by those who’d seen him. That day he’d slept until eleven. He and my sister Taylor had been up late drinking the night before, and when they woke the empty bottles and glasses were still on the bench, the smell of booze hung in the air of their little house.

They lived on the same long road as my parents did, but further into town. I passed their house each day when I biked home from school, dreaming of the day my car would finally be ready for me.

Kyle was hungover and he sat on the couch and rolled a cigarette while Taylor made them coffee. She asked him if he wanted anything to eat and he said no, he wasn’t hungry. He was quiet and she knew he was worried. He was worried because he owed Dean Ryan and his brother Pete money, and they were getting impatient.

When told this, the police wanted to know what he owed them for. Taylor said he bought some car parts off Pete Ryan and hadn’t paid him yet, but eventually she told them the truth. By then he’d been found and lay cold in the morgue, and she wasn’t worried anymore about what might happen to him. It already had.

Kyle drank his coffee and smoked two cigarettes one after the other, then he showered and pulled on the jeans and navy tee shirt he would die in.

He told her he was going to visit a friend and drove out the way he always did, tires squealing, sending up a cloud of dust which hung in the still air. At the Mobil on the corner, he pulled in to buy more cigarettes and an energy drink. While he was stood there at the counter, Pete Ryan walked in and came up behind him. 

“I’m coming to collect today,” Pete said.

That was what the cashier heard him say, and she didn’t know what it meant. She said Kyle didn’t reply, or if he did, she didn’t hear it. Or maybe she knew more, just like we all knew more, and didn’t want to get on the wrong side of the Ryan brothers.

My dad had gone to high school with them both, in the same year as Dean who was the oldest, and he said even back then they were raising hell all over town, making a name for themselves.

After Kyle left the Mobil, he came to ask my father for money. When he pulled in Dad and I were out in the garage, tightening the brakes in the car. We’d spent the last six months working on it. Just like he’d promised it would be, now that I could drive it was almost ready.

Kyle got out and my dad looked at him, something cold coming over his expression. He stood silent and waited.

“Can we talk?” Kyle asked him.

They headed inside to the kitchen. A minute later I followed and sidled up to the door, stood silent, hardly breathing. Dad was standing against the bench with his arms folded, Kyle in front of him with desperation sliding off him.

“Please, I wouldn’t ask you if I had anyone else to go to. I swear to God, I’ll pay you back. I just owe Pete for this car I bought off him...”

My father cut him off with a hard laugh. “That piece of shit you're driving’s not worth five hundred dollars let alone five thousand. You come here begging me for money at least have the guts not to lie about why.”

A liar was one of the things my father despised most. Almost as much as he did a man who would hit a woman. My sister’s boyfriend was both those things.

“Alright, but it’s not what it sounds like,” Kyle said, his tone thin and pleading. A way I’d never heard him speak to my sister. For her he’d never crawled. “I sold some pot for them, and I owe them money from it. It was only a one-time thing, I just got to get square with them.”

It was a version of the story I’d heard, which was that he’d been selling a long time for them. And he’d only skimmed a small amount, but they’d added interest.

Dad stood up straight from the bench, and even though he was the same size as Kyle he seemed to loom over him.

“You want me to fix your mess now? What sort of man are you?”

It was a question both asked and answered in his scathing tone. A liar. A coward. The worst kind. I knew exactly what sort of man my father was, what he expected me to be. A man who was strong, who didn’t cry or complain, who took care of his family.

Then my dad spoke again. “I know what kind of trouble you’re in. I’ll pay the Ryan brothers off for you, and you leave town, leave my daughter. That’s the deal.”

Kyle made an odd noise, helpless and angry sounding. “You can’t just tell me to leave town.”

The words weren’t all the way out and my father had him around the collar, slammed him back against the wall.

 “You think I give a shit if Dean Ryan finishes you off? You’re in my house now, and if I ever see so much as a scratch on my daughter again, I’ll break both your arms.”

