100 crime fiction writing prompts

100 Crime Fiction Writing Prompts

Have you ever wanted to write a thrilling crime story but struggled to come up with an intriguing plot or nail-biting scenario? Look no further! This comprehensive list contains 100 crime fiction writing prompts specially crafted to spark your creative genius.

From unsolved murder mysteries and hostage situations gone awry to art heists, assassination plots, and cyber extortion schemes, these prompts run the gamut of thrilling criminal exploits. Whether you prefer gritty police procedurals, cozy small town whodunits, historical crime tales, or even supernatural thriller subgenres, you’re guaranteed to find death-defying storylines bursting with cliffhanger twists.

The prompts utilize popular hooks related to missing persons, forensic investigations, secret identities, conspiracy theories, revenge plots, antagonist mind games, criminal underworlds and more to grab reader attention fast. There are also creative takes on serial killers, prison breaks, robbery capers and other high-stakes scenarios, with unexpected perspectives that invert tropes in refreshing ways.

So power up your laptop and dig into these original prompts conceived to set free the groundbreaking crime writer lurking within you. Let clever criminals and cunning detectives come alive on the page while you craft the next breakout police drama, legal thriller or mystery saga!

Here are 100 crime fiction writing prompts:

1. A detective wakes up with amnesia and has to solve their own case to figure out who they are.
2. A hacker accidentally stumbles upon plans for an assassination plot and has to go on the run.
3. After a family member is murdered, a grief-stricken protagonist becomes obsessed with solving the crime themselves.
4. A serial killer taunts the police with cryptic clues about their next victim.
5. A small town sheriff has to track down thieves after a priceless historical artifact is stolen from the local museum.
6. An undercover cop infiltrates a dangerous smuggling ring but soon finds themselves in too deep.
7. After their spouse mysteriously disappears, an increasingly paranoid protagonist isn’t sure who to trust – not even themselves.
8. On the way back from visiting a prisoner, a prison transport bus crashes and all the dangerous criminals escape.
9. A murdered socialite has a secret life that is only discovered after their death – they were living under an assumed identity.
10. A detective keeps getting mysterious blank postcards in the mail signed only with the letter ‘X’. What do they mean?
11. After a high stakes casino heist, the only witness is a cocktail waitress who can identify the thieves.
12. An arson investigator suspects that a deadly fire was deliberately set to cover up a murder.
13. A blackmailed politician turns the tables and sets out to uncover their extorter’s secrets instead.
14. The sudden death of a Science teacher appears to have been poison – but no dangerous chemicals are missing from the high school lab.
15. The murder of a reclusive train enthusiast is made to look like a suicide – but why would anyone want them dead?
16. After a hostage situation goes wrong, a hostage negotiator has to track down the perpetrator who escaped.
17. The star witness in a high profile trial is kidnapped on their way to testify. Can they be rescued in time?
18. A package thief ends up stealing deadly explosives and has to work with police to prevent a terrorist attack.
19. The murder of a highly skilled thief baffles police – who would be capable of outsmarting them?
20. A forensic accountant notices anomalies in a company’s books and ends up uncovering a huge financial conspiracy.
21. After an attempt is made on their life, an investigative journalist goes underground to expose who wants them dead.
22. A string of unusual deaths are linked to a new app that seems to know people’s greatest fears. How does it work – and how does it choose its victims?
23. A pickpocket snatches the wrong phone belonging to a member of dangerous gang.
24. The murder of a reclusive train enthusiast appears to have been poison – but why would anyone want them dead?
25. Security camera footage that could identify a killer is erased in what seems to be an inside job.
26. A cold case is reopened after a confession letter detailing the crime arrives at the police station – but the alleged killer has been dead for 10 years.
27. A wealthy widow’s sudden death means a new heir stands to inherit everything. But suspicious details emerge suggesting murder.
28. After a politician’s aide dies under mysterious circumstances, the PR team goes into overdrive to prevent a scandal.
29. A Rabbi, a Priest and an Imam walk into the public library and never check out the religious books they borrowed – then they all disappear without at trace.
30. After a deadly yacht fire, investigators realize there’s only one person who couldn’t have started the blaze that killed a powerful senator.
