American Detective Fiction

Miguel was doing time for offenses that he did not commit. Will he be the free man of honor again? Detective Alexis Kawarski of Azusa Police Department was all for catching the criminals and helping the victims of crimes. When she found a body inside the closet of Benjamin King, she was not surprised, but sad. Nobody in the neighborhood was willing to come forward to testify against Benjamin. Alexis needed to search for roundabouts as all straight paths seemed closed for her. An assistant in the office of a defense attorney tried to trade favors with her, in exchange for proving her husband...

What’s lost doesn’t always stay that way… Sleuth Kim Smith always knew adventure was on her horizon, and now she has her chance. After being contacted by one of her clients, she sets off to Europe in search of art stolen by the Nazis during World War II. Thinking nothing of it, she smiles at a charming stranger seated behind her on the plane, which changes her trip more than she intended. The following day at an art auction, a chance meeting with him develops into something more. She has no idea that the one piece he’s interested in might hold a secret that could blow her case wide ...

A combination of a thriller, romance, and mystery, introducing the stolid, immovable Inspector Battle.

Who shot Santa Claus? During a trip to see Santa Claus, journalist Roland “Beanie” Bean and his young sons Ethan and Evan are shocked when Old St. Nick is shot! Beanie is anxious to cover the story of Santa’s shooting, but his editor at the Palmchat Gazette has other plans for him. Beanie has to investigate the grisly murder of a victim found dead in a car that had been set on fire. After he learns the man died of a gunshot wound and that the car was torched to cover up the crime, Beanie searches for more information, but his efforts are hampered by the detective on the case, a man ...

Lives in the city are all under attack. Can she nab the killer or the attackers before they hurl on another life? Young yet respectable Keira Jones is a detective in the Collinsville Police Department in Illinois. Each case appeared before her as a new challenge as it is difficult for others to accept that her eyes are as sharp as those of the eagles. The difficulty deepens when she is asked to take part in a joint investigation with the federal agents. To prove her smartness she always needed to move fewer steps ahead of her partner from the federal agencies. The stress pushed her on the ...

A severed finger. A missing person. Are they linked? Detective Amber Cooper believed in resolving cases fast. When visitors picked up a severed finger in a national monument, Detective Cooper felt that the leads were just like needles in a haystack. In addition, Amber found out that a man had gone into thin air. Amber felt that the vanished man was the key to saving lives. She risked almost everything in her pursuit of solving the mystery, though time was not on her side. Could she bring the perpetrators to justice? Just a Finger is the second book in the American Small Town Mysteries ...

Jimmy Johnson’s body appeared in his neighbor’s backyard long after he was dead. Can the detectives bring a joyful holiday to a mourning community? Peyton Anderson was a feisty young detective in the Police Department of Moscow, Idaho. When a half decomposed body was discovered by a long absent city home owner in his backyard as he returned home, Peyton became one of the investigators. Peyton felt helpless as it took a long time to establish the identity of the victim. Peyton spent restless nights thinking that the murderer could escape before the identity of the victim was confirmed. ...

A dead bride and a missing maiden - in a small town, surrounded by loved ones. Can detectives save lives and bring the killer to justice? Detective Danielle Hall believed in the goodness in everyone. When her best friend found the dead body in the bridal suit she was about to rent for her own wedding, Danielle had no option other than finding the killer in their small town community. She discovered that one of the bride’s maids disappeared. Danielle felt that the bride was not killed because she was hated. She risked her personal relationship with her town folks to get to the bottom of ...

Veteran fashion designer Claude Macaron was killed during his own after-party following an annual fashion show celebrating Valentine’s Day. Can the city police bring justice to the artistic soul? Detective Anna Barnhurt of Moon Township Police Department, was quick in reaching conviction in nine out of ten cases. When a famous fashion designer from France was killed in the town, Detective Anna Barnhurt was the obvious choice of her supervisors to bring justice to a deceased foreigner so that the city could save some face. Many out of town suspects were hurrying to leave the town making ...

The pet doctor of the town who knew too much about the animals was murdered. Would the community come forward and stand together to take the devil? Jennifer Moore was a brilliant Detective in the East Liverpool Police Department in Ohio. The community was shaken when the body of the popular pet doctor was discovered in Beaver Creek. The prime suspect had left the country even before the discovery of the dead body. Moore was not sure if the killer would ever be back. Hatching a plan to catch the killer would further put the lives of the community members at risk. Could Moore measure her ...