Then he stepped back, folded his arms again, as if the moment had never happened. Everything felt still. The only sound was a fly buzzing against the window, loud and frantic.

Kyle stayed slumped against the wall a second, eyeing my father, indecision in his clenching and loosening fists. Then without another word he turned and left. Saw me there in the hallway and his eyes met mine, knowing I’d witnessed it, his moment of humiliation. 

He pushed past me roughly, shoving his shoulder into me. I felt a shiver of apprehension then. Not for myself, but my sister. My father had wounded him, and she would bleed for it. 

He left our house and went back to his. Driving fast up the long road which ran between us. He was tense when he got back, pacing and smoking in the kitchen. He and Taylor argued, she told the police.

They argued because he asked if she would leave town with him, and she said no. She didn’t want to leave her family. He told her if she really loved him, she would go with him. While they were arguing she tripped over, she hit her face against the bench and split her lip.

Later that day Kyle drove the short distance into town and went into the pub which Dean and Pete Ryan didn't drink at. He got drunk and he started talking big, saying he wasn’t scared of the Ryan brothers. He had a knife and he was ready to kill which ever one came for him first.

About nine in the evening the doorman kicked him out. He was marched outside and told to walk it off and come back for his car in the morning.

The doorman stood there and watched him leave. He was the last to see him before he was pulled bloated and broken boned from the water, his unsteady walk as he headed down the road which led to his own house, and past that my parents’ house, and if he kept going further still the lake.

The next morning the car was there on the street still, Kyle not in his bed, and my sister starting phoning around to see if anyone knew where he was.

Two days later his body rose up to the surface of the lake, and was spotted by a man out fishing. Both Ryan brothers were pulled in for questioning. People saw them escorted into the station.

After seeing Kyle at the Mobil, Pete Ryan had gone to spend the afternoon watching his son play cricket. He’d stood on the sideline and watched him make run after run, and after he’d taken him out for dinner. Then he’d dropped him back to his mother’s house and gone around to his brother Dean’s house.

He and Dean sat outside in the warm night and drank a box of Woodstock. Sometime about midnight, he couldn’t remember for sure, Dean headed to bed and Pete stretched out on the couch and went to sleep.

They were each the others alibi. Nothing ever linked them there to the lake. Still, many in town believed it was them. Others said there was no sense in the brothers killing him over a few thousand dollars, after all, now they were never getting their money. They said Kyle pissed plenty of people off, and maybe he mouthed off to the wrong person as he made his way home.

The police came to our house the day after he was found to speak to my father. They sat in the lounge as the fan stirred air overhead and I passed them cans of lemonade from the fridge.

Dad told them about Kyle asking him for money, coming over while we were working out there on the car, and he nodded his head toward it, the freshly painted Ford.

Then one of the cops shook his head and laughed. Looked at my father. “You can’t have been too pleased to have your daughter shacked up with him,” he said.

“I sure wasn’t,” my dad replied.

I wished he’d lie then, for his own sake. Not admit he’d hated his daughter’s murdered boyfriend. But Dad always said, your word is all you have. Be someone people can trust. There’s no one on this earth I trust more than him.

It was a story now, a decade later, the haunted lake. Kids who swam out there claimed they felt something grab at their legs under the water. He was always trying to be someone big in town, Kyle Lewis, and eventually he was.

Every time I visited, Dad and I would drift out to the garage after dinner. Just like we used to when I was a kid still living at home. There was something soothing about being out there with him, the petrol scented concrete and the glow of the florescent light, the way we understood one another without having to speak. My childhood was something unending there.

Dad took two beers from the fridge in the garage and passed me one and we stood drinking, looking toward the road. It was quiet out here at night. I wondered if he felt the pull of the lake like I did.

“Do people still think it was the Ryan’s who killed Kyle?” I asked, not looking at him. We never spoke of that.

