And the winner is.............little old me!!! (Col Bury's first fiction comp' win).

Over at Writers News Talkback - a global forum for writers - I've been entering the monthly One Word Challenge Competition on and off for the last year or so. The judge is the previous month's winner and he/she selects a word and the entrants then have up to write a 200 word story as they see fit. It's pretty tricky and the competition is fierce and of a high standard with some excellent and experienced writers participating.

The word for August was 'SET' and there were twenty-six entrants this month. I'm honoured to reveal my winning piece below...
(Feel free to let me know what you think).

GAME, SET AND MATCH.

It was a simple plan, for a simple man. If things worked out there’d be no blood on my hands.

Andrea originally joined the Tennis Club after Cheryl had told her what ‘great fun’ it was. Six months on and Cheryl’s hubby made her quit, but Andrea’s appetite for the club grew stronger somehow.

Initially I was pleased she felt slimmer, fitter, though the fees were somewhat steep, credit crunch and all. But I noticed, despite her new zest, our love life had died.

Being a cop, I decided to investigate. And sure enough: advantage Dempsey, a poser if ever I saw one. ‘Thirty-love?’ More like ‘Dirty-love!’

And so I was set to serve my ace with plenty of top spin. I considered delivering Dempsey my best backhand, but that wasn’t nearly enough. So I volleyed his head and ironically he made quite a racket. Especially when I smashed Andrea’s racket into his nether regions: ‘New balls, please!’

Andrea had just left his flat. I’m forensically aware, remember, plus my alibi was concrete. Motive-wise, Andrea’s the jealous type and Dempsey was rampant at the club. The next court she attended wasn’t half as favourable to her.

Game, set and match.