31. Museum security thought the antique bracelet was safely in the glass case – but that night, the mint condition item goes missing without a trace.
32. A single snowy footprint outside a remote mountain cabin marks the scene of a grisly murder. But when forensics tries to match it, the print doesn’t belong to any of the suspects.
33. A down and out boxer is the only witness to a drive-by shooting, but can’t afford to break his mafia-controlled code of silence to identify the killer.
34. An assassin discovers their own name is next on their boss’s hit list, marking them as a loose end now that the major target is dead.
35. The murder of a skilled prosecutor threatens to derail the mob trial of the century – until an FBI agent gets an unlikely tip from a petty criminal.
36. Cleaning out her aunt’s attic, a woman discovers clues that the beloved relative was living a double life with a hidden crime agenda.
37. A drug smuggler crash lands a plane full of cocaine and goes on the run from gangsters, the law and a dirty DEA agent.
38. The star of bag lady hides in hoards and shadows turns out to be a brilliant ex-chemist with a penchant for poison and going unnoticed.
39. A cold case detective refuses to accept the explanation when the autopsy report rules his star witness’ death as natural causes.
40. The ashes of cremated corpses start turning up in random locations far from the graveyard and someone is definitely keeping them. But why?
41. Two violent rival crime syndicates discover they’ve both been answering to the same shadowy boss who has now turned them against each other as a distraction from their own crimes.
42. A villain with a peculiar blood fetish is draining victims completely dry before posing their bodies grotesquely around the city. But what is being done with all that precious red elixir?
43. A pair of clever grifters turn the tables on a ruthless gang lord who wants them dead – by stealthily stealing his identity and emptying his bank accounts before disappearing forever.
44. A surrogate mother carrying high value designer embryos worth a fortune is kidnapped in broad daylight. But when she turns up safe and sound with no memory of what happened, investigators grow suspicious.
45. A murder investigation threatens to blow open the dark family secrets of a powerful senator when it’s linked back to his troubled socialite sister’s mysterious death years prior.
46. The shocking death of a prominent anti-technology leader halts the passage of a sweeping new ban on AI research – but not before they mail out one final ominous manifesto foretelling the dangers ahead if development continues.
47. A psychiatrist secretly battles his own dark urges and split personality while working to develop a psychological profile of the surrounding city’s elusive serial killer.
48. The lone survivor of a horrific massacre at a remote farmhouse recounts conflicting memories about a sinister apocalyptic cult and the unexplained phenomenon that claimed 18 lives.
49. A fortune in antique gold coins is stolen from a museum opening exhibit thanks to a switched shipping crate, a well-placed forgery…and an unseen mastermind.
50. The gruesome Chairman Murders targeting the wealthy elite confound investigators with the macabre death tableaus left behind featuring the faces of beheaded corporation heads.
51. A ruthless vigilante hacks into live TV broadcasts to deliver video manifestos exposing government and corporate corruption then carries out bold assassinations.
52. A suspiciously untraceable new drug causes mass violence and chaos in prisons and inner cities while the affluent manufacturer cashes in on increased law enforcement budgets
53. A devious duo therapists turn vulnerable patients into hypnotized sleeper agents to act out assassination attempts, robberies, and more so they can get rich analyzing the suspects after arrest.
54. A murderous rideshare driver continually slips through the grasp of authorities thanks to hundreds of false identities being generated via algorithm to game the startup’s lax background checks.
55. A warmongering arms dealer sells weapons to both sides of every global conflict through shell companies and legal loopholes while living protected and thriving under political asylum abroad.
56. The desperate copycat crimes of a dangerous shooting spree fanatic escalate while an expert researcher delves into the disturbed psyche profile and motives of the still unidentified perpetrator they named “Shooter X”.
57. An assassin struggles with intensifying schizophrenia and violent impulses while working against the clock as each hit risks exposing more psychological instability
58. A regretful criminal genius – known for only stealing high profile masterpieces and replacing them with expert replicas – initiates their own hunt to track down where their stolen originals disappeared to when fences didn’t sell to any interested collectors.
59. The lone survivor of a tragic avalanche that claimed the lives of nine wealthy socialite friends becomes the subject of dark rumors questioning the official story of the freak mid-May snowstorm.