“Yeah, I guess so,” he said. “People don't talk much about it now.”

I remembered the day Kyle was pulled from the lake, the convoy of police cars driving past as we stood there in the garage. The solemnness of their cars with sirens and lights off, and the scraping sound of Dad scrubbing sandpaper over the car. The stark look of the metal underneath the old paint.

“Dad, stop, they might see,” I had begged him. He paused only long enough to look up at me.

“Everyone knows we been doing up this car, son,” he said. “No one will think a thing about it.”

He was right of course. Everyone was too busy looking at Dean and Pete Ryan. The police looked right at the car as they sat in our house and looked away again. My dad bought a new headlamp to replace the smashed one and took the car in for a new paint job after he’d banged out the dent, and no one ever said a thing except to ask what colour he wanted it.

But for all those years afterward when I went out there to the lake, I couldn’t stop myself imagining it. My dad in the darkness hauling the body from his car. Carrying him over the stones so as to not leave a trail, and how he did that I didn’t know.

He dropped him in all the way round the far side where trees grew low into the water and no one ever swam, and it was time enough before he was found for what evidence there was to be lost.

I could only imagine it because I had sworn to never speak of that night, not to anyone. Not even him.

The memory I carried was buried inside me now, of driving up the road to test the brakes on the car and rounding a corner and seeing him there. The animal look of him in my headlights, the drunken lumber, the glowing eyes, and for a instant I saw again him barging me in the hallway of my house, hitting my sister in his own house.

There was a moment I could have braked and didn’t. I could have swerved and didn’t.

My dad was there in minutes after I called him, stood with me looking at the lifeless shape of Kyle Lewis on the side of the road. There was the sound of something deep in the night, frogs and birds, coming from the bush.

Then he put his hands on my shoulders, looked at me steadily.

“Listen to me, this is my fault. I was the one driving. You got that? You can never speak about this again, do you understand?”

He pressed his own keys into my hand, ordered me to drive his car home and shower and go to bed and forget this ever happened. I got into his car and saw in the rear-view mirror the car there on side of the road, my father beside it, phone in his hand.

That moment was the end of my first life, the hazy days of childhood where anything felt possible. The life which came after was both darker and clearer, the knowledge of exactly what I was.

“Who’d you call that night?" I asked him. "I’ve always wondered.”

I didn’t know if he’d answer. I’d made a promise to him, and that was what we did. We kept our word. He’d protected me all these years.

“I called Dean Ryan. Told him I’d hit someone on the road and I needed his help. We go back a long way, me and him. He helped me dump him out there.”

He nodded his head toward it, the lake we couldn’t see from here but could feel. It was something which would always be there between us, the dark magnet of the past, pulling at us.

“What’d you have to do for him?”

Dean Ryan did no favours. What he gave, you paid for. My dad looked at me again, and I felt the weight of all the things I didn’t know.

“It was bad for him, everyone seeing Kyle still walking around after ripping him off. I paid off Kyle’s debt to him, and he let people think what they wanted.”

I thought then of Dean Ryan’s long silence. Denying or admitting nothing. The silence which had grown between me and my dad. All of us bound by it.

That night I had known, as I always had, my father would do anything to protect me. Because I knew what sort of man he was; one who took care of his own. Same as I was.

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The way you sustained the tension throughtout was masterful. Just an incredible job.

Thanks for your comment!

Hello Kelsey,great story.You really deserved the win.I love how you finally revealed the murder at the end and all along drawing in the interests of your readers. Kudos👍

Thanks for your comment, glad you enjoyed!

I know I'm a little late, but I hope you still see this; your story was so, so good! Sometimes it can be hard for me to really get "pulled in" to a story, but you did it so well here. And I liked all of the characters (except for the bastard boyfriend), the father especially. I hope you write more :)

Thanks Mavis, I'm so glad you enjoyed the story and the characters.

