Mystery – October 9

Tony Shalhoub was born on this date in 1953. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which the thing that your protagonist considers most annoying competes for her/his attention at a crucial moment.

Mystery – October 8

Kate “Ma” Barker was born on this date in 1873. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist learns the brains behind a crook is the crook’s mom.

Mystery – October 7

“Expect the worst and you won’t be disappointed.” -Helen MacInnes, born this date in 1907. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist expects the worst and discovers his/her expectation was a best-case scenario.

Mystery – October 6

The Reno brothers carried out the first of the first three train robberies in U.S. history on this date in 1866. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist is called to solve the first infraction of its kind ever committed.

Mystery – October 5

On this date in 1892, the townspeople of Coffeyville, Kansas, shot the Dalton Brothers to pieces as the gang tried to rob C.M. Condon & Company’s Bank and the First National Bank. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist must figure out which one of a homogenous mob of vigilantes did the dirty deed.

Mystery – October 4

Talmage Powell — who wrote more than 500 short stories and novels as Robert Hart Davis, Robert Henry, Milton T. Lamb, Milton Land, Jack McCready, Anne Talmage, Dave Sands, and Ellery Queen — was born on this date in 1920. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist discovers that a person of interest answers to several different names.

Mystery – October 3

“The cheaper the crook, the gaudier the patter.” -Sam Spade, as portrayed by Humphrey Bogart, in The Maltese Falcon, which premiered on this date in 1941. Writing prompt: Write a scene of nothing but dialogue between your protagonist and the person who committed a crime against your protag.

Mystery – October 2

“A murderer is regarded by the conventional world as something almost monstrous, but a murderer to himself is only an ordinary man. It is only if the murderer is a good man that he can be regarded as monstrous.” -Graham Greene, born on this date in 1904. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist discovers a good person committed a bad crime for the right reason.