Bird Mystery

Nigel Bird and his stories have appeared in so many places that it’s about time the best of them were brought together in one collection. His work has also received so much praise that this collection should be a must for the fan of the short story, particularly those fans with a taste for noir, crime or unusual fiction. Praise for his work and, indeed, for some of the stories collected here includes: 'A tremendous writer.' Donald Ray Pollock (The Devil All The Time) 'A rare talent.' Allan Guthrie (Bye Bye Baby) ‘I was surprised by every story. These are short, punchy, thoughtful, hard ...

As everybody knows, Red-Footed Boobies are fabulous bakers. But when Desmond’s frangipane tart goes missing amidst a flurry of footprints, the Blue-Footed Booby becomes the chief suspect. But all is not as it seems.

A week ago you woke up in Los Angeles with no memory of who you are. The only thing you knew: People are trying to kill you. You put your trust in Ben, but he betrayed you and broke your heart. Now you've escaped to New York City with a boy named Rafe, who says he remembers you from before. But the two of you are not safe. The same people who are after you are tailing Rafe as well.

Despite her amazing abilities, all Sun Song Shia ever wanted was to be loved. But it's hard to find love when you don't even know who you really are. Little Bird is an expansion of In Her Eyes, originally published in F&SF, a nominee for the Sturgeon award, an honoree for the James Tiptree award, and included in the 2015 Year's Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Novellas (edited by Paula Guran).

On a school trip to the Royal Swan Natural History Museum, Ava finds herself at the center of a heist: hundreds of invaluable bird of paradise skins from the Alfred Wallace Collection have been stolen! When she discovers a large jet-black feather, she's sure it's a clue, but the police won't listen to her. Slipping away, she takes the case to the Twitchers in an investigation that leads them to the bizarre and sinister world of fly-fishing, and to a mysterious girl with a pet Raven called Caliban and a dangerous ring of thieves and smugglers.

It was New Year’s Eve the night that dead blackbirds descended, hours before 14-year-old Alex McCarthy's sister Olivia went missing from a party. Committed to finding out what happened to her sister within the previously safe walls of their subarctic Orkney village, Alex knows that dishevelled, sometimes intoxicated Detective Inspector Birkens is her best shot.

In Alexander, Jane Bolton is burying her husband; Willow Hollis is trying to bury her past; and the rock star, Jett Renick, is returning home. A wild spring will toss them all together when 13-year old Sassy Bolton is kidnapped. The search will uncover dark truths about the small Georgia town, and already broken hearts will be tested by the vicious storms of life.

In a futuristic Tampa Bay, Skiptracer Dhata Mays and his sidekick, Lur Diaz, are on a job investigating a cheating lowlife. But after a deadly explosion and the woman who hired them disappears, nobody is safe. Suddenly, everyone is under suspicion, and the police are no longer there "to serve and to protect". Now, it's up to Dhata to take matters into his own hands and uncover a deep-rooted plot to escalate the tension between the humans and synths. He must stop the battle before it's too late.

Burn-scarred and already something of a legendary small-time criminal, Mike Menger was last seen at the end of David Bain's crime/horror novel Gray Lake, driving headlong out of Green River, Michigan, under cover of night, screaming in rage and despair. Now he's back, though still in hiding, doing dirty deeds his new boss, Phan, needs doing - like tonight's adventure. Seems one of Phan's other lackeys, Kundo, lost Phan's nightclub called The Nice-Nice in a game of chance.

Writer Cyril Glendinning is waiting for his big break. He is well reviewed by cultured newspapers, but he makes very little money. Then he is commissioned to write a novel for a big publisher, but before he is able to finish, disaster strikes. His wife, Gertrude, is left penniless and alone, until she is awoken one night by a mysterious clicking metallic sound....

Beverly Grady may just be the world’s loneliest woman. Her husband is dead, she hates her sister, and she has no friends—other than the birds she watches every day in her yard. When she finds out her late husband left behind mountains of debt, she has no choice but to downgrade her lifestyle, moving from her dream house to a cheap apartment in nearby Brookside Manor.

It's 1979, the Winter of Discontent, and Elizabeth Daton is a gun for hire whose career is brought to a shuddering halt when a job leaves a young girl hospitalized.

Après vingt-quatre années passées au bureau du shérif du comté d'Absaroka, dans le Wyoming, Walt Longmire aspire à finir sa carrière en paix. Ses espoirs s'envolent quand on découvre le corps de Cody Pritchard près de la réserve cheyenne. Deux années auparavant, Cody avait été un des quatre adolescents condamnés avec sursis pour le viol d'une jeune indienne, Melissa Little Bird, un jugement qui avait avivé les tensions entre les deux communautés.

Strange things have been happening to Layah and her younger sister, Izzie, ever since their mother dragged them to a rain-soaked cottage miles from anywhere in the Lake District: there is a peculiar whistling at night, a handful of unusual feathers appear and a sudden, frightening banging at the door. And their mother is behaving very oddly. Layah is mourning the loss of her dear grandmother in Poland - and can almost hear her voice telling her the old myths, legends and fairy tales from that place.

When Marty is hired to do an appraisal at a storage unit and the residence of the wife of a Palm Springs detective, she has no reason to think that there would be a problem. The appraisal looked pretty run-of-mill with its small antique items and furniture, but that was before Marty discovered that all of the antiques had been stolen. And then several hours later her friend, Carl, who was appraising the antique books at the client’s residence, found the note. The note that caused an all-points bulletin to be issued for a man who was about to be murdered.

Detective Sergeant Jason Smith is days away from the end of his sick leave after a case that almost cost him his life when he gets a call from an old friend. His friend has been arrested for the murder of a student. He wants Smith to investigate the murder and prove his innocence. Smith is persuaded return to work. The student was killed with a bread knife. Ladybirds were scattered on his dead body.

Almost a year has passed since the kidnapping and unlikely return of heiress Megan Whittmeyer. Now CEO of her family's company, Megan is dealing with the cleanup effort of its sordid past, while her rescuers try to move on and manage the everyday drama of their own lives. Before long, cryptic poems and the appearance of a strange man in black makes it apparent that their troubles with John Styles are not over...despite the small problem of him being dead.

A delightfully quaint mountain town, my cozy tearoom, a missing couple, and there’s something seriously weird about my bird. I didn’t expect to get wrapped up in a mystery through my husband… He’s dead. Retreat to the mountains, settle into my inherited family home and try to move on … a widow with kids and a parakeet. It was a good plan. It should have worked. I didn’t ask for a missing couple to complicate my first days, but there they were…or, rather, weren’t. I KNEW my detective husband was gone … but then here he was. Colorfully solving mysteries with me … he’s ...

Callie and Cash are back, and their world is about to explode. The scene is set as Callie and Cash are eating a late dinner upstairs at her restaurant, The Bronze Pig. It’s been a year since they saved her ex-husband’s life and subsequently had to take on unexpected, lethal adversaries. During that process—confronting kidnapping, murder and assassins burning down her restaurant—they came together, and unexpectedly, they discover that they care deeply, romantically, for one another.

In That Summer, Allen Drury turns from the world of international politics to the private politics of Greenmont, an exclusive vacation colony high in the California Sierras where an intense love story is played out against tribal country-club mores and tragic social pressures. Greenmont is a millionaire’s hideaway, an encampment for the privileged few, but dangerous currents run beneath its affluent exterior. Major Bill Steele arrives there as an outsider, lonely and shaken after a painful and humiliating divorce. But the people of Greenmont have their own plans for him.