Mystery story ideas often follow a similar pattern. Early on, a dead body turns up, a valuable item goes missing, or a puzzle begs to be solved. The reader knows that by the end of the book, questions will have been answered, which is a comforting element in even the most gruesome murder mysteries.
This simple structure allows for endless creative and original variations. And ten different writers could take the same writing prompt here and write ten vastly different stories! I’ve been reading a lot of mystery novels lately — mostly cozy mysteries, not gritty crime novels, although I might enjoy those, too. That inspired me to write this list of prompts for mystery story ideas.
You can also use this list as an idea generator for free-writing. Whether you stumble across a story idea you love in the process, or you just get your creative writing juices flowing again, it’s so worth it.
Although I had mystery novels in mind, some of these could become a subplot in a different fiction genre, from fantasy and romance (especially romantic suspense), to historical fiction and thrillers. (And you might also be interested in my list of 50 thriller plot ideas!)
Be sure to save the post for future reference (or pin it on Pinterest!)
Mystery Story Ideas
1. A woman asks a writer to write the story of her life. Then she goes missing.
2. Murder victims are found buried with some of their wordly goods, Viking style.
3. Three people close to the murder victim have confessed. Each of them swears they acted alone.
4. Notes and gifts from her “Secret Santa” at work take a strange turn.
5. It’s going to be a beautiful wedding at a beautiful destination, but two people in the wedding party have been murdered.
6. The creator of a high-tech prototype that will change an industry has gone missing.
7. Her parents believe her to be their biological child, but they all learn otherwise.
8. The dead woman’s wedding ring is found in a ditch forty miles away.
9. A museum conservator is restoring an old painting, and an X-ray reveals something shocking or mysterious painted or written in the layer beneath.
10. A sorority sister who bullied prospective pledges is found dead.
11. As a man researches his genealogy, he finds that ancestors from a few different generations and a few different countries made visits to the same remote place.
12. Someone replaced the woman’s contact lens solution with a damaging liquid. (This mystery story idea brought to you courtesy of a phobia of mine!)
13. He’s always been a faithful husband, but someone has planted false evidence of his having an affair.
14. A detective is hired for a high price to find a thief who stole something that doesn’t appear to have any real value.
15. Every unmarried lady at the ball wanted to dance with the duke, so it’s too bad he was found stabbed in the garden.
16. In the middle of a wilderness, someone finds an abandoned bunker with security cameras, powered by a generator.
17. The graves of historic figures are being robbed.
18. Clues to the mystery come to him in dreams, but nobody believes him.
19. Serial murders in cities in two different countries are very similar.
20. A man she didn’t know left her a valuable and unusual item in his will.
21. A writer researching his biography of a Golden Age movie star comes across something that makes him suspect that contrary to the official story, she was a murder victim.
22. The accidental death of this investigative reporter seems a little too convenient.
23. The murders all relate to common fears, such as public speaking, flying, and heights.
24. A woman wakes up with a headache and goes into work, only to learn that she’s been missing for a month.
25. Writers are being murdered at the mystery writers’ convention.
26. The painting must have been stolen from the museum in broad daylight, but the security cameras malfunctioned and no witnesses have come forward.
27. Three different guests at the Air BnB died later under mysterious circumstances.
28. A practicing witch or voodoo priestess is accused of murder.
29. The murders are re-enactments of famous murders in novels or movies.
30. He claims to be the rich man who was lost at sea two decades ago.
31. The inspector’s friend is murdered while he is talking on the phone to the inspector.
32. A dead body is found in an unclaimed piece of luggage at the airport.
33. He was murdered on his honeymoon on a cruise ship, and his new, much-younger bride was the only one on board who even knew him.
34. A woman who didn’t know she was adopted meets her twin sister, who gives her a dire warning.
35. One of the pies submitted to the state fair contest was poisoned.
36. The report of a celebrity’s death is false, but he dies soon after.
37. The murder victims all have the same tailor.
38. Who would kill the guest of honor at their 100th birthday party?
39. The victim was found drowned in a whiskey barrel at the distillery.
40. A wife arranges a romantic “scavenger hunt” for her husband, but someone else changes a few of the clues.
41. The thief who steals rare books always leaves a sonnet behind. (As someone who’s written a few sonnets, I’m particularly fond of this mystery story idea, but you can think of all kinds of creative “calling cards” for criminals!)
42. The wrong body is in the casket at the visitation. No one knows who it is, or where the other body is.
43. The murders were definitely committed by a human, but resemble the attacks of wild animals.
44. After the woman returned the lost wallet, someone began stalking her.
45. The book she’s reading seems to be telling the story of her own life, though she doesn’t think she’s ever met the author.
46. A man who faked his own death must be found in time.
47. Someone in a villain costume and mask attempts to kill an actor at a fan convention. The actor is saved by a fan dressed as a superhero.
48. An Egyptian mummy, or what appears to be one, is found in an unlikely place.
49. A man is found murdered following a heated argument with several people on social media.
50. A body is found in the organic vegetable garden at a hippie commune.
Do you have some thoughts on mystery story ideas?
