Private Eye Thriller

The Block In the year 2050, the world has experienced a near total economic collapse, destroying the global monetary system. After years of struggle, a new form of exchange arose: cryptocurrencies called scripts, digital IOUs centrally managed through programs called blockchains. And the ambitious Proctors, who control the blocks, restlessly seek to expand their power. Milt Bruckner investigates blocks to counter fraud and is struggling to keep his script-chasing business afloat when a mysterious woman enters his establishment in need of his help.

Here are four hard-boiled detective short stories set in contemporary San Antonio, Texas. Nacho Perez, a former Marine drill instructor, uses his fists and his gun to get to the bottom of his cases. But he takes his lumps along the way.

Melody Clue has seen a lot during her time as a private investigator. But some cases leave her speechless. Why is she so shocked? What's so different about her latest investigation? Find out by buying Private Eye and a Craving for Pie right now!

In this series, step into the world of intrigue, where bloodlines converge and ancient echoes whisper. Jewels Nefertiti awaits, her story unfolding like a scroll unrolled by time.

It is early 1942. You are in San Francisco, and you need a private eye. Sam Spade is rumored to be in Istanbul. The Continental Op has been drafted and is a sergeant in the Aleutians. Philip Marlowe is up at Little Fawn Lake investigating the disappearance of Mrs. Derace Kingsley. Lew Archer is in the army. Who's left? Nobody but C. Card. You haven't heard of C. Card? That's all right. Nobody has.

Private Investigator Liz Talbot is a modern Southern belle. She blesses hearts and takes names. She carries her Sig 9 in her Kate Spade handbag, and her golden retriever, Rhett, rides shotgun in her hybrid Escape. When her grandmother is murdered, Liz hightails it back to her South Carolina island home to find the killer. She’s fit to be tied when her brother—the chief of police—shuts her out of the investigation, so she opens her own. Then her long-dead best friend pops in and things really get complicated.

Evander “Vandy” Myrick became a cop to fulfill her father’s expectations. After her world cratered, she became a private eye to satisfy her own. Now she's back in Queenstown, New Jersey, her childhood home, in search of solace and recovery. It's a small community of nine thousand souls crammed into twelve square miles, fenced by cornfields, warehouses, pharma labs, and tract housing. As a Black woman, privacy is hard to come by in "Q-Town," and worth guarding.

A music therapist who thrives on helping others, Kendra Michaels cherishes the ordinary life she has achieved after stem cell surgery restored her sight. The skills she perfected during those sightless years - the ability to pick up the most subtle audio, olfactory, and tactile cues in the world around her - coupled with her laser-sharp mind - have made her a uniquely potent observer and problem solver. Kendra’s uncanny way of connecting the dots is as baffling to law enforcement as it is legendary.

In January, New York City inaugurates its first female mayor. In April, her son disappears. Called in by the mayor’s chief aide—a former girlfriend of private investigator Bill Smith’s—to find the missing fifteen-year-old, Bill and his partner, Lydia Chin, are told the boy has run away. Neither the press nor the NYPD know that he’s missing, and the mayor wants him back before a headstrong child turns into a political catastrophe. But as Bill and Lydia investigate, they turn up more questions than answers.

One of the best mystery books of the 21st century, this volume features outstanding new stories of crime, derring-do, fast-paced adventures, and puzzles, featuring hardy amateur detectives ranging from young to old and grizzled private eyes whose patches cover the city streets, all in the hallowed tradition of Sherlock Holmes, Miss Marple, Hercule Poirot, and Philip Marlowe.

Los Angeles, California — Whitey Roode, a likeable former LAPD gold shield turned private investigator is on another case. Father Nicholas Aloysius Quinn, an activist priest and minor celebrity who uses film as his medium, has his most recent premier ruined by a suicide at the red-carpet event.

Casey Derry has a gambling habit, and he knows he’ll get lucky one day if he just keeps trying. If only he can win big, he and his wife, Jen, can live happily ever after with no more worries, no more money problems, and no wondering whether they’re going to lose their house and live on the streets. With the last roll of the dice, he loses once again—his money and his dignity. It’s time to go home with his tail between his legs and endure Jen’s wrath and verbal abuse.

Hot on the heels of Best Cases of the Continental Op comes Honest Gain: Dicey Cases of the Continental Op, another original compilation from Skyboat Media. The Continental Op is back on the case, tracking down thieves and murderers from the steep streets of San Francisco to the rough and tumble Wild West in Arizona. These six stories featuring the Continental Op show that this private eye is not afraid to get his hands dirty in order to get the job done right, or get himself hurt in the process.

After the recent revelation about Pain's former partner, the big guy's been AWOL in search of answers. Agony is not the type to mope about. She has kept the ship afloat, trusting that when Pain's found the answers, he needs he'll be back. When Pain does come back, he arrives only he can . . . in a maelstrom of gunfire, screams, and callouts to emergency services. Agony and Pain need to sort out the issues months of distance and time have created, and they need to do it quickly.

It has always been said that three strands are strong and hard to be broken. But what if a fourth strand is added? Will it mess up the flow of the norm that already works? The female trio is all from different backgrounds. However, they have much in common, like sports bikes, fast cars, and crime-busting, while getting their diva side on. Ebony, brown-sugar female Kristi D. Steels, a noted ace detective, turns heads everywhere she goes. Katrina Dymes, a hot ass, blondie ex-military MPI investigator, she and her battle-blades are a force to be reckoned with in the streets.

Serious trouble is brewing in Brighton, California, a sprawling coastal community on the eastern edge of the Los Angeles Basin: Its Mayor has just been murdered, and the chief of police has resigned amid rumors of corruption in his department. Now, ex-police officer Joe Copp has been hired by an old friend, the current Brighton City administrator, to get to the bottom of the municipal mess.

Kristi D. Steels is the daughter of the once legendary Police Special Division Crime Busters. There're lots of things that can be said about the young lovely foxy detective. But one thing that must be brought to the forefront is that Kristi is a "DIVA".

The Las Vegas desert. A once famous pop singer lies dead. The only clue to her murder—a bizarre disfigurement. Only one thing to do. Call in Parker and Steele. To avoid the hassle of a media frenzy, the local police sergeant decides contact his old mentor, Wade Parker, and ask him to consult on the case. After nearly dying eight months ago, Miranda Steele can't wait to get back to real detective work.

When former detective Trevor “Finn” Finnegan became a PI, he adopted a new mandate: catch the LAPD’s worst in the act. While on surveillance in Venice Beach, Finn tails two potentially dirty cops: Detective Martin Riley and Finn’s ex-partner, Detective Sally Munoz. Things take a deadly turn when an unknown assailant executes Riley and wounds Munoz. In an instant, Finn goes from private eye to eyewitness. Munoz needs Finn to help find Riley’s killer, but doing so could blow his cover.

Joe Copp is hired by old buddy, ex-cop Tom Chase, to protect him from the FBI. Chase is the security chief for a defense contractor, and Uncle Sam is following him and setting up his executives for a sting. Sure enough, two of them are stung...Permanently! Then, without warning, Chase is arrested as a spy. Now, he is not only running from the feds, but he is busting KGB skulls, and rubbing elbows with traitors while tripping over corpses. Somehow, Joe Copp has gotten himself in deep, and it is getting deeper by the minute.