From many suspects, 10 perps emerged.
The conundrum of which Colorado Sun reader submissions would win a free chance to impress judges in the Rocky Mountain Mystery Writers of America’s 6-word Mystery Contest proved a tough case to crack. The pool was deep — the contest attracted its most participation ever, nearly 170 entries — with a few participants offering multiple worthy offerings.
Ultimately, our judges settled on 10 bite-sized whodunits from The Sun’s just-for-fun version of the exercise, and those entrants have had their entry fee paid for the RMMWA contest. They’ll compete with writers from around the world for prizes, including $100 for the overall winner and $25 gift certificates for top finishes in five categories: Hard Boiled or Noir; Cozy Mystery; Thriller Mystery; Police Procedural Mystery as well as Romance or Lust.
The Sun competition judged entries for general excellence, so we’ll leave it to the folks at RMMWA to place our 10 winners into the appropriate categories.
Entries will be judged by a panel that includes Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine Editor Linda Landrigan; New York Times best-selling author Anne Hillerman; award-winning author, lawyer and activist Manuel Ramos; John Charles of The Poisoned Pen Bookstore in Scottsdale, Arizona; and literary agent Terrie Wolf.
Last year’s overall winner of the big contest, which came from the Police Procedural category, was “Dead bookie: all bets are off.” Sun reader Denali Hussin took top honors in the Thriller category with: “I called his widow. He answered.”
This year’s results will be announced on a yet-to-be-determined date in December.
While we await the judges’ decisions, here are the top Sun reader entries:
- She found his Rolex, hand attached. – Theresa Oleski
- Note on tortured body: “Been hacked.” – Susan Landers
- “‘Til death do us part.” Check. – Robert Cleary
- Door unlocked. Glass broken from inside. – Brian Taylor
- Only the ghost lacked an alibi. – Andrew Kenney
- The footprints disappeared into unbroken snow. – Katie Coakley
- Both widows attended their husband’s funeral. – Caroline Woodhouse
- She was tasteless, like her poison. – Kerri Sue Waneka
- IT investigator: “Nothing to cc here.” – Dale Ulland
- A hung jury: twelve heavy ropes. – Denali Hussin