Hi! (New here!) I'm a music composer who is fascinated by the murder mystery/detective novel sub-genre. Anyone else? I'm a particular fan of the bamboozlement of the Agatha Christie twist ending. I was thinking of writing a few short stories myself if I knew there was an audience. I could probably come up with murder mystery ideas that would fit into the (bi-)weekly competition theme, though ideally I would like to post stories independent of this. (Are there any other sites that you guys know of that have good detective fan fiction readerships?) Anyway... for the story that I've started writing, "Shot of Suspicion," I need to think of something nasty or terrible that a husband could have done, or be involved in, the gist of which would be found in a letter or some incriminating form lying around their house, which would cause her to *have the motive* to be so shocked or appalled as to -- a few moments later -- go and shoot him. Any ideas?
Oh the myriad possibilities! Have you read much in the genre? I would suggest culling existing mysteries to spark some inspiration. Also, watch the nightly news for stories that leave you outraged, and consider how a wife might respond if she discovered that her husband was engaged in a similar activity.
I think it all depends on how shocking or terrible the act could have been, & how much detail about it you'd want to go into. Theres no end to the amount of awful things he could have done, but you might want to think about ones in particular you wouldn't want to write about, or which would make your reader so uncomfortable that they wouldnt want to read about it.
Easy. He has been molesting their daughter. Her mother was raped and killed, and she finds out it was him. Nacy, his wife, finds out that he has been sleeping with her sister, but not only that, he has also been poisoning Nacy. Now she knows why she has been getting sicker and sicker. She finds out that he is an assassin and plans on killing someone important. She knows that no one will believe her. If she lets him live, she feels like she is killing this person(s). Or perhaps she just can't live with herself knowing that he will kill again and again.
