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Discover weekly, the best short stories

Looking for a steady supply of mystery short stories? Every week thousands of writers submit stories to our writing contest.

150+ Mystery Short Stories to read

Submitted by writers on Reedsy Prompts to our weekly writing contest. No need to go out hunting for clues — you’ve solved the puzzle of where to find the newest mystery short stories just by landing on this page.

Mystery Short Stories – Page 9 of 10

Going Home

Submitted to Contest #328

The sound of a door opening made them turn. Cinders rushed in. Tears streamed from her melancholy, green eyes. Her hair looked dishevelled.‘I must go. Tamara told me they leave today. I may get there if I run. Such a rush. The boat’s only been moored a few weeks.’‘Why bother, dear. It won’t make any difference.’‘There's hope if I get there in time. I had a thought. Roland needn’t leave with Rosheen and the children. They have the other vessel to return on. He doesn’t have to sail. I’m going now.’ She dashed away.Tatenai sighed. He loved his ...

17 likes 26 comments 26
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The Treadbare Truth

Submitted to Contest #328

The smell was the first thing that hit Elias. After all these years, the thick woolly scent, like old books mixed with something vaguely dusty and comforting still lingered in this place. His head popped out the trapdoor that gave entrance to the attic. Light from the small window pierced weakly through the thick air, illuminating swirling motes of dust dancing across the attic. It felt like stepping into a paused memory from his childhood. The house hadn't felt the same anymore since his parents had passed away almost a decade ago, but some...

5 likes 2 comments 2
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Visit me in your next life

Submitted to Contest #328

It has already been a year since the car crash my family got into when traveling around France. My father was driving the car, and he still feels so guilty, even though the accident wasn’t his fault, that I have been keeping in secret from him the fact that, from the very first day I opened my eyes in the Hospital, I have been seeing strange dreams that haunt me till today. Fortunately, no one was harmed, and the only thing reminding me of the accident is those visions. However, I finally found the courage to meet a psychologist, as I believ...

3 likes 0 comments 0
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Blood Runs Thicker Than Water

Submitted to Contest #328

CW: Physical violence, gore, abuse, homophobia, mental health I remember the day I fell in love with art. My mum had taken me to a museum and the paintings filled me with fascination and wonder. Each piece I walked past felt alive, the story uncoiling with each brush stroke. My wonderment lay more so with the artists, the journey it had taken them on and the layers to its backstory.I felt myself being drawn into the creative world. Ideas would circle continuously in my mind, begging to be put onto paper. I could imagine making ground breakin...

5 likes 2 comments 2
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Peek at evil and it'll peek back at you!

Submitted to Contest #329

Screwed. I was completely and absurdly screwed. Trust me, I'm not even exaggerating this time. All my life, I thought I was one of those lucky girls who grew up in a rich, loving, and caring family, with normal parents who would do everything for their kids and who worked hard to create a healthy environment.I remember when I was in seventh grade, many of my friends had issues at home. Abusive or drunk parents, divorced parents fighting for custody of the kids, a toxic environment with a lot of disrespect, and some were terrible, like my bes...

36 likes 27 comments 27
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The Sins of Us

Submitted to Contest #328

TWs: Swearing, murder, implied substance abuse, implied parent abuse, mentions of suicide (brief) July 6th, 2015 – MichaelMetal against metal. The constant air of unrepentant rage, it’s own tension throbbing through the wards. 15 days of freedom. That’s all the time I was left to rot in this hole, yet I’d come right back at the look Michael McKenzie sr. staring down at me like I was a maggot beneath his pristine Oxford’s. A bag was thrust into my arms, and I felt the familiar weight of my belongings rattling inside. Guards milled about at th...

15 likes 9 comments 9
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The World Without Her Eyes

Submitted to Contest #328

I remember everything — except what matters. The morning I turned ten, there were four breadcrumbs clustered together on the kitchen counter from the toast my mother had made me. The aroma of a cake baking in the oven filled the kitchen. With her wearily happy eyes, she looked at me with a tender, warm smile and told me happy birthday, even though I could tell she’d gotten home late last night from her shift. I looked at her with bright, beaming eyes and told her, “Thank you.” The bus that picked me up that day was number thirteen. The drive...

