Noir Fiction

Inspired by vintage Film Noir and Alfred Hitchcock, enjoy this eclectic collection of short stories regarding clumsy attempts at retribution or retaliation, also known as a bit of comeuppance. Come on, everybody has that urge now and then. BTW: resemblance of these characters to ANY colleagues of friends (past or present) is PURELY coincidental! (No, really!). Stories include: OFF THE BEATEN PATH: A bickering couple and a robbery that goes from bad to worse . . . to unexpected. LIVING DOLL(Badgers and Colors): A little girl, a doll who looks like her and people who don’t seem to notice ...

Fleeing her past, Lydia Ash seeks refuge among wolf-shifters in Crescent Crossing, only to become entangled in a murder mystery that leads her to embrace her inner strength and rewrite her destiny. Running from the haunting shadows of my traumatic past, I seek refuge in this isolated haven, a community of wolf-shifters who've never embraced me, a fae. Amidst towering mountains and whispering forests, I hope to find the peace that has eluded me for so long. As I wrestle with memories of my bustling city life, the town's mystique draws me into its embrace. Yet, what I thought was a sanctuary ...

THE CHILDREN HAVE LITTLE CHOICE: KILL OR BE KILLED In this new pulse-pounding thriller, Eva will risk everything to free the most vulnerable from a life of violence and tyranny. The gun-toting children are lethal and highly trained instruments of death. The cartel has given them little choice: kill or be killed. Eva is the only one who can possibly save them from a dark future they have little chance of escaping on their own.

He's a self-described beach bum who won his houseboat in a card game. He's also a knight errant who's wary of credit cards, retirement benefits, political parties, mortgages, and television. He only works when his cash runs out, and his rule is simple: he'll help you find whatever was taken from you, as long as he can keep half.

In the rugged gorges of the Kimberley, where blackened spinifex and red earth tell stories to those who can read them, Special Investigator Odysseus "Odie" Kalaris is called to investigate a body staged to resemble an animal attack. A wildlife photographer's death in a remote country quickly reveals darker motives. What begins as a suspicious death evolves into something far more sinister, revealing connections between rare goanna breeding grounds, vandalised rock art sites, and powerful interests opposing a new sanctuary. When Odie discovers hidden SD cards documenting systematic wildlife ...

Billy Jingo contains 22 short stories, from crime to Horror and the title story, Billy Jingo.Billy Jingo:I started to get back into the truck when he wagged his head and put one finger to his lips. I pulled my gun back out, scared to death. It was maybe a second after I got the gun back in my hand that the two came back around the corner ready to take us out.I shot first: Unintended, pure reaction...Private Investigations:I lowered the glasses, slipped a cigarette from my pack and lit it, and then settled back to smoke as I watched. I know, they'll kill me, but isn't life killing us all ...

Thirty-eight cautionary tales to make you think twice before cheating! From the author of The Adulterer Series, Tales Of Adultery & Infatuation is a collection of short stories with a jaw-dropping twist in the tail. Don't miss this gripping anthology about the unforeseen consequences of infidelity! Neighbourhood Watch: More is going on in the neighbourhood than you think! Sexual Harassment: There's a sex pest in the office. Suicide?: Welcome to ChatPal. What would you like to chat about this evening? It's Stuck: Be careful with your sex toys! One Night Stand: Dear Diary. What a night! Went ...

Cal Sounder is a detective working for the police on certain very sensitive cases. So when he’s called in to investigate a homicide at a local apartment, he’s surprised by the routineness of it all. But when he arrives on scene, Cal soon learns that the victim—Roddy Tebbit, an otherwise milquetoast techie—is well over seven feet tall. And although he doesn’t look a day over thirty, he is ninety-one years old. Tebbit is a Titan—one of this dystopian, near-future society’s genetically altered elites. And this case is definitely Cal’s thing.

George Stroud is a hard-drinking, tough-talking, none-too-scrupulous writer for a New York media conglomerate in the heyday of Henry Luce. One day, before heading home to his wife in the suburbs, Stroud has a drink with Pauline, the beautiful girlfriend of his boss, Earl Janoth. Things happen. The next day Stroud escorts Pauline home, leaving her off at the corner just as Janoth returns from a trip. The day after that, Pauline is found murdered in her apartment.

Brad Hunter is doing everything he can to keep his private investigation agency open, but the women of Honolulu keep distracting him from his work. His latest desire, a Chinatown barmaid, occupies too much of his time, and his money. At least until she is eliminated from his life the hard way--by murder. Within hours, his HPD detective brother puts Brad at the the top of the prime suspect list. Now that he is being scrutinized by the Honolulu Police Department, Brad heads to Chinatown to start his own investigation. What does Brad find first? A new woman, of course.

