Short Thrillers

"The Book Case" is a story that features Nelson DeMille's most famous (and successful) character, Detective John Corey, who has appeared in six DeMille novels: Plum Island, The Lion's Game, Night Fall, Wild Fire, and The Lion. In this story, we see John Corey in his early years as an NYPD Detective, before he became involved with the Federal Anti-Terrorist Task Force.

Matthew Scudder and his wife, Elaine, talk of the night they met while listening to music in various places around their part of New York.

Hit the jackpot with stories from Michael Connelly, Laura Lippman, Walter Mosley, Alexander McCall Smith, and more superstars of mystery.

Do not go gentle into that good night, wrote Dylan Thomas, and Canadas notorious Ladies Killing Circle has taken his advice to heart. In Going Out with a Bang, the dangerous dames have brought together an explosive mix of authors from across the country. Whether its the boom of drums, the cacophony of a train wreck, or the thud of a body crashing down the stairs, no one goes out without a fight. Twenty authors, along with poet Joy Hewitt Mann, will chill you, entertain you or plain blow you away in this eclectic fictional brew.

After more than a decade, the handsome amateur detective Xavier Kilgarvan has returned to Winterthurn just in time to see the fifth young woman’s body carried from Devil’s Half Acre. A brutal fiend has left her mutilated body in this desolate plot of land filled with hulking boulders, quicksand, and twisted trees. Can detective Kilgarvan discover the forces motivating the mysterious “Gentleman Suitor” who has lured five innocent women to their deaths?

Under the Great British Baking Contest tent, the competition's heating up to be crowned best baker in all of Britain. For amateur baker Poppy Wilkinson, there are mysteries, secrets, and lies, even murders to solve. As a fledgling witch, Poppy's having enough trouble controlling her sponge cake, never mind trying to control her powers. Besides solving crime, Poppy's also trying to uncover the mystery surrounding her own background. Will she discover who she really is before she gets sent home? Or worse?

Just two weeks to go before the Cherringham Charity Christmas Concert. Choir rehearsals are in full swing. Then the worst thing happens: Kirsty Kimball, one of the singers, is found dead from a severe allergic reaction to one of the home-made rehearsal cakes. Jack is pulled in to help bolster the depleted choir - and soon he's convinced that Kirsty's death was no accident. Sarah agrees, and the two of them are soon immersed in the jealousies, rivalries, and passions of Cherringham's Rotary Club choir.

They call it the Bone Box. A collection of old cases, solved and unsolved, that continue to haunt forensic pathologist Birdy Waterman. None is more disturbing than the first. After two decades, Birdy still remembers the screaming. The blood on the boy's hands. The body of a girl, butchered in the woods. Birdy's testimony helped put her own cousin behind bars. It was a sacrifice for what she thought was right - but now, 20 years later, she wants to reopen the box.

At an annual party to celebrate the success of the racing season, everything seemed to be running well to form, including the need for more champagne. Then a runaway horsebox ploughed into the marquee. A witness to the terrible death and destruction, wine merchant Tony Beach knows it is just one of those tragic accidents. But when his expert advice is called into play over sub-standard alcohol in a local night club, connections start to click, and another person dies, horribly.

Three friends go on a foodie road trip to the Scottish Highlands and Islands to celebrate their pending retirement, expecting stunning scenery, great food, fine wines, and a chance to reminisce about the good old days. When they somehow secure a reservation at a remote and extremely exclusive restaurant set on a private island in Loch Broom, they know they’re in for a once-in-a-lifetime dining experience.

In this incredible follow-up to the New York Times and USA Today best seller FaceOff, 22 of the world's most popular thriller writers come together for an unforgettable anthology. MatchUp takes the never-before-seen best seller pairings of FaceOff and adds a delicious new twist: gender. Eleven of the world's best female thriller writers, from Diana Gabaldon to Charlaine Harris, are paired with 11 of the world's best male thriller writers.

The elderly owner of Mogdon Manor, Victor Hamblyn, dies in a mysterious fire. But was it really an accident? Jack and Sarah are skeptical... The victim's three middle-aged children, who all live in the village of Cherringham, are possible heirs. And possible murderers... Did one of them set the fire?

Humans have always been fascinated by darkness. Especially the darkness of a city at night, when the black sky is made ever more inky by the pools of illumination dropped under streetlights. Whether the mean streets be in an alternate past charmed with dark magic or the dirty alleyways of futuristic crowded space stations, the city—and its darkened streets—will always fascinate us. Here then, an anthology of all new stories of science fiction and fantasy with a hardboiled noir twist that acknowledge that the city is a living, breathing entity...and it isn’t always on our side.

Even a city that boasts three hundred days of sunshine a year has its sudden, often violent storms—and writers have long taken advantage of that metaphor. Renowned authors Katherine Anne Porter, Jack Kerouac, Stephen King, Rex Burns, Robert Greer, Michael Connelly, and Kali Fajardo-Anstine—among many others—have brilliantly portrayed this picturesque but often merciless city. Today, Denver is home to a thriving literary scene, with writers of all stripes finding inspiration in its people and streets. The authors and stories featured in Denver Noir are no exception....

The island city-state of Singapore harbors unique customs and traditions largely unknown to the West. A booming economy and embrace of conformity overshadow its gambling dens, red-light districts, and a collective passion for ghostly and gory tales. Now, in Singapore Noir, some of its best contemporary authors delve into its seedy side.

Cherringham is devastated. Otto Brendl, the likeable old man who had hosted the classic Punch-and-Judy show for the kids each summer, died suddenly of a heart attack. But while the memorial service is being planned, Jack becomes suspicious that Otto wasn't just the friendly man next door. Maybe there's more behind the heart attack? Soon Jack and Sarah are on the trail of a particularly sinister murderer - and together they will find that there's not only one kind of justice.

Sergeant Detective D. D. Warren confronts the strangest case of her career in this exclusive short story by the #1 New York Times bestselling author. D. D. Warren was pretty sure she’d seen it all. Then a man walks into police headquarters, attempting desperately to convince the squad that he’s dead. Explaining to him that he’s very much alive, they finally send him on his way…and then hours later, he turns up actually dead. And it’s on D. D. Warren to figure out how and why the dead man died…twice.

Sixteen delightful holiday short stories by some of your favorite Soho crime authors! This captivating collection of short mysteries and crime capers - which features New York Times best-selling authors, Crime Writers Association Gold and Diamond Dagger winners, and Edgar Award nominees - contains laughs aplenty, the most hardboiled of holiday noir, and heartwarming reminders of the spirit of the season.

Following the success of Paris Noir, the Akashic Noir Series has expanded to include the famously diverse and sometimes controversial suburbs of this legendary city.

Twenty-five years ago, on a hot summer night, Tim Bell drove to a secluded spot with talented young musician Dinah Taylor after their date at the village fair. But Dinah was never seen again, and Bell - with blood spatters on his clothing - was sent to prison for her murder. Now freed, Bell has returned to Cherringham and his life is in danger from those who feel that justice hasn't really been served. But Jack and Sarah wonder: was Bell really guilty - or did the real killer escape detection all those years ago?