The Mystery of the Missing Checks by Morgan Mandel

I seem to recall it was May when I thought I'd ordered checks and received them, yet when I went to get them a week before vacation, they were nowhere to be found. Well, my memory isn't as good as it used to be, so after a search in the usual places, I figured maybe they hadn't arrived after all. I gave up the search and did a quick online order and received them on time.

For the past weekends, I've concentrated on getting my pigsty of a house in order. Part of the project was grabbing all the totebags on the floor of one of the closets and putting them into a rubbermaid container. They look so much neater that way. When I went to grab for one of the totes, lo and behold, I spotted the missing checks behind them in the weirdest spot, kind of attached to the molding and clinging to the wall in the back of the closet. They come in flat plastic wrapped containers now. It couldn't have happened in the old boxed containers.

So, after eight months, the mystery was solved. The checks did come. Being in the slippery container they came in, it was easy for them to slide to the back of the closet and then cling to the wall. I must have been holding them in one hand and grabbing for something else and not noticed them slipping.

What does this have to do with writing, especially mysteries? Well, I was able to go online and order checks and get them right away, but don't you dare make it that easy for your protagonist to wriggle out of a situation. Let that poor person suffer and work for a solution to the problem. When the resolution happens, make sure it makes sense and isn't a crazy coincidence or a easy out. That way you won't short change your readers, but you can still make everything turn out all right at the end.

Now, I'm going to start using those checks I found. Lots of bills to pay. Wouldn't you know it, I just ordered another batch a week ago.

Morgan Mandel
http://www.morganmandel.com/
http://morganmandel.blogspot.com/