Crime Thriller Short Stories

A ruthless outlaw private eye sets off on an unrelenting quest to recover a stolen baby. Blood will be shed. Recovering from the events in Las Vegas, Nevada, brutal ex-cop Joe Beck is in Daytona Beach, Florida. He's resting up and laying low, sitting in an open-air bar on the city's main street. A woman walks by with a baby in her arms and a black van screeches in beside her to a halt. In broad daylight, the unthinkable happens. A masked man emerges from the van and rips the baby from her mother's arms. He bundles the child into the back before the van speeds off. It all goes down right ...

Best-selling author Robert Cormier's suspenseful and masterfully told novel takes bold steps into some of the most difficult topical territory ever conceived for young adult fiction.

A collection of four critically acclaimed, gripping short novels that explore the darkness lurking within ordinary lives. Black Canyon Twelve-year-old Brian Garrett embarks on a weekend camping trip in Colorado’s Black Canyon of the Gunnison, hoping to reconnect with his distant parents. But when his father suffers a brutal accident deep in the chasm, survival takes a sinister turn. Over the next twenty-four hours, Brian will face a horrifying truth about his father—and himself. Rewind A man wakes in a decaying apartment, hooked to a mysterious machine, a dead body in the next room—...

Three days before Thanksgiving, two boys disappear without a trace. Eleven-year-old Aaron Kuhns is Amish. Kevin Dennison is 12 and "English". They're adventurers, explorers, and inseparable best friends. When they don't return home from what was supposed to be a fun afternoon of fishing, Chief of Police Kate Burkholder must find the missing boys before the first winter storm of the season bears down on Painters Mill.

Though the lives of Mexico's characters are effected by the corrupt and dangerous subculture of their country, these are much more than simple "crime stories". They are complicated and deeply moving tales that tap into universal and enduringly powerful themes: love and loss, religion, family relationships, government abuse, sexual identity, professional ambition, cancer; they introduce us to characters that feel fully realized in their humanity.

A crime-based adventure set in Middle Earth territory in New Zealand’s Southern Alps. Young Kiwi drifter Arch Quaid thinks he has landed the contract of his life when he’s hired to cull deer on a high country property in the South Island of New Zealand. He quickly changes his mind when he discovers he’s the hunted, not the hunter. Caught up in the middle of it all is his new love Janine, a beautiful Maori girl, who will likely be the killer’s next target if Arch doesn’t overcome the most daunting of odds. HIGH COUNTRY CONTRACT is a thrilling, fast-paced read brought to you by ...

Discover clean and fun best-selling cozy mysteries by Amber Crewes to enjoy! A light cozy-mystery series with an amateur female sleuth, mouth-watering culinary desserts, and 13 gripping murder mysteries!

Full Beam (The Imogen and Hugh Croft Mysteries) A car is driving too fast along a twisting country road. At the end of a long, straight section, the notoriously lethal bend suddenly looms up out of nowhere. The silence is broken by a deafening screech of brakes. The passengers on board don’t stand a chance… When a nanny is killed and her two young wards badly injured in a road accident, the cause seems clear-cut. Sensing all is not quite as it appears, defence lawyer Penny Mills decides to employ the assistance of her old friend, Imogen Croft. Together, they soon discover the case ...

The turning point in history came with the exposure of the government's betrayal of basic freedoms. The spy agency BIM cloaked itself behind the computers, cell phones, and postal service communication systems of World Aid organizations. Albert, a simple, honest accountant, exposed the truth behind the illusion of freedom for all the world to see. The day the world stopped being a secure place began like any normal day. Albert Bach enjoyed his job and loved the thought of providing a needed service. He viewed himself as a loyal citizen. He believed in the country's policies until he saw ...

