100 romantic mystery writing prompts

These 100 romantic mystery writing prompts blend tales of passion and attraction with ensuing thrills, complex puzzles, and the final satisfactory unraveling of secrets. Love blooming alongside intrigue and investigation makes for a compelling storytelling combination.

The prompts explore romantic connections sparking to life between unlikely partners such as private investigators falling for their top suspects, detectives breaking protocol with alluring witnesses, jaded agents enthralled by psychic mediums, and more. Relationships develop and deepen around the central spine of solving ongoing murder mysteries, vanished heirs, art heists, medical conspiracies, espionage plots, wrongful death cases, tourist disappearances, sabotage schemes, archaeological puzzles, fraudulent identities, underground adversaries, search for hidden treasures, dendro-chemical warfare calamities, missing manuscripts, lost civilizations, stage illusions gone awry, dangerous magical relics, questionable deaths, family curses, possible double agents, secret cults, and other thrilling scenarios.

Potential lead characters in the prompts range from the conventional – police detectives, FBI profilers, investigative journalists, forensic scientists, cold case investigators, amateur sleuths, private detectives, inquiry agents, heirs-turned-detectives – to more fanciful incarnations including psychics, monster hunters, antiques collectors, perfumers, mixologists, musicians, magicians, anthropologists, archaeologists, historians, genealogists, folklorists, travel writers, codebreakers, and more. The prompts offer jumping off points to explore fresh characterizations and original territory at the fertile intersection of mystery, suspense, crime, romance, and a touch of the unexplained.

Here are 50 romantic mystery writing prompts:

