Short Crime Thriller

New owners of a dream cottage on a remote Maine lake find themselves taunted, then menaced by an unknown figure. When the local authorities refuse to help, they turn to retired Maine game warden Charley Stevens and his young protege Mike Bowditch for protection. But Charley begins to suspect there is more to the mystery than the couple is letting on—and if he and Mike don’t act fast, the situation will explode into violence.

A grand treasure for fans of the grande dame of mystery, The Harlequin Tea Set and Other Stories brings together nine rare and brilliant Christie tales of murder and detection that span nearly half a century of her storytelling genius. In "The Mystery of the Spanish Chest," Hercule Poirot unravels the psychological conundrums that motivate a killer.... In "The Actress," a great star's shady past becomes the plaything of a blackmailer.... In "The Harlequin Tea Set," Mr. Harley Quin helps a man save his loved ones from the greedy hand of murder.

The expected never happens... a man calls unexpectedly on his mistress and sees another man leaving her flat. Accusing her of being unfaithful, he quarrels with her, strikes her. She dies. Leaving unseen, he tips off the police so that the other man is arrested and charged... Has he achieved "The Perfect Murder"? A tantalising opening to "A Twist in the Tale", a fantastic collection of short stories from bestselling author Jeffrey Archer.

Brand-new stories by: Daniel Woodrell, Matthew Eck, Catherine Browder, Nancy Pickard, John Lutz, J. Malcolm Garcia, Kevin Prufer, Linda Rodriguez, Nadia Pflaum, Phong Nguyen, Andres Rodriguez, and others. Kansas City: where East and West collide, where naked ambition meets broken dreams, where blues and the night go together like rye whiskey, vermouth, and bitters. Yes, Kansas City is a surprising place of grit, gore, and betrayal, at least in the imaginations of our diverse lineup of contributors.

In this prequel short story to Robert Dugoni’s #1 Kindle-bestselling novel, My Sister’s Grave, Tracy Crosswhite is a young patrol officer, paying her dues, keeping her head down, and hoping a solid record will get her promoted to detective. While years have passed since the disappearance of Tracy’s sister, the experience has made her one of the city’s most dedicated cops.

Jack's a retired ex-cop from New York, seeking the simple life in Cherringham. Sarah's a Web designer who's moved back to the village to find herself. But their lives are anything but quiet as the two team up to solve Cherringham's criminal mysteries. This compilation contains episodes 31 - 33.

Contains books four, five, and six of the Deliver series: Devastate, Take, and Manipulate.

When classic horror movie star Basil Coates becomes the victim of a series of scary pranks, the local police put it down to a crazed fan. Just pranks, after all... But with Halloween only days away, the spectre of murder suddenly visits the ghostly Coates mansion on the hill outside Cherringham - and Jack and Sarah find themselves caught in a mystery worthy of Basil's spookiest roles... Cherringham is a serial novel à la Charles Dickens, with a new audio episode released every two weeks.

When a teenager arrives at a Maine hospital with a rattlesnake bite, warden Mike Bowditch is baffled. Rattlesnakes have been extinct in the region for over a hundred years—so where did this one come from? Bowditch’s investigation leads him to a pair of eccentric scientists who have a vested interest in rattlesnakes and their venom. Even more suspicious, their estranged daughter has accused them of carrying out grotesque experiments on her. As more rattlesnakes appear in the woods—and the case becomes increasingly mystifying—Bowditch finds himself running out of time to catch his exotic foe.

It's the holidays, and Samantha Moon and her family are ready to get together and celebrate. No, they may not be your average family, but the love is just as real. It's two days before the big Thanksgiving meal when Sam receives a most unusual guest. Unusual because she hasn't seen her brother, Clayton, in twenty years. Turns out, he isn't just here for the pumpkin pies and yams. He's got a problem. He's been cursed and thinks his little sister is his best chance to fix it. With pie baking put on hold, Sam and company set out to break his curse, locate a kidnapped baby, and save the day. ...

