Mystery – September 1

“Judges are the weakest link in our system of justice, and they are also the most protected.”- Alan Dershowitz, born this date in 1938. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which a judicial decision frees a person your protagonist knows to be guilty.

Mystery – August 31

“I keep on hearing the police have caught me but they wont fix me just yet. I have laughed when they look so clever and talk about being on the right track.” Jack the Ripper killed his first victim, Mary Ann Nichols, on this date in 1888. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist realizes the event s/he is exploring is the second instance of a very particular antagonist’s...

Mystery – August 30

“People sometimes pay with their lives for saying aloud what they think.”- Anna Politkovskaya, born this date in 1958. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which a crime committed against a reporter leads your protagonist to suspect larger forces are at work.

Mystery – August 29

“Men will be just to men when they are kind to animals.”- Henry Bergh, born this date in 1813. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist discovers a clue in an instance of someone abusing a pet.

Mystery – August 28

“She took a powder. The dough went with her.” The Killers premiered on this date in 1946. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist discovers that a double-crosser was double-crossed.

Mystery – August 27

“Better to live in doubt than to die in certainty.”- Ira Levin, born this date in 1929. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist suspects a suicide is actually murder.

Mystery – August 26

“Truth is rare fruit in garden of murder.”- Earl Derr Biggers, born this date in 1884. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist realizes that her/his assumptions about a person’s national heritage are incorrect, which requires reconsideration of the entire situation.

Mystery – August 25

“It was cold at 6:40 in the morning of a March day in Paris, and seems even colder when a man is about to be executed by firing squad.”- Frederick Forsyth, born this date in 1938. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist’s duty makes the weather seem more extreme than it is.