My Minute Mysteries Journey
Detect-O-Gram Mysteries to Decipher & Decode
First, I must give credit where it is due, Mystery Manon, writer of the Cluesletter newsletter. She is a lover of all things mystery, especially cozy mysteries. And it’s through her newsletter that I’ve discovered so much. For example, I found out about Murdle, (a national bestseller) a collection of 100 original murder mystery logic puzzles that already has three volumes, a kids version, and is soon to release as a board game (apparently exclusively to Waterstones in the UK, so if anyone would like to volunteer to send this to me I’d be most grateful, of course I’d pay for the game and shipping). Not sure, yet, if I should thank her or blame her for my recent spending spree on Murdle!
Back to Minute Mysteries. Her latest email mentioned this briefly and how she is reading each mystery on her TikTok page for people to listen to and guess the answer before she posts it the following day. I’m not a TikTok user but Minute Mysteries intrigued me. A mystery that takes one minute to read means two things: 1) it must be short and 2) it must be well contrived. These are two things that are right up my alley at the moment. My love of mystery (and horror) are increasing over time and because of my daily 100 Word Stories I need something that can satiate both; why not Minute Mysteries. This set me on a research mission that, luckily, did not involve subjecting myself to TikTok!
First, I headed over to Google (isn’t that the first step for anyone these days when doing research?) and searched for Minute Mysteries. I think found “the book” that Mystery Manon had mentioned in her email. A convenient link to Minute Mysteries on Gutenberg popped up first on the list. From there I set to work on a couple things:
Copy/paste each into their own page so I can see exactly how long each story is.
Read each story to see just how easy (or difficult) they might be to figure out.
Uncover the pattern H. A. Ripley was clearly using to write all 71 of these Minute Mysteries.
I am still in neck deep in the last two bullet points. Why am I doing this? Isn’t it obvious! I want to start writing my own Minute Mysteries! In order to accomplish this I have set out the following goals for myself:
Rewrite all 71 original stories, adding my own flare (and skill?) for storytelling. This is my way of “tracing/copying” in the way an artist might do when studying their favorite illustrator’s style.
Share my rewrite via Substack Notes to see how it is received by fellow writers. Because these are basically rewrites of work already written I don’t feel comfortable sharing them via email. Plus, these are practice stories! No need putting work I know won’t be all that great via email.
71 weeks to perfect the art of writing minute mysteries on my own so that the 72nd one I write will be mine without any sort of assistance!
Of course, I hope to have mastered Minute Mysteries writing long before I reach week 72, but you never know. These do seem harder than even I realized. And because reading these digitally just doesn’t appeal to me, yes, I did buy the book:
Some things I figured out that I needed for my own Minute Mysteries before I began:
A name for my mystery solver! H. A. Riply has Professor Fordney. G. T. Karber has Detective Logico. And now Erica Drayton has Ashton Quinn, P.I.!
A backstory for my main crime solving character! He’s a former undercover cop who now runs his own private investigators agency.
A sidekick to either help or hinder his crime solving! Gale Grey, is a twenty-something and the worst assistant (aka only assistant) he’s ever had but she’s better than nothing. She never seems to take down information correctly, making his job of figuring out whodunit all the more harder.
I then needed to set some ground rules for myself in order to follow a certain rhythm the reader can come to expect, and appreciate, and so I don’t go off the rails writing minute mysteries that are far longer than a minute!
Each case is UNDER 300 words, including the question that must be answered at the end of each case.
Murder doesn’t have to be at the center of each case. It can just be something missing or something out of place.
Try to inject 3 red herrings to the 1 really helpful clue.
Each case should involve different people. Only recurring characters are Quinn, Grey, and Quinn’s mother.
Now that I have the bare-bones structure and foundation, it is time I get to work! If you want to follow along with my journey through 71 Minute Mysteries, you have two options:
Follow me on Substack Notes. I will attempt to share MY rewrite on Mondays. My solution on Tuesdays. And then the Original that my rewrite is based on, on Wednesdays. And the Original Solution on Thursdays. Giving myself the weekend to unwind my brain from all this crime solving!
Bookmark this page → ⏳ Minute Mysteries (I will be sharing my Notes here after I post them).