Funny Thriller

This collection of the best crime and mystery short fiction of 1999, gathered from around the globe and including more award-winners and stories than any other comparable volume, fills the void for those with a hunger for the best international mystery and suspense stories.

"A smart detective story stuffed with sharp prose and snappy one liners." -Indie Reader In the follow-up to the international bestselling novel DEATH BY SARCASM, Los Angeles based private investigator Mary Cooper is hired to track down a missing child. The case quickly leads her into the seedy underworld of Los Angeles' pornography industry where Mary's on again off again boyfriend Jake Cornell has been working undercover for the LAPD. As Mary investigates, she soon uncovers a world in which no one is who they claim to be. Armed with her .45 and a heavily sarcastic wit, Mary vows to rescue ...

There is a harvest moon over Toulouse, but it’s going to be a very dark night. Eleven-year-old Micah Stevens intends to free the dogs from a puppy mill in the woods outside of town. Teenager Jenny Allard and her boyfriend Michael Kennedy have come up with a plan to get even with two of the school’s most notorious thugs. Gloria Downing is coming home after a decade running from her past. On this Indian summer evening in October of 1981, the little town is about to add several chapters to its long and bizarre history. Come along as award winning novelist, Chris Morrow, gives you the grand...

I was living the life of a normal ten-year-old until it all changed. The very moment it changed you ask? I would say it was the moment I escaped my bully Bull, but it could be the moment I ran through Binx. One moment I was just Rocky and the next I was the savior of humanity. Join us as we travel through time to collect all the pieces to lock up Mr. Moon the diabolical genus. If we fail life as we know it will be gone… Oh, and mystical creatures, Zombies, Giant Snakes, Pirates, Mummies, and the Angel of Death is all a part of the journey.

#1 Hardboiled Mystery #1 Women Sleuths #1 Police Procedural Mary Cooper is a private investigator in Los Angeles with a penchant for solving crimes and extreme sarcasm. In DEATH BY SARCASM, Mary's uncle, a stand-up comedian, is brutally murdered. When Mary begins to investigate, she becomes the target of a sadistic killer who is bent on executing a bloody rampage. DEATH BY SARCASM is the first book in the Mary Cooper Mystery series. Other books include (in order) MURDER WITH SARCASTIC INTENT and GROSS SARCASTIC HOMICIDE. Dani Amore is an international bestselling author and winner of the ...

Saskia de la Cruz is a verity witch and investigative reporter for The Blood Web Chronicle, the biggest news outlet on the paranormal Blood Web. After escaping murderous vampires in snowy Moscow, Saskia can't imagine a more difficult or more dangerous mission. That is, until her editor sends her to Barcelona to investigate a high profile disappearance at the Mage Association, which just happens to be run by her evil mother Solina.

Milton Maroo, a portly space trader who enjoys a gourmet meal as much as a good deal, has priceless cargo, an outlawed artificial intelligence that the crime underworld will kill for. The billionaire head of the Nythe Armaments Corporation empire is dead. Murdered by the most powerful crime syndicate in the system who are after one thing, an illegal artificial intelligence that will change the balance of power in the region in favour of whomever possesses it. Milton and his spy friend Cappa are broke. While they do odd jobs at the billionaire’s estate they discover the Lerjoo Brothers ...

Even when murderous gangsters are shoving his head into a toilet, Mickey Fine can’t stop making jokes. He wants a career in comedy so badly that he takes a job as a Tummler, a comedian and host for a hotel in the Catskills, a hotel where he knows the very gangsters who abused him are staying. An already dangerous situation escalates when Mickey falls for Mutzie, the “number one girl” of Pep who is arguably the most violent thug in the hotel. Betrayals and politics within the mob play out behind the scenes while Mutzie joins Mickey on stage.

