Checkpoint 8 · Paper 2 writing (fiction)

Crime Mystery (Detective) Stories

How to write a clever detective story for Paper 2 — a crime, suspects, alibis, clues, a red herring and a fair reveal, with no graphic violence — with features, a six-stage plan, phrases, vocabulary and a full-mark 350+ word sample.

British & IGCSE › Checkpoint 8 English (Cambridge Lower Secondary 0861)

1. What is a crime mystery?

A crime mystery (also called a detective story or a whodunnit — "who has done it?") is a special kind of mystery. A crime has happened — usually a theft or a disappearance — and a detective or investigator must work out who is responsible from a small group of suspects. Each suspect has a possible motive (a reason) and an alibi (a story of where they were). The detective uses evidence, questioning and careful reasoning to find the truth.

It uses the same toolkit as a general mystery (clues, red herrings, suspense, a twist) but adds the machinery of an investigation: a crime scene, suspects, alibis, interrogation and a formal reveal. If your idea has no crime and no suspects — just a puzzle or a secret — use the General Mystery pack instead.

Keep it suitable: the puzzle matters, not the violence

At Checkpoint level, the best crimes are thefts, disappearances, sabotage, forgery or a missing pet or object. They give you a clever puzzle without anything upsetting.
Do not describe violence, injuries or weapons. If your story needs something serious, keep it off the page — the detective arrives afterwards and studies the clues.
The examiner rewards clever thinking: a fair clue, a broken alibi, a surprising but logical culprit.

Element	What it means	Example
Crime	what has happened	the Science Fair trophy disappears from a locked cabinet
Detective / investigator	the person who solves it (professional or amateur)	Nadia, a Year 8 school-newspaper reporter
Sidekick	a companion who helps, questions or notices	Omar, her friend, who writes everything down
Suspects	2-3 people who could have done it	the caretaker, a jealous team captain, a helpful prefect
Motive	the reason someone might do it	jealousy, money, fear, revenge, covering up a mistake
Alibi	a suspect’s account of where they were	"I was mending a pipe in the science block."
Evidence / clue	a real detail that points to the truth	a damp polishing cloth in the bin
Red herring	a detail that points the wrong way	Hazem’s muddy trainers
Reveal	the moment the detective names the culprit and explains the key clue	"How did the handle break?"

Purpose: to challenge the reader to solve the case and then surprise them with a reveal that is logical and fair. Audience: the examiner — a sharp reader who enjoys spotting the clue before the detective does.

Where it sits in the exam

Paper 2 is the Fiction paper. It lasts 1 hour 10 minutes and is worth 50 marks: Section A Reading (25 marks) and Section B Writing (25 marks).
Section B is one story task. It is usually linked by theme to the fiction extract you read in Section A, and it gives you bullet prompts (for example: the character, the place, what happens, how it ends).
The suggested time for Section B is about 35 minutes, and planning space is given. Planning is not marked, but it is where good stories are won.
The task will not say "write a crime mystery story". It gives you a theme. YOU decide that this genre is the best way to answer it — and then you stay inside the genre from the first line to the last, while still answering every bullet.
The same format is used in the Stage 8 Progression Test you sit at school, so everything on this page works for both.

Themes that suit a crime mystery: something valuable goes missing, a competition or celebration that goes wrong, a secret, trust and honesty, "appearances can be deceptive", an unexpected event on a trip, a stranger in town, a mistake with consequences, justice and fairness.

How your story is marked (25 marks)

Your story is marked in five categories (official names first, with older names in brackets). Here is what the top band looks like for a crime mystery, in our own words.

Mark category	Marks	What the top band looks like in this genre
Creation of texts	5	The story answers the theme and every bullet. The crime is clear. The suspects are believable. The clues are fair. The culprit is surprising but logical. The detective solves it by thinking, not by luck.
Vocabulary and language	3	Precise investigation vocabulary used naturally (alibi, motive, evidence, suspect, deduce, culprit), plus words that show behaviour and hidden feelings (hesitated, snapped, avoided her eyes).
Structure of texts (Text structure)	7	Six clear stages: the crime discovered → detective and suspects → motives and alibis → clues and a red herring → questioning and tension → reveal and resolution. The key clue appears before the reveal.
Grammar and punctuation (Sentence structure, punctuation and grammar)	7	Dialogue punctuated correctly and used for questioning. Short sentences for realisations, complex sentences for reasoning and a range of accurate punctuation (colon, semicolon, dashes, brackets, ellipsis).
Word structure (spelling)	3	Ambitious words spelt correctly (suspicious, evidence, interrogation, investigate, guilty, receipt, conscience, ceremony). No homophone slips (their/there, where/wear, threw/through).
Total	25	Best fit: the examiner reads the whole story and matches it, row by row, to the band that describes it best. Planning is not marked.

