Crime City

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.

Brand-new stories from David Housewright, Steve Thayer, Judith Guest, Mary Logue, Bruce Rubenstein, K.J. Erickson, William Kent Krueger, Ellen Hart, Brad Zellar, Mary Sharratt, Pete Hautman, Larry Millett, Quinton Skinner, Gary Bush, and Chris Everheart.

In the heart of New York City, nestled among the towering skyscrapers and bustling streets, lies the iconic St. Patrick's Cathedral. It is a place of reverence and solace for many, a sanctuary from the chaos of the city. But one day, that sanctuary is shattered when a madman kidnaps the beloved priest who tends to the flock. The main character of our story is Detective Jack Thompson, a seasoned detective with a sharp mind and a no-nonsense attitude.

Just two months after the search for her parents almost cost her everything she holds close, Kim is presented with another opportunity to find them. She struggles with the choice of taking the chance again fearing the possible consequences, adding more stress on top of her normal daily woes.

Six months after witnessing her foster brother take his own life, Kim finds herself searching for any and everything she believes could assist her in her new obsession: finding her biological parents. In a rage, Kim sets out to reclaim what she holds close, ready and willing to kill any and all who stand in her path.

Abraham Cahan, editor of the Jewish Daily Forward, serves as the conscience of the Jewish ghetto teeming with rogue cops and swindlers. He rescues Ben Ravage, an orphan, from a trade school and sends him off to Harvard to earn a law degree. But upon his return, Ben rejects the chance to escape his gritty origins and instead becomes a detective for the Kehilla, a quixotic gang backed by wealthy uptown patrons to help the police rid the Lower East Side of criminals.

When a twin-engine Beechcraft crashes into one of Richmond’s watering holes and turns happy hour into Hell, theories run rampant. Was it terrorists who, for some reason, decided to vent their spleens on unsuspecting Richmond? Was it a statement by homegrown killers less-than-thrilled that the city still, in the 21st century, chooses to honor Confederate leaders on its most prominent avenue? The obvious answers, though, just don’t pan out. Hard-charging reporter Willie Black’s search for the truth eventually leads him to a small town on the Chesapeake....

Seventeen-year-old Tyler lives in one of Edinburgh’s most deprived areas. Coerced into robbing rich people’s homes by his bullying older siblings, he’s also trying to care for his little sister and his drug-addict mum. On a job, his brother Barry stabs a homeowner and leaves her for dead, but that’s just the beginning of their nightmare, because the woman is the wife of Edinburgh’s biggest crime lord, Deke Holt.

New York in 1803 is rife with tension as the city expands, and whoever knows where the city will build can control it. And violence builds as a mysterious provocateur pits the city’s black and Irish gangs against each other. When a young black girl is found stabbed to death, both Justy Flanagan, now a city marshal, and Kerry O’Toole, now a school teacher, decide separately to go after the killer. They each find their way to a shadowy community on the fringes of the growing city, where they uncover a craven political conspiracy....

Oakland, California, 1983: a city churning with violent crime and racial conflict. Officer Hanson, a Vietnam veteran, has abandoned academia for the life-and-death clarity of police work, a way to live with the demons that followed him home from the war. But Hanson knows that justice requires more than simply enforcing the penal code. He believes in becoming a part of the community he serves - which is why, unlike most officers, he chooses to live in the same town where he works. This strategy serves him well...to a point. He forges a precarious friendship with the drug king of East Oakland.

Every day Charles Schine rides the 8:43 into New York City to do the job he has done for over a decade...until the day he is late for his regular train, and sits down across from the woman of his dreams. He is about to discover that once you leave the straight and narrow, getting back on track is the most perilous journey of all. And for Charles, that journey - of lies, terror, and deception - has just begun.

A twelfth dynasty mummified princess, in a huge sarcophagus, is about to take a long voyage from New York City to Cairo as part of a routine museum exchange. But Cleopatra is missing, and in her place is the not-so-mummified body of a much younger woman. Assistant D.A. Alex Cooper must explore the elegant Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the array of beasts and bones at the Museum of Natural History. Somewhere, deep within the bowels of one of these great cultural centers, a killer may wait.

Forensic expert Dr. Michael Baden of the HBO series Autopsy and trial attorney and legal commentator Linda Kenney Baden bring us a chilling new thriller featuring their crack crime-fighting duo: Dr. Jake Rosen, world-famous pathologist, deputy chief medical examiner, and devoted scientist; and top litigator Manny Manfreda, who is as lovely (and accessorized) as she is gutsy. The case begins with New York City on high alert for a most bizarre serial killer - a strange kind of thief who stalks his victims for the purpose of extracting a vial of blood.

Welcome, dear listener, as we embark on a thrilling tale that will take you on a journey through the treacherous world of the mafia in Grand Rapids, Michigan. In this riveting novel, you will witness the dangers of associating with a notorious mafia family, Cosa Nostra, set against the backdrop of the vibrant and bustling Furniture City. Brace yourself for a tale of dedication, murder, mystery, sizzling romance, and unwavering perseverance.

Detective Smith thought his golden years would be easy now that he had retired from killing dames of the night. But the life he left behind isn’t through with him…yet. The black-veiled witch Anya and her army of ghouls make different plans when Smith’s hotshot replacement fails to appease Anya and botches her century-old tradition of cleansing the streets of its deviants and filth. Anya sets her sights on a new protégé—Smith’s teenage granddaughter, Melissa.

Kim, born and raised in the dilapidated Joy City; a forgotten town where doing dirt was inevitable. As a teenager, she was believed to be the one that would make it out of the city; be something, be someone, go far, and matter to the rest of the world, until her perfect little life was left in shambles. She was stricken with sorrow, grief, and confusion, as she wept over the shattered pieces of her broken life.

Harvard dropout and ex-Special Forces operative Joe Brody is climbing the ranks in the criminal underworld. After successfully executing multiple missions for the various crime syndicates that run New York City, he has come to earn the trust and respect of the city's most dangerous denizens. Which is why his newest task—retrieving a pet pigeon snatched from a rooftop coop in Brooklyn—has Joe puzzled . . . until he learns that the bird is valued at close to a million dollars.

A second helping of romance, murder, and mystery is served. Add chills and thrills for seasoning, and you have a very good second episode. A second young girl is found murdered on the east side of Bay City. What clue did one of the young murdered girls leave behind? My God! Sammy, Paula small with short blonde hair!

As soon as he graduated high school, Wink jumped head first into the drug game. He hardened his heart and did whatever he had to in order to rise through the ranks. In The Good Life Part 2, Wink takes things to the next level. His father plugs him in with a cocaine pipeline from prison. Soon, Wink is at the top of his game, handling enough cocaine to supply the entire Midwest. But he will learn, just as hustlers before him have, that every run has its end.

It's August in New York, and the steaming garbage littering the streets isn't the only thing that stinks. Civilian investigator Leonard Mitchell can keep his job as the new head of the Department to Investigate Misconduct and Corruption only by successfully prosecuting veteran cop Ralph Mulino.