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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Write about someone investigating a break-in at a bakery. The only thing missing? A very secret ingredient.

Posted in Mystery on Jul 31, 2021

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✍️ 106 stories

“The Mystery Ingredient” by Thanos Reigns

Submitted to Contest #71

The Mystery Ingredient Bill M. Woznik On a brisk winter evening that saw her walk into my office, I learned that crime is not limited to theft of money or jewelry. Crime can also be sweet. She knocked on my door in tears, clad in a long brown trench coat with a fedora and shoes to match. Her face was stained with the salty mix of mascara and tears that even now ran freshly down her slightly pink cheekbones. I poured her a hot cup of joe with two sugars to help her calm down along with a soft tissue. She told me between so...

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“Love; the true triamphur” by Felicite Shulkin

Submitted to Contest #71

Stan pulled up to his mother’s bakery in the disheveled clothing he had left in the night before. In hopes that he would learn enough in time to allow his mom to have a suitable retirement, he's had one too many sleepless nights learning the delicate recipes that created the success. He was tired. Too tired to realize there was still flour in his hair. Too tired to smell the saffron on his jeans. Too tired to see the caution tape. ...Caution tape? All of a sudden, Stan’s hearing came back. He started hearing the sirens, and the screams d...

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“The Sweet Thief” by Dream Kumar

Submitted to Contest #71

Danny had just finished rounding up suspects for his case when his phone rang with a call from his childhood friend Nicky. They had been best friends in high school but separated when she decided to work in her family-owned bakery. As far as Danny knew, Nicky didn’t have any time in the morning, so he picked up the phone on the second ring, concerned for her safety.  “Hello, Danny, this is Nicky” she greeted him,  “Hey, Nicky, How are you? Long time no see. Now I know you're usually busy in the morning, so I can assume this is not ...

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“A Pilfering at the Pastry Bakery” by Juvon Burgashi

Submitted to Contest #71

It’s wonderful to gaze up at my bakery after finishing a workday. I call it, ‘Pilfering Pastries,’ a charming title I reluctantly acquiesced. Once I set up shop, I received an astonishing amount of hiring forms. Me being curious, I inquired of their past spots they worked, and to my surprise the bakeries were shut down. Now they’re looking to work here, and I’m not looking to open up a Chocolate Factory! Just a simple, cozy bakery I can calmly settle into each day. I don’t want to appear unsympathetic, but that's just how the business r...

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“Bakery Breakery” by Nate Homolka

Submitted to Contest #71

In my line of work, my phone tends to resemble a fur coat in summer. It stays on the hook. So, when I got an early call from a distressed Molly Looky, I wasted no time in making an appearance. Plus, she was an old friend. An old friend who just so happened to own my favorite bakery in town. I was happy to do her a favor. Apparently overnight someone really needed a cookie and broke in. Smashed in, rather. No longer resembling a bakery, it felt more like a drafty disco. The shattered displays on the floor shimmering with rays of color from t...

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“Holy Cannoli” by Arthur McArdle

Submitted to Contest #71

Arthur McArdle 12/11/2020 Grade 5 “Holy Cannoli” In the small town of Cornal nothing ever happened. In fact you would come there to see  a relative and would be bored out of your mind playing with sticks outside in the cold wind - your fingers would freeze even in the summer. The only thing that ever happened was a tremendous festival on Christmas Eve held by the mayor. This year's festival of 1983 didn’t go as planned.  In the middle of the festival everyone heard a scream of distress from the nearby bakery, “Piece of Cak...

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“This Story Is Not About The Villain ” by Molly Sickle

Submitted to Contest #71

    “A robbery?” I asked, a slight quiver slipping between the cracks in my vowels and sitting atop my bottom lip.     “Come now, June, you know no one can take anything from us,” my manager asserted somewhat playfully.      She edged closer to the ingredients and lifted her hand up and up in a blunt sort of pulling motion, and all across the room a shimmer flared over everything. it curled up into the air like the tendrils of a vine before it dissipated as though it was never ...