Rules that can cap your mark

20 words or fewer scores 0. A very short answer (about 21-60 words) can get no more than 7 marks out of 25.
If you write the wrong text type (for example, a diary entry or a newspaper report instead of a story), Creation of texts is capped at 1 and Structure of texts is capped too.
If the story drifts away from the task's theme, you lose Creation marks even if the writing is beautiful — keep the bullet prompts in front of you.
Marking is best fit: the examiner reads the whole story and matches it, row by row, to the band that describes it best.

2. Features of a crime mystery

Choose the features that fit your case. A 35-minute exam story cannot hold ten suspects — keep it tight and clever.

Feature	What it means	Example sentence
The crime discovered (the aftermath)	Open AFTER the crime: the detective studies what is left	The glass was not broken. That was the first thing Nadia noticed.
A detective with a method	Notices small things, asks sharp questions, writes things down	Nadia opened her notebook.
A sidekick	Supports, questions or misses what the detective sees	Omar wrote WHY THE MUD? in capital letters.
A closed setting	A limited place keeps the suspect list small: a school, a house, a train, a museum	the main hall, the office, the library
Suspects with motives	Each one could have done it	Hazem had been heard grumbling that the trophy was ‘a lump of tin’.
Alibis	Each suspect’s story. At least one does not hold up	“I haven’t been near it since Thursday.”
Clues and a red herring	Real evidence beside misleading evidence	a damp polishing cloth (real) / muddy trainers (red herring)
Interrogation	Questions that test the alibi. Body language shows the truth	Dina’s smile froze.
A twist reveal	The least likely suspect, or a detail hidden in plain sight	It was a perfect answer. That was what bothered Nadia.
Resolution with justice	The case closes — but the detective may reflect on its cost	how easily a frightened person can look exactly like a guilty one

Language and layout features every story needs (these earn the Structure and Grammar marks):

Feature	How to use it in a crime mystery	Example
A title	Name the crime or the key clue — never the culprit	The Empty Cabinet / Twelve Minutes / The Missing Medal
Paragraphs	New paragraph for each suspect, each new clue and each speaker	She interviewed all three in the library.
Dialogue	The heart of the questioning: short questions, guarded answers	“Just one more question,” she said quietly.
Show, don’t tell (STEAL)	Reveal guilt and nerves through looks, actions and how characters speak	His face turned red the moment Nadia mentioned the trophy.
Sentence variety	Long sentences for reasoning. Short sentences for realisations	It was a perfect answer. That was what bothered Nadia.
Varied punctuation	Brackets or a pair of dashes for extra information. Colon before a key detail. Ellipsis for a pause or hesitation in speech	(the PE teacher had watched him from the staffroom window)
Past tense, one point of view	Third person (she) lets you describe the detective’s face. First person (I) lets the reader think along with the detective	Keep the same choice from start to finish.

The fair-play rule of detective stories

Every fact the detective uses to solve the case must appear in the story BEFORE the reveal. The reader should be able to look back and say, "The clue was there!" A detective who suddenly knows the answer, or a culprit who simply confesses for no reason, feels like cheating. The best trick is a slip in an alibi: the culprit says something they could only know if they were guilty, or their "perfect" story is contradicted by one small piece of evidence.

3. How to structure your story

First, plan with G.C.S.P.P. (about 5 minutes):

G — Genre: crime mystery. Write in one line: the crime, the culprit, the motive and the ONE clue that proves it. Decide this before anything else.
C — Characters: a detective (and a sidekick), and 2-3 suspects — each with a motive and an alibi. Make the real culprit seem the LEAST likely.
S — Setting: a closed place (school, house, museum, train, hotel, village). If the task gives a setting, use it.
P — Point of view: close third person (she/he) is classic for detectives. First person works if your narrator is the investigator. Past tense.
P — Plot: list your real clue and your red herring, then write notes for the six stages below.

Then follow this paragraph-by-paragraph plan, based on the six-stage crime structure from my writing book.