1. The private investigator falls for the femme fatale he’s been hired to investigate.
2. Two rival antique dealers investigate the appearance of a priceless statue with a mysterious past.
3. After getting amnesia, a married woman suspects her husband is lying about their shared history.
4. A criminal profiler is shocked when clues in a new crime seem strangely familiar to her most recent first date.
5. While researching his family’s history, a man begins to suspect his ancestors may have murdered their political rivals.
6. A woman has eerie dreams about her fiancé’s deceased first wife—then finds clues the death may not have been an accident.
7. Searching for a legendary ghost ship, a marine archeologist discovers the diary of a passenger aboard the doomed vessel.
8. Called to investigate ghost sightings in a mansion, a skeptic falls for the alluring psychic brought in on the case with him.
9. When evidence of a past lover resurfaces after 20 years, a medical examiner pieces together sinister secrets.
10. A perfume chemist mixes up a new fragrance—which grants her the sudden ability to detect lies.
11. After inheriting a vineyard, a couple discovers a hidden cellar of never-before-seen wines—along with a collection of century-old funeral urns.
12. A chef agrees to help her restaurateur ex-boyfriend by entering an underground cooking contest in his name…only to see him accused of murder when a fellow contestant turns up dead.
13. When a ruthless developer’s plans threaten a beloved neighborhood bookstore, the owner and a curious journalist decide to do some digging into the tycoon’s shady past.
14. After a priceless Matisse painting goes missing from a museum, all signs point to an unlikely culprit—the investigator’s poetry loving aunt.
15. When a bumbling private eye saves a alluring lounge singer from an assault, the duo get caught up investigating the smuggling ring that seems to be after her.
16. While studying artifacts at a dig site in Scotland, an archeology student discovers an ancient letter hinting at a forbidden love affair and sinister plot.
17. When a widow moves to a remote English village, she gets caught up in the town mystery—why exactly does no one want her to ring the church bells anymore?
18. As a boutique whisky distiller’s new line takes off globally, crime and corruption on the Scottish island where he sources unique casks threatens more than just his business.
19. When the winner of a luxury travel magazine contest vanishes on a tropical island, a travel writer sent to investigate the exclusive celebrity resort also goes missing.
20. A librarian and true crime author meet researching the same mysterious cold case…only to fall for each other while unraveling its secrets.
21. While quarreling over ownership of a recently discovered lost Picasso, two art collectors uncover a secret that links both their families to the masterwork’s dark history.
22. When a visiting history professor is found poisoned, a detective finds himself captivated by the prime murder suspect—a beguiling living history actress.
23. A detective investigating funds hidden in secret Swiss bank accounts finds her number one suspect is an illegally hot financial whistleblower who swears he’s being framed.
24. When an antique silver box contains clues to an unsolved kidnapping of a tycoon’s daughter, the tycoon and a savvy reporter unravel a web of blackmail and betrayal.
25. A suspense novelist researching her husband’s family history at a remote mountain inn begins to think someone is trying to kill her for getting too close to the truth…
26. An FBI profiler vacationing on a cruise ship finds herself sucked into what should be a perfect closed-circle mystery when a passenger mysteriously vanishes at sea.
27. Two professors studying a newly discovered diary of Alexander Hamilton are horrified to find their colleagues who had access to the document are turning up dead under suspicious circumstances.
28. When the heirloom engagement ring she inherited from her great aunt goes missing, a genealogy buff traces the ring’s history back to the jewel’s original owners – and the politically fueled theft that led to a grisly murder.
29. When a murder victim found clutching a first edition Edgar Allen Poe book triggers disturbing dreams, a psychologist turned sleuth finds uncanny parallels between the case and her haunting visions.
30. After buying an antique mood ring, a corporate consultant suddenly develops an unnerving power to glimpse the emotions—and possible motives—of those around her. Determined to solve a recent unsolved murder, she partners with the sister of the man originally convicted of the crime to uncover the real killer.
31. While studying family heirlooms for an upcoming estate auction, a genealogist digs up a centuries old family mystery tied back to a famous pirate captain, buried treasure…and the possibility of a long unsolved kidnapping with political ties.
32. When an actuary uncovers accounting irregularities in his firm’s books, he’s shocked to realize the missing money is linked to a cold case…and the prime suspect is his enigmatic boss—a woman he finds himself captivated by.
33. To save her aunt’s struggling bookstore, an ambitious publisher convinces her bestselling sister-in-law author to feature the store in a murder mystery series…only to become alarmed when little “accidents” straight from her upcoming book scenes start happening in real life.
34. An archeologist studying ancient love potions is alarmed when her no-strings attached romantic fling develops an obsessive fascination for her after she secretly tests one of the ancient elixirs she discovered on him.
35. When a woman notices a mystery symbol in a playbill at a vintage theater, she chases the clue down a captivating rabbit hole…one that unexpectedly connects a century old secret societal code, a long lost manuscript, and an alluring stranger she can’t stop thinking about.