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“Cloak-and-Desserts” by Holly Larson

Submitted to Contest #71

I have now seen recorded evidence of the worst burglar ever. Everything that could be done wrong during a break-in, this thief did. Did they use gloves to hide their fingerprints when they attempted to enter the code to my alarm system? Nope. In fact, they still had flour on their mitts. This made it quite easy to locate dusty prints and provide them to the police to run through their database. However, I am pretty sure that I know who the culprit is already. Next, you would think that if the alarm’s siren began to wail, the crook would hav...

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“The Secret Ingrediant.” by Oli Galleway

Submitted to Contest #71

It was a misty morning when the sun rose, shining through the foggy streets of London city. Soft snow fell slowly onto the street, laying over the hard concrete like a blanket of white, birds shuffled about on trees, desperately seeking warmth. Suddenly, the complete bliss and science were broken by a woman shrieking in a nearby bakery. "Its gone! Its gone!" Yelled Mrs Downes, shrieking, as if she had been attacked. She was standing over a safe, gaping as she looked into the empty metal box. George Morgan came running down the stairs. "What...

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“Significant Ingredient” by A. Lilac

Submitted to Contest #71

"911, what's your emergency?" Thalia Rogers calmly spoke up when she answered the call. All she can hear is those deep breaths that the caller gives off. "Listen." Thalia's hair was almost stand on an end by the coldness of the man's voice she heard. "There's a break-in at my bakery. I. . .I don't know who did it. There's no CCTV in my shop and outside either." The voice of the man on the other line was alarming. His strong breathing was almost deafening on Thalia's ear. "Okay," she asked calmly. "Can I ask for your name?" "Carlos," th...

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“The Murder at the Bakers ” by Grant Wieczorek

Submitted to Contest #71

There was a loud bang! We all ran inside the Baker Family Bakery, located in San Diego California.  as we went back to the kitchen, we saw the table where we had our ingredients. “Oh No”, Bethany gasped, all the ingredients aware scattered and worst of all  the most secret of all the secret ingredients was stolen. That secret ingredient is toenail clippings of everyone from the family that have been aged for years and years in a nice wine bottle, but lost everything.  We called the police to have them come investigate, they ch...

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“THE SECRET INGREDIENT” by Emmeline Bisiikwa

Submitted to Contest #71

In the little town of Middleville, every Christmas they had a baking contest. It was one of the biggest events of the year to showcase the town's talent and brought lots of visitors and tourists. It also challenged the baker's to create the most Innovative cake. The mayor and a panel of judges chose the winner who was given a cash prize. The competition this year was especially stiff and the two families who were head to head were the Nicholsons and the Mikaelsons. Ironically they had been friends many generations ago but due to a misunder...

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“The Swiping of Ms. Flannery’s Other Worldly Secret Ingredient” by Joseph Howell

Submitted to Contest #71

1 I don’t know what it was that caused me to wake without reason at three-sixteen in the morning on the morning of December twenty fifth. Sure enough, however, by three-seventeen I am standing at the foot of my bed wide awake. This is highly unusual as it is unheard of to find me out from beneath my sheets before noon. I stand at the foot of my full sized mattress in my tiny eight by eight foot bedroom, hands on my hips, listening. Listening for… for anything, really. Surely it had not been solely random that my eyes peeled opened at such...

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“Sweet Revenge” by Evelyn L

Submitted to Contest #71

Two miles on foot, thirty miles on a train, and ten miles on a cab. It was a lengthy journey, but it was well worth the sacrifice to bring joy to the children. As she set foot out of the cab on the cold Friday morning Clara Mayer, the proud owner of Oven Sweets, was not greeted by the usual sight of children lined up outside the bakery. She was too busy fumbling through her purse, in search of the shop keys that had sunken to the very bottom, to notice the horrifying scene as she turned the street corner. Then she lifted her old and tired ey...

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“The Bakery Battle ” by Maggie Mac

Submitted to Contest #71

After a long day at work Ms. Gingy was locking up her bakery. Ms. G's Bakery is the best in town. The reason she is the best of the best is because of her secret ingredient. The secret ingredient is... Well I can't tell you yet. Anyway that night Ms. Gingy got a notification on her phone that her bakery was robbed! She drove to her Bakery right away. In the morning she hired the best detective in town, Mr. Jawdaw  and his sidekick Mrs. Lupar. They solve over 200 cases a year.  “Hello I am Ms. Gingy owner of Ms. G´s Bakery. last nig...

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