Paragraph	Stage	What to write	Length
1-2	Discover the crime	Open on the aftermath, not the crime itself. Let the detective notice one important detail about the scene (no forced lock, an empty space, a time).	4-6 sentences
3	Introduce the detective and sidekick	Who they are and why they take the case — through action and dialogue, not description.	2-4 sentences
4	The suspects and their motives	2-3 suspects. One line of behaviour or motive each.	3-5 sentences
5-6	Alibis and questioning	Each suspect’s story. One alibi is strong. One suspect looks guilty (red herring). One gives a "perfect" answer.	5-8 sentences
7	Clues and a red herring	The red herring is explained away. The detective returns to the scene and finds the real clue.	4-6 sentences
8	The reveal	The detective tests the culprit with one sharp question. The culprit’s reaction (STEAL) shows the truth. A short confession.	4-7 sentences
9	Resolution and reflection	What happens to the culprit and the stolen object. End with the detective’s thought — the case is closed, but something lingers.	2-4 sentences

Minutes	What you do
0–5	Read the task twice. Underline the theme and every bullet prompt. Plan with G.C.S.P.P. (Genre, Characters, Setting, Point of view, Plot) and jot a short note for each paragraph. Write the crime, the culprit and the key clue in one line.
5–30	Write. Aim for at least 350 words (strong answers are often 400–550 words). By about minute 15 you should be questioning your suspects (paragraphs 5-6).
30–35	Proofread: spelling of your ambitious words, full stops (no comma splices), speech punctuation, capital letters, one tense and one point of view.

4. Useful phrases and vocabulary

Adapt these — change the names, places and objects to fit your case. Use one or two per stage. Do not stack them.

Discovering the crime

The [door / safe / cabinet] had been opened, not forced. That was the first thing [Detective] noticed.
There was no broken lock, no shattered glass: just an empty space where [the object] used to be.
The scene told a story before anyone said a word: [an overturned chair / scattered papers / a single dropped glove].
Something — or someone — had been here, and they hadn’t wanted to be seen.
There was no sign of forced entry, which narrowed the list considerably.

The detective and the suspects

[Detective] wasn’t looking for a case. The case found [him/her] anyway.
Each suspect told a different story, and each story left something out.
[Suspect]’s hands wouldn’t stay still. [Another suspect]’s smile came half a second too late.
[Suspect] had the motive. [Another suspect] had the opportunity. Only one of them had both.
No one in the room looked entirely innocent. That was the problem.

Questioning (interrogation)

“Where were you at [time]?” [Detective] asked. The answer came a beat too slow.
“I— I don’t know,” [Suspect] stammered, avoiding [his/her] eyes.
The more [Detective] pressed, the more the calm mask began to crack.
An alibi is only useful if it’s true. [Suspect]’s wasn’t holding up.
“Just one more question,” [Detective] said quietly.

Evidence, clues and red herrings

The evidence pointed one way, yet something about it didn’t add up.
What looked suspicious turned out to be coincidence. What looked ordinary turned out to be everything.
A single [fingerprint / receipt / thread / smell] was all it took to unravel the story someone had built.
It was a perfect answer. That was what bothered [Detective].
Someone had planted that clue. The only question was why.

The reveal

[Detective] said the name quietly. The room went silent.
The lies crumbled, one by one, until only the truth was left standing.
It could only have been one person, and it was the one no one suspected.
The final piece of evidence tied every loose thread together.

Resolution

The case was closed. The thought that followed [Detective] home was not.
Justice was served, but it came at a cost no one had expected.
Order was restored, though something about [the school / the village] had changed for good.
Some cases end in answers. This one ended in a lesson.

Word / phrase	Meaning / use
alibi (n.)	proof that someone was somewhere else when the crime happened — His alibi placed him at the football pitch.
motive (n.)	the reason behind a crime — Jealousy was the obvious motive.
suspect (n.)	a person thought to be responsible — Every suspect had an answer ready.
culprit (n.)	the person responsible for a wrongdoing — The culprit was the last person we expected.
perpetrator (n.)	the person who committed the crime — The perpetrator left no fingerprints.
evidence (n.)	facts or objects that prove something — The damp cloth was the key piece of evidence.
forensic (adj.)	relating to scientific investigation of crime — forensic tests on the glass
testimony (n.)	a formal statement of what someone saw — Her testimony contradicted his.
corroborate (v.)	to confirm with more evidence — Two cleaners corroborated his story.
incriminating (adj.)	suggesting someone is guilty — an incriminating piece of silver
deduce (v.)	to reach a conclusion by reasoning — She deduced the time from the damp cloth.
interrogation (n.)	close, careful questioning — The interrogation took place in the library.
accomplice (n.)	someone who helps another person commit a crime — There must have been an accomplice inside.
conceal (v.)	to hide on purpose — The piece of handle was concealed in a cloth.
apprehend (v.)	to catch or arrest — The guards apprehended him at the gate.