36. A divorce lawyer begins to question if her biggest client’s husband really died of natural causes when a mysterious stranger seems determined to intervene and offers enticing clues to hidden truths.
37. Drawn into investigating the case of a celebrity chef found murdered in his own home, a culinary writer must determine if his death ties back to a secret he shared with her one drunken night: the possibility that his signature dish came from a murderer’s recipe.
38. When a scheming antiques dealer loses his memory after an accident, his suspicious assistant uses artifacts from his collection to piece together the truth behind his lucrative business and the rivals that seem to be turning up dead.
39. To impress an aloof rare book specialist, a smitten librarian tries tracking down the origins of an anonymously donated unknown Jane Austen manuscript…only to get caught up in a tangle of fakery, secret codes…and danger.
40. When a true crime writer and paranormal investigator are called in to disprove a haunting at a historic manor house, unearthed clues entangle them in solving the estate’s founding family’s greatest mystery: the disappearance of its maverick suffragette heiress.
41. As an archeologist leads a team decoding strange markings in a cave painting uncovered on his ancestral estate, the anthropologist on his team begins to recognize uncanny similarities between the markings, her colleague’s family myths…and recent deaths.
42. An FBI agent known for only dating fellow agents breaks her rule by going on a date with the handsome primary suspect in her latest case…then finds herself alarmed by his interest in the very cold case she’s secretly working on solving during her off hours.
43. When an expert food scientist debunking seductive weight loss myths gains notoriety, her world is turned upside by an obsessive fan whose identity offers sinister connections back to a string of unsolved murders linked by strange apothecary clues.
44. Suspicious when a ruthless tycoon makes a public pledge of reform after his only son mysteriously drowns, a cynical reporter and her pilot informant uncover shady business dealings, smuggling…and suggestions of murder.
45. As a forensic accountant works with an FBI agent to uncover money laundering at an administrative firm, the suspicious death of his former mentor—and misplaced clues from old cases— seem to implicate an unlikely culprit: his brilliant but erratic detective daughter.
46. When genealogy research leads a woman to the family ties of an unidentified amnesiac Jane Doe, she becomes convinced solving the mystery of the woman’s past is key to cracking an infamous cold case supposedly pinned on the woman’s mobster father decades ago.
47. Researching the topic of her book on fortunes won and lost by lottery winners, an author is dismayed when strangers keep suggesting her fiancé’s beloved aunt—an eccentric shut-in—was once an anonymous jackpot winner herself…until the beloved relative turns up dead.
48. A psychologist who debunks pseudoscience finds herself falling down a conspiracy theory rabbit hole after hypnotizing an anxious patient reveals disturbing repressed evidence suggesting a dark secret society may be behind the disappearance of the patient’s twin sister .
49. On the trail of a stolen Native artifact up for auction, a professor of anthropology and a tribal historian butt heads but find themselves increasingly attracted as they uncover troubling revelations of antiquities trafficking linked back to the unsolved murder of the historian’s own great grandmother.
50. When an actuary calculates the statistical odds that multiple classmates from her 1988 high school graduating class dying in recent freak accidents over a short span are astronomically slim, a surprising connection back to her reclusive former calculus teacher compels her to investigate.
51. An heiress and a financial advisor join forces to investigate the questionable death of her tycoon father. The links they uncover lead to more than just corporate fraud.
52. A perfumer and artist investigate the brutal murder of her rare flower vendor. Their search uncovers an illegal poaching ring.
53. A therapist doubts his amnesiac client’s identity after she recalls details of his own mother’s unsolved disappearance twenty years prior.
54. A jilted lover suspects foul play after her ex and his new fiancée suffer freak identical accidents on a remote hiking trail only the three of them knew about.
55. After decrypting an old family cipher, a history professor connects her ancestors to a string of unsolved museum art thefts…and the alluring black market broker who claims to know the truth behind them.
56. When an investigator looking into high rate deaths at a hospice overhears staff secretly discussing a self-published romance novel, she’s driven to uncover what secrets lie behind the book’s account of star-crossed war reporters.
57. Teaming up with a sassy fortune teller, a buttoned up actuary uses predictive algorithms and magic to solve cold cases…and her own parents’ mysterious disappearance decades earlier.
58. When her true crime podcaster sister goes missing after suggesting the wrong convicted killer may have been set up for a young socialite’s murder at a lush vineyard, a food scientist picks up the dangerous trail of clues herself.
59. The death of an elderly recluse reveals an unexpected link between a burnt up unsolved kidnapping file and the cold case disappearance of a glamorous young naval recruit fifty years earlier.
60. After a ruthless hotel tycoon she temporarily worked for turns up dead, an ambitious magazine writer reluctantly joins forces with the tycoon’s enigmatic son to uncover which of her tell-all exposé’s secrets could have triggered dark consequences.
