PHOTO PROMPT © Susan Rouchard
If you like my work, buy me a virtual cup of coffee at Ko-Fi.
Stephanie’s grandfather had been murdered in his study. The police said the room had been locked from the inside. No one could have gotten in or out.
He was strangled by hand so it wasn’t a suicide. The police determined the murderer could not still be in the room.
Steph knew better. She had been part of his writing since she was six and old enough to compose her first childish mystery.
She worked through the stack of books on his desk. The one he’d received by mail just before he died; his latest novel. Grandfather’s killer was hiding inside.
It’s Wednesday and once again time to participate in Rochelle Wisoff-Fields’ 12 April 2024 edition of Friday Fictioneers. The idea is to use the image on top as the prompt for crafting a poem or short story no more than 100 words long. My word count is exactly 100.
I don’t know why, but after pondering the photo for a few minutes, I came up with a murder mystery. It would be ironic to be killed by a strangler of your own invention, but this probably isn’t the first time such a thing has been proposed. Fortunately, his granddaughter is an able detective. But how will she bring grandfather’s killer to justice? Oh, I know. With a word processor and writing a sequel.
To read other tales based on the prompt, visit inlinkz.
Promotional image by “Starry Eyed Press.”
I’m proud to announce that my first science fiction series has been launched. It’s based on the 1950s television show Tom Corbett, Space Cadet.
This is a sixteen-part story hosted on Amazon’s Kindle Vella platform. A chapter a week will be released in my saga Our Legacy, The Stars: A Tom Corbett Adventure
Chapter 1: Disaster at Venus is online now and you can read it for FREE! Just click HERE and start scrolling. Press the Follow Story button to subscribe to the rest of the serial.
My full announcement is HERE.
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Strangled by hand, you wrote. Yet you stated that the murderer was hidden within a stack of books, and your photograph did not actually display the physical marks on the body that would be indicators of strangulation. Such evidence would suggest a serpent of the constrictor variety, though one small enough to be so hidden is unlikely to have coiled itself around a human neck. Perhaps the volume of books is larger than it appears and the snake also correspondingly larger and, more importantly, longer enough to coil several times around the neck of an unconscious or sleeping victim in order to accomplish the motion employed by such serpents to strangle their prey.
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I meant that a fictional character in a book, came to life in the real world, strangled his writer and creator, and then slipped back into the pages of fiction. Also, there’s no body in the photo, so the reader wouldn’t be able to see the marks on the victim’s neck. It’s difficult to put every little detail when you have a hard limit of 100 words.
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She may catch the killer, but she’s going to have a tough time convincing a jury
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Not if she does it inside a book. Thanks. Sorry about the delay in responding, Neil. Your comment ended up in my spam box for some reason.
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The pen is mightier than the sword. I can think of a few characters I would not like to see come to life from the pages of a book!
Congrats on the Kindle Vella story. Vella has still to make it over to this side of the pond, I will need to investigate if it can be read in the UK.
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Thanks. I think you can just click the link to the webpage and read the first chapter there. Give it a whirl.
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Goodness, if characters in novels we read would come to life, the earth would be sparsely populated by humans now.
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Or replaced by them. Thanks.
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Great whodunnit.
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Thanks, Dawn.
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Great piece of metaphorical revenge, if our fictional characters returned to argue their demise; should all writers beware?
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Maybe so, James. Thanks.
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This is great. I love a story that does a bit of mind-stretching. Your end note suggestion of how Stephanie might gain revenge tells me there might be a sequel. ?.
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Maybe she’ll write herself into that story. Thanks, Margaret.
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This was most interesting, James. Love that Stephanie is more in tune to his murder than the coppers!
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Thanks, Dale.
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Fascinating idea, James. Gosh if our characters ever actually came to life I’d be in trouble !
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So would I. I keep maiming and killing of characters in my WIP. Thanks.
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I love the idea of a fictional character coming to life, doing the evil deed, and slipping back into his book! There was something like this on the TV series The Librarian, although I don’t remember details.
Many congrats on your series! I will check it out 🙂
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Thanks, Linda. Let me know what you think (even if you don’t like it).
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I will!
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Love the image of the killer hiding in the book he just received. Well done.
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Thank you.
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What a fascinating take on this prompt! I suppose everything we write does come to life in its own way. I have to think more about this one…
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Thank you, Angela.
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This is an intirguing read, James. I wish there were more words. I know there’s a good story in there. Congrats on the Kindle Vella story.
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Thanks, Isadora.
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Dear James,
My vote’s on Stephanie. Congrats on the new Sci Fi.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Thank you, Rochelle.
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I’d like to say stranger things have happened, but at the moment I can’t recall any. Talk about a chiller. Now how is Stephanie going to catch the killer?
Congrats on the new serial, James.
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Interesting concept. Many of us (writers) have created killers. Wonder what the motive is.
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To survive. Authors often kill off their characters.
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catcher has to be a spy
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Sorry for the late reply. Your comment ended up in my spam filter for some reason.
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