Short Stories Crime Suspense

From the dramatic Highlands to bustling cities, the unique landscapes and locales of Scotland have enthralled and shaped generations of mystery writers. This new collection presents 17 classic stories, spanning a period from the 1880s to the 1970s, by a host of Scottish authors alongside writers from south of the border inspired by the history and majesty of the storied country.

When a wealthy politician’s twelve-year-old son disappears, the family’s driver witnesses the aftermath. A field investigator for the World Health Organization travels the globe giving presentations about a biomedical enzyme that will lead to the extinction of the human race. And Father Augusto Saenz, the Jesuit priest and forensic anthropologist from Smaller and Smaller Circles, returns to investigate the murder of a woman whose secretive life holds the key to her death.

From its launch in 1920 until its demise in 1951, the magazine Black Mask published pulp crime fiction. The first hard-boiled detective stories appeared on its pages. Never before in audio, these vintage stories are the darkest of the dark, and the best of the best.

Crime fiction fans old and new will delight in rediscovering these taut, character-rich, heart-stopping tales, now on audio for the first time.

Samantha Moon is used to monsters, magic, and murder cases. But this Thanksgiving, the only thing she wants to hunt is a giant turkey with her family. When her long-lost brother Clayton unexpectedly shows up—looking decades too young, thanks to faerie magic—Sam's happy reunion takes a turn. Clayton’s cursed with insomnia and guilt after failing to stop a faerie abduction. Now it’s up to Sam, her shapeshifting daughter, her empathic youngest, and her psychic witch bestie to travel into the dark faerie realm, face down ogres, and rescue a stolen infant before it’s turned into a ...

Fiona’s old college chum, Priscilla Conroy, has recently moved back to the Pittsburgh area after a most unpleasant divorce. Fiona was looking forward to reconnecting with her friend to help cheer her up and the two had made plans to meet at the bank where her friend worked after it closed—only Priscilla never shows up for the lunch date. Thinking the worse, Fiona is beside herself and spends the entire Memorial Day weekend searching for her friend. Did her ex-husband abduct her? Has she been murdered? Somehow Fiona knows that the key to Priscilla Conroy’s disappearance lies within the...

As a liberal young man in East Texas, Hap Collins is discovering his passion for two-fisted justice in a redneck world. Leonard Pine - black, gay, and the ultimate outsider - is already fighting his own battles against racists and bullies. So when Hap sees Leonard demolishing an angry mob with his fists (and taunts), it’s immediately clear that these two young men have a lot in common.

Three days before Thanksgiving, two boys disappear without a trace. Eleven-year-old Aaron Kuhns is Amish. Kevin Dennison is 12 and "English". They're adventurers, explorers, and inseparable best friends. When they don't return home from what was supposed to be a fun afternoon of fishing, Chief of Police Kate Burkholder must find the missing boys before the first winter storm of the season bears down on Painters Mill.

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.

Hercule Poirot and Captain Hastings are on holiday at the opulent Grand Metropolitan Hotel in Brighton, where they meet the wife of a wealthy stockbroker. As they discuss the jewels worn by Mrs. Opalsen, the great detective relates his experiences in cases which have concerned some of the best-known jewels in the world. Excited by his anecdotes, the wealthy matron eagerly offers to show him a very expensive pearl necklace, but when she goes to retrieve it, she discovers that it has been stolen....

From esteemed crime fiction writer George Pelecanos comes four blistering novellas, drawn together by themes of strife, violence, and humanity. When the son of the Carusos is involved in a hold up, the family home comes under siege in the form of a no-knock warrant. Months after the cops destroyed their home, the Carusos struggle to return to normal. Elsewhere, two former inmates reunite by chance on the set of a TV production. Both have found their way on the straight and narrow path, that is, until one sees the potential for an easy grift.

From the New York Times best-selling duo comes a gripping and suspenseful short story about a blind detective who uses her heightened senses to discover life-threatening secrets.

Jonas Pickett, solicitor and commissioner of oaths, leaves London to set up a practice in a genteel Sussex resort. This collection of nine inter-linked stories tell the stories of his clients: from a retired Admiral to the queen of the gypsies.

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...

Brilliant, irascible, and frequently frustrating to both his friends and his long-suffering bosses, John Rebus has made the dark places of Edinburgh his home for over two decades. The Beat Goes On collects all of Ian Rankin's Rebus short stories for the first time, including two never-before-published tales written specifically for this collection.

Reflecting a city still divided, Belfast Noir serves as a record of a city transitioning to normalcy, or perhaps as a warning that underneath the fragile peace darker forces still lurk. Featuring brand-new stories by: Glenn Patterson, Eoin McNamee, Garbhan Downey, Lee Child, Alex Barclay, Brian McGilloway, Ian McDonald, Arlene Hunt, Ruth Dudley Edwards, Claire McGowan, Steve Cavanagh, Lucy Caldwell, Sam Millar, and Gerard Brennan.

Sara non vuole esistere. Il suo dono è l'invisibilità, il talento di rubare i segreti delle persone. Capelli grigi, di una bellezza trattenuta solo dall'anonimato in cui si è chiusa, per amore ha lasciato tutto seguendo l'unico uomo capace di farla sentire viva. Ma non si è mai pentita di nulla e rivendica ogni scelta. Poliziotta in pensione, ha lavorato in un'unità legata ai Servizi, impegnata in intercettazioni non autorizzate. Il tempo le è scivolato tra le dita mentre ascoltava le storie degli altri.

How do you know whether a real-world situation calls for a storybook hero? Is there such a thing as a knight in shining armor, or does every good deed come with unintended consequences? With chilling insight, five bestselling crime writers explore what it means to rise to the occasion—and the space between intentions and results.

Addie Now that I’m officially the head of the Kingsley Crime Family, there is a lot to do with opening the Gilded Cage, the new club, and no time to grieve. But now, I’m learning that secrets abound in my family, more than I ever knew. While Eli’s considering my offer to become my Second, I want him to make the best decision for himself. But I don’t see how it can work out between us any other way. He's my rock and knows what I need and want, sometimes before I know myself. He's been there for me in ways that no other man has. I want more… and so does he. When my Aunt Hera comes ...

From this “master of the genre,” Christina Dodd, comes three suspenseful short stories of this “remarkable, mesmerizing series” (Library Journal starred review) set in the quaint—and deadly—coastal town of Virtue Falls.

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.