Short Mystery Collection

Mystery Writers of America is proud to present Deadly Anniversaries, a collection of crime and mystery stories from some of the best contemporary authors, all of whom have been invited to put their own unique spin on what it means to recognize a certain day or event every year. An anniversary can take many forms, and by the time this group of best sellers and award winners is through, none of us will ever look at anniversaries the same way again. Edited by Marcia Muller and Bill Pronzini, this collection features original stories from 20 industry giants.

Poison-tongued film critic Reginald Wright is known for his creative insults and intolerance for the garbage culture, insufferable rudeness, and thoughtless racism of predictably common people. Now, against his better judgment, and with a marriage in crisis, he’s attempting a getaway in the Poconos that quickly fulfills his every low expectation. In fact, it’s becoming a nightmare. And that’s just what Reginald needs to wake up.

Spadework was published on the 25th anniversary of The Snatch, the first Nameless Detective novel. Spadework collects 15 short stories perfect for those who love the Nameless Detective. Two of the stories appear in print for the first time ("Worried Mother Job" and "Zero Tolerance"). The book has an excellent foreword by Marcia Muller about her take on her husband's work, and an interesting afterword by Mr. Bill Pronzini in which he talks about his dedication to the needs of the story.

Voracious monsters threaten to consume a helpful priest. A gamer girl finds herself trapped in a digital realm of death. One widow’s worst nightmare reaches out from beyond the grave. Scare Street is proud to present the best in bone-chilling supernatural horror. This volume contains three macabre morsels for your listening pleasure. These fast-paced tales of terror are guaranteed to keep you listening well past your bedtime.

The best mysteries have one thing in common: a memorable perpetrator. For every Sherlock Holmes or Sam Spade in noble pursuit, there's a Count Dracula, a Lester Leith, or a Jimmy Valentine. These are the rogues and villains who haunt our imaginations - and who often have more in common with their heroic counterparts than we might expect. Now, for the first time ever, Otto Penzler gathers the iconic traitors, thieves, con men, sociopaths, and killers who have crept through the mystery canon over the past 150 years, captivating and horrifying readers in equal measure.

Lust. Revenge. Greed. Hunger. Desire doesn’t care if you’re at the bottom of the ladder or the top of your game. Six masters of psychological suspense craft tales about people crossing moral lines in pursuit of their deepest desires. In these short stories, even the most mild-mannered characters can spin out of control when passion is at play. Hold on tight—there’s no turning back.

Interlude is a collection of short stories spanning the complete timeline of the Snow & Winter series, beginning with The Mystery of Nevermore to after the conclusion of The Mystery of the Bones. They feature the point of view of Sebastian Snow and Calvin Winter and consist of mini mysteries, as well as scenes from daily life.

Dramatisations and readings of five of Josephine Tey's classic mystery novels. Scottish novelist and playwright Josephine Tey was one of the greatest Golden Age crime writers and the author of eight mysteries, including six featuring Scotland Yard inspector Alan Grant. The most famous of these, The Daughter of Time, was acclaimed the greatest crime novel of all time by the Crime Writers' Association. A full-cast dramatisation of this iconic story is included here, along with adaptations of four of her other much-loved mystery novels.

After a long run as a respected journalist, Edward “Fitz” Fitzhugh is on his way out when he stumbles across the story of a lifetime. The Gravedigger is a serial kidnapper who taunts the police with riddles. The other puzzle is his motive, which Fitz is determined to piece together. When an eyewitness to the latest abduction leads Fitz closer to the facts, he realizes that the last great story of his career is not at all what it appears to be.

Liz Kelsey promised herself she’d never again spy on her feckless husband, Phil. But then she discovers a string of suggestive texts on his secret burner phone. Even worse, he’s flirting with the woman who shook their unstable marriage once before. But knowledge is power. What’s more dangerous - what Liz knows or what Phil doesn’t know?