What an excellent story and a well deserved win! Congrats. I loved that at first I thought it was the Ryan brothers, then the father only to to discover it was 'you'. Perfect!

Thanks, glad you enjoyed!

Hi Kelsey! This is my second attempt writing up this comment, because I lost connection the first time around and I lost it, but I'll try to gather my thoughts again: loved reading this. Mystery is something I consider a different genre to write, hence why I haven't attempted it myself. I wish I had the brainpower to pull it off as you did! I really, really enjoyed how you gave us the pieces of the puzzle but also through the lense of how they told the story: how Taylor tripped and hit her head, split her lip hit HARD and it was so much str...

Thanks Riel, I appreciate your kind comments. This was my first attempt at writing a mystery/twist ending story and it was definitely hard to write. I didn't actually think about the pull to the lake giving it away but I can see why you picked it up, have to include it though to fit with the prompt! I'm glad you still enjoyed the rest even though you had guessed it :) That line was my favourite too actually, for the same reason.

Congrats for the win!!! I feel like this was long overdue - so so well deserved 👏🎉

Thanks, was a big surprise to wake up to this morning (the email comes through at about 3am my time!)

It hit me hard too. So simple yet carries so much weight.

Great. Storytelling. I think it takes a lot of talent to give away the ending at the very beginning, but keep readers captivated enough to want discover what led to that ending. Your writing is smooth, an effortless read. You kept all your characters well organized and distinct, and the way you revealed the truth behind the murder was perfectly paced. And I enjoyed the theme of this fiercely loving family who are willing to do anything for each other. Great job.

Thanks, Aeris. I'm glad you though the way of telling the story in reverse worked. I was worried there might be too many characters by short story standards actually, so appreciate your comments on that!

I was hooked all the way through. This was a great, suspenseful read. I had my suspicions that bounced back and forth as you revealed details. I love it and hope to read more from you.

Thanks for commenting, glad you enjoyed!

The story was great. You did an excellent job keeping the attention. Couldn’t stop reading. It was great how you drew the readers in with the suspense of who did it. Great job. Looking forward to reading more from w

Thanks for your comment, glad you enjoyed the story!

Dear author, I am quite taken with your story. I am impressed by how you hid the murderer and the murder weapon in plain sight. The narrative flows like water and is easy to follow, which is a difficult thing to achieve. I keep coming back and reading the story again and again, and each time I am just as impressed as the first. I really want to ask how you managed to stay on track and tie up all of your loose ends? really any type of advice on narrative would be welcome.

Thanks so much for reading and commenting. This story was fun to write although did take a few drafts to get it the way I wanted it. I had the main plot for this in my head before I started writing which helped, I knew I wanted to write from the pov of the person who committed the crime while making it look like someone else had done it. So it was a matter of trying to work out where to put clues and misdirects, I was hoping the reveal would be a surprise but also make sense. The only part I didn't plan was the involvement of Dean Ryan wit...

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply and share your process. It's really insightful. I appreciate it.

This story!!! So masterfully written-the character, the plot, all the little details, the mis-directs, and the prose. It is rare to find a story that has all of these, but I have found it in this one. Thank you for a master class in short story writing (and also, incidentally, for commenting on Zack's story because that allowed me to discover yours). Can't wait to read more of your work, but first, I am going to go back and read this one.

Thanks so much Wally, I'm glad you enjoyed the story. It was my first go writing mystery so it was a bit of a struggle although fun to try something different!

Well you nailed it! Looking forward to reading more of your work.

Wow, what a gripping, engaging story. It was somber and I even imagined it in sepia colors, yet it was an edge-of-your-seat kind of thriller with heartbeat drumming in the background. Love the simplicity yet effectiveness of your prose. You really captured the ethos and pathos of the story arc. You have quite a skill for depicting that small town rustic scenery, and the slow but tense atmosphere that went with it. Love the development of your characters, understated yet seemingly painted in detail. Thank you for the great read!

