Help me brainstorm for a YA mystery.

[Pab Sungenis]

Thinking of writing a mystery.

I have my narrator, my detective (his best friend who, in the long tradition of literary detectives, is slightly askew), and some supporting characters planned out.  I have the murder method and the victim.  I also have the beginnings of the macguffin.  

The trick is, I don't have the excuse for the murder to plant the evidence of in the macguffin.

The clue needs to be digital in nature, and I'm trying to figure out what bit of digital data would be important enough for a teenager to kill another over, whether to try and obtain it or to keep it from getting to someone else.  It also has to be a form of data that points back to the person trying to obtain/suppress it.

Thoughts or suggestions?

[Tye Tyson]

I am trying to think what a teen would value so much that he/she would kill over it...is the data evidence of another crime? A school gambling ring? A dog-fighting club? And the information can't get out, or it will ruin his scholarship to Yale, his family life, his relationship with the class hottie, etc etc. You can go anywhere you want with this, but I feel like the murder itself should be more about a lack of control and less about premeditation. BEST LUCK!!

[Jacquelyn Aljoe]

I completely agree about making the murder
about lack of control than premeditated murder
because me, personally, I would relate to it 
better. Unless ur killer is psychotic which is 
always interesting.

[Katie Wright]

Maybe it could be something from another accident that happened. An accident that maybe the person or protagonist holds themselves accountable for and they try to stop the person who is black mailing them.

Or you could go the bullying route. Maybe someone is bullied so much they type up a fake murder plot / story as a way to get out their anger. Things start to happen and the murder story comes true one by one and this guy who wrote the story tries to stop the guy or girl who is doing it by killing them.

Idk ... if that helps

[Tye Tyson]

Somebody I coached with found my writing journal once and thought a map I had drawn detailed where I hid a body...lol...so that totally can happen.

[theivywriter]

I'm writing a YA mystery too, though it's of a lighter nature and about embezzlement. It's already been suggested, but I would definitely agree with something to do with a scholarship/college admission. Maybe involve a steroid scandal on a football/hockey team or something. Getting recruited to play college sports could be that intense if the player in question was really talented (and had a temper).