With gimlet-eyed cool and razor-sharp wit, these spare, stylish stories from a master of modern-crime fiction assemble a world of gangsters and con men, of do-gooders breaking bad and those caught in the crossfire. The uncle of an FBI agent spends his life as sheriff in different cities, living too close to the violent acts of men; a cocktail waitress moves through several desert towns trying to escape the unexplainable loss of an adopted daughter; a drug dealer with a penchant for karaoke meets a talkative lawyer and a silent clown in a Palm Springs bar.

In these psychologically daring, chillingly suspenseful pieces, the author of We Were the Mulvaneys and Blonde writes about women facing threats past and present, once again cementing her reputation for "great intelligence and dead-on imaginative powers" (Los Angeles Times Book Review).

BIG, HARD, and READY for action! These three books and packed full of hot young men and their first gay experience. When they meet their lovers, there is no turning back. It turns out, man on man action is just what they needed. This bundle contains: 1. My Gay Doctor 2. A Ride On His Stallion: The Gay Cowboy's Lover 3. Small Town, Secret Desires Warning: These stories contain filthy, naughty action that might be too hot to handle. Adult readers only.

Heather Clemens never thought that life would turn out like this. Single, alone, and stuck fortune telling out of her house for a meager living, Heather could really use some good news. So she does what she vowed never to do: Read her own fortune. What she sees is shocking and impossible… but that’s when the impossible happens, and Heather finds herself looking into the eyes of Rhys Vandell, a fierce and sexy warrior prince from another world. Heather is his fated prize, the key to completing his rite of passage and earning his royal birthright: the power of the dragon shift. Now, ...

SWITCH BACK is a novella (about 1/3 of a full-length novel, about 4-5 times longer than a short story) and takes place prior to BOARD STIFF (Elliott Lisbon Mystery #1). After inheriting an entire town, Ballantyne Foundation Director, Elliott Lisbon, travels to Texas to thank them. She quickly learns they don’t want her gratitude, they want their town back. And they’re willing to kill for it. Trapped in a small town full of big suspects, Elliott must unlock their secrets, or she’ll never get out alive. Now doesn’t that sound like fun? Read the whole series and gets even better. - - -...

The handpicked stories in this collection introduce us to the most determined of gumshoe gals, from debutant detectives like Anna Katharine Green's Violet Strange to spinster sleuths like Mary Roberts Rinehart's Hilda Adams, from groundbreaking female cops like Baroness Orczy's Lady Molly to contemporary crime-fighting PIs like Sue Grafton's Kinsey Millhone, and include indelible tales from Agatha Christie, Carolyn Wells, Edgar Wallace, L. T. Meade and Robert Eustace, Sara Paretsky, Nevada Barr, Laura Lippman, and many more.

A collection of thrilling tales from H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos by one of horror's biggest legends, this volume contains the very best of Brian Lumley's Mythos short stories.

#1 New York Times best-selling, Pulitzer Prize–winning author Anthony Doerr brings his“stunning sense of physical detail and gorgeous metaphors” (San Francisco Chronicle) to selecting The Best American Short Stories 2019. Doerr and the series editor, Heidi Pitlor, winnow down twenty stories out of thousands that represent the best examples of the form published the previous year.

Fig Willow is a cozy fae village located within the boundaries of the enchanted land of Fairywick. This book is about a female Architect from the Victorian time, that appears in Fig Willow at the Bramble house. The Brambles make great discoveries when they find the buildings/structures that she built back in the day with proof that she designed them. Fairywick stretches from the coastal waters of the city of Aquarius across hills, lakes, and valleys and ends at the boundary of the Wickie Woods forest. Fairywick is enchanted and is invisible to human eyes. There are many types of fae that ...

Matchmaker Eve Brantley, who happens to be a billionaire in her own right, likes all of her ducks in a row. She’s knowledgeable, has an innate knack for reading people and is generally successful at matching people with potential partners; except for when it comes to herself. Hannah Dillard hasn’t been to Aruba since her high school graduation trip. During her stay she bumps into a beautiful woman who definitely makes her look twice. Deciding a matchmaker’s conference might be fun; she pays the fee at the door and roams the halls, where she finds the beautiful woman again. Can these ...