Short Crime Thriller

Billy Hill grew up in the north woods of Vermont where he resided with and was home-schooled by his reclusive bachelor uncle. Billy then found a job as a glorified book-keeper in the tiny village of Vergennes, Vermont but also earned pretty good money participating in illegal cage fights. When his boss retired, Billy was offered a temporary job to go undercover in a Tallahassee, Florida landscaping business in order to ascertain why the company was losing so much money. Billy will soon learn that he'll require both his flair for numbers and his top fighting skills to carry out his mission ...

Sixteen delightful holiday short stories by some of your favorite Soho crime authors! This captivating collection of short mysteries and crime capers - which features New York Times best-selling authors, Crime Writers Association Gold and Diamond Dagger winners, and Edgar Award nominees - contains laughs aplenty, the most hardboiled of holiday noir, and heartwarming reminders of the spirit of the season.

In the heart of Haiti's treacherous mountains, Night Team, led by Captain Chris "Magic" Kassner, embarks on a high-stakes mission to capture the notorious warlord Lucian "Black Viper." Utilizing the cover of night, this elite five-person team sets out to ambush Black Viper's heavily armed convoy on a remote bridge over a flowing river. As they neutralize guards and immobilize vehicles, each member's unique skills are put to the test. Facing the combined threats of heavily armed guards and unforgiving terrain, Night Team must execute their plan with precision and stealth. Will their courage,...

Running from a world which wants him dead, ex-detective Sergeant Jake Pettman journeys to the isolated town of Blue Falls, Maine, home of his infamous, murderous ancestors. But Jake struggles to hide from who he is, and when a child disappears, he finds himself drawn into an investigation that shares no parallels to anything he has ever seen before. Held back by a chief of police plagued and tormented by his own secrets, Jake fights for the truth. All the way to the door of Jotham MacLeoid. An insidious megalomaniac who feeds his victims to a killing pit.

Joyce Carol Oates, a queenpin of the noir genre, has brought her keen and discerning eye to the curation of an outstanding anthology of brand-new top-shelf short stories (and poems by Margaret Atwood!). While bad men are not always the victims in these tales, they get their due often enough to satisfy listeners who are sick of the gendered status quo, or who just want to have a little bit of fun at the expense of a crumbling patriarchal society. This stylistically diverse collection will make you squirm in your seat, stay up at night, laugh out loud, and inevitably wish for more.

Exit Wounds is a thrilling anthology of crime stories written by masters of the genre, including Dean Koontz, Val McDermid, Lee Child, Jeffery Deaver, Elly Griffiths, Dennis Lehane, Joe R. Lansdale, and others.

Some of the best-known and most influential pieces of crime fiction have been from African American writers. Be it Walter Mosley's great Detective Easy Rawlins, or the mean streets of Harlem at the hands of Chester Himes, the stories and characters in this anthology have shaped the mystery genre with their own unique viewpoints and styles. Contributors to the collection include Robert Greer, Chester Himes, Walter Mosley, Cary Phillips, Frankie Bailey, and Richard Wright.

Lieutenant Ethan Hendricks’ greatest nightmare just also happened to be his grandfather’s newest business venture. Logan Hendricks is thrilled about his brand new detective agency’s first case, but things weren’t turning out the way they were supposed to, including the attempted murder of one of his brand new employees. But he figures their next case, which involves finding a missing sister, should go a lot smoother. How dangerous could it be? Ethan Hendricks wasn’t quite as confident about his grandfather’s new hobby, or that the supposedly straight-forward case of a missing ...

Over the years, Ian Rankin has amassed an incredible portfolio of short stories. Published in crime magazines, composed for events, broadcast on radio, they all share the best qualities of his phenomenally popular Rebus novels. Brought together for the first time, and including brand-new material, this is the ultimate Rebus short-story collection and a must-have book for crime lovers and for Ian's millions of fans alike. No Rankin aficionado can go without it.

My hand shakes when I read the note. Everyone is here. I think. There are so many people. So many painted faces. How am I supposed to know who is missing? I knew this party was a bad idea. Now, one of my own is in trouble and as the Prez of the MC, I should know not to play a game. But we are on a timer and someone is using us as pawns. It’s up to us to save one of our own.

