STORY IDEA – CRUISE TO MURDER

Characters:

• Fred, widower still mourning his wife 3 years after her death. Fred decides to take the cruise he and his wife had planned in the hope that visiting the places she longed to see, he will feel less lost without her

• Georgia, woman he meets on the cruise. Unknown to Fred, has already decided he might make a good next husband, her third—the first two having been mistakes ending in mutually agreed divorces. She was in the travel agency the same day that Fred came to book his cruise and overheard his story which he readily tells anyone who will listen

• Kathyrn, neighbor and friend of Fred, a friend to the couple before she, too, was widowed. She has no plan to remarry but feels certain that is the future for Fred even if not quite yet. She worries that the cruise might be a mistake—too soon and he is too vulnerable to anyone who might see him as a rich and ready prize.

The Evidence

• Georgia is killed with poison.
• Fred and Georgia are both keen diarists. The tale of the voyage is revealed in their diaries, later viewed as evidence by the police.

Fred’s Diary reveals Fred did fall for Georgia and was hopeful for a happy future until she began to show a possessiveness that worried him. He writes that he is afraid she is unnaturally jealous of Kathryn to the point where he feels Kathryn may be placed in danger by his continued association with Georgia.

Georgia’s diary reveals her conniving to win Fred’s affections, but also reveals that she seemed to fall into her own trap. She believes herself in love with him. Since she knows her own duplicitousness, she cannot believe in the platonic friendship of Kathryn. Since Kathryn is a threat, she must be dealt with. She begins to plan.

But who is responsible for the murder?

• Fred who might have switched food/drink received from Kathryn or Georgia as a precaution. Or, he might have planned to kill Georgia to release himself from his unwise and hasty cruise marriage to a woman he now feared.
• Kathryn who disliked Georgia from the moment they met, and who may have not so platonic feelings for Fred.
• Georgia who did intend to remove Kathryn from interfering with the life she planned with Fred.
• Someone else? Perhaps someone from Georgia’s past?

If this story catches your imagination, it is yours to write. I only ask that you might let me know how you resolve it. Best wishes for your writing success.