Crime Thriller Short Stories

In number-one New York Times best-selling author Charlaine Harris’s "Dahlia Underground,” venerable vampire Dahlia Lynley-Chivers survives an attack by an anti-vampire terrorist group, only to show them they tried to blow up the wrong bloodsucker. Bailey Ruth Raeburn, a ghost assigned to assist humans in trouble, steps into the middle of a marital dispute with surprising twists in Carolyn Hart’s “Riding High”....

Over the years, Ian Rankin has amassed an incredible portfolio of short stories. Published in crime magazines, composed for events, broadcast on radio, they all share the best qualities of his phenomenally popular Rebus novels. Brought together for the first time, and including brand-new material, this is the ultimate Rebus short-story collection and a must-have book for crime lovers and for Ian's millions of fans alike. No Rankin aficionado can go without it.

Follow the greatest of the greatest detective in the world in Agatha Christie’s short-story collection Poirot Investigates. Featuring 11 adventures around the world, this collection show’s Christie’s famous character Hercule Poirot at his best as he travels and unravels mysteries of all sorts.

Samantha Moon is used to monsters, magic, and murder cases. But this Thanksgiving, the only thing she wants to hunt is a giant turkey with her family. When her long-lost brother Clayton unexpectedly shows up—looking decades too young, thanks to faerie magic—Sam's happy reunion takes a turn. Clayton’s cursed with insomnia and guilt after failing to stop a faerie abduction. Now it’s up to Sam, her shapeshifting daughter, her empathic youngest, and her psychic witch bestie to travel into the dark faerie realm, face down ogres, and rescue a stolen infant before it’s turned into a ...

Addie I had planned to kill Kent in the clearing, but first, I needed answers. Then things don't go as planned. Eli After getting the answers I needed for Addie and my Family, I head back to the Gold Compound for a meeting with my father, Brandon Gold, Don of the Gold Family. I'm surprised when I see my brothers there. After the meeting, I try to call Addie, but she doesn't pick up. After not being able to get hold of anyone from the Kingsley Family, I track Addie's and Nate's phones... and I see red. I just hope I'm not too late. But seeing her lying there, helpless, I know it's my turn. ...

Upon opening a time capsule from 1968, the author finds a letter written by a condemned insurance agent from Texas only minutes before his arrest on capital murder charges. The letter relates this agent's downfall at the hands of a crooked police detective and a twisted woman. Though he was undoubtedly innocent of the crime, history long ago recorded his apprehension, trial and execution. By the time you read his letter, fifty years will have passed, and nothing can be done to save its author. His tale is a cautionary one, however, and so well worth reading. Beware of dames, dives, and death.

COLLEGE INSTALOVE LIKE YOU'VE NEVER SEEN. ANNABELLE WINTERS STYLE. I was almost free. Just dropped out of college, about to buy my dream ride, about to hit the open road to an unknown future out west. But then I see her standing under a tree, those delicate lashes unable to hide what I see in her big brown eyes. The eyes of a prisoner . . . Someone trapped in a life she didn't want . . . Those eyes whisper, "Save me. Set me free. Please." But I'm no white-knight savior. I'm a loner dropout whose only assets are his fists. Besides, this girl just said she's engaged! That's drama like I don't...

***A new beachside thriller novella written by bestselling author Vanessa Jones*** When Emma flees her past to Safety Cove, she settles in to finish writing her breakthrough book. She grows fond of the small beachside town, getting to know the neighbours, even the distressing ones that threaten her to leave. But when she finds something unspeakable in the shed, she realises that there is more than just heavy morning mist that hangs over the small town. There are secrets that, once uncovered, are dangerous to know. This is a short story/novella. Praise for The Tens - a gripping thriller ...