Thanks Leo, really appreciate you taking the time to let me know what you think of the story. My favourite setting to write is a small town where almost everyone is connected in some way!

Hi Kelsey! I’m sorry I missed congratulating you on this piece! And what a brilliant one it was. I had a tough time picking a favorite line since you had so many beautiful ones. However, I settled on this one: …then he showered and pulled on the jeans and navy tee shirt he would die in. This piece reminded me of so many of those made for TV series about crimes that have passed. I swear I felt like reading this story was like watching a show. I think I loved most that in telling story you captured an entire town. I would love a sequel where ...

Thanks so much for your comment Amanda! I love your comparison to a TV show, I definitely see the story in a movie (in my head) type way when I write. I love true crime stories so wanted to give it that sort of factual beginning to end type retelling.

Wonderful example of HOW the first sentence can already make or break a story from reader's perspective. Also, a style I appreciate reading, impressive.

Thanks so much for your nice comment, I always try to have the first sentence something which will catch attention, so glad you thought it worked here.

This story got everything that makes the best thrillers: Southern gothic-like atmosphere, believable characters who sidestep the "villain" cliches thanks to the emphasis on their human weaknesses and strengths, just the right amount of things left unsaid yet crystal clear (the sister "tripping" over the bench) and of course a very adroit, well-delivered twist. All the qualities of a great novel condensed in one great story. I hope you try your hand at a longer form, if you haven't already, because you obviously have the talent for it.

Thanks so much for your comment. I was aiming for a gothic sort of feel but wasn't sure if I'd managed to create it, so I'm very happy to hear you say that! It is definitely my goal to publish a novel one day, and what I have written does cover some of the themes in this story (though it is in fairly early draft form right now) so very much appreciate your words on that too.

Hello Kelsey, I was captivated right from the beginning , I could clearly picture the images in my head and I literally screamed when I found out that it wasn't the Ryan brothers but "you" . A great work indeed , you really deserved the win. Cheers.

Oh wow this is so dang good! So intense! You wrote this amazingly well. I did not see the ending coming at all. I love a story where an abuser gets what’s coming to him, too. Great job! Congratulations!😻

Hi Kelsey H, Enjoyed your story so much I have selected it to be our story for our Literary Shorts group this week! We meet on Mondays at 1:00 pm. We usually start off by giving some background on the author. Could you please send me a brief introduction to you so I can pass it on to our club members. (We are becoming fans of Reedsy and the stories that fit into our theme of literary shorts.) You can email me your information to [email protected] if you prefer. Thanks. Pat Ruhe

Thanks for your comment! Sorry hope not to late with the intro, you can just use my profile if you want but that's about it, I live in NZ, I love to read and write in my spare time, though I have only started writing short stories since finding Reedsy. I enjoy writing family relationships and dynamics and that is what most of my stuff is focused on.

A well deserved win. I enjoyed the story too much to even try looking for any "errors" in writing, grammar, and what not. I bet you could turn this into a novella or mystery novel, and it would be just as good, only longer and more detailed. And I would be first in line to read it. Will have to read more of your work.

Thanks for your comment. I actually have an idea of turning this into a novel, so very glad to hear you say that!

Awesome. I hope.you post the chapters on here so we can enjoy the story as it unfolds. I did a novella here that has all the chapters on here. It's titled Special Ingredient, and that's the title of the first chapter.

This is really well written you make it look so easy. I wish I could write like that; A well done piece using the prompt and nice style, happy writing and a deserving win.

This was an amazing read, would you mind if I illustrated this as if it were the book cover? I’m looking for short stories to practice illustrating and the visuals this gives me are beyond amazing. You truly are talented, I could not take my eyes off the screen.

Thanks for your comment. Yes that's fine, let me know if you have a website or something I can see it on!

