We are looking to have authors create mystery story lines that we can use! What’s a story line, you might ask? It’s basically a plot outline, but with some background and characterizations thrown in. There’s an example of what we are looking for below. So send us your story line for consideration. We will select 3 winners who will receive $100 and a free weekend for two at the Roaring 20s B&B to participate in one of the activities! (travel not included, sorry.) You will also get credit for the story line on our website, and bragging rights.
For more information about the Roaring 20s B&B, click here: www.roaring20sbandb.com
Details:
Submissions: email your submission with your contact info to roaring20sbandb – at – gmail dot com. We don’t expect you to write a novel, or even a short story! See below for an example of what we are looking for. We won’t be publishing these, they will be used to create experiences for our guests.
Deadline: 31 March 2024
1920s: The story line must be able to take place in the 1920s, although doesn’t specifically need to do so. No mobile phones, internet, that kind of thing.
Mystery: It must be a mystery, but not necessarily a murder (one of our favourite mysteries is Carol Shields Swann – an no one dies).
Format: Ideally Word or pdf, as long as it’s readable (on a macbook). It could be in the body of your email.
Decisions: the decision will be made by the proprietor and are final.
Questions: roaring20sbandb – at – gmail dot com
Example:
This is basically the plot of Agatha Christie’s Death on the Nile (the 2022 movie version) written as a story line (what we are looking for). We want something original from you, this is just an example. Death on the Nile is actually a pretty complicated one that took Hercule Poirot to figure out. It doesn’t need to be that hard – the average person should be able to figure it out once they have all the clues.
Background
It’s 1928 London. Jackie and her fiancé Simon were at a speakeasy where they met up with Jackie’s childhood friend, the heiress Linnet Ridgeway. Jackie and Simon have been raised upper class but aren’t wealthy, while Linnet has come into her inheritance. Jackie convinced Linnet to hire Simon as her Land Agent.
Six weeks later, Linnet and Simon were married in Egypt. With them for the wedding, as part of the wedding party were: Rosalie (her maid); Bouc (Rosalie’s fiancé – a charmer but, unfortunately, penniless); Windlesham (Linnet’s physician); Mrs. Bowers (Linnet’s godmother and a practising nurse).
Today – The Challenge:
Linnet has been found dead in her cabin aboard the SS Karnak, a dahabiya (sailing ship) that she had hired. She was shot in the head. Her valuable necklace was missing. Who shot Linnet? You must play detective.
Sequence of Events (containing clues)
While Simon and Linnet were traveling on their honeymoon in Egypt, Jackie was stalking them. She was furious that Simon dumped her for Linnet and threatened revenge.
To escape Jackie, Linnet privately hired the SS Karnak to cruise down the Nile with their wedding party. Linnet and Simon had the private suite at the stern of the boat, separate from the other guests.
Linnet couldn’t find her red nail polish. (it was stolen)
At dinner, Simon really enjoyed the Egyptian dish Koshari and asked for second helpings. (those at his table will have noticed that he went through his first dish quite quickly, because he actually poured it into a handkerchief in his lap and then excused himself, storing the food for later).
At their stop at the Great Temple at Abu Simbel, a boulder fell off a column and nearly crushed Linnet and Simon. When they returned to the ship Jackie was onboard, having purchased a ticket starting at Abu Simbel.
Linnet went to bed while Simon, Jackie, Rosalie and Bouc stayed in the salon. Simon confronted Jackie and Jackie pulled a gun and shot Simon in the leg. Simon was bleeding but waived off help so Rosalie and Bouc took an hysterical Jackie to Mrs. Bowers. Bouc then returned to the salon and took Simon to Dr. Windlesham for treatment. Jackie and Simon were not left alone all night.
Linnet was found dead first thing in the morning. Her maid found her and screamed, everyone came running (except Simon as he was injured and had been given morphine by the doctor so he was asleep). There were traces of gunpowder on her temple where she was shot. Her valuable necklace was missing.
Rosalie couldn’t find her scarf, it was last seen when they were in the parlour before Jackie shot Simon.
The captain stopped the ship and the crew dragged the river to see if there were any clues. They found a gun wrapped in Rosalie’s missing scarf. The scarf looked like it had been balled up and shot through, perhaps to muffle a gunshot?
A search of the ship found the necklace in Bouc’s quarters. He admitted to taking the necklace when everyone came to the room when Linnet’s body was found. He denied killing her, he only wanted the necklace so that he could sell it and set himself and Rosalie up for a nice future.
The search of the ship also found a small hole in the paneling of the salon under the couch where Simon had been sitting when he was shot. It might have been a bullet hole.
The solution:
Jackie and Simon planned the whole thing, starting from the beginning. Simon married Linnet so that he would inherit her money when she died. He stole the nail polish to use as fake blood, but when the Egyptian Koshari was served he realized that the tomato sauce would look better. After Linnet went to bed, Jackie started a fight with Simon and pretended to shoot him in the leg. Simon fell back clutching his leg and blood (tomato sauce) was seen seeping from his leg. Jackie dropped the gun and Rosalie and Bouc took her to Mrs. Bowers because she was acting hysterically. Simon grabbed the gun, ran to his cabin and shot Linnet at close range. He then ran back to the salon, balled up Rosalie’s scarf to muffle the second shot, and shot himself in the leg, wiping his hands on the scarf before throwing the gun and scarf overboard.