Dark Crime Fiction

A collection of short stories from some of your favorite authors. You think you know darkness? Think again. Bloodhound Books presents Dark Minds - a collection of stories by authors who have come together to produce an anthology that will lure, tantalize, and shock listeners.

Bureau of Indian Affairs special agent Joe Evers still mourns the death of his wife and, after a bungled investigation, faces a forced early retirement. What he needs is a new career, not another case. But when Congressman Arlen Edgerton's bullet-riddled Lincoln turns up on the Navajo reservation—twenty years after he disappeared during a corruption probe—Joe must resurrect his failing career to solve the mysterious cold case.

Fin Fleming is an accomplished scuba diver and chief underwater photographer at a famed oceanography institute on Grand Cayman. Her best friends disappear, and it doesn’t take long for the kidnapper to contact her with demands. Since the kidnapping occurred on the water, the police have asked for her help. She’d do anything to save her friends, so she dives right in to solve the mystery. But it’s not easy. There’s a killer shark in the area and someone is stealing scuba tanks from her dive shop.

Lizzie Kent wasn't supposed to babysit the night she was murdered. She was covering for her best friend, Nell. Nell has lived with the guilt ever since. Eighteen years later, Nell returns to the area, desperate to escape a bad relationship after inheriting her aunt's rundown guesthouse. But her return isn't welcomed by everyone - in particular Sam Kent, who blames Nell for his sister's death. And after a few unsettling incidents, it becomes apparent that someone is trying to scare her. Is Sam responsible or has Nell's abusive ex-boyfriend managed to track her down?

Denver, 1992. Claudette Cooper, Moses King, and Dexter Diaz have been failed by the justice system. Claudette was sexually assaulted. Blinded by her perpetrator, she’s not able to identify him until she has a dream. As a result of that dream, Moses is wrongfully convicted. Dexter gave a false confession to murder after a grueling and unethical interrogation. Now, he faces a sentence of life without the possibility of parole.

Check out Sylvia Table: he drives a seafoam-green 1968 Ranchero, owns a badass sword, and is one dead uncle away from an inheritance that should set him and the love of his life, Lady Sixkiller, on the road to easy living and the family she’s always wanted. Sure, he may not be cut out for any kind of conventional job, but as long as Lady can hold things down as a waitress until rich old Methuselah shuffles off this mortal coil, what’s the big deal? Yes, things are looking good for Sylvia Table, aka Big Noise, aka Grandest Poobah, aka Big Quiche.

Nicky just wants to save her brother. She showed up with an envelope full of cash and a smart mouth and found herself in a den of monsters. I wish I could say I was the best of them, I wish I could protect her - but I’m far from perfect.

Pete thought his life was made. A college student with an uncanny ability to hack into almost any system, he and his group of select friends begin to stretch their reach. It started with hacking the school’s database to change grades for some of the football players and then grew to anything they desired or coveted. Soon, others started coming to them with requests. Unable to handle the mounting pressure, the group moves off campus and away from prying eyes.

When three bodies turn up in a landfill outside of Philadelphia, FBI profiler Violet Darger heads to Pennsylvania to investigate. Right away there's a major complication. The emaciated corpses appear to have been starved to death. Darger arrives in time for the autopsies. As she watches the withered bodies laid out on the stainless steel slabs of the morgue, their faces crusted with sandy soil, skin pulled taut around knobby cheekbones, she thinks: what kind of a person could carry out such harsh acts?

All I want is get back to normal. Whatever ‘normal’ is these days. After all, our family will be scarred forever after everything that’s happened. My sister-in-law falling prey to the serial killer that stalked our usual peaceful town is something I’ll never get over. But equally, I’m beyond relieved that my husband has been exonerated of involvement in any of the women’s deaths. Our nightmare is finally over. Or is it?

When Tilly Edgely lands a position working at Ashton’s bookshop in Cambridge, she thinks she’s found her perfect job. But one winter’s morning, when she arrives to open up, she discovers the body of her boss suspended from the ceiling, hanging by a rope around his neck. DCI Barrett and DI Palmer are called to the scene and quickly find themselves searching for a twisted killer whose identity and motive are nearly impossible to trace. But just when they think they have the murderer in their sights, another body shows up throwing the case wide open....

The dog was standing by the tree, four paws firmly planted, his hackles up. His owner, who had run after him through the woods, stopped and gasped aloud in shock. In front of them, hanging from the ancient yew tree, was a body. Blood dripped down the victim’s pale skin, where strange symbols had been crudely carved. The eyes stared straight ahead. Empty. Unseeing.

When my life was threatened, Michael King didn't just take matters into his own hands. He took me. When he carried me off it was partly to protect me, but mostly it was because he wanted me. I didn't choose to go with him, but it wasn't up to me.

Una de las más brillantes e irreverentes farsas del autor, una sátira orgiástica donde el horror arranca carcajadas y en la que nadie se salva del ridículo, ya sea de izquierdas o de derechas, ecologista o partidario de la energía atómica, esposo fiel o donjuán irredento: ¡temblad, temblad, malditos! En esta novela, Wilt vive con su mujer, la inefable Eva, entregada a sus sucesivas pasiones alternativas, medicinales, nutritivas, religiosas, etc., y con sus temibles cuatrillizas...

For Paris Minton, a knock on his door is often the first sign of trouble. With family like Useless, who needs enemies? Yet trouble always finds an open window, and when Useless' mother, Three Hearts, shows up to look for her son, Paris has no choice but to track down his wayward cousin.

Just as this nightmare began, I once again find myself bound, destination unknown. However, this time, my kidnapper is the man who shattered my world beyond repair. Aleksei Popov - Russia’s number one mobster, and the man I was sold to. His intentions for me are clear - submit, obey him, and call him master - but I won’t surrender. I’m not like the other girls. Whether that’s a blessing or curse, I’ve yet to decide. The problem is, my disobedience intrigues my captor all the more. When we arrive in Russia, the rules change.

When the body of a homeless woman is found under Bradford’s railway arches, DS Nikki Parekh and her trusty partner DC Sajid Malik are on the case. With little evidence, it’s impossible to make a breakthrough, and when Nikki receives a newspaper clipping taunting her about her lack of progress in catching the killer, she wonders if she has a personal link to the case. When another seemingly unrelated body is discovered, Nikki receives another note. Someone is clearly trying to send her clues...but who? And then a third body is found.

She thinks I'm seducing her, but this isn't romance. It's something much more shameful. Eden tried to leave the mafia behind, but someone far more dangerous has set his sights on her. Me.

You won't remember Mr Heming. He showed you round your comfortable home, before you took the plunge and bought it. But all these years later, he still has the key. That's absurd, you laugh. Of all the many hundreds of houses he has sold, why would he still have the key to mine? The answer to that is, he has the keys to them all.

Winter in einem abgelegenen Fischerdörfchen im Norden von Island. Eine junge Frau liegt blutend und bewusstlos im Schnee. Dann kommt ein alter Schriftsteller durch einen Sturz im Theater ums Leben. Ari, der neue Polizist im Ort, erkennt schnell, dass er erst die Verbrechen der Vergangenheit aufklären muss, um die Fälle der Gegenwart lösen zu können. Doch niemand will ihm helfen – und er kann niemandem trauen.