CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD MYSTERY
CHARACTERS:
Detective: Character trying to solve the mystery
Suspects: Characters believed to have possibly committed the crime
Witnesses: Characters who saw the crime being committed
SETTING:
When and where the mystery takes place; needs to be believable
PLOT:
A mystery usually includes one of the following:
· A problem that needs to be solved
· An event that cannot be explained
· A secret
· Something that is lost or missing
· A crime that has been committed
CLUES:
Clues are hints that can help the reader and the detective solve the mystery. They can be things people say or do, or objects that are found that provide important information.
RED HERRINGS:
Red herrings are distractions or false clues that may lead the reader or the detective off track. Red herrings often make it more difficult to solve a mystery.
SUSPENSE:
Suspense is anxious uncertainty about the outcome of events.
STRUCTURE:
Most mysteries are set up the same way. The structure of a mystery usually looks like this:
Beginning: Characters are introduced and the reader learns about the problem.
Middle: Detectives work to solve the mystery by interviewing suspects and gathering clues.
Read for class discussion this week.
“Tom you want me to pick you up some food?” Asked Mike.
“Sure I still got a little bit to work to do, but that’s what you get when you work for the C.I.A.,” sighed Tom.
Tom and Mike work for the C.I.A. and are paid what might take a successful executive a lifetime to save up in one year! Tom is a 5’9 tall computer programmer with blond hair and blue eyes. Tom is probably the smartest man alive according to N.A.S.A. research. Mikey on the other hand is a member of the International World Peace Organization, which was founded in 2005. Mike is a funny loose kind of guy who knows when o buckle down and get serious. Mike is pretty short for a man his age. Mickey is 5’4 with dark black hair and hazel nut eyes.
“Hey quit eating all my fries!” yelled Mike.
“Well quit picking at my onion rings,” Laughed tom.
“Beep, beep, beep off went tom’s pager like an annoying alarm clock going off on a Saturday morning. “Man! Lunch breaks over!” hissed Tom in anger.
“Oh well, you want to go out after work and get a drink a bar?”
“No I can’t have to work late designing a new top secret program very hush! Hush!” Whispered tom. “Alright I’ll see if Lakisha wants to go out for dinner or something,” smiled mike in a naughty sort of way.
“Sure you just do that. “ Tom said as he shook his head a walked off.
Later that night tom was finished with the new program that was designed for a keeping nuclear launch codes safe and stored in a highly encrypted file that would probably take the world’s hackers a lifetime to decrypt and run the program. “Man I’m good!” Gloated tom. Tom shortly after words fell quickly asleep.
Tom’s office was more like a five star hotel that got a 30, 0000 million investment. Tom was awakened by a bang and in came two officers.
“You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be sued against you in a court of law, if you would like to hire a attorney to see out your case you may, if you cannot afford an attorney we are able to provide one for your hearing,” Explained officer brown.
“What the heck are you guys doing in my office?” Cursed Tom in an angry and grouchy tone.
“As if you don’t know.” Replied officer brown’s partner jay sarcastically.
“Look. Uh, Officer Brown can you please explain to me what in heaven’s name is going on here!” yelled exclaimed Tom in frustration.
“You’ll be taken down town to be interrogated.” Said the officer tom as put in the police car and was about to be taken to the police station.
“Hey!” Can you answer a few questions?” asked tom.
“Why do you say you’re going down town when the police station is up town? Huh, Huh answer that!” joked tom seeing if they would crack the officer.
“Oh! Yea I’m sure you’ll also want to know why black boards are green and if aliens are so smart why they always abduct the dumbest people huh?” yelled Officer Dan’s partner irritable.
“Man, someone wasn’t loved enough as a kid,” Muttered Tom.
“What was that!” questioned Officer Dan,
“Nothing,” replied tom swiftly.
Tom arrived at the city police station and was taken in for interrogation. “Tom can you tell me what you were doing in the CIA headquarters so late at night?” asked detective Brian in a strong loud tone.
“I told you I was finishing a program for my boss! “Yelled Tom.
“Can anyone vouch for that?” questioned Officer Brian.
“Yes, someone can, now if u would go on and say u get one phone call I can prove my innocence,” Answered Tom sarcastically.
Tom picked up the phone and dialed. Ring. Ring, Ring, Ring, Ring, no one picked up. “Man where the heck is he!” Yelled Tom in anger.
While in California, Mikey is in a plane about to go skydiving. “I wonder what Tom is doing? Though Mikey with a loud airplane engine roaring in the background.
“Look let me go back to my office and get the contract stating that I’m employed member of the CIA. Plead Tom.