A demented killer believes he’s doing God’s work — and a teenage boy with dreams of getting his license becomes his next target. Elliot Cross doesn't just hate ambitious dreaming — he sees it as sin. In his twisted mind, anyone reaching for more is disobeying the First Commandment: Thou shalt have no other gods before me. When he volunteers to give Timmy, his daughter’s fatherless classmate, a driving lesson, it’s not a gift — it’s a trap. And the road ahead leads nowhere safe. The Driving Lesson is a short story of religious delusion, power, and cruelty — a standalone ...

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....

Come sit on the veranda and pour yourself a glass of sweet tea, fortified with a slug of bourbon. Put your feet up and enjoy these stories set in Atlanta, a city sewn from the ashes, where everything that grows is both fertilized and corrupted by the past.

A personal advertisement written in code attracts the attention of Tuppence Beresford. When Tuppence suspects that the code involves the Three Arts Ball, she persuades Tommy to attend dressed in costume. Tuppence's suspicions prove to be correct when a murder takes place, but as all of the guests are dressed in masquerade, identifying the killer may be more difficult than first thought....

Step into Indian Country. Enter the dark welter of troubled history throughout the Americas, where the heritage of violence meets the ferocity of intent. Features brand-new stories by: Mistina Bates, Jean Rae Baxter, Lawrence Block, Joseph Bruchac, David Cole, Reed Farrel Coleman, O'Neil De Noux, A.A. Hedge Coke, Gerard Houarner, Liz Martnez, R. Narvaez, Kimberly Roppolo, Leonard Schonberg, and Melissa Yi.

Brand-new stories by: Tom Abrahams, Robert Boswell, Sarah Cortez, Anton DiSclafani, Stephanie Jaye Evans, Wanjiku Wa Ngugi, Adrienne Perry, Pia Pico, Reyes Ramirez, Icess Fernandez Rojas, Sehba Sarwar, Leslie Contreras Schwartz, Larry Watts, and Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton.

In The Thumbmark of St Peter Miss Marple tells how she was able to help her niece when the poor girl was accused of poisoning her husband. In The Herb of Death foxglove leaves are picked with sage for the dinner with disastrous results, and a burglary at a riverside bungalow sets off an unusual chain of events in The Affair at the Bungalow. In the final story, Sir Henry Clithering, ex-commissioner of Scotland Yard, is staying with his friends Colonel and Mrs Bantry, when news arrives that the village innkeeper's daughter has met her 'death by drowning.'

In every locked room, there's a secret waiting to be found—and a body left behind. From elite rehearsal spaces to package vaults, from forgotten hotel bathrooms to séance parlors sealed tight, this chilling collection of original locked-room thrillers explores what happens when the walls close in and the truth can't escape. Inside you'll find: A detective trapped in his own interrogation. A woman who wakes in a bath with her wrists taped—and no memory of why. A séance interrupted by someone who was never invited. A delivery crate that holds a body—and your name. An acting class ...

Meet Jeff Case before his world explodes. Former soldier. Defender of the innocent. Case may have left a war zone, but he soon discovers that the streets of America are just as dangerous. It was kill or be killed in combat, but Case is ready to turn his back on his military career and start a new life with his wife, Becky. During a final interview for his first civilian job, Case steps in to help a woman in danger. It is the catalyst that kick-starts the day from hell. A day that Case and Becky may not survive.

COLLEGE INSTALOVE LIKE YOU'VE NEVER SEEN. ANNABELLE WINTERS STYLE. I was almost free. Just dropped out of college, about to buy my dream ride, about to hit the open road to an unknown future out west. But then I see her standing under a tree, those delicate lashes unable to hide what I see in her big brown eyes. The eyes of a prisoner . . . Someone trapped in a life she didn't want . . . Those eyes whisper, "Save me. Set me free. Please." But I'm no white-knight savior. I'm a loner dropout whose only assets are his fists. Besides, this girl just said she's engaged! That's drama like I don't...