8 likes 2 comments 2
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Tired Eyes

Shortlisted for Contest #328 ⭐️

I looked at her. Her eyes were already tired, just like all that came before her. Her body, still. You would think a baby would cry more often, fuss more often, make themselves known more often. After all, they were brand new. No achy bones, no heavy thoughts, no concept of the sacrifice of living. But she was born tired, like all that came before her. She would eat…but only for survival, without that primal hunger seen in the innocent. From time to time, she would also open her eyes and look around. I wouldn’t say she was amazed…or interest...

30 likes 9 comments 9
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The Vagabond

Submitted to Contest #328

Your hometown always had a constant fog over it, a quiet unease that never went away. Now you were in a city, still on the East Coast, so not far from where you came from, probably. You wished you had remembered how you had gotten here. Every building was old, juxtaposed by the neon signs of nightlife. Nightlife that you really could do without, but you could do with some central heating. You found yourself in line for a small sports bar, the scent of alcohol and buffalo sauce choking your senses. On autopilot, you handed the bouncer an ID f...

2 likes 0 comments 0
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Hazard

Submitted to Contest #328

I flipped through the notebook and found half-finished poems, some drawings, and something that shouldn’t exist. There was a torn photograph taped to the page. One arm held the camera in place, framing my blank face in the center in front of a run-down apartment building. I traced the edge of the film with my index finger. I was certain I had never seen it before and wracked my brain for any fleeting memory of having taken it. I came up empty.“Hannah, any feedback from you?” a man’s voice called out.Shoot. Spaced out again. These zoning meet...

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Moonstone Alley

Submitted to Contest #328

The fog rolled off the bay and the city peeked out from under it—San Francisco, gray at the edges and wet with secrets. A Dalmatian in a trench coat moved through it, spots ghosting in and out, head tilted to aim his good ear toward the street. Barker hated missing things—sounds, meanings, clues.He climbed the narrow stairway above the locksmith on Market. It smelled of metal shavings, old raincoats, and the faint tang of oil from the shop below. A bare bulb hummed overhead, throwing a tired light along the walls.Inside his office, Barker hu...

12 likes 2 comments 2
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The Orange Blossom Effect

Submitted to Contest #328

Right where the orange tree grew, there lay a young girl. Her sundress coated with sticky blood. Didn’t matter that she had been reading a book. Or that her straw hat flew away with the breeze. Not even their eventual screams would matter. Just like that, a girl no more. They had gone on a quick errand to buy fertilizer. So that the same orange tree would grow even larger fruits. Perhaps have a few blossoms too, if they were lucky. The orange blossom water was quite a success in their hometown, but the woman’s father had big dreams. Go natio...

7 likes 1 comment 1
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Employee Incident Report Transcript: n (n+4)=24r+22r+1-3

Submitted to Contest #328

CW: Psychological horror, disturbing imagery It wasn’t always this way. Or was it. Funny the way it all just.Apologies. I shouldn’t. I don’t even. I forget… What was that?Anyway. As I was saying, we try our best here, to create a workplace environment that is. Well. Like another home. So that when you clock in every day, you feel as though you are coming back to family. Work is always better when you have a great team around you, don’t you think? Sorry. I probably shouldn’t be asking you questions. What was your’s again? My mind is all over ...

3 likes 0 comments 0
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Burning love

Submitted to Contest #327

“Men don’t always make the right choice, darling” I say, stirring honey into her tea. The scent of herbs simmers from the cauldron behind me — rosemary, mugwort, a trace of something darker. Smoke from the burning sage curls around us, and when I inhale, it burns my throat. It always does. Reminds me of that night. The fire. I steady my breath and add, “Sometimes they just need to be guided.” Ellie looks small at my kitchen table, fingers tracing the rim of her cup. My beautiful, clever girl. She reminds me so much of myself at her age — tha...

12 likes 6 comments 6
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Two O’Clock Cake

Submitted to Contest #328

A week after the funeral, the air had gone still, as if even the walls were waiting for permission to let go. I worked room by room with cardboard boxes and black marker, sorting what could be given away from what I wasn’t ready to look at. By late afternoon, the kitchen was the last untouched place. I kept putting it off. Grief lives in kitchens. It settles in tile grout and cabinet hinges and the places where hands once moved without thinking.The table was bare except for one thing: a shoebox with its lid slipping off, as if someone had op...

10 likes 2 comments 2
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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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