Short Mystery Collection

In the third installment of his acclaimed anthology series, master of crime fiction Lawrence Block has gathered together the best talent from popular fiction to produce an anthology of short stories based on masterpieces of American art. Among the star-studded lineup of writers you'll find Jerome Charyn, Jane Hamilton, Christa Faust, John Sandford, Sara Paretsky, Walter Mosley, Charles Ardai, Barry Malzberg, and Janice Eidus.

In a future where humans and synthetics coexist in an uneasy peace, a mysterious string of murders threatens to undermine this hard-fought balance. Now, it's up to detective Dhata Mays to find the killer before the case goes public. But can he be unbiased in a black and white world that forces him to take sides?

From young women to elderly matrons, from the savvy sophisticates to the socially inept, the characters in these stories depict life's defining moments, where one calculated move cements the unalterable fate of another and the inescapable consequences of karma and conscience.

A young girl’s dollhouse comes alive at night, and its tiny residents possess a terrifying power. Fate stalks a young cult survivor as she struggles to escape a premonition of her own death. And a beautiful antique jewelry box reveals a dark hunger that threatens to consume its new owner....

A prison break ends in terror when the fugitive discovers there’s more than just his freedom on the line. The dead return for vengeance when a spiritual medium is cruelly murdered. And a trail of missing children in the frozen wilderness leads to a creature even deadlier than the local predators....

Insurance investigator Brent Calloway may be too hard-boiled to crack a smile, but he’ll go to any length to crack a case. Calloway’s about to go to extremes to see to it that one ship makes it safely from Hawaii to the mainland. Going undercover and posing as ruthless killer Spike O’Brien Calloway quickly discovers that on this ship nothing is what it seems, and no one can be trusted. With so much insurance money at stake, and the whole crew apparently in on the scam, this could end up being a voyage to the bottom of the sea....

US Navy Lieutenant Steve Craig is in one hell of a mess. Being accused of murder is bad enough, but the local police are convinced he’s killed his own father. And now, for Steve Craig, the plot is about to get down and dirty. Steve’s safe from the cops as long as he stays aboard his Navy ship - but the word safe isn’t in his vocabulary. He slips off the vessel and vanishes into the seamy underside of the city, determined to find out who took his father's life...even if it means risking his own.

After a run-in with the Sebring Beach Police Department where a vampire’s servant ended up dead, Helena Graves is offered two choices: Help the local PD chase down wanted monsters, or spend the next 10 years in prison. Since she has a teenage daughter to raise, it was an easy decision for her to make. Between running a somewhat controversial business, tense teacher conferences, and killer supernaturals on the loose, there's never a dull moment in Sebring Beach or Helena’s life. And for the first time in decades, her love life is about to get very interesting.

From tales of chilling horror, to heart-stopping stories of suspense, Warped is best-selling author Jeff Menapace's ultimate collection of short fiction. Warped contains currently published tales of the macabre like "Princess" and "The Straw Man and a Murder", the currently out of print and award-winning "Sugar Daddy" and its sequel, "Sugar Daddy 2", and the author's preferred version of his controversial "Torment".

The Dead Witness gathers the finest adventures among private and police detectives from the 19th century and into the early 20th - including a wide range of overlooked gems creating the finest ever anthology of Victorian detective stories. "The Dead Witness", the 1866 title story by Australian writer Mary Fortune, is the first known detective story by a woman, a suspenseful clue-strewn manhunt in the Outback. This forgotten treasure sets the tone for the whole anthology....

A fairytale ball with a not-so-happy ending. A company that secretly experiments on the minds of the mentally ill. The Angel of Death with a deathwish of her own. Monsters who can kill with just one look into their eyes. These are just some of the stories When Night Falls has to offer. Fast-paced, thrilling, and filled to the brim with darkness and characters driven by the voices in their head, this collection focuses on the darker side of life. Trigger Warning: Not for the faint of heart. This collection contains stories that deal with difficult subject matter.

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.

Tex Larimee is a grizzled Arizona sheriff who’s leaving the deserts of Cactus County behind, blazing a trail east to mix it up with The Slickers in the canyons of Manhattan. Tex’s welcome to New York is a rude one. Robbed of his cash, gun and badge, he’s locked in a room in back of a run-down bar. Breaking out of the bar, he goes looking for his best friend...only to find him dead, his throat cut. And the cops accuse Tex of committing the murder.

Scare Street is proud to present 13 tales of supernatural horror in one volume, guaranteed to make your skin crawl. This bone-chilling collection awaits, luring listeners of the macabre deeper into the shadows.

An aging woman sacrifices more than she bargained for in her quest for eternal youth. A group of kids explore a decrepit slaughterhouse only to find that one of them won’t be coming home. And when a deep freeze strikes a small town, one man discovers something sinister lurking beneath the ice and snow....

The terror at Hotel Caligula continues, as ghost-hunting enthusiasts explore its sinister corners. Ancient forces of nature turn the table on a lonely old man. And bullied teenagers discover that supernatural vengeance comes with a deadly price. Scare Street welcomes you to this spine-tingling collection of a dozen frightening tales. There’s a dark, cozy room waiting just for you - a perfect place to start listening. But as you lose yourself in terror, you hear creaking outside your door. You try to turn the knob, but the room is locked from the outside! There is no escape.

Seven strange stand-alone tales involving unusual people caught in disturbing circumstances are presented in this collection.

This coastal mystery and suspense thriller box set includes the first three books in The Dangerous Coast of Florida suspense series - Dead in the Water, Burned in the Water, and Poisoned in the Water.

The terror at Hotel Caligula continues, as ghost-hunting enthusiasts explore its sinister corners. Ancient forces of nature turn the table on a lonely old man. And bullied teenagers discover that supernatural vengeance comes with a deadly price....

A collection of 15 crime fiction short stories in print., some of them award-winners, by author Libby Fischer Hellmann. The collection is divided into two parts: The Ellie Foreman/Georgia Davis stories and Chicago Then and Now; Other Places, Other Times.