61. A chef and a restaurant critic bond while looking into why multiple up-and-coming tastemakers with damning anonymous blogs have turned up dead of bizarre food poisonings.
62. Trying to clear his best friend’s name after he becomes the prime suspect in a socialite’s murder at a lavish ball, a war photojournalist teams up with the victim’s quirky zoologist sister to uncover the truth.
63. A perfumerie clerk enchants a jaded FBI agent after she discovers a vial with traces of a potent ancient love potion…one possibly used historically to manipulate diplomats and incite governmental coups.
64. When a astrologist discovers she has the chart of long-missing twin who disappeared the day they were born in the same hospital, she is driven to team up with the detective originally assigned to the birth mother’s unsolved likely homicide.
65. A singer is pursued by a stranger convinced she is the secret lovechild of his unrequited college crush, a former protest singer who disappeared after witnessed a covered up campus murder years earlier.
66. When both a skeptical doctor and a botanist/herbalist receive letters posthumously from a deceased patient claiming they were poisoned by a medical conspiracy, old tensions give way to attraction as the duo work together to prove the alleged corporate crimes.
67. After an antiques dealer she had a falling out with turns up dead under odd circumstances possibly related to a specific set of family heirlooms, a genealogist digs into her own family history to see if an unsolved axe murder over a century earlier holds clues that could make her a suspect today.
68. An archeologist and historian delve into a threatening mystery after relics suggest a pharaoh they discovered the tomb of was murdered by a duplicitous vizier’s brilliant chemist lover…who some claim engineered primitive predecessors to modern fragrances and poisons.
69. Researching haunted plantation legends, a writer joins forces with a Voodoo priestess when they discover clues a vengeful former slave may have placed a curse against her oppressors…a curse seemingly tied to a rash of unexplained deaths haunting the owners’ descendants today.
70. When a celebrity self-help guru dies suspiciously, his most skeptical critic sees the perfect opportunity to expose the charlatan…until she starts receiving messages implying she may be dating her chief murder suspect: the victim’s secret son.
71. A wine heiress and an investigative journalist hunt for missing cases of rare vintages, only to uncover a smuggling operation trafficking more than just spirits: a spy is moving secrets hidden in the empty bottles.
72. Years after competing over the affections of a charming rogue, two college friends—now a scientist and archaeologist—reunite over whispers that their ex-flame’s remains have resurfaced near the site of an old shipwreck, igniting a crazy adventure neither saw coming.
73. When a ruthless casino mogul’s wife suffers a suspicious freak accident after filing for divorce, her down-on-her-luck sister teams up with an offbeat blackjack player to investigate shady dealings that suggest the tycoon would kill to keep his empire.
74. A pianist investigates why brilliant students at an elite Swiss conservatory seem to be targets of a sinister threat…with unexpected help from a gruff violinist who quickly shifts from adversary to romantic ally.
75. When the heir to an aeronautics empire dies in an experimental aircraft explosion right after naming her as successor CEO over blood relatives, a brilliant engineer joins forces with the man’s estranged son to uncover possible sabotage.
76. Researching old holistic cancer treatments, a naturopathic doctor uncovers her grandmother’s diary from the 1930s which seems to implicate a wealthy patron’s husband in the suspicious death of a renowned herbalist at the height of her groundbreaking research.
77. Long resigned to her investigative journalist mother’s unsolved murder being pinned on the wrong man, a true crime podcaster reluctantly agrees to help her unfairly convicted childhood crush plan an against-all-odds jailbreak to uncover the real killer together.
78. When a scheming hotelier couple’s business rival dies suspiciously right after a string of bad press appeared implying he was having an affair, a cynical travel writer joins forces with the tycoon’s mysterious illegitimate son to find the truth.
79. Researching a Celtic legend about star-crossed lovers, a folklorist joins forces with a physicist when science suggests a meteorite impact may have inspired the myth…and possibly wiped out an ancient village under supernatural circumstances.
80. After thieves make off with her priceless collection of rare poisons, a controversial toxicologist turns to her police chief enemy when the nuanced knowledge needed to wield the vials safely suggests an inside job.
81. When a chess master is implicated in his rival’s death by poison dart, the forensic psychologist assigned to determine criminal intent must play a tense game of wits with the aloof murder suspect to expose the truth.
82. An FBI agent feels her profiler talents pushed to the limits when a protected witness in the assassin trial she’s consulting on vanishes from the courtroom before testifying, only to initiate contact soon after suggesting witness protection is hunting him too.
83. When a cheerful amnesiac wakes up on a Colorado ranch dressed in a designer gown and wrapped in the ranch owner’s grandmother’s vintage shawl, the duo delve into her past…and the ranch’s history with rum runners during prohibition.
84. One a hotshot lawyer, one a psychic medium renouncing her controversial gift—estranged identical twin sisters reunite reluctantly to solve their narcissistic motivational speaker mother’s bizarre murder at a retreat center she owned.
