Crime Thriller Short Stories

Grace had never been more terrified...the pain was relentless. Nothing in her life prepared her for this. She desperately needed somewhere safe...someplace she could hide. Someone she could trust with her life. It was dark...and getting darker. Ronan Hendricks didn’t recognize her voice. Not family...not friends. Probably not an enemy. But he didn’t need the years he’d spent as a detective to recognize what he did hear... Fear. In a desperate moment of hope, a single number saved her life. Then a complete stranger opened his home offering safety yet Grace knew danger surrounded them.....

‘Tis the Season… for a Christmas Crime Thriller Short Story. A late-night shootout erupts over stolen cigarettes and leaves a Good Samaritan wondering, “Did I do the right thing?” JoJo is a repeat offender who grew up in foster care. His sister was adopted by a man named Davey, his only connection to family life. When JoJo is released after a short stint in county jail, Davey agrees to pick him up and drive him to a motel near his home. But when JoJo asks to stop for cigarettes, Davey’s in for the fight of his life. JoJo swipes a pack of smokes causing a fast-moving chain of ...

In the stories of Havana Noir, current and former residents of the city - some international sensations such as Leonardo Padura, others exciting new voices like Yohamna Despestre - uncover crimes of violence and loveless sex, of mental cruelty and greed, of self-preservation and collective hysteria.

Some cases get buried. Vicky Pearce digs them up. Detective Vicky Pearce has a reputation: sharp-tongued, relentless, and unafraid to walk into the shadows others avoid. When a string of missing rough sleepers is dismissed as just another tragedy of the streets, Vicky’s instincts tell her there's more beneath the surface — and she’s determined to uncover it. With a new detective sergeant by her side, still battling his own ghosts, Vicky follows the trail into the heart of a hidden world where society’s most vulnerable vanish without a trace. As the case escalates, her investigation ...

This follow-up to the national best-seller A Study in Sherlock is a stunning new volume of original stories compiled by award-winning Sherlockians Laurie R. King and Leslie S. Klinger.

In addition to tales from some of today's top stars — including Laura Lippman, Susan Wiggs, Marcia Muller, Carolyn Hart, Nancy Pickard, and Elizabeth George herself — Two of the Deadliest showcases work from an impressive array of exceptional newcomers, as together they explore the dark depths women and men will sink to when driven by passion, avarice, and a lethal hunger for power.

INTERSTATE GHOST STORY Interstate Four. A major thoroughfare for the living . . . and the dead! Witnesses claim to have seen a woman in a white dress standing along the highway. Photographic evidence yields only blurs of light where she stands. Skeptics scoff at the very notion of such a roadside phenomenon. For a group of curious college students, there is no question whether the I-4 Ghost is real or not. Each one has been caught in the spirit's web of blind vengeance! The second book from Erik Handy, She Never Dies continues the legendary horror traditions of The Ring and The Grudge!

Here for the first time are three never-before-published mysteries by Edmund Crispin, Ngaio Marsh and Leo Bruce. Together with a newly unearthed short story by Ethel Lina White that inspired Hitchcock’s The Lady Vanishes, and a complete short novel by Christianna Brand, this diverse mix of tales by some of the world’s most popular classic crime writers contains something for everyone.

A Crime Romance Novella. Love becomes bitter as it hides behind secrets and lies. A lurking suspicion resides in the heart. Betrayal comes not from a foe. Deep desires bring out the worst wickedness. Forgiveness is not an option. Salvatore Luciano and his high school sweetheart, Katerina Alverino have finally made their dream come true with their fairytale wedding in Sicily. Soon the first storm clouds creep their way into their lives. Will they endure and overcome the provocations? Will their love conquer all obstacles?

Akashic Books continues its groundbreaking series of original noir anthologies, launched in 2004 with Brooklyn Noir. Each story is set in a distinct neighborhood or location within the city of the book. Brand-new stories by: Wilfredo J. Burgos Matos, Ernesto Quiñonez, Mayra Santos-Febres, José Rabelo, Luis Negrón, Yolanda Arroyo Pizarro, Ana María Fuster Lavín, Janette Becerra, Manolo Núñez Negrón, Tere Dávila, Edmaris Carazo, Alejandro Álvarez Nieves, Charlie Vázquez, and Manuel A. Meléndez. Translated by Will Vanderhyden.

