Mystery Terms

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Mystery Terms
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alibi

• An excuse that an accused person uses to show
  he/she was somewhere else than at the scene of a
  crime.
• The police found many holes in his alibi.

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breakthrough

• an advancement or discovery that helps solve a
  crime
• Finding her number on his cell phone records was
  a huge breakthrough.

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clue

• a fact or object that helps solve a crime
• The kittens syrupy paw print on the window was
  an important clue.

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Cliffhanger

• A story that depends on unusually strong and
  sustained suspense for its dramatic interest
• Every week, the show LOST is a complete
  cliffhanger.

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Coroner

• A public officer whose chief duty is to discover
  the causes of death possibly not due to natural
  causes.
• Every time a dead body is found in the city, the
  coroner must come to examine it.

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crime

• an act committed in violation of the law
• Benedict Arnold was accused of the crime of
  treason.

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deduce

• to infer by logical reasoning
• By examining the clues, I can deduce the name of
  the culprit.

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detective

• person who investigates crimes and gathers
  information
• Joe Friday is a famous detective from the show
  Dragnet.

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evidence

• Something such as a witness statement or object
  that is used to solve a crime.
• The slashed football was entered as evidence of
  the fight.

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flashback

• an interruption in the plot to tell what happened
  earlier
• A good mystery reader will use flashback to his
  advantage.

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foreshadowing

• using clues to suggest what will happen later in
  the plot
• Good foreshadowing can create a mood of fear and
  anxiety.

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hunch

• a guess or feeling not based on known fact
• When I saw the muddy tracks, I had a hunch Susan
  was inside.

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motive

• an inner drive that causes a person to do
  something or act in a certain way
• Is a holiday a good motive for passing your next
  test?

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mystery

• something that is secret or unknown
• How the glass shattered with no one around is a
  mystery to me!

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plot

• the arrangements of incidents in a story
• I had a difficult time following the plot of The
  Tell-Tale Heart because the narrator was nuts.

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purloin

• to steal or filch
• Mom laughed at me when I told her how my cat
  purloined the guppy from the little boys fish
  bowl.

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red herring

• something used to divert attention from the basic
  issue
• We need to plant a red herring so we can get out
  of the room without being noticed!

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setting

• time and place of a story
• The setting of The Tell-Tale Heart instantly
  suggests danger.

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sleuth

• another name for a detective
• Created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock
  Holmes is a famous British sleuth.

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suspect

• one thought to be guilty of committing a crime
• Siegfried was the primary suspect in the case of
  the missing tissue box.

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suspense

• anxiety or apprehension resulting from
  mysterious, undecided, uncertain circumstances.
• Jonas experienced great suspense at the Ceremony
  of Twelve.

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victim

• one who is harmed or suffers a loss
• It is most distressing when a child is the victim
  of a crime.

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witness

• one who saw or can give first-hand information
  about something
• Were you an witness to that event, or did you
  just hear about it?