Short Stories Crime Suspense

The best noir writers make us feel the heat of the sun, the touch of a lover. Setting can be gritty but can also be sublime, no longer relegated to urban locales and seedy hotel rooms but also mansions and swimming pools. Hence, Palm Springs, which may seem like an odd setting for a collection of dark short stories—it’s so sunny and bright here. The stories in this collection come on like the wicked dust storms common to the area.

Gus’s wakes up to discover that he’s been kidnapped by a Mexican mobster. He’s not the only one who has been kidnapped, however. Apparently, someone’s pinched the crime lord’s kid and the head thug of the gang wants Gus to find the missing kid before the crime lord finds out about it. By kid, it turns out that they meant young goat. If the goat doesn’t turn up in time then the ire of the crime lord will surely fall on one of them. Gus needs to figure out which suspect is the correct one. Luckily, Gus has Father Xavier around to help him sort out this tricky situation. Can Gus ...

Murder for Love: Murder for Women is a collection of wickedly witty crime-of-passion short stories by some of the best women writers inside and out of the mystery field.

When Taylor, a professional writer, discovers that others have been plagiarizing her work, she gets even in her own way—by writing their fake obituaries. Nobody knows about her favorite pastime, and she wants to keep it that way. Then, one day, the unthinkable happens: One of the plagiarists turns up dead. Taylor tries to put it out of her mind, until two detectives come knocking on her door. Author Linda Smolkin delivers a gripping audiobook filled with suspense and an ending listeners won’t see coming.

The Black Goat is a short story that takes on a contemporary approach of the legend of Van Hunks and the devil. Jan van Hunks is down and out, a functioning alcoholic who is battling a divorce from his wife. One wintry night, he decides to escape the clutches of his studio apartment in the heart of Cape Town and venture out to find the darkest bar he can. He meets a mysterious character along the way who advises him against his journey.

When Simon Serrailler was a rookie constable with the Met, he did something reckless in the course of a night's work which caused a man's death. But his act was praised by his colleagues, and he was called a hero. Years later, now a detective chief superintendent who has been badly injured in the course of duty, he receives a medal for bravery at Buckingham Palace while recollecting that fateful night of his early career, when chance disguised itself as bravery.

"What could go wrong?" is what a group of teenagers wonder about before breaking into an abandoned house at the edge of town. They seal their fates on the darkest night of the year, Halloween. Listen as history comes alive in front of their own eyes in a series of terrifying events. Broken families, lives tortures by those that had happened in the past. And in the middle of it, is the one person that was never supposed to come back in the first place. Allowing her to roam free is what will cause the demise of them all. But what if there is a way?

AFTER the SUNRISE, a short story introducing Kat Martin's Maximum Security series, plus an excerpt from her new novel, THE CONSPIRACY.They Called Him the Hero of St. Andrew'sWhen an active shooter in full body armor strides down the center aisle of St. Andrew's church, Kurt Layton knows he’s the congregation’s only hope of survival. As petite, auburn-haired Erin McCallum looks into the barrel of an assault rife wielded by a ruthless gunman, she knows she is going to die.But sometimes, in the instant between life and death, a connection is forged between two strangers—as strong as ...

Bryce’s fellow attorney and partner in their firm, Tom Middleton, experience the death of his son who is found out to be a mule for a drug cartel trading arms for drugs. The boy is killed in a violent way, and Middleton finds out that one of the firm’s biggest clients is involved. Middleton confronts the owner and later is accused of his murder. Tom asks Bryce to be a part of his legal team. Bryce begins to investigate the murder. As he investigates, he discovers that lots of other people had the motivation to kill the deceased. Bryce finds out that Mrs. Juarez was more involved than ...

Praise for Alice Crowley's writing: "I LOVED THE IMAGINATION OF THIS AUTHOR!" ~Satisfied Kindle Reader "FIVE STARS!" ~ Multiple Fans "Alice Crowley is one of our best living authors!" ~ G. Taylor In this searing, scorching sexoterica title, a woman is slowly introduced to her animalistic side as she realizes, through a series of hot experiences with a criminal alpha male, that she is not what she thought she was. This 2.5K-Word title is sure to hit all the right buttons!