“You’re being charged for breaking and entering and you want me to let you go get some fake proof! Not to mention the bloody foot prints leading into your office.” Added detective Brian
“Blood! Now let me tell you I may not be the best guy around but I have never murdered any one.” Yelled Tom in shock
“Sure that’s what all the dirty mother… ring, ring the phone rang cutting off detective Brian’s miss use of words. Detective Brian went to go answer.
“I must be being framed.” Said Tom in his head. While detective Brian was gone to answer the phone tom crawled his way out of the interrogations room and sneaked by an officer giving him a chance to jump out of a two story window. Tom managed the escape from the police station and headed for the CIA Headquarters. Luckily tom knew a short cut through the ally between the drug store and the barbershop, which led into a deep wooded area, which no one ever dared to enter due to the rumor that the area was a hide out for an escaped convict which even the FBI failed to capture. Tom knew better though, that he rumors where fake due to the fact that the CIA actually started the rumor to keep people away from the forest. Tom ran for a good thirty minutes before he reached the end of the forest and at the door of the tunnel that lead directly under the CIA headquarters. As Tom reached the door he noticed that the door was open. Tom stopped and thought the only people with access to this door are high level CIA employees such as the head boss, agent black and himself. Agent black and Tom weren’t exactly friends or knew each other, all Tom knew about black was that he uses the many gadgets that eh designs, ever day. “Agent black and I have never met so he couldn’t have anything against me, but then again what would boss have against me.” Thought Tom to himself. “Oh well it will come to me sooner or later.” Said Tom aloud to himself. Tom headed down the long lonely dark underground passage. Tom’s cell phone started to ring as he was down in the tunnel. Ring, Ring, Ring. Tom picked up but didn’t say a word
“Hello, Hello” said a voice. It was Mikey.
“Mikey! Where in the world are you?” asked Tom.
“I’m in California on a vacation.” replied Mikey.
“Hey I go to go see you when I get!” Added Mikey quickly. Mikey hangs up.
“Wait!” yelled Tom. “Man this sucks” cried Tom.
After spending another hour in the lonely underground tunnel he finally reached the end. Tom lifts the secret hatch and peeks around to see if anyone was out in the hallway it was empty. Tom enters the office to find nothing but the bloody footprints leading tout of his office. Tom decides to follow them, but he knew he had to see if his boss was guilty, as usual his boss wasn’t there. Tom heads into the lonely isolated woods. On the way, he stops right outside an abandoned cabin in the middle of nowhere. Tom knew he was most likely going to find a dead body, but nothing could have prepared him for the gruesome homicide he was about to witness. Tome put on some latex gloves and tried to pull out the knife that was planted in the heart. Apparently the person who was responsible was a definitely sick and demented. As he tried to reach for the knife and put in a brown bag that he found in the kitchen of the cabin. Tom left the cabin and the body as fast as he could and ran for town.
“Tom!” blurted Rico in surprise. Rico is a retired CIA personnel who sells and specializes in electronic devises.
“I need you to run a test on this, see where it came from and who or what it belongs to,” demanded Tom.
“No prob.” Gloated Rico.
“Call me when you get the results in.” said Tom
Tom goes and tries to bust the boss, when out of nowhere comes Agent Black. Tom studied his face to see that it really was Agent Black. Even though Tom had never seen Agent Black, he had seen pictures of him in the CIA employee picture album. “Hey, what are you doing here?” asked Tom in curiosity.
“You must be Tom,” replied Agent Black.
“Yes I am,” answered Tom
“Oh, then I just want to thank you FOR RUINNING MY LIFE!” exclaimed Agent Black
“What do you mean?” asked Tom
”As if you didn’t know that your so called getaway jet pack was a defected prototype, I spent the last five months in a Cuban prison for espionage. I will get you back and you will feel thirty times the pain I felt I promise it,” threatened Agent black
Tom go away from Agent Black and found his way back to the office to search for more clues. As Tom entered his office, his cell phone rang again. This time it was Rico. “Tom, Tom the finger prints on the knife belong to you, Tom are you there?” yelled Rico over the Phone. Tom dropped the phone and went into denial. “NO! I can’t be the killer, I just can’t be,” cried Tom.
The police barged in again. “So you thought you could get away from me did you?” gloated officer Brian.
“It just can’t be me, it just can’t be,” cried Tom in anguish.
“You mean to tell me that you really didn’t know?” asked Officer Brian in surprise.
Tom was locked up in prison and was sentenced to life in prison for second-degree murder, resisting arrest and insulting an officer. “It still doesn’t explain how he did it,” questioned Officer Brian. “Maybe he was sleep walking,” smiled Mikey.
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