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@Paul-A-Roberts
I especially liked your "Murder Mystery Concept," both the story and the concept itself, as well as the structure.
I also liked your spaceship murder mystery ("Emergency" ) and the naming of characters after colors. Higher stakes than in a manor-house mystery, because there's nowhere to run.
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@ponderable saidWas the final paragraph ever posted? I really liked the writing in this one, and the mystery presented. I think it was either the blacksmith all along (and he accompanied the inspector into the woods to bump him off and lay further blame on the man in the woods), or maybe the blacksmith is just the most recent killer with one more planned, and it had been a chain of revenge killings (someone snapped and murdered, then someone killed the killer, then someone killed that person . . . )
#4
Horror in the alleyways
Once upon a time deep within a dark forest lived a man without a face. How he came to have no face nobody rightly knew or was brave enough to ask. Villagers at the edge of the forest spoke of him in whispers. Parents told their children if they misbehaved or did not eat all their vegetables, he would come for them as they slept, the man wi ...[text shortened]... t was their motive? The answers will be given in a final paragraph, at the close of the competition.
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29 Mar 21
@ponderable saidVery nicely written and amusing. 🙂
#6
Murder at Honeysuckle Place
Mrs Williams had been looking forward to getting home, her office no longer a pleasant place to work, sweating beneath her face mask as she tapped away on her keyboard, sanitized fingers chapped and dry. The bus journey too had not been a pleasant one, many of the noses of her fellow passengers hanging out of their face coverings, one y ...[text shortened]... I have wrapped him in a handkerchief and put him up on the bookshelf, out of the reach of the cats.’
29 Mar 21
@kevin-eleven saidI miss that paragraph too. When will we know?
Was the final paragraph ever posted? I really liked the writing in this one, and the mystery presented. I think it was either the blacksmith all along (and he accompanied the inspector into the woods to bump him off and lay further blame on the man in the woods), or maybe the blacksmith is just the most recent killer with one more planned, and it had been a chain of reve ...[text shortened]... omeone snapped and murdered, then someone killed the killer, then someone killed that person . . . )
29 Mar 21
@kevin-eleven saidKevin thank you for the warm words.
I really liked the matter-of-fact tone of your police procedural. Somehow it reminded me of Simenon.
And thank you for taking time to give a critique to the pieces.
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29 Mar 21
@torunn saidOh, good. I thought I might have missed it while scrolling through.
I miss that paragraph too. When will we know?
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29 Mar 21
@torunn saidI was building the tension. Here is the final paragraph. 🙂
I miss that paragraph too. When will we know?
The blacksmith alone returned to the village, a deep gash to his arm and a vivid tale of monstrous attack. The man without a face had murdered the constable, the blacksmith killing the beast with his bare hands. The tale left untold was that of the hot-tempered blacksmith slicing off the baker’s head with his broadsword, for selling him inferior bread. Untold too was the debauched act with the post mistress and the peeping Tom farmer, both despatched in similar manner to keep the seedy affair from the ears of his good wife. Despite leaving the footprints in the snow, he knew the constable would dismiss the faceless man as a suspect, small and feeble as he was, that suspicion would then turn to him. He did what had to be done. Much cheering was to be had in the Whistle and Hound; villagers eager to buy their young heroic blacksmith a drink.
29 Mar 21
@ghost-of-a-duke saidThank you, now I have to read the story again. 🙂
I was building the tension. Here is the final paragraph. 🙂
The blacksmith alone returned to the village, a deep gash to his arm and a vivid tale of monstrous attack. The man without a face had murdered the constable, the blacksmith killing the beast with his bare hands. The tale left untold was that of the hot-tempered blacksmith slicing off the baker’s head w ...[text shortened]... as to be had in the Whistle and Hound; villagers eager to buy their young heroic blacksmith a drink.
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29 Mar 21
@kevin-eleven saidThanks, but was too weak really to qualify as a murder mystery. I just like writing about cats. 🙂
Very nicely written and amusing. 🙂
29 Mar 21
@ghost-of-a-duke said“Cats, like men, are flatterers.”
Thanks, but was too weak really to qualify as a murder mystery. I just like writing about cats. 🙂
— Walter Savage Landor
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29 Mar 21
@ghost-of-a-duke saidHmm, so could it be that you are also the author of "Murder at Honeysuckle Place"?
Thanks, but was too weak really to qualify as a murder mystery. I just like writing about cats. 🙂
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@kevin-eleven saidIndeed sir. As I say, was too weak really for a fully fledged murder mystery.
Hmm, so could it be that you are also the author of "Murder at Honeysuckle Place"?
(I actually wrote 13 stories, though of course only submitted 3).