It’s an oft repeated truism that every plot possible has already been created. But the same conflicts and desires that ruled people’s lives thousands of years ago are still true and valid today, and probably will be in the future.
Conflict and desire are at the heart of a mystery novel. What motivated the killer or thief? What happened to cause a normally peace loving person to commit a heinous crime? How did it happen? These are all questions mystery readers want to know about.
For new writers or writers who are trying out the mystery genre, this article will help get some ideas flowing. These ten ideas might splinter off into hundreds of other ideas, like a computerized piece of fractal art.
Take time to ponder each situation. Think deeply about character motivations. After looking at a plot idea, twist that plot by asking “What if?” What if this happened, or what if that happened? What is the worst that could happen? Tension drives fiction, and making a situation worse will build suspense.
Types of Mystery Story Ideas
Mystery stories are one of the most popular genres for everyone from children to adults. Especially popular are locked room mysteries, where there is no way for the suspects to escape the setting of the murder or theft. These mysteries tend to go deeper into character analysis and motive than detective thrillers. Murder on the Orient Express by Dame Agatha Christie is one of the classic locked room mysteries, as is her Ten Little Indians.
Detective thrillers focus more on the crime and the usually cynical, hard-boiled nature of the investigator. They may range from humorous to downright bloody and scary. The writer defines the voice of the story, and they lend themselves well to series.
Psychological thrillers and suspense thrillers have a protagonist who is being subjected to intense psychological maneuverings. Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris and Psycho by Robert Bloch are two of the best known tales in this genre.
There are also cozy mysteries of the Murder She Wrote variety, foodie mysteries, cat mysteries, and mysteries for many other niches.
Creative Mystery Story Starters
These writing plot ideas are only designed to get a writer started. Using imagination and changing details will turn them into a unique story.
- Contestants on a reality show begin turning up dead. No one is more surprised than one man when he discovers he is the prime suspect.
- A woman returns to her childhood home and the unsolved mystery of her parent’s murders. While there, strange things begin happening, and her companion turns up dead, making her a suspect.
- A woman has achieved success in business through underhanded practices. When she turns up dead, her employees are the first suspects. The investigation leads to more suspects of the many enemies she had.
- A woman receives a dinner invitation. She attends the party, but shortly after it begins, she realizes the host has no intention of ever letting any of his guests go home.
- A body that washes up on shore is at first assumed to be a runaway teenager. The autopsy reveals she was carrying sensitive government information on a chip under her skin.
- Passengers on a private sailing cruise ship begin dropping dead and it’s not from food poisoning. What’s worse, the captain dies and none of the passengers know how to sail the ship to a safe port.
- Mysterious lights keep coming on at night in an abandoned house. The sheriff and investigators can find nothing to explain the lights, which are creating fear in the neighbors. The neighbors take the investigation into their own hands, but they get more than they bargained for.
- A person of a minority group is murdered in a small town. The murder causes divisions between the people of the town when they side with who they feel is right in the case.
- A rich old man dies. His young, beautiful wife who had a boyfriend is the suspect. When she proves her innocence, the investigators must try to solve the murder, but by then the case is going cold.
- A large diamond disappears from the vault of a jewelry store. The owner of the store personally put it in the vault and set the timer on the lock. Three witnesses, an employee and two customers, saw him go into the vault with the diamond. The next morning it is gone. There was no way to open the vault that night, even for the owner.
These ideas have been made open-ended so that writers may use them and adapt them to fit their own stories. Add a love interest to a plot idea, and it becomes a romantic mystery. Add a political slant to make it a political thriller. Even if two people choose the same prompt, the resulting stories would be completely different.
To keep all the motives and characters straight in a mystery story, create a murder board. If these ten ideas didn't get the muse to stop by, here are ten more Creative Prompts for Writing Fiction. Also try reading Fiction Writing Tips to Find Hundreds of Ideas for Story Writing.
Readers are welcome to contribute more story prompts of their own in the comments.
Suzanne Pitner - Suzanne Pitner is a teacher and published writer. A member of RWA and YARWA, she writes fiction as Suzanne Lilly.
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