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 Mystery: July 11, 2018 Issue [#8999] |
  Mystery This week: Plant and Harvest a Gardening Mystery Edited by: Kate - Writing & Reading   More Newsletters By This Editor   1. About this Newsletter 2. A Word from our Sponsor 3. Letter from the Editor 4. Editor's Picks 5. A Word from Writing.Com 6. Ask & Answer 7. Removal instructions 
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All this is rich compost for a mystery ~ nature holds clues aplenty for the wordsmith to fashion into a mystery. As we tend our summer veggie (and flower) gardems, it's the perfect time to observe the life that abounds in nature, to build a puzzle with straight stalks, enticing flowers, and, yes, those pesky weeds (herrings) to discard or turn into the soil for compost. As we tend our summer gardens, it's the perfect time to observe the life that abounds in nature, to weave a story of intrigue, mayhem and mystery. 
The gardening mystery is generally a soft-boiled one, with attention to the characters and their interaction with each other as well as the surroundings. The garden is tilled, planted and tended, in chief, by an amateur sleuth, who may or may not enlist the aid of a professional. 
Perhaps a summer thunderstorm traps one in a blueberry patch, sheltered by surrounding oaks carved with hearts and names from centuries past. Maybe the nightshade is just so enticing that one doesn't realize it's growing around poison oak dripping dew into the gardener's morning coffee. The scenic descriptions, having your reader partake of the experience with all his/her senses is germane to the gardening mystery, as the setting is often a bed of clues (and perhaps a red herring (a gold band buried in compost, mayhap, or a shovelfull of red 'clay' in a fresh bag of compost?). What have you planted in your garden?
If you enjoy flower or vegetable gardening (remember, playing in the dirt ~ hmmm, a clue perhaps there?), cultivate herbs, or simply appreciate and enjoy the splendor of a warm day in the garden or a field, add a bit of intrigue, fellow wordsleuth, and there's a mystery to delight your readers. 
To expand your technical knowledge and make your story believable and 'natural,' consider subscribing to an herbalist or gardening magazine (or check one out at the library). As well as helpful resources, such publications are potential markets for your story or poem of mystery and intrigue. Much of the fun in reading a gardening mystery is in the details - how far did she dig before unearthing a bone, a metal splint; or how far to bury the items? Why did she conceal/reveal her find? What a unique violet hue on those tomatoes. See where I'm going here, a single question can yield a fertile harvest of possibilities for the puzzle; clues and miscues, thinning and harvesting the clues.
