  Mystery
This week: Edited by: MaryLou  
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| Mystery stories are so popular because they fulfill one of humans' deepest instincts - the need to explore, to question, to find out. Humans are incessantly searching for answers to life's greatest mysteries. Since those mysteries are so difficult to unravel, we can find comfort in reading and writing mystery novels and short stories. Thus, our need to discover is satisfied...until the hunger strikes again. |
| ASIN: 1945043032 |
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Amazon's Price: $ 13.94
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"Titles are the most difficult writing in the whole book! Start thinking now of a title that will give a clue to your story and will intrique agents, editors, and, we hope, readers. Make it short." - Ann Rule, from Writing Mysteries
When it comes to creating titles, I know of no other writer who does it so well as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle did. Even Agatha Christie, the Queen of Mystery, never produced a title as intriguing as those of Doyle. Christie's titles usually leaned towards describing the setting of the novel: Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile, A Caribbean Mystery, Death in the Air, and They Came To Baghdad, for example.
Doyle's titles for his short stories and novels leap off the page and demand to be noticed, and thus, read. Titles such as "The Five Orange Pips," "The Man with the Twisted Lip," "The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb," "The Musgrave Ritual," and "The Adventure of the Dancing Men" grab one's attention immediately and inspires intrique and puzzlement. What does he mean by "Dancing Men" anyway? What happened to the "Engineer's Thumb"? And how did the man get a "Twisted Lip"? 
When thinking on a title for your short story or novel, you want it to be eye-catching but also to tell something about your story or novel. Speaking from my own experience, titles that say nothing about the story or novel leaves one rather disgruntled. I think, "Why did the writer use that title? It's totally unrelated to the story!
While some titles are obviously better than others, I've only come across one writer who has made me feel irritated over her choice of titles: Carol Higgins Clark. Some of these titles are Twanged, Fleeced, Iced, Decked, Burned and Popped. While these titles have a certain 'cuteness' to them, they tell next to nothing about the novels and leave me feeling a little affronted.
To sum up, choose a title that will pique interest, that has a clue to what's hidden inside, and pass up any 'cutesy' titles.
See ya next month,
MaryLou |
Here's a few items whose titles piqued my interest. I hope you enjoy and don't forget to rate and review! 
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#1064110 by Not Available. |
And here's a story whose author wants suggestions for a title. See if you can come up with a great title.
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Have an opinion on what you've read here today? Then send the Editor feedback! Find an item that you think would be perfect for showcasing here? Submit it for consideration in the newsletter!
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| ASIN: B083RZJVJ8 |
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Amazon's Price: Price N/A
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Feedback
billwilcox: Very nicely done, Kitty 
Thank you, Bill!
Mini Mystery
1000 GPs for your correct answer.
A Model Morning
from Great Book of Whodunit Puzzles
Curiousity and sadness mingled in the mind of Thomas P. Stanwick, amateur logician, as he parked his car near the home of Lola Monteray in Royston. His friend Inspector Matt Walker had called to tell him of the murder of the beautiful young model and had invited him to have a look at the scene. Not even the intellectual satisfaction of studying crimes could blot out for Stanwick the tragedy of untimely death.
He entered the trim, white Monteray home and was shown upstairs. Walker was in the bedroom. The body of Lola Monteray, in a lacy nightgown, lay prone on the blood-soaked sheets. A large, blood-covered knife lay beside the bed.
"The coroner estimates that Lola Monteray was stabbed to death around two o'clock this morning," said Walker briskly. "No prints in here except for hers. She was discovered this morning by Thomas Larch, her agent, who says he stopped by to take her to an important meeting with some designers. He found the back door unlocked and searched the house until he found her here."
Stanwick glanced around the plainly furnished room and toyed with the tip of his mustache.
"Have you found a possible motive?" he asked.
Walker shook his head. "Not yet. She seems to have been very successful and well liked. Her appointment book shows that she had lunch with her boyfriend, Scott Phillips, two days ago. I called him and told him she had been found dead at her home. He said he'd come right over. When he arrives, he might be able to tell us if anything unusual was going on in her life."
The two men left the room and went downstairs. A pudgy man with a dark Lincoln beard sat in the living room, looking crushed with grief.
"Mr. Larch, I presume," said Stanwick with a nod as he strode in. "I understand that you found the body."
"Yes," the agent replied, his head bowed. "An awful sight!"
"Why were you so persistent as to enter and search the house to find her?"
Larch looked up wearily. "We had a 10:30 appointment at the Picardio Studio," he said. "This was an important meeting that might have led to a lucrative contract, and she knew it. I wasn't going to lose a deal like that so that she could sleep late!"
At that moment the front door was flung open with a crash, and a disheveled young man ran up the stairs.
"Who stabbed my sweetheart?" he shouted. "Let me see her!"
A policeman stopped him at the top of the stairs and brought him forcibly down to the living room.
"Mr. Phillips?" said Walker. "I'm very sorry. The crime scene is accessible only to investigators. Miss Monteray was killed about two this morning and was discovered a little later. Her appointment book shows that you two had lunch together on Tuesday. Did she give you any indication that someone was threatening her?"
Phillips thrust his hands into his pockets and paced the rug. "No, nothing. She was excited about an appointment to visit Picardio's this morning, and talked about the work she hoped to do for them. She was very happy."
Stanwick, ensconced in an armchair, watched idly as Phillips paced. "Where did you eat?" he asked.
"Marygold's, downtown," answered Phillips. "She loved their asparagus tips."
"The best in town." Stanwick arose languidly and stretched. "Well, Matt, earn your pay. It's time to arrest the killer!"
Who murdered Lola Monteray?
Answers to the last mini-mystery:
PJ Karina : The Stockbroker's Last Morning:
Golding said, "The cup had no sooner left his [Steinberg's] lips than he was seized with terrible convulsions," so how come Stanwick found the emptied coffee cup laid neatly on its saucer?
paw_00: If Golding was telling the truth about Steinberg being "seized with terrible convulsions" right after drinking, the cup wouldn't have been back on its saucer.
Nimue  : As Mister Golding tells it, the victim did not have time to put the coffee cup neatly back onto the saucer on the table. Also, I don't think the draft version of the weekly newsletter qualifies as 'urgent business'. |
| ASIN: B00KN0JEYA |
Product Type: Kindle Store
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Amazon's Price: $ 4.99
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Mystery: April 26, 2006 Issue [#1003]
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