CAUTION! Keep away from bodies of water while reading this novel. Or not, if you're courageous enough. Ghosts. Hidden mysteries. A world of silence awaits you. In the summer of 2001, the bodies of three children were recovered from the waters of Lake Champlain, Vermont. Among them was Anne Austen, the love of the then twelve-year-old Eric. Now twenty-seven, Eric finds a book that was supposedly written by the same Anne Austen, in which she details the crimes which occurred that summer. But who really wrote that book? A witness? The killer himself? Or has Anne's spirit gained enough ...

The "Hot Kid" of the U.S. Marshals Service, Carl Webster maintains the law with a cool, showdown attitude. He's one of the richest creations in Elmore Leonard's half century of delivering the goods. From his appearances in the critically acclaimed novels The Hot Kid and Up in Honey's Room, Carl returns to lay down the law in a novella that originally appeared as a serial in the New York Times Sunday Magazine.

Vitus Adamson has a second chance at life now that he's no longer a zombie. But after killing his brother, Jamie, Vitus lands in prison on murder charges. Jamie's death exposes secret government projects so deep in the black they cannot be seen - without Vitus, that is. Sprung from jail, the government hires Vitus to clean up Jamie's messes, but tracking down his brother's homemade monsters gone rogue is easier said than done. The first of them is a convicted killer assumed to be safely behind bars.

An aging, heavily-insured country squire whose estate is in financial ruin is thought to have committed suicide. Hercule Poirot investigates, in the guise of a representative of the victim's insurance company, to uncover the identity of the real murderer.

A dying billionaire offers Tanner contracts on numerous targets, people who are the worst of the worst. Instead of going after them alone, Tanner gets help from a few of his friends.

With gimlet-eyed cool and razor-sharp wit, these spare, stylish stories from a master of modern-crime fiction assemble a world of gangsters and con men, of do-gooders breaking bad and those caught in the crossfire. The uncle of an FBI agent spends his life as sheriff in different cities, living too close to the violent acts of men; a cocktail waitress moves through several desert towns trying to escape the unexplainable loss of an adopted daughter; a drug dealer with a penchant for karaoke meets a talkative lawyer and a silent clown in a Palm Springs bar.

This quartet of crime stories about deadly books, penned by award-winning contemporary mystery writers, includes The Little Men, What's in a Name?, The Book of the Lion, and From the Queen.

Movie star Mary Marvell consults with Hercule Poirot after receiving threatening letters that warn her to return her diamond, the famous "Western Star", to its rightful owner. But who does own the diamond, and is it even the genuine article?

Discover a world of heroes and villains, suspense and intrigue. This riveting and comprehensive collection brings together some of the best crime writing of all time. Ruth Rendell and Frances Hegarty spearhead the modern genre, moving through the popular and rarely recorded Graham Greene, to Edgar Wallace and G.K. Chesterton and his master detective Father Brown. And that's not all.

After ageing hippy Bill Hogan is taken hostage during a bank heist in Brooklyn, his captors demand a million-dollar ransom for his safe return. The problem is no-one knows who the hell Bill Hogan is. Does he even exist? All is not what it seems in this fast-paced, short story.

From esteemed crime fiction writer George Pelecanos comes four blistering novellas, drawn together by themes of strife, violence, and humanity. When the son of the Carusos is involved in a hold up, the family home comes under siege in the form of a no-knock warrant. Months after the cops destroyed their home, the Carusos struggle to return to normal. Elsewhere, two former inmates reunite by chance on the set of a TV production. Both have found their way on the straight and narrow path, that is, until one sees the potential for an easy grift.

In The Thumbmark of St Peter Miss Marple tells how she was able to help her niece when the poor girl was accused of poisoning her husband. In The Herb of Death foxglove leaves are picked with sage for the dinner with disastrous results, and a burglary at a riverside bungalow sets off an unusual chain of events in The Affair at the Bungalow. In the final story, Sir Henry Clithering, ex-commissioner of Scotland Yard, is staying with his friends Colonel and Mrs Bantry, when news arrives that the village innkeeper's daughter has met her 'death by drowning.'