Mystery writing prompts

Mystery is collaborative chess. Lay clues for each other, plant a red herring or two, and decide together whether the detective gets to win.

1. A funeral guest realises the body in the coffin is not the person they came to bury.
2. The last person to leave the office every night is being replaced and only the cleaner notices.
3. A village fete bake-off ends with the judge dead and twelve identical Victoria sponges.
4. A lighthouse keeper documents a ship that arrives every night but is never there in the morning.
5. An estate sale uncovers a diary that predicts the buyer's next move.
6. The hotel's complaints book contains entries from guests who never stayed.
7. A retired detective receives birthday cards from a child she never had.
8. The town's CCTV shows everyone twice except one woman.