Mystery Reads

It is the summer of 1989 when Lucas witnesses an event that will tear his family apart. Over a decade later, his estranged father succumbs to a suspected heart attack. Lucas shuns grief and escapes to New York with his colleague Mariana. However, a dark secret from his past threatens to reemerge and destroy the burgeoning relationship before it has even begun. When his father's girlfriend fails to reappear after reporting his death, the true cause of his demise falls under scrutiny. And as the startling truth comes to light, Lucas must confront the fact that father and son may not have been so different after all.

From the Big Island to Kauai, the far side of Maui to the bustling streets of Honolulu, experience paradise in all its glory...and darkness. This collection of 10 stories brings out the beauty of the islands, the passion of the tropics, and, yes, murder. Join 10 writers who love the islands and want you to savor the tropics while benefiting literacy in Hawaii.

Angie Deacon was the last to see Nolan Little alive. Which makes her a prime suspect in his death. Sure, he was gruff and insensitive. Treated his wife like dirt. But besides Valerie, why would any of the five strangers on board want him dead? None of them knew him before today. Or did they? Police detective Colby Jarvis storms the boat determined to unveil the killer before they get back to shore. What a feather in the widower's cap that would be. He falls hook, line, and sinker at his first sight of Angie, but she is married and off limits.

Bill Eisner escaped the high-powered world of dog eat dog and opened a neighborhood coffee shop. His high-maintenance girlfriend stayed behind. Now, all he wants is a second chance in life, a chance to do something he enjoys and meet someone who can love him for who he is, not what he can buy her. The community loves him, the press loves him, and even the homeless think he’s one of the nicest guys around. Finally, he thinks he’s found true happiness with the woman of his dreams. Until she’s murdered.

This loner teen is haunted by a secret. One that forces her to continuously be on the move. As Penny settles into a new town, she realizes something much darker is afoot. The Raven, her nemesis, has tracked her down once again. She finds herself in a race against time to vanquish the darkness and save those around her.

Madeline Dare, a tough-talking, shotgun-toting ex-debutante, is not your average detective. Then again, not much about her life is what she expected. Born of old money into high society, she married into a Syracuse farming family and a bottom-of-the-food-chain job writing puff pieces for the local newspaper. Her emotional barometer these days ranges from dry irony to whining exasperation.

At the gala opening of a new library filled with homosexual writings collected by the late Charles Burrows, known for both his taste in writing as well as his eccentricity, Dick Hardesty and his partner Jonathan are enjoying a rare night out since four-year-old Joshua joined their household. The evening takes an abrupt turn when cataloger Taylor Cates is found dead at the bottom of a flight of stairs in the library.

Arriving on the shore of Lake Michigan for summer vacation, the Graham Quartet senses that something is not quite right. When a slip of the tongue causes an unexpected reaction, Elsa, Matt, Selena, and Tim, jump into a mystery. But what is the connection between a cryptic note, a yellow door, and a boat called the Day Maid? When their friend, Lieutenant Ashwood, disappears, the Quartet feels the pressure of time and must turn to another source for help. Will the four siblings get enough information to unravel the mystery, before the suspects vanish completely?

John has been labelled an overnight success after one of his novels was adapted into a box-office movie. But lately, John has been struggling with writer’s block and is finding it difficult to write something that will satisfy his fans. He’s been dealing with unsettling messages from an obsessed fan, and his ungrateful wife is constantly trying to find ways to spend his money. But John’s life is about to get much, much harder when a menacing stranger starts banging on the door late at night.

When his father leaves town, 12-year-old Rodney Culver's mother takes up with Otis Dell, a fry cook at the local diner - and a well-known petty thief. While Rodney resists the man's influence at first, Otis soon draws the boy into his small-time criminal world. After a simple heist goes violently wrong, Rodney becomes an unwitting fugitive, swept away from his mother to the primitive mountain sanctuary of the mysterious Lester Fanning.

Ride along with the New Orleans police department as the officers work together to solve unusual happenings in this unique, historic city. You’ll meet Zack Nelson, a former police officer, now living in a retirement center because of his daughter-in-law’s illness. While he’s not keen to move, he does so temporarily to help his son, Tom, and Patty cope with the medical issues.

In the 1990s, middle school was a treacherous time for young Susan, where her lifelong friendship with Maddie is put to the test. Determined to win back her friend from the clutches of the school bully, she is willing to do anything. When she stumbles upon a chilling discovery in the woods—the enigmatic "Book of Fear," she is torn by the sinister promise of one wish granted if she is willing to face one night of all her fears.

A young couple's fabulously orderly life is disrupted when the husband begins having prophetic dreams. The good news is that acting on these dreams averts disaster. The bad news? It soon involves a mysterious stranger in a cardigan, skeptical colleagues, and the FBI.

An ancient South American cathedral extracts a heavy price from a visiting photojournalist. Ghost hunters stumble across a cursed field from which there is no escape. And a friendly neighbor discovers the new girl in town is more than she appears. Peer into the depths of Scare Street’s latest collection, a fun house mirror full of terror and nightmares.

Alice is pregnant with her husband Sir Richard Trevlyn’s child. One day, she listens to a conversation between her husband and a visitor through a keyhole. What she hears is shocking enough to make her faint, and when she comes to, her husband is found dead. Years later, the sixteen-year-old Paul applies for a job at the estate, and it becomes clear that there is more to him than meets the eye. What happened to Sir Richard Trevlyn, and who is the mysterious Paul? Louisa May Alcott’s mystery novella from the 19th century, read by B.J.

"The Dream Woman" is a novella by Wilkie Collins, telling the story of Francis Raven, a young man who dreams that a strange woman is trying to kill him. Eventually, he marries a woman who looks exactly like the one from his dream. This novella is a cosy mystery that leaves readers with more questions than answers. A lot of guesswork is needed, and the reader is often disturbed by the occurrences, not knowing what or how it came to this.

The year is 1986. The increasing popularity of video-game consoles and home-video recorders render requests for traditional toys at an all-time low. With his workshop rapidly losing popularity and demand among the children of the world, Santa Claus decides to take his business in a new direction. International drug trafficking. After all, why lose money making Christmas crackers, when he can earn money making Christmas crack heads. One of the elves escapes to the big city to enlist the help of Dallas Stone, a maverick cop who only knows one way to fight crime.

Quiquendone is a small town in West Flanders, whose citizens are the wisest, most sociable and hospitable people. The town’s mayor, Van Tricasse, claims that the one if a person dies without having decided anything in his life then he has attained perfection. One day, Dr. Ox comes to the mayor with an offer. He wants to build a gas lightning system, at no cost for the city. However, Ox's intentions are completely different and this seemingly noble deed is just a facade. Will Van Tricasse accept the proposal? And what is Dr.

After their father’s death, the two brothers, Nur al-Din and Shams al-Din, agree to marry two sisters on the same day. The main idea is that Nur wants to have a son, while Shams wants to have a daughter. And so it happens. Shams al-Din has a daughter and Nur al-Din has a son - Badr al-Din. Right before he dies, Nur tells his young boy about his uncle Shams, who is still in Cairo. After the death of his father, Badr al-Din loses the approval of the sultan and must flee away.

Sixty years ago, a plague wiped out mankind and only a handful of people managed to survive. The survivors established their own civilization and rules in the wild and destructed world. Now, sixty years later, an old man named James Howard Smith walks together with a young boy through the desert. The two travelers walk along an old and long forgotten railway track with an important mission, a mission that can change the life of all the survivors.