Here is a 10-word-per-sentence opening for a murder mystery: It was a dark stormy night in the old mansion. A shot rang out, shattering the silence within its walls. Racing up the stairs, I found a body lying in the study, blood pooling on the hardwood floor. The victim was the mansion's owner, Mr. Pembroke, with a fatal bullet wound to his chest. Searing pain gripped my skull as I struggled to recall my own presence there.