Liz's Lair: "Whodunnit" My Way

On Friday, I got this email from a casting assistant for the summer TV reality show called Whodunnit. 

Hi Liz :)

My name is Catrina and I'm a Casting Associate in Los Angeles. We are casting a new competition show called "Whodunnit?" for ABC all about solving mysteries! We are looking for "amateur sleuths” and when I came across your website, I thought possibly you or one of your readers might be a great fit. We are looking for outgoing people who love mysteries and also love piecing together the clues to solve them! There is a $250,000 grand prize at the end of the show. The show flyer is below and I would love if you could help us get the word out by posting our flyer to your blog or emailing them our flyer to anyone you think might love the opportunity to apply. If anyone's interested or has questions, they can email me for more info! Maybe someone comes to mind that would love the opportunity to put their sleuth skills to the test? Any help or referrals are greatly appreciated. Please feel free to call or email me with any questions.

My heart nearly dropped until I realized they’d sent it to a whole bunch of my friends, too. I had already decided there was no way I wanted to do this. Have you seen some of the people on The Bachelor, Survivor, etc?? I am too vain and too underconfindent about my looks to put it all out there on national television.

My husband, on the other hand, nearly had a heart attack because I sent them an email telling them no thanks but wishing them well. All he could see were dollar bills floating from the sky into my bank account when my books hit the best seller status. The boy is a bigger dreamer than me!!

And it’s not that I don’t think I would do well on the show if all they did was solve mysteries. I have always been very good at picking out the bad guys early on in books and movies. That’s why I work really hard not to make the ones in my books so obvious.(And FYI, I would kill on Wheel of Fortune!!)

It’s just that this is television and they get their ratings by how much drama they can get out of the participants. Take Tierra on The Bachelor. I just want to shake Sean for keeping her around. If she fakes one more illness or accident, I’m going to kill her myself. Why are men so blind when it comes to manipulative women?

Back to the topic--I’m too old for this kind of drama. That said, I would love to be a consultant on the show and help them hide clues. I don’t have many talents, but I think mystery writing is one I do have. So, come on, ABC producers, pick me…………………

Anyway, I decided we should play our own little game of Whodunnit. I will start us out and give a partial list of characters. If you comment, you have to add one or two (max!!) lines to the story. It will be fun to guess the genre you read and/or write in, but keep in mind—this is a mystery. And there will be a giveaway at the end—one of my books—your choice for what I think is the most creative entry.

Here we go:

The scene:  A hospital waiting room where Janice (heroine) and her mother (Della) are nervously waiting for the surgeon to come out and tell them how their sister/daughter is doing after surgery. Seems Marsha (sister/daughter) was shot while closing up the bakery that the three women run (Cupcakes And More.) In walks Jack who is the bad boy boyfriend of Marsha, and a big argument erupts because Janice and Della both think Jack is the one who shot Marsha in a fight that everyone knew about.

Here’s the thing. We need to get to a much more sinister plot here, so put on your thinking cap and let’s hear it. Is there a mafia connection that requires protection money? What about the bakery down the street whose owners aren’t real happy with Cupcakes And More’s nearly overnight success? Or maybe Janice wasn’t the one who was supposed to get killed. Did she see something she shouldn’t have? And what about Jack’s ex wife?

Lemme have it, folks. I know you have it in you. Remember—free book!!!!