The oyster party had the kiss of death upon it—even though there were two 'R's in the month. Miriam Birdseye—famed revue star and sleuth—could have told you that from the start. She isn't a bit surprised to learn that her fiancé's mother died in the night. But who at the seedy Sussex hotel would have poisoned the bivalves? Could it be the hotel proprietor—a handsome, drunken bankrupt? His put-upon wife? Miriam's impressively moustachioed fiancé? Or the menacing, unsavoury chef?

When my best friend Lauren comes unannounced and asks to stay for a while, I never imagined that I’d become a fugitive and she’d wind up dead. In the enchanting town of Picklesquare, where pastries scent the air and secrets linger like sweet spices, my tranquil life turns bitter when my friend Lauren Loveland is found murdered - after our very public fight about her shady business deals. Suspicion blankets me like flour on a pastry board as a manifestation of darkness turns my world upside down. Left with no choice, I must find the killer before I end up in jail, permanently. With ...

Santa Claus has had enough of mischievous elves wreaking havoc at the North Pole. Banishing them to the bustling streets of New York City, these rogue elves find themselves in a world far removed from the snowy serenity they once knew. Struggling to adapt to their newfound urban surroundings, the misfit elves hatch a devious plan to sustain themselves—stealing food and toys from unsuspecting homes. With a stolen truck as their makeshift headquarters, the naughty elves embark on a spree of festive thievery, leaving a trail of chaos in their wake. Can the spirit of the season prevail over ...

In a world of bewildering hauntings and paranormal mischief, my inheritance soon becomes my gateway to a magical deadly game in the shadows… Inheriting my grandmother's old mansion was meant to be a fresh start, but I never imagined my new home would be a haven for all sorts of paranormal creatures. A clumsy werewolf and a fairy that bites? Talk about interesting obligatory roommates. Hours after I show up to claim my inheritance, one of the vampire tenants is gruesomely incinerated. A reluctant amateur sleuth with magical abilities to see my paranormal roommates, I delve into a spine-...

A purr-fectly planned tea party leads me on an ominous quest to unmask a killer in Willowbrook, where crumpets and murder collide. Unexpectedly returning to my eerie hometown, Willowbrook, I find a dark underbelly of bad business and good lies have been concealed. I randomly inherit Blue Manor and its secrets, which turns me and my cat Whiskers into amateur sleuths. James, the cute town detective, welcomes me to town. At the same time, he receives a call that crumbles the plot of one killer and reveals another. Now I’m entangled in a deadly dance where the clues are steeped in the shadows...

Milton Maroo, a portly space trader who enjoys a gourmet meal as much as a good deal, is wanted for murder in a strange star system on the brink of war. The Idon star system is fragile, crumbling from the outer planets in. At the edge, resentment boils in the Idonan people, whispers of uprising are growing. The palace, on the innermost planet, still projects order from a king increasingly out of touch with his subjects. Milton Maroo, the lone pilot of the trading ship, the Zenger, transports goods from system to system, most of it legal. On a run into the Idon system, his dazzling skills ...

Orchestrated at the highest levels of society, the nation’s food supply has been hijacked and contaminated in the first step of a global plot. George Miles, a scientist, discovers something is wrong and joins grocery delivery driver Dustin Fowler on the trail through a world turning insane: terrorist wristware, inflatable farm equipment, a woman following her dream to become the world’s fattest person and Tolkien-themed Pyramid schemes all stand in their path to save everyone from a monstrous fate.

After inheriting Mr. Livingston’s mansion and solving the death of his estate lawyer, I’ve settled in Picklesquare quite nicely as Detective Grey’s partner against crime. However, the tragic death of a town ruffian shatters my short-lived tranquility in this usually sleepy town. Soon, the town is buzzing with rumors of the man that mysteriously returned to Willowbrook, just in time to stumble on the dead body. I sense there's more to this murder than meets the eye and I must rely on my cat to lead the way. With a mixture of empathy and curiosity, I delve into a world within our world,...

To catch a sex killer targeting Upper East Side beauties, NYPD Officer Max Royster goes undercover...as an NYPD cop!