5. Strong sample answer

Crime mystery — The Empty Cabinet574 words · Strong answer — Creation 5/5 · Vocabulary 3/3 · Structure 7/7 · Grammar & punctuation 7/7 · Spelling 3/3

Task: In the extract you have read, something valuable disappears just before an important event. Write a story about something that goes missing and how the truth is discovered. In your story you should: describe the setting and the people involved, show how the main character investigates, and reveal who was responsible and explain how the story ends.

The glass was not broken. That was the first thing Nadia noticed, and it changed everything.

At eight o’clock on the morning of the Science Fair, the school’s silver trophy should have been gleaming in its cabinet in the main hall, waiting for the afternoon ceremony. Instead, there was only a clean, round mark in the dust where it had stood for ten years. The cabinet door was closed. The lock had not been forced.

“So the thief had a key,” said Omar, Nadia’s best friend and the only other reporter on the school newspaper. He pushed his glasses up his nose. “That makes it an inside job.”

Nadia opened her notebook. The cabinet key hung on a hook in the school office, and the head teacher gave her the names of the three people who had been near that office before eight. Mr Samy the caretaker carried every other key in the school on one enormous ring. Hazem, captain of last year’s losing team, had been heard grumbling that the trophy was ‘a lump of tin’. Dina, the Year 10 prefect, had been chosen to polish the trophy before the ceremony.

She interviewed all three in the library.

Mr Samy had been mending a leaking pipe in the science block since seven; two cleaners had seen him there, soaked and muttering. Hazem arrived late, his trainers caked with mud, and his face turned red the moment Nadia mentioned the trophy. “I said it was tin,” he snapped. “I didn’t say I wanted it.” Omar wrote WHY THE MUD? in capital letters and underlined it twice.

Dina was the calmest of all. She smiled, folded her hands and explained that she had not even opened the cabinet yet. “I was going to polish it at break,” she said. “I haven’t been near it since Thursday.”

It was a perfect answer. That was what bothered Nadia.

The mud, she soon discovered, came from the football pitch, where Hazem had been practising penalties alone since dawn (the PE teacher had watched him from the staffroom window). It was a red herring. Something else, however, caught her attention when she returned to the hall: a sharp, chemical smell, like new coins, hanging around the cabinet. In the bin beside it lay a grey cloth, still damp and stiff with silver polish. Wrapped inside it was a small curved piece of silver… the end of a handle.

Somebody had polished the trophy that morning — and dropped it.

Nadia found Dina in the corridor. “Just one more question,” she said quietly. “When you were polishing it this morning, how did the handle break?”

Dina’s smile froze. For a long moment, she said nothing at all. Then her eyes filled with tears.

“It slipped,” she whispered. “It hit the floor and the handle snapped, and I… I panicked. My uncle has a workshop. I was going to get it mended before anyone noticed. I didn’t steal it, Nadia. I just couldn’t bear to tell anyone.”

The trophy was back in its cabinet by two o’clock, its handle carefully repaired and shining brighter than ever. Dina told the head teacher everything herself, and in the end, her honesty mattered more than the accident.

That evening, Nadia wrote her article for the school newspaper. The case was closed, but one thought stayed with her long after she had finished typing: how easily a frightened person can look exactly like a guilty one.