From the 1965 east-coast blackout to depression-era Nebraska; from the trash-piled streets of Manhattan to rural-South Carolina; here are stories of innocent criminals, guilty bystanders, mob hit men, dead farm girls, and small-town cops. Justice is brutal. Long dead secrets won't stay in the grave. And just about everybody has something real to fear. New tales of crime and suspense join Prosch fan favorites to keep you turning pages well past midnight.

At Mr. and Mrs. Unkerton's party in Greenway's House, Mr. Satterthwaite learns of a haunted window: No matter how many times it is replaced, it always contains the image of a gentleman in a plumed hat. When gunshots are heard, Satterthwaite finds that two of the guests have been shot dead, which is shortly followed by a sighting of the gentleman in the newly-replaced windowpane. Can Mr. Quin shed light on the mystery?

A vanished hostage. A mercenary haunted by fate. A city where every choice cuts deep. In the labyrinthine heart of Istanbul, Firebird-a philosopher-mercenary with a violent past-leads a covert team on a mission that will test the limits of loyalty, destiny, and survival. When a Palestinian doctor with ties to hostage negotiations disappears from Turkish protection, Firebird’s crew is thrust into a deadly game of deception. Mossad, Turkish intelligence, and rival militants close in, and the city’s ancient streets become a battleground where myth and modern violence collide. As the stakes...

Sherlock Holmes is one of the most iconic and lasting figures in literature. In this new edition of Baker Street Irregulars, authors present the iconic detective in over a dozen wildly entertaining new ways. In Keith DeCandido's "Six Red Dragons", Sherlock is a young girl in modern New York City. In Sarah Stegall's "Papyrus", Sherlock is a female librarian in ancient Egypt. In Daniel M. Kimmel's mesmerizing "A Scandal in Chelm", Sherlock is a rabbi. Derek Beebe sends Sherlock to the moon, while Mike Strauss, in "The Adventure of the Double Sized Final Issue", casts him as a comic book character.

Colter Shaw is a career ‘reward-seeker’, making his living travelling the country and locating missing persons. So when a woman disappears, he quickly takes the case. As he investigates, he suspects that she was fleeing a bad marriage, and he follows her trail to a secret retreat in Indiana. As events take one surprising turn after another, Shaw begins to wonder if there's more to this mysterious woman than meets the eye.

Akashic Books continues its award-winning series of original noir anthologies. This collection, with voices of French and English writers, visits many neighborhoods and combines them into something that is, if not totally coherent, at least as coherent as the beautiful mess that is Montreal....

In this thrilling selection of stories, a young porter is found dead in a coal tub; Colbeck devises a trap to catch a thief; and a burnt train carriage holds a gruesome secret in a small coastal village. As Colbeck and his trusty aide Sergeant Victor Leeming begin to piece together clues and motives for each crime, it becomes clear the pair must stay a step ahead of the culprits to solve the cases. With a new suspect at every turn, can the duo unearth the real villains?

Pittsburgh has recently (and more than once) been called the most livable city in America; yet the old image of smoky skies and steel mills spewing forth grit has never quite disappeared. Its history as a dirty industrial center is a part of its residents, a part of their toughness. The people of the steel city fight.

For some, Barcelona is a European enchantress of nouveau architecture, fusion tapas, and fine cava. To others, it’s a Gothic labyrinth of tiny streets to lose oneself in; hashish-clouded after-hours bars to forget the time; dimly lit plazas with global bohemians squatting, prostitutes tempting. But come morning, its cold cobblestones and misty beachfronts have even darker stories to tell.

Award-winning author Edwidge Danticat edits this collection of stories that puts a noir twist on the Haitian experience. From kidnappings gone wrong to deadly sibling rivalries, Haiti Noir features some of the Caribbean nation’s leading voices, including Gary Victor, Evelyne Trouillot, Kettly Mars, and Patrick Sylvain.