You know I have read this story a few times, I’m just trying to get better, did you know exactly how you were gonna show the reveal, or did you come out naturally through process, like did you rewrite this at all? Just curious

Hi, so I had the plot and sequence of events in my head right away but trying to figure out how and when to do the reveal was the hard part. I rewrote the second part of the story a few times. I knew he was going to be out in the garage looking at the road when he reveals what happened which is why I tried to make the exact layout of the lake/house/road etc clear earlier on, and that he would start it by remembering working on the car since that goes back to the clue in the first sentence when he says how he got his licence that summer. ...

Oh wow thank you for the detailed reply I really appreciate it. I definitely agree with leaving some stuff to the imagination. Yeah the timing of the reveal was great in my opinion and made sense. I feel like the narrator was like a traitor to the reader at the end lol like he knew the whole time.

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3 best mystery books to read this spring

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Dying to Know

3 Mystery Writers Answer Burning Questions If you buy books linked on our site, The Times may earn a commission from Bookshop.org , whose fees support independent bookstores.

Explore the mysteries of fictional and real worlds with four Los Angeles writers who pay homage to giants of the genre while creating stories that are irresistible in their own right.

The Murder of Mr. Ma By S.J. Rozan and John Shen Yen Nee Soho Crime: 312 pages, $26

“The Murder of Mr. Ma” combines first-time author John Shen Yen Nee’s experience in comics and digital storytelling with the mystery-writing chops of veteran S.J. Rozan. The novel reimagines two Chinese historical figures — magistrate Di Renjie, popularized in Judge Dee mysteries and numerous film adaptations, and novelist Lao She — and drops them into 1924 London, a period rich in Sino-British intrigue. Twentysomething Lao She is a lecturer attempting to teach Chinese to “people whose need to learn it far outstripped their interest in doing so” and looking for an idea for a novel when he’s asked by Bertrand Russell to help the renowned Judge Dee escape from jail, where he’s been rounded up with a group of Chinese agitators. Though their plan goes sideways, Lao She and Judge Dee form a bond that carries them into the murder investigation of Ma Ze Ren, a Chinese national and shop owner who served with the Chinese Labour Corps in France during WWI.

Drawing inspiration from the Holmes/Watson dynamic and the long tradition of gong’an crime fiction in China, the intrepid duo’s investigation draws readers into the Chinese presence in WWI and postwar London. Along the way, they reveal the intersection of real-life figures like Russell and Ezra Pound in Sino-British relations, the early British film industry’s lucrative “yellow peril films” and much more. Also engrossing are the rich details of Chinese culture and traditions familiar to readers of Rozan’s Lydia Chin/Bill Smith mysteries, while the vivid action scenes feel as visceral as a Chow Yun-fat circular kick with double forearm strike.

A sparkling and thought-provoking debut of a fresh dynamic duo whose adventures I’ll be eager to follow.

Espionage fiction writers pick their favorite fictional spies

Three writers of recent espionage fiction, Terry Hayes, Lea Carpenter and David Downing, turn their keen powers of observation on 1950s Los Angeles, current-day Europe and beyond to shed light on their times — and, chillingly, ours.

Feb. 27, 2024

Although you have independently had success in different creative fields, yours is a first-time collaboration. What did each of you bring to the pairing?

S.J. Rozan : John brought more historical knowledge and understanding than anyone I’d ever met. He also brought the outline, which was a great gift. I’m not an outliner; I can’t create a character until I see her act. The process of writing my own books is filled with angst. John had a complete story.

John Shen Yen Nee : Which S.J. operated on, surgically removing parts and Frankensteining other things in. And then she gave the characters three full dimensions, gave the settings atmosphere and gave the story rhythm.

How do you reimagine the historical Di Renjie? And why pair him with Lao She?

Rozan : The relationship between the real Judge Dee and the stories translated by, and the new ones written by, Robert van Gulik is a bit like that between the real Robin Hood and the stories about him. There was such a man, but the legend outgrew him. So we felt allowed to add to the legend.