Criminals will be criminals. Blood soaks the streets. These murderers must be caught before they find their next victim. Deadly skin-walkers, determined vigilantes, dastardly vampires, and many more will leave you on the edge of your seat. Featuring thirty-two stories by Stuart Stromin, Daryl Marcus, Theric Jepson, Stephen A. Roddewig, S.J. Walker, Terry Grimwood, Mario Caric, James Blakey, Tilia Klebenov Jacobs, Steve Liskow, Richard Zaric, Kelly Barker, Barend Nieuwstraten III, Ed Teja, Devin James Leonard, Gregory Scott Matics, Rob Nisbet, J. Aquino, Cassandra Jones, Elliot LeGrange, ...

The legendary writer Patricia Highsmith is best remembered today for her chilling psychological thrillers The Talented Mr. Ripley and Strangers on a Train. A critically acclaimed, best-selling author in Europe, Highsmith has for too long been underappreciated in the United States. Eleven is Highsmith's first collection of short stories, an arresting group of dark masterpieces of obsession and foreboding, violence and instability.

Heart-pounding Fear. Chilling Anguish. Heartbreak. Priceless Love. The Ultimate Sacrifice. All in less than a minute. Sometimes precious moments is all there is. Between one heartbeat and the next, Susa is plunged into a devastating nightmare, wounded and broken, yet desperate hope filled her heart and soul. Nothing in her life had ever prepared her for this. Adam Manning arrives at a crime scene and quickly sees that not everything is as it seems. Unknown to the town’s small police force, neither is he. If you enjoy clean mystery romance and inspirational women’s fiction filled with ...

Henrietta and her daughter, Mary Grace, are sold and taken to Charleston, South Carolina, to be auctioned. Separated from her husband, Henrietta now faces an uncertain future and the possibility of becoming estranged from her child. Luckily, fortune shifts in her favor when Olivia Hendricks—the wife of a wealthy planter—purchases her as a nursemaid for their unborn infant. During her years at Livingston Plantation, Henrietta finds sanctuary and safety in the big house, eventually becoming a caregiver to both Mrs. Hendricks and her child.

As a liberal young man in East Texas, Hap Collins is discovering his passion for two-fisted justice in a redneck world. Leonard Pine - black, gay, and the ultimate outsider - is already fighting his own battles against racists and bullies. So when Hap sees Leonard demolishing an angry mob with his fists (and taunts), it’s immediately clear that these two young men have a lot in common.

Keep Your Friends Close is the third story in Granelli's hard-hitting series of Mafia tales. Using the vibrant backdrop of Palermo, old characters reappear to continue the internecine struggles of the Tomasso Cruci Family, where double-dealing, treachery, and violent retribution seem the norm. Granelli also brings in a police element for the first time in the form of Carlo 'CC' Carpanini and his memorable sidekick Leo Bracchi. It seems they are up against insurmountable odds.

A phone call from Belfast shatters Isobel McKenzie’s sleep and her peace. Her nephew, Jack, is safe but two of his friends from Queen’s University are not. Michael is dead and Charlene is in a coma. Isobel leaves for Belfast immediately. The PSNI suspect theft as the motive for the crime but, as Isobel and Jack investigate, they uncover other possible motives: an online bully, a drug connection and ultimately a web of organised crime. A cross-border drug task force is set up and, amidst politics and talk of corruption, the case becomes more and more complicated. Help arrives from London...

Twenty classic authors from the Golden Age of Detective Fiction are brought together in the latest “Bodies from the Library” anthology series of previously unpublished and uncollected stories of crime and suspense.

Sin City. An artificial oasis of pleasure, spectacle, and entertainment, the gambling capital of America has reinvented itself so many times that it's doubtful that anyone knows for sure what's real and what isn't in the miles of neon and scorching heat. Las Vegas is considered the ultimate player's destination, no matter what your game. Las Vegas is the true city that never sleeps, where fortunes are made and lost every day, and where snake-eyes aren't found just on a pair of dice.

Are you a Law & Order or CSI crime junkie? In these You Solve It mini mysteries, you get to be the lead detective who takes on the case. You will read the case file, collect the evidence and solve the crime. Become an iDetective.

Complete with fascinating biographies by Tony Medawar of all the featured authors, this latest volume in the annual Bodies from the Library series once again brings into the daylight the forgotten, the lost and the unknown, and is an indispensable collection for any bookshelf.