60. A driven journalist follows paper trails left behind by an anonymous whistleblower leading all the way through shell corporations to the CEO of a private military company selling clandestine services. But once the leader’s secret illegal operations are exposed far darker revelations about human experimentation surface.
61. A cunning murderer makes an elaborate show of appearing to follow advice from a prominent psychiatrist to throw investigations off the trail of their connection to a spree of nurse killings staged like grotesque mercy killings.
62. An online marketplace overflowing with illegal goods and criminal connections launches a wave of blackmail, extortion campaigns, and bizarre stings against politicians and celebrities leading back to its shadowy founders.
63. A skilled investigator finds their own custom-ordered engagement ring hanging around the neck of a headless torso pulled from a river and realizes they’ve been framed by the very serial killer they are chasing.
64. A murderous rideshare driver with hundreds of false identities blames a traumatic brain injury for increasingly bizarre delusions inspiring ritualistic kills all tied to the GPS voice directions.
65. A ruthless South American cartel battles law enforcement, gang rivals, informants while rapidly exploiting vulnerable populations with a dangerously addictive synthetic street drug made and trafficked at catastrophic scale.
66. A principled crusading journalist bent on exposing the rampant corruption surrounding an ambitious infrastructure mega project keeps receiving gruesome messages and bloody “gifts” warning them away from certain greedy public figures before it’s too late.
67. A scrappy TV reporter relentlessly investigates hospital financial irregularities only to end up drugged and involuntarily committed by villainous administrators – can they break out and finally break the scandal & corruption story wide open?
68. An eccentric chemistry teacher’s valuable original research is stolen after their suspicious apparent suicide and former students race shady biotech reps to be the first to unlock and exploit the dangerous experimental technology.
69. An FBI profiler’s own twisted mentor puts her skills to the test setting increasingly elaborate psychological traps centered around his intricate murder scenes positioned as a deadly challenge to solve his ultimate mystery.
70. A brilliant psychologist gets trapped in an intense battle of wits against a sinister and elusive serial bomber who stages their intricate, high profile attacks as “tests” for the investigator to pass.
71. A skilled safecracker tries to pull off one last monumental heist to disappear forever only to get embroiled in the cutthroat competition between two powerful crime syndicates because the treasure they steal is far deadlier than cash.
72. A framed politician out for justice and redemption must reluctantly team up with the brilliant fraudster who orchestrated their downfall when a mutual enemy has deadly blackmail to leverage over both.
73. A twisted voyeur places their own cameras amid an unsuspecting couple’s intimate belongings and monitors their home life while privately engineering cruel schemes that deteriorate their relationship.
74. The survivor of a mysterious plane crash uncovers unsettling clues suggesting the flight was sabotaged as part of a complex heist targeting a reclusive passenger’s priceless modern artwork collection being covertly transported.
75. After a shocking public shooting reveals his best assassin has potentially betrayed him going rogue a calculating crime boss must track down the skilled killer before their valuable secrets get exposed.
76. A profiler hunting a deranged escapee must delve back into her own troubled past for insight when her fugitive twin sister becomes the prime suspect behind increasingly unhinged murders.
77. A freak accident during a casino heist gives a thief sudden clairvoyant abilities to foresee disastrous fates allowing them to rescue others but not cheat their own deadly destiny if they interfere too much.
78. An eccentric investigator descending into amusing madness nonetheless continues cracking cold cases wide open while hunting clever serial killers who staged strange deaths as avant garde public art displays.
79. The discovery of a mutilated corpse buried beneath a beloved public monument ignites an explosive investigation exposing the prominent historic site as a homicide hotbed used by serial killers for decades without detection.
80. A skilled detective troubled by grief after her partner’s death comes out of retirement when a mysterious unsolved murder from their past serves as a calling card by the sinister killer who previously eluded them.
81. A master hacker slowly driven mad by obsessively decrypting uncrackable files spirals while hunting an elusive group of cyber terrorists planning orchestrate a cataclysmic global system crash.