Nee : The historical Judge Dee was known for solving all his cases, and for exacting demanding justice. He wasn’t a physical hero, a martial artist. We added that. Lao She, a writer revered in China, then banned, then “rehabilitated” and once again revered, seemed like the perfect soft-spoken, smart, brave but slightly behind narrator to tell Dee’s stories.

Who is your favorite Golden Age mystery writer and why?

Nee : Hands down, it’s Agatha Christie. I really liked the way that she used Captain Hastings as a narrator with Hercule Poirot. I’m a giant fan of Poirot, and I thought it would be fun to create a Chinese detective that wasn’t a caricature of the “Insidious Chinaman” (Fu Manchu) or someone like Charlie Chan.

Rozan : Christie for me too. She’s admired for her plots, but I don’t think she gets enough credit for her understanding of people, of motive. Motive is what has always interested me.

10 books to add to your reading list in April

Books to read in April include Ada Limón’s poetry anthology about our fragile world and Salman Rushdie’s memoir about being stabbed on stage in 2022.

April 1, 2024

The Stars Turned Inside Out By Nova Jacobs Atria Books: 320 pages, $28

In 2018’s Edgar-nominated debut, “The Last Equation of Isaac Severy,” Nova Jacobs incorporated STEM into a mystery that was approachable and highly engaging. She’s at it again with “The Stars Turned Inside Out,” set among physicists working at the CERN laboratory’s Large Hadron Collider outside of Geneva. A CERN engineer discovers the body of recent hire Howard Anderby in an LHC tunnel shut down for repairs, presumably killed by radiation exposure. Yet the collider had not been turned on nor do videos of the tunnel show anyone present.

The CERN director calls in Sabine Leroux, a “consulting detective” and friend, to secretly investigate. Chapters from the point of view of Leroux — an outsider who employs Poirot-inspired investigative methods — contrast with those centered on Eve Marsh, a young postdoctoral physicist and colleague crushing on the handsome Anderby while harboring her own secrets and professional worries.

While the novel exposes the professional rivalries and hidden desires of a sensitively drawn group of Anderby’s colleagues and frenemies, it’s also a touching story about love and friendship, born of sorrow and guilt. Then the novel takes a metaphysical turn that is wholly unexpected. Who knew particle physics could be so bewitching?

What inspired you to combine physics and a locked-room mystery?

I didn’t initially think of my book as a locked-room mystery, though I very much set out to write a classic whodunit in a physics setting. It was the CERN laboratory’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC) that first captivated my imagination, not just as an intensely complex machine but also as very much its own place unlike any on Earth. I saw a 2013 documentary about CERN, which features a shot of an engineer bicycling through the LHC tunnel during a collider shutdown. The contrast between this sophisticated machine and the very low-tech manner in which engineers travel along the pipe really delighted me.

Why did you write two such different but engaging central characters?

I didn’t want every single character to be a scientist, which seemed a recipe for a static story. I was interested in creating some kind of tension between science and not-science . So in switching between a woman who has devoted her life to particle physics yet is questioning her own choices (Eve) and a detective who’s rejected a strictly scientific path (Sabine), I was able to create that necessary push and pull in the novel between the sciences and the lay world.

Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers are inescapable early loves and ongoing favorites. But G.K. Chesterton is up there for me simply for “The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare,” which is one of the most inventive mysteries I’ve ever encountered. It also reads as a kind of spy thriller, with a speculative depth lurking beneath its multiple switchbacks in plot. It remains one of the most buoyant, mischievous and surprisingly metaphysical pieces of fiction I’ve ever read.

Why Don Winslow’s ‘City in Ruins’ will be his last novel

Don Winslow reveals why his latest novel, ‘City in Ruins,’ the final installment in the Danny Ryan series, will be his last.