In 1998, an apparently ordinary Australian man is arrested and charged for a series of brutal murders. The news shocks the nation, bringing both horror and resolution to the victims’ families, but its impact travels even further: into the past, as the murders rewrite personal histories, and into the future, as true crime podcasts and biopics tell the story of the crimes. Highway Thirteen, Fiona McFarlane’s newest collection, takes murder as its starting point, but it unfolds to encompass much more.

The Premier No.1 Garage is the place to go in Mumbai if you want a luxury car. Even Mumbai's biggest gangster shops there - he's just ordered a classic race car worth millions. But now the car is gone. Stolen from a locked room in the middle of the night. Who stole it? The mechanic who is addicted to gambling? The angry ex-worker? The car thief pulling off one last job? And how on earth did they make it vanish from the locked garage? Inspector Chopra has just days to find the culprit - and the missing car - before its gangster owner finds out...and takes violent revenge.

Walking home from a dance on a foggy autumn night in rural New York, Marly Shaw sees a flash of approaching headlights. A pickup truck stops, and two men get out. One of them is her stepfather. She runs. They follow. Minutes later, gunshots ring out. Two men are dead, and one terrified girl is running-for the rest of her life.

Toni West is a recent college graduate looking to make her way in the big city when she gets a call that her beloved aunt has passed away. Toni must return to a town she hates to say goodbye to the one family member she loved. When she gets there, she's surprised by an enticing new friend, Jenna Styles, and an unexpected inheritance that causes additional unwanted friction within an already broken family. Fire and romance don't always mix - Will Toni and Jenna find a way to be together? Or will their desire for one another not be enough to keep the flames burning? **This book is an intimate...

Explore the world of Maynard Wills, PhD, professor of folklore and fan of the podcast, Video Palace. The podcast followed a man named Mark Cambria, who along with his girlfriend Tamra Wulff, investigated the origins of a series of esoteric white video tapes. Cambria went missing in pursuit of these tapes, but not before hearing whispers of an ominous figure called the Eyeless Man.

The second novel and first quick-listen title from Sunday Times and New York Times best-selling author Cathy Glass. My Dad's a Policeman is a dramatic and engaging story of a young boy with an alcoholic mother. Lonely, bullied and desperate for a life of happiness and security he tells everyone he meets his dad's a policeman. Fast paced and compelling, this short story from Cathy Glass follows the experiences of a Ryan, a small and lonely 12-year-old boy who struggles to fit in.

From the number-one best-selling author of The Missing and the Dead comes the short novel 22 Dead Little Bodies; two short stories: 'Stramash' and 'DI Steel's Bad Heir Day'; and a novella: The 45% Hangover, all featuring his most popular characters - DS Logan McRae and DCI Roberta Steel. They say 'small is beautiful', but as Stuart MacBride demonstrates in these four tales, it can also be dark, violent, disturbing, and sometimes really quite rude.

Every year Lady Repton opens up her grand estate to host 'Cherringfest' - the Cotswold's favourite music festival. And this year will be special, featuring not just the return of the legendary and infamous metal rock band, Lizard... but also the home debut of the young and wildly successful new group, Unlost. But what should be a summer weekend of fantastic music, food and fun for all, turns frightening when murder is threatened, and one performer is nearly killed. Soon Jack and Sarah are in a race against time, trying to untangle a web of jealousy, egos and revenge before this Cherringfest ends in a deadly climax.

Carl Weber brings the best of urban street lit authors together, all telling their own dramatic tales of life in the streets in known cities across the USA. The second installment continues with Treasure Hernandez telling the tale of the Dirty South.

Everyone comes from someplace. Everyone has somewhere they feel safe. Some people have found their home and are content where they are. Others feel trapped and yearn to go somewhere else. Many are somewhere else and yearn to go back. But even in these safest of places, sometimes…crime hits home. What happens then?