Mystery Thriller Collection

The transporting stories in this year’s The Best American Mystery and Suspense are populated by those who exist on the fringe of our society and want more than what life has dealt them: A haunted veteran turned career criminal is on the run. An injured fighter turned bouncer seeks vengeance for his lost love. An assassin on his last job finds himself questioning his life choices and breaks all the rules to understand his final victim.

Diary of a Murderer captivates and provokes in equal measure, exploring what it means to be on the edge - between life and death, good and evil. In the titular novella, a former serial killer suffering from memory loss sets his sights on one final target: his daughter's boyfriend, who he suspects is also a serial killer. In other stories we witness an affair between two childhood friends that questions the limits of loyalty and love; a family's disintegration after a baby son is kidnapped and recovered years later; and more.

Welcome to Brighton, England, the home of local crime reporter, Colin Crampton. Brighton is a great town on the south coast of England. There are long beaches, seaside piers, quaint lanes, and an ornate palace, the Royal Pavilion.

As Kate Hamilton and her new husband, DI Tom Mallory, honeymoon in Devon, a local history museum asks them to trace the provenance of a bloodstained dress said to belong to a Victorian lacemaker accused of murder. If genuine, the dress and its puzzling connections to a nineteenth-century Romani family who camped on Dartmoor will be the centerpiece of a new historic-crimes exhibit—exactly Kate’s kind of mystery. But matters turn deadly when a shot is fired during a fundraising gala, injuring the man who donated the dress.

When Scarlett Chase receives an offer to work a temp job in order to pay her way on a vacation, she jumps at the opportunity. She’ll get to spend an entire week enjoying sunshine and the blue water of a beautiful lake on a luxurious houseboat with some of her closest friends. What could be better? Even though the boat is anchored in a remote location, items start to go missing, and it appears a thief is on board.

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.

Marjorie Snellthorpe and her exasperating cousin-in-law, Edna Parkinton set off for a relaxing holiday in Romania. Looking for respite after their last adventure ended in a murder investigation, they have no idea what awaits them. With a night out at the opera ending in murder, Marjorie and Edna must put aside their differences to uncover who was responsible.

This second volume of a must-listen collection contains 15 bibliomysteries by best-selling and award-winning authors.

In the spirit of the demolition derby, where drivers take heedless risks with reckless abandon, welcome to the first convocation of The Secret Society of Demolition Writers. Here is a one-of-a-kind collection by famous authors writing anonymously and dangerously. With the usual concerns about reputations and renown cast aside, these 12 daredevils have each contributed an extreme, no-holds-barred, unsigned story, each shining as brightly and urgently as hazard lights.

New York Times best-selling author Linda Castillo is known as a “master of the genre” (People) for her pulse-pounding mystery series set in Amish country. Now, together for the first time in print, A Simple Murder features six original short stories starring whip-smart chief of police, Kate Burkholder.

In his introduction, guest editor S. A. Cosby observes that writing short stories is “a special skill that combines brevity with wit and cleverness and the hint of the existential malaise that imbues crime fiction with its gravitas.” The stories in this collection overflow with gravitas in the most unexpected ways: a cryptic note left on a windshield, a murder for hire meets a game of Mouse Trap, a swipe right on a dating app goes horribly wrong.

Spanning from a mediocre spa in Florida, to New York’s gritty East Village, to death row in Alabama, this collection reveals boundless suspense in small, quiet moments, offering startling twists in the least likely of places. From a powerful response to hateful bullying, to a fight for health care, to a gripping desperation to vote, these stories are equal parts shocking, devastating, and enthralling, revealing the tension pulsing through our everyday lives and affirming that mystery and suspense writing is better than ever before.

The best mysteries have one thing in common: a memorable perpetrator. For every Sherlock Holmes or Sam Spade in noble pursuit, there's a Count Dracula, a Lester Leith, or a Jimmy Valentine. These are the rogues and villains who haunt our imaginations - and who often have more in common with their heroic counterparts than we might expect. Now, for the first time ever, Otto Penzler gathers the iconic traitors, thieves, con men, sociopaths, and killers who have crept through the mystery canon over the past 150 years, captivating and horrifying readers in equal measure.

It’s almost Valentine’s Day, the busiest time of the year at Beechy’s Sweets, where the Amish gifts of love and faith are even sweeter than the home-made candy. This audiobook includes three stories: The Sweetest Courtship by national best-selling author Emma Miller, The Sweetest Truth by national best-selling author Laura Bradford, and Nothing Tastes so Sweet by award-winning author Mary Ellis.

When Marcus Willoughby is found dead at his desk in his new home, no crocodile tears are shed. His demise is even presented on air, during his pre-recorded radio show Marcus having been 'choked off' for good while in full flow. His arrival in the village had obviously caused a few already guilty hearts to beat faster, and precipitates the hasty confessions of dark deeds thought long since buried.

Get ready for a journey of discovery as a forty-something heroine slams into a midlife crisis. After her husband leaves her, Naomi moves into her late grandmother's cottage and discovers a world of magic. Life becomes unpredictable—and exciting—especially with a supernatural mystery that only she can solve—if she survives.

Frankie is a caregiver facing a meager and thankless future. Until her elderly charge dies—but not before revealing his secret. It’s buried in Death Valley. Enough money to change Frankie’s life forever. All she has to do is follow his instructions and stay on the path, and her prayers will be answered. It’s everything Frankie hopes for. But nothing like she expects.

Omega Sector, an interagency task force, is made up of the country’s most elite agents. In these four classic tales by USA TODAY bestselling author Janie Crouch, they’ll be challenged like never before!

Too much terror to contain.... Shadows reach out with darkened claws. The floorboards creek as your greatest fears stalk the halls. And no matter how much you tell yourself it is just a dream, you know the truth. Evil hides in the darkness. And now, it has finally been unleashed.... Scare Street gathers volumes one to three of Terror in the Shadows in a single edition. Over 30 tales stalk this macabre collection. And just when you think you’ve experienced the most chilling horror of all, a new story unfolds within this massive tome of fear.

Lily McGee has had enough of Hollywood! Tired of the high life, she decides to leave it all behind to live in a small English village and try her hand at writing murder mysteries... But Lily finds that her cozy crime-writing skills become crime-fighting skills as her sharp mind and amateur sleuthing ability are called upon to solve an array of strange happenings in little Didlington.