'A writer to reckon with.' The Irish Examiner Someone going missing is not an event in their life but an indicator of a problem. Detective Inspector Harriet Sloane is plagued by nightmares while someone from her past watches from a distance. In East Belfast, local four-year-old River, vanishes from his room. Sloane must put her own demons to bed and find the boy. Before it’s too late. REVIEWS 'The people, their places and everything they say is totally credible. Highly recommended.’ Books Ireland 'A novel of style and verve. The Sleeping Season is unapologetically feminist.' Sharon ...

Life was never going to be the same again…friends had become family and strangers became friends…all in the midst of a storm like no other and the aftermath that no one could have ever predicted. Jess and Max find their relationship takes an unexpected and life-changing turn…Brian decides on a risky mission that no one can talk him out of…and Sara struggles with the knowledge that among those responsible for the terror of the last year are a few who have ties to the tragedy in her past that is never far from her thoughts.After the Storm is the final book in the ongoing story of ...

Was the biggest case of his career the worst mistake he ever made? Ten years ago, DCI Jack Logan stopped the serial child-killer dubbed "Mister Whisper", earning himself a commendation, a drinking problem, and a broken marriage in the process...When another child disappears a hundred miles north in the Highlands, Jack is sent to lead the investigation and bring the boy home. But as similarities between the two cases grow, could it be that Jack caught the wrong man all those years ago?

A rural Welsh community is beset by a series of cruel murders... Putting his wedding plans on hold, Detective Winter Meadows resolves to unmask the serial killer on his patch. The only connection between the victims is the stick dolls left by their bodies. That and the fact they don’t seem to have been particularly popular. People are ruffled. Scared. Meadows must isolate the killer fast but the evidence is brittle. The key to unravelling the mystery is in the stone church, in the creaking homes, and in the slowly thawing fields.

A group of international players has gathered in a tiny village off the coast of Iceland for a diplomatic dinner. There’s Kristján, the mayor reeling from a personal tragedy. Graeme, the ambassador with an agenda to push. Jane, his wife, along for the ride on another one of her husband’s many business trips. And several others, from Iceland and from abroad, each with their own reason for being there, their own loyalties and grievances. By the end of the night, one of them will be dead. And it will be up to the ambassador’s wife, Jane, to figure out how—and why.

Robert Finlay is looking forward to returning to uniform policing and a less stressful life. But fate has other plans. Finlay's traumatic past is about to return to haunt him. A policeman is killed by a bomb blast, and a second is gunned down; both were former army colleagues from Finlay's own SAS regiment. And so begins a game of cat and mouse, a wicked game in which Finlay is in embroiled in a fight against a determined and unidentified enemy.

North Yorkshire, England. Detective Chief Inspector Harry Grimm is reluctantly easing into life in the dales. As he gradually acclimatizes to the slower pace of the countryside while he awaits a return to the city, he’s called out to inspect a farmer’s crushed body. And despite the doctor on site declaring it a tragic mishap, the seasoned police officer rolls up his sleeves when evidence points to foul play. With a mysterious clue the only connection and the not-so-quiet village in self-imposed lockdown, the city-bred cop hunts for a link lethal enough to lead to murder.

The name's Fetch Phillips - what do you need? Cover a Gnome with a crossbow while he does a dodgy deal? Sure. Find out who killed Lance Niles, the big-shot businessman who just arrived in town? I'll give it shot. Help an old-lady Elf track down her husband's murderer? That's right up my alley. What I don't do, because it's impossible, is search for a way to bring the goddamn magic back.

From the moment John Black stepped foot in his hometown, he knew darkness would follow. The Northern England landscape held bittersweet memories for John - memories of childhood innocence and a lost love. But as he attends a family funeral, those memories are shattered by the discovery of a body in the dunes of Cross Hill, a place where John used to play as a child. And it's a body of a woman he once knew. Haunted by his past and driven by a set of mysterious coordinates left for him at a local pub, John races against time to confront the killer. But as the body count grows and the police ...

Launched with the summer '04 award-winning best seller Brooklyn Noir, Akashic Books has published over 60 volumes in its groundbreaking series of original noir anthologies. Each book is comprised of all-new stories, each one set in a distinct neighborhood or location within the city of the book. Featuring Noir Series stories from: Dennis Lehane, Don Winslow, Michael Connelly, George Pelecanos, Susan Straight, Jonathan Safran Foer, Laura Lippman, Pete Hamill, Joyce Carol Oates, Lee Child, T. Jefferson Parker, Lawrence Block, Terrance Hayes, and more.