If so, I’d love to hear from you in the comments!
And if you want more inspiration, please check out my book 5,000 Writing Prompts! It has 100 more mystery writing prompts in addition to the ones on this list, plus hundreds of other master plots by genre, dialogue and character prompts, and much more.
Thanks so much for stopping by, and happy writing!
I love cozy mysteries and I love these prompts. A couple of them have spoken to me already and I’ve never written a mystery before.
Thanks, KC! And yeah… cozy mysteries are a whole new world for me, and I love them. 🙂
And I thought I could come up with some off the wall stuff…Thanks Bryn! You’ve offered up several gems.
Haha, thank you Anne!
Your writing prompts should get the writing juices flowing. Thanks for sharing.
Hey, thanks for reading! And for commenting!
Thanks for the mystery prompts, Bryn! I’ve queued up a link to share tonight for Write it Wednesday on my blog.
Oh, thank you. It’s always an honor!
Is 46 a transvestite mystery then?
It’s either a typo, transvestite, cross dresser, a man who was dressed as a woman as part of his job, or dressed as a woman as a way of hiding from the trouble he’s in. Your choice 🙂
Ha! It’s a typo. I corrected it. 🙂 Thank you!
PS I do that ALL THE TIME in my writing! I always have to correct a few pronouns when I edit a story.
Number 2 is brilliant and I would binge watch an entire Scandi-noir series based on it.
Hahaha! Thanks, Maggie!
You helped me a LOT, thanks! I wrote stories on #9 and #11. I liked several others, but couldn’t think of ways to put them into stories. I tweaked #9 quite a bit. You have awesome ideas! ??
Hi Bryn, just to say your “Master List for Writers” rocks – love it!
Thanks a lot Bryn… the ideas were nice… can work as a kick starter…!!
this was very helpful thank you so much
(they were also in a very understanable english, im only 13 and from denmark)
These ideas are genius! Please write more for mystery and other types of books. (if you have time.) I LOVED EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOUR IDEAS.
Hello, Bryn! Thank you so much for making this! it’s really inspire me:))
these are useless
just kidding there good
is it okay to use these prompts for movie ideas?
Its really good to have these prompts…..they speaka lot for the forwarding story
so glad to have found you! Love it! Story Ideas for a whole Lifetime!!
Hi there! I’m so glad it’s helpful! Thanks for the nice comment; I really appreciate it!
Yayyyyy I wanna be a author can I know how to become a AUTHOR BTW I’m 11 yrs old and I love reading and writing stories
Love it!
thank you i am 11 with my friend we are writing a book
Saul, that’s awesome! I wish you and your friend good luck on your book. Have fun!
Hello, I just found this, and thanks so much! I really wanted to write a mystery novel but I couldn’t come up with anything. Thanks a lot for the effort u put into these ideas and I’m so glad that people like you exist…. ❤
im 12 and im writing a mystery series! so helpful !
Good luck on your mystery series!
Thanks for the prompts!
What a lovely collection of mystery ideas!
A lot of good ideas here Bryn. Thanks for the inspiration!
I think 99% of content that could lead to a mystery story, comes from people. In solving the mystery, usually it’s a question of finding out what happened, right? I think it’s just as important to know WHY someone did something. The human factor, not just the event, is like, so important, right?
Nice, and helpful. Let me see if I can connect two or more together and come up with a good plot.
thank u so much! i am 11 yrs old and I’ve been writing short and simple stories since 7 or 8 years old. i came up with the idea to write a mystery novel/murder mystery when i remembered the “Sweet Valley High” series that i read most of by Francine Pascal and how much murder and drama got developed after the 94th one. Anyway, my mind was blank and the ideas i did came up with weren’t exactly genius. i was searching and stumbled against your ideas. they are sooo helpful!! i can literally imagine one of those ideas that u wrote into a movie (for example, your 1st one where everyone is searching for the woman and find nothing. then her adopted brother who had a bond discovered where she was and knew that he should tell no one. he talked to her through lights and letters written on the wall(i got that from STRANGER THINGS) and rescued her from the people who were holding her hostage) i stretched that but i can really imagine this in my mind right now. well, i am so grateful for your ideas. i hope more people can find your ideas helpful worldwide.
thank again 🙂
i think that that is really cool. i used to start stories like that around 8 and 9 and i am also 11 looking for more stories
i will also be really happy if u reply 😉
hiya im also 11 i was wondering if you could help me on a 100 word unsolved writting challenge?
Be careful kids. You do not know that the people contacting you are not adults pretending. Never give out your details to strangers. Keep safe. Keep writing.
will do, thanks 🙂
Number 41 is awesome!! I might use it, but in my story the thief leaves behind haikus. Thanks for the prompts!!!
Hi can you please help me out on a private dective story
I have been reading posts regarding this topic and this post is one of the most interesting and informative one I have read. Thank you for this!
fr its ass
A cult believes the victim is not human/heretic.
My problem right now isn’t finding an idea. It’s how to bring it to fruition. Any advice on that would be helpful