82. A rogue special agent once renowned for leading daring capture missions now wages a one man war of vengeance away from oversight battling murderous mercenaries, gun runners, assassins and the corrupt bureaucrats who enabled them.
83. A principled CIA analyst has her idealism tested finding herself drawn into the moral grey areas of covert action while uncovering destabilizing secrets hidden in classified documents leaked by an equally radicalized hacker.
84. A cunning thief specializing in infiltrating wealthy estates to steal priceless art begins receiving disturbing threats warning she is being targeted by one of her victim’s relatives seeking personal revenge through relentless mind games.
85. While investigating her own mentor’s mysterious death in a high tech laboratory explosion, a brilliant chemist makes shocking discoveries revealing his classified research into illegal biochemical weapons funded by corrupt government sources.
86. A seasoned hostage negotiator still riddled with PTSD guilt from his last case tries to resolve the volatile standoff peacefully unaware it is a complex trap set up by old rivals manipulating both sides from the shadows.
87. An eccentric forensic archaeologist uses unconventional methods to excavate hidden evidence among historical mass disaster sites leading back to the prime suspect in his mentor’s still unsolved strange demise years ago.
88. A skilled safecracker gets recruited by INTERPOL to serve reduced prison time helping them investigate a sophisticated network of high stakes thieves specializing in elaborate heists targeting the world’s most secure bank vaults and museums.
89. A tenacious journalist risks his life chasing propagated conspiracy theories about seemingly natural disasters actually being cover-ups for catastrophic weapons experiments while powerful forces close in trying to silence him permanently.
90. A principled FBI whistleblower implicated in a violent confrontation gone wrong is deemed rogue before he can expose the unsettling classified experiments brainwashing ordinary citizens into unwitting sleeper agents activated to carry out deadly deeds then self-destruct.
91. A brilliant analyst’s groundbreaking predictive data models forecasting local crime trends and patterns reveal the seemingly random city violence hides an elaborately choreographed unseen criminal network orchestrating events from behind the scenes via algorithm.
92. A resourceful paramedic finds herself entangled in an intricate conspiracy after her brother is assassinated on a rescue call she attended requiring her to take on the mercenaries who have also weaponized the automated emergency alert network to mask murders.
93. A skilled arson investigator returns to her rural hometown when a raging wildfire threatens to reach the isolated commune where she endured a troubled childhood only to uncover the shocking truth – her mother radicalized the cult into becoming extremists intentionally setting blazes for a cause.
94. A rising nonprofits star fundraiser finds himself uncovering baffling financial crimes hiding amongst the charity galas, donations, and devoted volunteers requiring him to discreetly investigate powerful figures willing to kill to keep their lucrative secrets hidden.
95. A cunning antiques thief pockets a vintage music box containing a cryptic treasure map kicking off a thrilling race against rival criminals all desperate to reach the undisclosed locations first and claim the remarkable rewards waiting to be excavated.
96. A skilled skip tracer focusing on particularly puzzling people who have disappeared without a trace makes her most bewildering find yet when she locates a prominent CEO living under a false name inexplicably managing a small town diner with no memory of his actual identity.
97. An unconventional psychologist known for hypnotizing clients to access repressed memories orchestrates his own disappearance after hinting at dangerous experimental breakthroughs but the investigation reveals more happened in his final sessions than treatment.
98. A clever con artist scams grief stricken wealthy widowers by manipulating them during their times of mourning except her latest mark hiding a twisted secret threatens to turn the tables making her the vulnerable target instead.
99. A cunning antiquities expert curating a new exhibit centered around the infamous dark legends of eternally cursed ancient artifacts has an alarming accident befall his restoration team forcing him to reluctantly consider if the ominous mythic histories hold truth after all.
100. An eccentric private investigator’s seemingly mundane missing person case takes a bizarrely supernatural twist when the spiritualist medium they unwillingly team up with to conjure answers ends up possessed by the very ghost who holds the key to unlocking the mystery disappearance.

We hope you enjoyed our 100 crime fiction writing prompts and that they helped you create some amazing work. We have many other writing prompts on our site that you may find helpful. Leave us a comment below.