A Better World By Sarah Langan Atria Books: 368 pages, $29

In “A Better World,” Sarah Langan paints a disturbing picture of a late 21st century world not that far removed from our own. In the United Colonies and around the world, it’s the “Era of the Great Unwinding,” a time when “the institutions, laws and even the bridges and roads that people had come to depend upon were falling apart.” Those with the means and connections are fleeing to company towns. One such town is Plymouth Valley, or PV as it’s called by insiders, in South Dakota. Owned by BetterWorld, makers of Omnium, a biodegradable polymer made from recycled plastic, PV is the seat of operations for the multinational conglomerate and home to its top executives and scientists.

It’s also the last chance for the Farmer-Bowens family, Brooklynites drowning in debt, rising waters and crime. Linda Farmer’s job as part-time pediatrician at a free clinic doesn’t cover the bills. Her husband, Russell Bowens, has been laid off from his job as a science advisor in the EPA’s regulatory department. Then the family is thrown a lifeline — a job for Russell at BetterWorld, plus all living and education expenses paid. The job also comes with the ultimate perk — a golden ticket to live in PV forever, earned for the family once Russell satisfactorily completes 25 years of service. Bottom line, the recruiter tells them: “Your children will be set for life.” It’s a sacrifice any parent would make, right? What could be wrong with that?

Turns out plenty, much of it revolving around a set of customs called Hollow, a genetically engineered carnivorous bird called a caladrius and the increasingly bizarre behavior of the cosmetically perfect locals. As the family tries to fit in, Linda begins investigating what an unhinged mother swears is the kidnapping of her two children, both of whom are fighting a rare form of cancer. A potent cocktail of horror, suspense and thriller, “A Better World” is a cautionary tale of a family’s sacrifice gone wrong and a high-water mark in the career of a novelist who’s already won three Bram Stoker Awards. My only warning: Don’t start this book on a school night. Beware the sacrifice!

To put it mildly, Plymouth Valley is a company town on steroids. What inspired it?

About 10 years ago, a friend gave me a tour of the Google offices in Manhattan. They’re fantastic. They have everything; you never need to leave. Plus, everyone there is hard-working and pleasant — the kinds of people you’d love to spend time with and learn from. I can see the appeal. Who wouldn’t take that job?

In my fictional town, the have-nots are all outside PV’s high walls and therefore invisible. But the kinds of people who can tolerate that cognitive dissonance — their work scaffolds their privilege but also hurts the world — tend to become erratic and prone to magical thinking. They’ll believe any story, submit to any absurdity, so long as they don’t have to admit they’re the villains.

For all of the thriller and horror tropes in “A Better World,” I was intrigued by the intimate portrait of the Farmer-Bowens family. Can you share a bit about why families in distress are so central to your story?

Families fascinate me. We all come from family; we’re all seeking chosen families. The good and the bad that we learned from our birth families, we project onto our new families. Through our children, we understand our parents. Or we understand them a lot less than we thought.

What both this novel and my last, “Good Neighbors,” have in common is this question: How much would you sacrifice for your children? How much of your own morality would you violate to keep them safe? And the question that comes after that: Should you sacrifice that much? Is it good for you? For them? For the world?

I felt like there were a lot of classic genre echoes in “A Better World” — Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery,” Ira Levin’s “The Stepford Wives” and “Rosemary’s Baby,” even Aldous Huxley’s “1984.” Were there classic genre writers on your mind as you were writing the book?

I had those works on my mind, as well as “The Handmaid’s Tale” for its theocratic world-building. And Alice Munro’s “The Beggar Maid” never leaves my thoughts. A book I’d also like to shout out, because not enough people have read it, is Kate Wilhelm’s “Where Late the Sweet Birds Sing.” In preparation for writing “A Better World,” I also watched “Chinatown.” I was inspired by the great conspiracy at the center of the story, and [John] Huston’s villain. I mean , that’s a villain!

A member of the National Book Critics Circle, Woods is the editor of several anthologies and four novels in the “Charlotte Justice” mystery series.

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