Essential Mystery Vocabulary: Definitions and Explanations

* Alibis: A statement or piece of evidence that accounts for a person's whereabouts at a particular time, especially when that person is suspected of a crime.

* Autopsy: A medical examination of a dead body to determine the cause of death.

* Circumstantial evidence: Evidence that is not direct but suggests that a person is guilty of a crime.

* Clue: A piece of evidence or information that helps to solve a mystery or crime.

* Confession: A statement in which a person admits to committing a crime.

* Culprit: The person who committed a crime.

* Deduction: The process of reasoning from known facts to reach a logical conclusion.

* Evidence: Information or facts that help to prove or disprove something.

* Forgery: The act of creating a false or fraudulent document or object.

* Homicide: The killing of one person by another.

* Indictment: A formal accusation that a person has committed a crime.

* Interrogation: A formal questioning of a person by law enforcement officers.

* Motive: The reason why a person commits a crime.

* Perjury: The act of lying under oath in a court of law.

* Suspect: A person who is suspected of committing a crime.

* Testimony: A statement made under oath in a court of law.

* Victim: The person who is harmed or killed in a crime.

* Witness: A person who sees or hears something that is important to a crime.