Mystery Reads

The world is in chaos. The United States is the last standing government, and it is hanging on by a thread. Billions of people have turned into zombies or have vanished. An elite military team of special forces is tasked to carry out a final mission to try and save humanity. The team consists of several Special Forces soldiers and an 18-year-old boy that the military believes may be the key to understanding the zombie mystery. The Special Forces team races against the clock from one disaster to another.

Stand-up comic Beau Maxwell is accused of killing the owner of a Boston comedy club and the evidence looks damning. His only option: escape from jail and prove he’s innocent. With Detective Bookton hot on his trail, can Beau chase down the killers before he gets caught or killed? It’s time to drop the mic…and run!

Law professor Oliver Kendall - British transplant to Duke University - is asked by former student Emma Russo to second chair the defense on a death penalty case. A vagrant stole the victim’s wallet, and thinks he found a large diamond. He’s charged with killing a newspaper reporter who was working a controversial story. As other suspects emerge, Oliver and Emma must discern whether their client is guilty or innocent. Can the lawyers solve the mystery, or will their homeless client end up on death row? Bullet books on a plane...on a train...faster than a speeding bullet!

John Hanna is hired by Senator Barry Sands to extricate him from a murderous blackmail scheme designed by terrorist Fierro. When the Senator’s wife is kidnapped, John and Barry find themselves on the trail of the MS-13 terrorist group and discover a sinister plan to assassinate both the American and Russian presidents. As the clock ticks down, can they stop the attack, or will they fall short and witness their worst fears?

Electricity is dangerous, sometimes deadly. Accident or murder? Co-workers collaborate to uncover the truth. An anonymous letter warns MC Fiona to get out. Suspenseful and engaging, greed and corporate cover-ups dictate the price consumers pay for power and light....

September, 1821. When her father announces that she must marry the ancient, grim-faced vicar, Lucy decides upon a desperate plan. Stealing his prized stallion, she escapes across the moors, only to fall into the hands of notorious horse thieves and the cheating arms of their rough but charming leader. She is forced to take part in their crimes, but when she tries to deceive Philip, son of the Earl of Darwell, Lucy meets her match.

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.

Hadleyburg is a decent American town where all the people are honest, selfless and honorable. At least, that is how they see themselves. One day a stranger arrives in town and somehow the locals manage to offend him so badly that he is determined to get his revenge on them by exposing their true nature, which according to him is far from "incorruptible". How will he tempt the people that are so well trained to avoid temptation? Are they really as honest as they claim to be? B. J.

There comes a time in every hero’s life when they fall harder and farther than ever before, and they face a choice that changes everything: to give up, or claw their way back again. Lucy thought she’d made her choice two months ago when she sacrificed everything to save her family, but now she has to decide whether or not she can save herself.

The only thing worse than being the girl raised by a serial killer is being the girl he blames for getting caught...and now, Morgan Ames’ father has escaped prison. Morgan knows she’ll be at the top of her father’s hit list. After all, she dared to defy him, abandoning him to rot in jail while she escaped to live a normal life. Every instinct screams at Morgan to run and hide, but she’s as much a predator as her father, and she refuses to allow him to turn her into prey.

A smalltown librarian finds himself trapped in a high-stakes game between eccentric, ultra-rich businessmen. A ghost from the past appears in the middle of a contented marriage. A Russian clockmaker crafts an illicit piece that travels over continents and centuries.

A gold-digging spouse who is also a serial killer.... The beautiful owner of a women’s dress shop brutally murdered on the floor.... A sexy dame who shows up unannounced at Dick Moonlight PI’s office claiming she’s about to be murdered.... Two numbskulls who decide to rob a home for the aged during bingo night.... These are just a few of the sexy, hard-boiled, and noir tales you’ll find in this first-ever volume of collected short stories by Thriller and PWA Shamus Award-winner Vincent Zandri.

A sudden Christmas flurry has Penny spinning her wheels. Can she risk reaching out for help? Or will meeting new people put her and them in peril? Find out what the season holds for Penny and her ominous ability.

A meteorite crashes in an area around Arkham, Massachusetts and normally life is interrupted. The earth is poisoned, the animals are driven mad, the products that grow there become tasteless. One man decides to find out what has really happened but the townspeople are not willing to give more details about what they have gone through. The explorer however meets a man named Ammi Pierce. He looks a bit crazy but he is willing to share what he has experienced.

Sometimes self-fulfilling prophecies are not all they seem. Lord Arthur Savile is a young British aristocrat about to get married. Mr. Podgers tells people’s fortunes, and he has bad news for the groom: he will commit murder. Unable to get the thought off his mind, he decides to get it over with before entering into marriage, but things do not go as planned. Hear the darkly humorous short story "Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime" by Oscar Wilde from the late 19th century brought to life by B.J. Harrison. B. J.

"You won't know till afterward. You won't know till long, long afterward." When Ned and Mary Boyne hear that their new house is haunted, they laugh it off and joke that every good house in the countryside must have a ghost for it to be worth purchasing. They move in and forget all about its supposed supernatural quirks. But when Mary notices a strange change in her husband's behaviour, she begins to suspect a not so friendly ghost is indeed at play.

"A Chapter in the History of the Tyrone Family" is a Gothic short story by Sheridan Le Fanu focusing on a young woman who marries a Scottish landowner with a dark past. A short story whose haunting and semi-supernatural elements might have influenced Charlotte Bronts "Jane Eyre", Le Fanus tale combines a lot of elements horror, romance, thriller, and drama to create a compelling and sophisticated world from which there is no easy escape.

"You see, this is the beauty I want. Beauty has got to be astonishing, astounding--it's got to burst in on you like a dream, like the exquisite eyes of a girl." Ardita, a beautiful and bored young Flapper, is hanging out on her uncle's yacht when it's suddenly captured by pirates. When Ardita meets and falls in love with the charming captain she knows she's been right to reject the boring and rich society men. But a truth lurks around the corner that will make her question everything she thinks she knows.

Abercrombie Smith and Edward Bellingham are neighbors and fellow students at the University of Oxford. Smith is a medical student and athlete, while Bellingham is a specialist of Eastern studies and the owner of many Egyptian artefacts. A series of strange episodes happen after Edward buys a four-thousand-years-old mummy. Smith suspects his fellow student of hiding a dark and threatening secret, and soon discovers what the truth really is.

Ralph Orth is an American novelist who decides to move to the English countryside. There he buys a marvellous estate called Chillingsworth. Inside Chillingsworth’s gallery, Orth finds an old portrait of a young girl who takes Orth’s breath away. He is fascinated and is determined to find out who this girl was. His obsession with little lady Blanche gets so strong that one day he sees her walking around in the neighborhood.