Opinion re: Southwestern Mystery

In the markets for westerns at the top of this western forum, there's a note from Cowboys and Indians magazine about the Tony Hillerman annual mystery writing contest. This year (and possibly other years), the mystery must be set in the southwestern US and must include at least one cowboy or one native American character. The mystery must be no more than 2,500 words, the deadline is 9/15/08, and the pot's sweet ($1,500.)

The question: in your opinion, with the qualifiers listed above, should the mystery be set in the classic western time period (app 1840 - 1920) or could it be contemporary? I'm interested in your thoughts on the subject. Puma

Thanks for the link and opinion, Grizzly. I was a bit surprised by the storyline of last year's winner. I thought a mystery was supposed to be more of a Whodunit rather than a why. Puma

Hi Jeanne - Thanks for the compliment, but ... it's not a mystery and it's too long. I've been thinking about a mystery for about a week and started on it last night. I think when the ghost challenge is up at the end of April we ought to do a Hillerman mystery challenge and see if we can get a couple folks to actually enter the contest. The winner gets to go to the conference in Santa Fe too. What do you think? Puma

My philosophy is always "Nothing ventured; nothing gained." I think we ought to venture (and the western forum seems to me to be a more appropriate place to post them than mystery - with the cowboy and/or Indian requirement.) Puma

That's quite a coincidence, Colorado Guy. I'm buzzing along on my story which is set, pretty much in Santa Clara and Santa Fe. And I do have a question. It appears that there are prizes awarded at the Indian Market held in August. Is that a fact? I spent five weeks out there forty years ago and I don't think there was even any competition back then, just the market beside the Palace of Governors. The Indian Market is central to the story I'm working on so I'd love some more information on it. Thanks a bunch. Puma

Thanks for the reply and link, Colorado Guy. I was actually interested in competition/prizes for the Indian arts - I've seen photos of pots with prize ribbons beside them and notations about the pot being an award winner at the Santa Fe Indian Market but so far I hadn't been able to find any definite information. I think your link will take care of that. Thanks again. Puma

I'm putting a May challenge post in SYW and I'm also going to put a post in mystery genre so they know we're doing a mystery for our May challenge. Puma

Good Impression

I sent an entry for the Hillerman Mystery Contest last week and today got an e-mail acknowledgement of receipt. I'm impressed. No matter how I do in that contest, I'll have a very positive feeling about it. Thought I'd pass that on. Puma