Crystal Shop Murder: Mystery

The chimes sang their crystal song of greeting as she pushed open the door to her shop, sliding the heavy wrought-iron key back into her pocket. A smile lit her face. She looked up at the crystals hanging from the ceiling: wind chimes, good-wishing crystals, and birth crystals. Whenever she entered her store, she felt her spirit lighten. She had made the right decision those three years ago when she quit her job as a high-price corporate lawyer to open a small, new age shop. Her colleagues had had a collective fit of apoplexy when she'd told them. She would advise them to get some crystals to help calm their nerves, but she doubted they had listened to her. She looked up at the swaying crystals and saw the way the morning sunlight glowed through them, bringing out their hues of pale pink, purple, blue, green, dark brown-red.... she frowned. There hadn't been a red crystal hanging there yesterday morning, she was sure. She took another step into the center of her shop, letting her purse slide down her shoulder to strike the floor, and squinted up. It wasn't a red crystal. It had been clear, yesterday...but a splatter of dark brownish red marred the crystalline surface. Now that she looked, she saw other splatters among her forest of light. Her hand flew to her mouth.


Inspiration: The sound of chimes in the music I was listening to.
Story Potential: High.
Finished Length: Long short story or novel (blech!).
Notes: Genre-wise, this has the potential to be skewed to either straight mystery or semi-occult/magic realism-type mystery. Either way, there's a body in her shop, and it somehow ties in to her old career as a lawyer.