245+ Category: Mystery Writing Prompts
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A Haunting in the Mind
A phantom from your character’s past starts haunting them, forcing the character to confront their unresolved issues.
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Perception Deception
Your character can read minds but struggles with the woes of knowing everyone’s thoughts and intentions.
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Hallucinatory Horror
Write about a protagonist who can’t differentiate between their hallucinations and reality.
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Secretive Subconscious
Your character begins receiving cryptic notes and realizes they are messages from their subconscious.
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Medium’s Ordeal
Craft a tale around a medium who begins to receive messages from the afterlife that hint at an old unsolved crime.
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Ghostly Love Affair
Create a narrative where a human falls in love with a ghost, unveiling a tragic love story.
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Cursed Antique
Write about a character who purchases an antique item that is believed to carry a centuries-old curse.
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Underground Whisperings
Imagine being stuck in a ancient labyrinth where the whispers of long deceased souls guide you.
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The Haunting Halls
Write a story about an abandoned mansion you’ve inherited which is rumored to be haunted.
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Artistic Artifice
Weave a mystery where the crime scene is an art gallery, and the clue lies in understanding the artwork.
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Fusing Eras
A long-lost artefact materializes mysteriously in the contemporary world, prompting a thrill of a chase to unveil its origin and purpose.
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Clashing Civilizations
Write a mystery that combines elements from two distinct cultures, creating a unique and confusing crime scene.
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The Busker’s Ballad
An amateur musician on the street corners stirs up an old scandal with his latest composition.
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Childhood Innocence or Intuition?
A group of children believe their elderly neighbor is a time-traveling criminal.
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Phantom Cryptograms
A scholarly man and an adventurous woman are brought together when they begin to solve ancient cryptograms that hint at a lost treasure.
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Heartstrings of Deceit
Your protagonist is a small-town sheriff who starts to fall for a big-city detective while investigating a mysterious series of robberies.
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The Shadowy Sonata
Describe a famous pianist who starts receiving anonymous, hauntingly beautiful pieces that seem to hold cryptic messages within their melodies.
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The Mysterious Love Letter
In your story, the protagonist stumbles upon a love letter intended for someone else, and this leads them down a twisty path of intrigue.
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The Compass Rose Affair
Write about a young amateur detective who starts to see her rival sleuth in a whole new light when they’re thrust into a high stakes case together.
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Egyptian Tomb Trickery
An expedition to a never-before-seen Egyptian Pharaoh’s tomb results in the theft of a rare artifact.
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Stonehenge Enigma
Your protagonist is invited to an exclusive summer solstice celebration at Stonehenge, where a festival-goer mysteriously disappears.
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The Rainforest Conundrum
In your story, a priceless artifact vanishes from a research camp in the Amazon Rainforest.
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Doppelgänger Danger
Write a thrilling murder mystery involving a victim’s evil doppelgänger who emerges after their death.
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Vacation Vengeance
Craft a murder mystery during a luxury cruise vacation where everyone’s a suspect.
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Sinister Seance
Write a murder mystery involving a seance gone wrong, where a spirit reveals a murder.
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The Enigmatic Journal
Pen down a murder mystery where the prime evidence is a victim’s diary filled with enigmatic entries.
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The Librarian’s Labyrinth
A librarian is found dead in a locked private reading room within an enormous library.
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The Artist’s Enigma
A renowned artist, known for his eccentricity, is found dead in his locked painting studio with a half-finished painting.
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The Immaculate Inheritance
Imagine a scenario where a wealthy heiress is found dead in her locked mansion, with her valuable inheritance missing.
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The Sealed Study
Create a plot where a renowned scientist is discovered dead in his study, the door locked from the inside.
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Flashback Mystery
Write a mystery using the literary device of flashback. The key to solving the mystery lies in an event that happened in the past.
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The Red Herring8
Start the story with a false clue or an alleged criminal, leading the detective and the reader on a wild goose chase.
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Mysterious Narrator
Write a mystery where the narrator is anonymous and is indirectly involved in the mystery.
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Poetic Clues
Imagine the detective received a poem as a clue to the mystery. Write a scene in which the detective decipher the hidden meaning behind it.
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Diffusing the Time Bomb
Write about a situation where the protagonist is racing against a time limit to uncover a mystery.
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The Silent Town
Set a story in an abandoned town where all residents mysteriously disappeared many years ago.
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Secret Among the Shelves
Create a narrative where a librarian sorts through an old book donation and discovers a coded diary that leads to a forgotten mystery.