85. Researching a newly discovered innovator Tesla consulted with, a science historian and Elon Musk-esque tech playboy investigate suspicious claims that the missing inventor had mastered broadcasting electricity through the air—and possibly unleashed a deadly form of it the night his lab burned down.
86. When the CFO of a thriving tech startup dies suspiciously right before going public, a corporate investigator goes undercover with seasoned venture capitalist who seems to have had entanglements with too many partners who died under odd circumstances.
87. A pianist passionate about helping the neurodiverse reexamines a former mentor’s past when she realizes all her idols attended the same elite music academy a century earlier—an institution possibly tied to an unsolved murder.
88. When their biggest donor ends up dead after threatening to pull funding over alleged research ethics violations, the chair of the biochem department joins forces with a data forensic scientist to determine if the mishap was murder…or an elaborately staged sabotage.
89. Researching an opera based on the sensational true tale of a glamorous detective teaming up with a spiritualist to solve crimes in Victorian London, a composer entices a shy clairvoyant assistant to help when strange coincidences start to resemble their own real-life mystery.
90. An architect’s surprising reaction when his fiancée jokingly splashes him with perfume at a formal gala makes a war correspondent attending the ball suspicious—but as she and the sensitive man investigate, they fall dangerously for each other instead.
91. When a woman notices the obituary photo of a pharmaceutical CEO who passed looks identical to a cult leader who died years earlier, she works with the man’s son to uncover the chilling possibility that some followers may believe their “immortal” prophet has mysteriously returned.
92. A scientist researching Alzheimer’s breakthroughs is shocked when a coded journal reveals her beloved mentor whose mind faded from dementia may have made an unauthorized anti-aging formula for a billionaire tycoon—one possibly linked to the suspicious death of the magnate’s penniless lookalike.
93. When a chef traces the origin of a rare vintage wine back to a tiny Swiss village obliterated in WWII with no known survivors, she partners with an alluring historian tying the vintage back to ancient competitions…with dangerous games that still seem freshly afoot.
94. After a scandal forces her ambassador father’s resignation, a diplomat’s daughter questions if the fall really tied back to the long-buried mystery of a Cold War double agent’s demise he supposedly witnessed—until texts from a stranger offer shocking claims it was murder.
95. Researching the dark practices of past Hollywood, a film historianbonds with the alluring grandson of an actress suspected of murdering an abusive studio head in the 30s as they uncover transgressions that influenced unsolved deaths still echoing in present scandals.
96. When a passionate vice journalist suddenly pegged as suspect in an actress’ unsolved OD death years earlier becomes a media target after criticizing police overreach, his curious daughter and her PI boyfriend link the framing to the victim’s brother, a powerful judge.
97. A psychic and detective reluctantly join forces to investigate after she begins receiving messages that he already apprehended one infamous serial killer…but still has the wrong man convicted for a string of eerie copycat murders years earlier.
98. When a cold case investigator finds anomalies suggesting she witnessed her own mother’s long unsolved murder as an infant, she’s desperate for details… until she starts secretly consulting the disgraced hypnotherapist her detective father still blames for tainting the original case.
99. Researching a forensics footnote, a caustic professor intrigued by lie detection ends up teaming with the nervous twin of the inventor—a man controversially jailed for murder despite passing polygraphs before dying in prison under suspicious circumstances.
100. After the primary donor of a prestigious piano competition is found dead of an apparent suicide, two finalists—a cocky Russian piano prodigy and shy Kazakh hopeful vying to make history for her country—begin uncovering sinister secrets suggesting the wealthy patron’s death was murder.

 

These prompts reveal the range of intriguing tales that can sprout from fusing mystery thrills with romantic connections between engaging lead characters. The combinations result in unique storytelling alloys. A suspected femme fatale excites the interest of a private investigator meant to be investigating her. An FBI profiler controversially falls for a primary murder suspect whose charm makes them doubt the evidence. Mysterious messages from alluring strangers entice otherwise level-headed characters to give chase across unexpected adventures.

Follow where these and the many other prompt ideas inspire you as an author. Explore past tropes in new lights or blaze completely uncharted territory. Facet your lead characters with fresh insights and pull readers into the push-pull rivalry between head and heart when attraction blooms in the midst of puzzles.

If these prompts captured your imagination, now there are many more to explore on our writing site. We regularly develop and publish genre prompt lists to spur imagination and creativity, all meant to kindle that initial spark of inspiration. Peruse poetry prompts, flash fiction ideas, mythology themes, atmospheric settings, magical realism notions, historical fiction springboards, and much more in our archives. Whether drafting a short vignette or embarking on an epic trilogy, writers of all experience levels can uncover prompt lists tailored to their needs.