Why this gets the marks

Creation of texts 5/5 — every bullet is answered: setting and people (paragraphs 1-4), the investigation (5-11), who was responsible and how it ends (12-15). The culprit is the least likely suspect, and the solution is logical: Dina’s "perfect" alibi is contradicted by the fresh polish and the broken handle.
Creation — suitable and thoughtful: the "crime" turns out to be a panicked cover-up, not a theft, which gives the story a human message (fear can look like guilt) without any violence.
Vocabulary 3/3 — crime vocabulary used naturally: inside job, interviewed, red herring, forced, alibi-style statements, case closed. Behaviour verbs that reveal character: snapped, muttering, grumbling, smile froze, whispered.
Vocabulary — sensory clue: "a sharp, chemical smell, like new coins" (simile) turns an ordinary detail into evidence.
Structure 7/7 — the six stages: crime discovered through one key detail (1-2) → detective and sidekick (3) → suspects and motives (4) → alibis and questioning (5-8) → red herring explained, real clue found (9-10) → reveal through one sharp question (11-13) → resolution and reflection (14-15).
Structure — fair play and cohesion: Dina is introduced as the person "chosen to polish the trophy" in paragraph 4, so the polish clue is fair. The opening line ("The glass was not broken… it changed everything") is the first step of the logic that ends at the reveal. One-line paragraphs mark each turn ("It was a perfect answer. That was what bothered Nadia.").
Grammar & punctuation 7/7 — sentence variety: short sentences for realisations ("The lock had not been forced."), complex sentences for reasoning ("The mud, she soon discovered, came from the football pitch, where Hazem had been practising…"), and questioning dialogue on new lines.
Grammar & punctuation — range used accurately: brackets for extra information ("(the PE teacher had watched him…)"), a semicolon joining two related sentences ("Mr Samy had been mending a leaking pipe…; two cleaners had seen him there"), colons for explanation ("a sharp, chemical smell…" introduced by "caught her attention when she returned to the hall:") and for emphasis ("one thought stayed with her…: how easily…"), a single dash for emphasis ("that morning — and dropped it"), ellipsis for suspense ("a small curved piece of silver… the end of a handle") and for hesitation in speech ("and I… I panicked"), a pair of commas for extra information ("Omar, Nadia’s best friend…,"), and inverted commas for a quotation (‘a lump of tin’).
Spelling 3/3 — ambitious words spelt correctly: ceremony, gleaming, caretaker, enormous, grumbling, interviewed, chemical, repaired, honesty. Apostrophes correct (school’s, Nadia’s, last year’s, didn’t, couldn’t).

6. Common mistakes and final checklist

Common mistake	Why it loses marks	Fix
Describing violence or a gruesome crime scene	Unsuitable and distracts from the puzzle	Choose a theft or disappearance. The detective arrives after the event.
Too many suspects	Impossible to develop in a 35-minute story. The reader gets lost	2-3 suspects, one line of behaviour each.
The culprit is obvious from the start (the "evil-looking" stranger)	No surprise. Weak Creation	Make the guilty person seem helpful or calm. Make another suspect look guilty.
The detective just "knows" or the culprit confesses for no reason	Breaks fair play. Weak Structure	Plant the key clue earlier. The reveal must use it.
Writing it like a police report: "Suspect 1 said… Suspect 2 said…"	Wrong text type feel. Loses Creation and Structure marks	It is a story: setting, dialogue, feelings, tension.
Long speeches explaining the solution	Tension drops. Telling not showing	One sharp question, the culprit’s reaction, a short confession.
Speech punctuation errors ("Where were you she asked.")	Grammar & punctuation marks drop	“Where were you?” she asked. — punctuation inside the speech marks. New line for each speaker.
Semicolons before lists of suspects	Wrong use of the semicolon	Use a colon for a list, or write each suspect as a separate sentence.

Checklist before you hand in

My story answers the theme and EVERY bullet prompt.
I opened on the aftermath of the crime with one important detail.
I have 2-3 suspects, each with a motive or an alibi, and the culprit is not obvious.
My key clue appears BEFORE the reveal, and I explained my red herring fairly.
My detective solves the case by noticing and questioning, not by luck.
I used dialogue for questioning, with correct speech punctuation on new lines.
I used brackets or a pair of dashes, a colon and a semicolon correctly, and varied my sentence lengths.
There is no violence, and my ending reflects on the case instead of just saying "the end".

إزاي تكتب قصة جريمة وتحقيق تجيب الدرجة النهائية؟

حدّد قبل الكتابة: إيه الجريمة؟ مين عملها؟ ليه؟ وإيه الدليل الوحيد اللي هيكشفه؟
اختار جريمة مناسبة لسنك: سرقة أو اختفاء حاجة مهمة. ممنوع وصف عنف أو دم.
خلي عندك 2 أو 3 مشتبه فيهم بس، والمذنب الحقيقي يكون أقل واحد متوقّع.
الدليل اللي هيحل القضية لازم يظهر قبل كشف الحل، والمحقق يحلها بالملاحظة والأسئلة مش بالصدفة.
اكتبها كقصة فيها حوار ومشاعر ووصف، مش كتقرير شرطة.

