| 100% | WILL | 4 | Something read in many a murder mystery |
| 66% | CYANIDE | 7 | Cause of death in many a murder mystery |
| 53% | TWISTENDING | 11 | Feature of many a murder mystery |
| 51% | ROLE | 4 | Something assigned in a murder-mystery game |
| 48% | HEIRS | 5 | Suspects in many murder mysteries |
| 48% | ARSENIC | 7 | Substance in many murder mysteries |
| 48% | ARSENIC | 7 | Poison in many murder mysteries |
| 46% | BODY | 4 | Evidence in a murder mystery |
| 46% | DECEDENT | 8 | Figure in a murder mystery |
| 46% | BODY | 4 | Discovery in a murder mystery |
| 46% | CLUE | 4 | Something dropped in a mystery novel |
| 45% | AURA | 4 | Something many a celebrity carries in public |
| 44% | HEIRS | 5 | People gathered in a murder mystery |
| 44% | LETTEROPENER | 12 | Makeshift weapon in a murder mystery |
| 44% | HEIR | 4 | Common suspect in a murder mystery |
| 44% | CRIMESCENE | 10 | Key place in a murder mystery |
| 44% | SECRETROOM | 10 | Hidden spot in a murder mystery, perhaps |
| 43% | MOTIVE | 6 | Killer's reason, in a murder mystery |
| 43% | FAYEKELLERMAN | 13 | Novelist who wrote "The Ritual Bath," a murder mystery set in a Jewish community in California (2 wds.) |
| 42% | WHODUNNIT | 9 | A murder mystery |
| 41% | HARRYKEMELMAN | 13 | Novelist who wrote "Friday the Rabbi Slept Late," a murder mystery set in a Jewish community in Massachusetts (2 wds.) |
| 41% | MICHAELCHABON | 13 | Novelist who wrote "The Yiddish Policemen's Union," a murder mystery set in a Jewish community in Alaska (2 wds.) |
| 40% | DRHOUSE | 7 | Titular solver of many a medical mystery in 2000s TV |
| 39% | CORPSE | 6 | Feature of a murder mystery |
| 39% | APACHES | 7 | Side in many a western |
| 39% | NARRATOR | 8 | Part in many a documentary |
| 39% | STPETER | 7 | Character in many a joke |
| 39% | STPETER | 7 | Subject in many a joke |
| 39% | ELMS | 4 | Group in many a park |
| 39% | TATAMI | 6 | Furnishing in many a tearoom |