Between strike violence and a bootlegging war, no one is safe in Western Maryland. Western Marylanders are anticipating a short visit from President Harding during the summer of 1922. While the local movers and shakers want to impress the President, Matt Ansaro discovers a coal miners’ union plot against the President. Matt sets about trying to disrupt the plot while maintaining his undercover identity as a coal miner. The fallout from David Lakehurst's time in Western Maryland continues. Before he fled the area, Lakehurst wrote a letter to the area union organizer, outing Matt as an ...

Aaron and Grace Templeton will never forget the 1998 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. The day their daughter Kiera got lost in the crowd. Investigative journalist Miren Triggs has spent years trying to help the Templetons find her. But with no leads, Miren fears there's nothing more she can do. Until Kiera's 8th birthday, when a video arrives showing Kiera alive and well, playing in a bedroom. Miren can't believe it - finally, a lead she can follow. Until another video arrives. It's the same bedroom. But Kiera is gone.

This collection of early Agatha Christie short stories includes "The Actress", "While the Light Lasts", "Within the Wall", "The House of Dreams", and "The Lonely God".

Sherlock Holmes examines the body of a murdered scrubwoman that lies on the floor of the South Kensington Museum of Art. But it is not a real corpse he looks at, for those remains have been removed by the coroner. The body Holmes studies appears in a drawing of the murder scene precisely rendered by an American art student. The drawing leads Holmes, Dr. Watson, and the artist-a young Frank Norris before he turns his talents to writing- across the English countryside in search of the killer.

When a Western star is gunned down at a rodeo, Ellery Queen saddles up to solve the mystery.

Buck Horne has roped thousands of cattle, slugged his way out of dozens of saloons, and shot plenty of men dead in the street - but always on the back lot. He's a celluloid cowboy, and his career is nearly kaput. The real box-office draw is his daughter, Kit, a brawling beauty who can out shoot any rascal the studio has to offer. Desperate for a comeback, Buck joins Wild Bill Grant's traveling rodeo for a show in New York, hoping to land one last movie contract.

Lizzie Borden took an axe, and gave her mother 40 whacks. When she saw what she had done, she gave her father 41. Or did she? Holmes and Watson, while in America find themselves face to face with Lizzie Borden when two fresh axe murders rock Fall River society. Is Lizzie to blame?

As coal strike violence escalates, Matt Ansaro’s undercover identity is thrown into jeopardy. Having survived a coal mine cave-in, undercover Pinkerton detective Matt Ansaro is recovering from a broken leg. However, the union has called a coal strike, and Matt needs to walk a thin line to remain undercover and not let his employers know Matt is working in his hometown of Eckart Mines, Maryland. The 1922 national coal strike is even more violent in the Western Maryland coal fields as the non-union miners make an all-out effort to unionize. As strikebreakers are brought in to replace ...

Nature and noir combine in a spellbinding new stand-alone murder mystery by Dwight Holing, author of the bestselling Nick Drake series. An Indigenous girl from the Amazon named Blue Macaw mysteriously disappears after oil drillers invade her ancestral homeland. When her brother is accused of murdering a company executive, a no-holds-barred activist persuades Jess Parks to use his search and rescue skills to find Blue Macaw and catch the real killer. The chase is on and the consequences grow increasingly dire when Jess discovers he’s not the only one hunting for her. The trail takes him ...

Cara is on the cusp of adventure. Unlike her best friends, she doesn’t want to go to college, she wants different kinds of challenges. And anyway, home just doesn’t fit anymore. She is growing distant from her friends and hasn’t spoken to her father in eons. To make matters worse, her ex-boyfriend and fellow climber, Nat, has popped back into town after breaking up with her over text. So it’s the perfect time to leave, and she has big plans for a gap year to rock-climb in Patagonia. But when Cara hears that her father is actually missing, things change.

An archeological team is excavating on the banks of the Betwa River near Jahnsi. A place where, legend has it, a couple forbidden to marry had run away to be together — forever cursing anyone who dares set foot on the island. When the head of the expedition defies the myth, the fallout is swift and deadly, the body found exactly as the ancient stories describe. Is the death a result of the ancient curse, or is it a down-to-earth case of murder?