Disappearing wasn’t going to be enough…they needed a plan…some answers…and a safe place where they couldn’t be found…and time to figure out what to do next….and why their pursuers are interested in Harper’s father…and are willing to do anything to draw her out. Now it appears that they have an unknown and unlikely ally…maybe two. But what does it mean when one of their allies becomes the new target… Suddenly there is another target.It’s the middle of the twenty-third century and while there have been staggering technological and environmental advances, human nature ...

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.

Disappearing wasn’t going to be enough…they needed a plan…some answers…and a safe place where they couldn’t be found…and time to figure out what to do next….and why their pursuers are interested in Harper’s father…and are willing to do anything to draw her out. Now it appears that they have an unknown and unlikely ally…maybe two… Ailis Mulholland wasn’t expected…nor was the offer of assistance from her father. No one is quite certain what to make of it with one exception…Jackson Riley has known Cian Mulholland since they were kids.It’s the middle of the twenty-...

Jake Hughes cannot run from the fact that he is entering a head on collision with the Mob! Six weeks earlier Jake Hughes was living the quiet life in America with his wife Emily, They decide to take their annual vacation, walking in England. A chance meeting during the walk awakens a hidden memory in Jake, dragging him into direct conflict with a powerful Mafia Family, catapulting him into a a game of cat and mouse, challenging life or death! He teams up with, Jonty Ball, a retired detective inspector, between them they thread the pieices of an unsolved murder twenty years earlier. Is it ...

From the introduction by David L. Ulin: "For me, Cape Cod is a repository of memory: forty summers in the same house will do that to you. But it is also a landscape of hidden tensions, which rise up when we least anticipate. In part, this has to do with social aspiration, which is one of the things that brought my family, like many others, to the Cape. In part, it has to do with social division, which has been a factor since at least the end of the nineteenth century, when then summer trade began."

Parks- deep down has always known that the day would come when he had to run, taking his family with him. He thinks has prepared for everything. He is mistaken. After letting his guard down to make his wife and Erie happy, he sees his worst nightmare on the horizon. Can he escape again, or will this be the end of the road for their family. Ember- has always chosen her husband and family over what she knew was right. Her guilt is heavy yet doesn't outweigh the love she has for him and their children. As long as they are all together she can handle it. So, when Erie has a request, she grants ...

Praise for Alice Crowley's writing: "I LOVED THE IMAGINATION OF THIS AUTHOR!" ~Satisfied Kindle Reader "FIVE STARS!" ~ Multiple Fans "Alice Crowley is one of our best living authors!" ~ G. Taylor Cyndy Lea is dating a rough and masculine biker gang leader named Wicker, when she realizes she has a certain power over men. Soon she is elected the leader of a gang of her own, but only after she proves herself by gaping her imagination and testing the limits of her body in this HOT new 10,000-word erotic story!

Autumn is the season of misty mornings and cosy nights in, but as the leaves begin to fall the nights get longer and the shadows grow darker… Secluded cottages, eerie manors and ghostly hauntings and cursed tombs abound in this collection of 12 supernatural mysteries and murderous plots featuring Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple and Agatha Christie’s other favourite detectives.

A woman expects her boyfriend to pop the question at dinner, only it’s not the question she expected. A girl finds a game board with frightening results. A young woman must fight off an attacker who has a surprising motive for his crime. The painting of a mother's dead son haunts her. A young wife wants to surprise her husband but it doesn’t turn out as she hoped. Or does it? This book of stories, poems, and other writings by the author of the Twigs series and the Detective Tony Pantera series will delight and frighten as well as make the reader ponder life's way of throwing us a curve ...

After Dr. Russo’s death, Agent Spencer and Elijah get access to some of his private files and discover that Project Orthia had three stages in total: Orthia, Elijah, and Vrykolakas. They go on to discover the destructive potential of project Vrykolakas and prepare to adapt it to their needs. Will be they able to execute their plans or not?... This is Book 4 of "Project Orthia" - the first Series of the "Orthia Labs" saga.