Mystery – August 14

“I said to him one day, ‘Doctor, don’t your conscience ever trouble you?'” ‘No,’ he replied, with that peculiar cough of his, ‘I coughed that up with my lungs long ago.’ ” John T. Deweese, Doc Holliday’s attorney, was born on this date in 1851. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist realizes her/his colleague has no...

Mystery – August 13

“There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it.”- Alfred Hitchcock, born this date in 1899. Writing prompt: Write a scene that ends in a different bang that your protagonist expected.

Mystery – August 12

“The world doesn’t come to the clever folks, it comes to the stubborn, obstinate, one-idea-at-a-time people.”- Mary Roberts Rinehart, born this date in 1876. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist misses an important clue by being too clever by half.

Mystery – August 11

“When I was married to Sunny, we never got this table. Now, two injections of insulin and I’m a doctor.” Claus von Bülow was born on this date in 1926. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist is forced to accomplish a trivial task for a person whose tremendous wealth and privilege protected her/him from conviction for a murder your protagonist believes s/he...

Mystery – August 10

“The poor dope — he always wanted a pool. Well, in the end, he got himself a pool.”- Joe Gillis, narrating Sunset Boulevard, which premiered on this date in 1950. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist discovers that s/he doesn’t actually want what s/he thought she wanted.

Mystery – August 9

“I get paid to do what got me in trouble in grade school.”- Jonathan Kellerman, born this date in 1949. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist is unexpectedly rewarded for doing something that previously got him/her into trouble.

Mystery – August 8

“But most of the 75 mail sorters working on the train were unaware of the 20 minute incident as the thieves uncoupled the engine and front two carriages of the train and drove them up to Bridego Bridge a mile away.” Britain’s Great Train Robbery — valued at about $50 million in today’s dollars and split among 15 conspirators — occurred on this date in 1963. Writing prompt: Write...

Mystery – August 7

“They’d be sitting somewhere out of sight waiting for him to turn the key and blow himself into a hundred thousand spoonfuls of hamburger.”- Thomas Perry, born this date in 1947. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist’s reward for a job well done is a demand to do the same job again.