Practice tasks

Practice task 1: The extract you read describes a family trip that does not go to plan. Write a story about something that goes missing during a journey or holiday, and how the mystery is solved. You should describe the setting and the people involved, show how the main character investigates, and explain who was responsible. Write a G.C.S.P.P. plan with the crime, suspects, alibis, red herring and key clue.
Show answer
G: crime mystery (whodunnit). Crime: Grandpa’s old gold watch disappears from the family’s hotel room in Hurghada on the last day. Culprit: cousin Tamer, who borrowed it to secretly have it engraved as a birthday surprise and lost the receipt — he cannot admit it without spoiling the surprise. Key clue: a jeweller’s small paper bag in the bin of his room. C: Laila (detective, 13), little brother Yassin (sidekick), suspects: the cleaner (had access — red herring: she was seen with a bag), Uncle Hesham (wanted to sell the watch years ago — motive), Tamer (alibi: "I was at the pool all morning" — but his hair and towel are dry). S: a hotel by the sea. P: third person, past tense. Plot — 1-2 empty watch box, door locked, no forced entry. 3 Laila and Yassin decide to investigate. 4 Suspects. 5-6 Alibis: the cleaner’s bag holds only towels. Uncle Hesham was on the phone in the lobby (receptionist confirms). 7 The dry towel and the jeweller’s bag. 8 Reveal: "Was the water cold at the pool, Tamer?" — he blushes and shows the engraved watch. 9 Grandpa’s birthday dinner: the watch reads To Grandpa, who taught us patience — and Laila keeps the secret of how close it came to ruining the holiday.
Practice task 2: Write a story called "The Missing Painting". Plan it in 9 short paragraph notes following the six stages.
Show answer
1 The art-room wall has an empty space where Farida’s prize-winning painting hung. The drawing pins have been taken out and left neatly in a row on the shelf below. 2 The art exhibition opens tomorrow. 3 Farida (detective) and her friend Karim (sidekick) take the case. 4 Suspects: Ziad (came second in the competition), Miss Rana the art teacher (said the painting was "too dark"), the new student Malak (always alone in the art room at lunch). 5 Alibis: Ziad was at football. Miss Rana was in a meeting. 6 Malak says she did not see anything, but has paint on her sleeve (red herring). 7 Key clue: the pins were removed carefully, not torn — someone wanted to keep the painting safe. There are drops of water under the window. 8 Reveal: Miss Rana took it to dry after the roof leaked — and secretly sent it to the city exhibition. "You said it was too dark," Farida says. "Too dark for a school wall," Miss Rana smiles. 9 Farida’s painting wins a city prize — and she apologises to Malak, who becomes her friend.
Why does the writer use brackets in: "where Hazem had been practising penalties alone since dawn (the PE teacher had watched him from the staffroom window)"?
Show answer
Brackets add extra information. Here the extra information proves Hazem’s alibi (a witness saw him), which explains why the mud is a red herring. Possible effects: it gives the reader evidence quickly without interrupting the main sentence. It sounds like the detective’s quick note to herself. It clears a suspect, so the reader’s suspicion moves elsewhere.
Find the slip in this alibi: Detective: "Where were you when the window was broken?" Suspect: "At home. I didn’t even know it was the kitchen window until you told me." (The detective had only said "a window".)
Show answer
The suspect says "the kitchen window", but the detective never said which window. Only someone who was there (or who had been told by the culprit) would know. This is the classic slip that breaks an alibi — a perfect way to plan your reveal.
Improve this opening: "One day there was a crime. Someone stole a necklace. Detective Ali came to solve the crime. There were three suspects."
Show answer
Example: The velvet box was still on the dressing table, open and empty, exactly where Mrs Fahmy had left it the night before. The window was locked. The door was locked. Detective Ali crouched beside the table and looked at the one thing that should not have been there: a single grain of white sand. — Why it is better: it opens on the aftermath, shows the crime through objects, gives the detective a clue to notice, and creates questions instead of announcing "there was a crime".

All pages in this course

Start here: the exam

Reading: grammar & punctuation

Reading: understanding texts

Paper 1 writing: non-fiction

Paper 2 writing: fiction