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Cryptic Letters
Write about a protagonist who begins receiving letters with mysteries that, when solved, reveal a bigger, final riddle.
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Midnight Whispers
Create a story around enigmatic whispers that a character hears each night, leading them into a compelling mystery.
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The Vanishing Exhibit
Imagine a mysterious disappearance of a prized exhibit in a renowned museum, describe the ensuing investigations.
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Flicker in the Attic
Build your narrative around a haunted house, where the attic holds a gruesome secret.
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Secrets of the Sphinx
You’ve uncovered a long-lost papyrus scroll claiming the Great Sphinx of Giza hides a secret. What could it be?
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Resurrected Viking Mystery
Consider a mystery from the Viking era that suddenly resurfaces in the present day, stirring up controversy and intrigue.
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Titanic’s Unknown Sailor
You’re a historian and you’ve just made an astounding revelation about an unidentified sailor on the Titanic. What is his story?
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The Lost Rosetta Stone
Imagine you’re an archaeologist who discovers a second, earlier version of the Rosetta Stone. Could this new artifact rewrite human history?
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Ghostly Repentance
A ghost haunts a place or person as a form of penance for a crime they committed in their primary life.
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Phantom Love Story
A lovestruck ghost has attached itself to your main character, only to reveal a tragic love story from their past.
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Gothic Depths
Dive into a ghostly story set in a haunted, forgotten catacomb labyrinth underneath a bustling city.
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Victorian Mansion Mystery
A new family moves into an old Victorian mansion, only to find it’s inhabited by a mischievous ghost with a mysterious past.
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Crossing the Veil
Write about a character who can communicate with ghosts, but the replies come in cryptic riddles.
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Echoes of a Forgotten Crime
Pen down a tale surrounding an old crime scene you stumble upon, reigniting memories of a cold case from your youth.
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Lost Letters
Compose a narrative about stumbling upon a bundle of old letters that rekindlings a forgotten romance with a mysterious end.
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Scattered Snapshots
Create a story on finding a box of unnamed photographs revealing an intriguing mystery from your past.
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The Locked Attic
Write about a hidden artifact in your old family attic, triggering a series of flashbacks leading to a family mystery.
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Forgotten Footsteps
Write about an unsolved mystery from your teenage years that returns to haunt you.
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Dynasty of the Phantasmal Phoenix
Write a tale about an ethereal phoenix that reincarnates once every millennium and a royal lineage’s destiny tied to the creature.
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Stealth Scrolls Quest
In a world of elves, an ancient set of scrolls containing mysterious instructions has been stolen. Your protagonist, a skilled elven detective, is on the case.
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Hidden Prophecy of the Amulet
A mystical amulet has been passed on through the protagonist’s family for generations, hiding a prophecy.
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Enigma of the Ethereal Island
A haunted island holds a centuries-old secret. Your protagonist, a fantasy creature, arrives to unravel it.
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The Lost Kingdom’s Chronicles
Write a tale about an adventurer who, following an ancient map, uncovers a long-lost magical kingdom.
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Vanishing Act
Write a thriller about a protagonist whose best friend suddenly disappears without a trace.
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The Stranger Next Door
Craft a suspense-filled story about a protagonist who becomes suspicious of their new neighbor’s activities.
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Pawn Shop Mysteries
Your character stumbles upon an innocuous object in a pawn shop that sets them on a dangerous and suspenseful journey.
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Secret in the Cellar
Develop a suspenseful story involving a character who discovers a hidden secret in their house’s cellar.
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The Unseen Enemy
Create a narrative where the antagonist remains a mystery until the end, misleading the protagonist and readers.
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The Benefactor’s Betrayal
Write a story where the person aiding the protagonist’s journey is actually the one causing all their problems.
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Flash of Anomaly
Devise a storyline around a world that seems normal at first, but then an event happens that makes the protagonist and the readers question reality.
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The Unexpected Accomplice
Craft a scene in which your protagonist realizes their trusted friend is actually their foe.
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Hidden Identity
Write a story where your leading character discovers they are not who they thought they were.
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Canine Clue Collector
Narrate a classical detective tale but from the perspective of detective’s loyal dog.
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A Detective’s Past
Write a story where a retired detective is forced to confront a case from his past that he couldn’t solve.
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Twisted Evidence
Imagine a scenario where the detective discovers that the strongest piece of evidence was staged by the real culprit.