Short Mystery Thrillers

Stockings are hung, lights are lit, and the annual Branson Falls holiday tradition of leaving gifts on a neighbor’s doorstep, ringing the doorbell, and running, has begun. When the gifts turn from the usual baked goods to cash and other high value presents, theories about the mystery gift giver range from miracles to magic elves. Kate’s not sure who the secret Santa is, but she has some theories.

All the stories in this collection from Stephen King are related to the Vietnam War. King fans will recognize echoes of The Dark Tower series in the collection's first story, "Low Men in Yellow Coats." As the characters develop over the next four stories, King's version of the Vietnam War becomes one of his most frightening tales ever.

Season Two, Volume One. Four cryptic cases involving murder, mayhem, and mysterious disappearances. Is one mastermind behind them all?

Meet John Milton. He considers himself an artisan. A craftsman. His trade is murder. Milton is the man the government sends after you when everything else has failed. Ruthless. Brilliant. Anonymous. Lethal. You wouldn't pick him out of a crowd but you wouldn't want to be on his list. In this second dip into his case files (see 1000 Yards for a further novella), Milton is sent to Italy to investigate the death of a colleague from Group 15.

Linx Maxwell is on the verge of greatness. She's finally graduated from street fairs and hopping chain link to making art that pays the bills. Her family life is...not dull. And it looks like her van might just be able to exist on hope and duct tape. If only she could get rid of the ghost who's plagued her since the eighth grade.

Nikki and the grannies have learned there’s no such thing as quiet golden years. Who’d want that anyway? When things are quiet at the retirement home, they go looking for danger, and find it everywhere. Even at the bowling alley. They will have to uncover devious plots, decipher codes, and take a road trip to one of America’s favorite vacation destinations to make sure the criminals get their just desserts. Stories Included: Living on a Spare, Crack the Code, and Road Trip.

With this critically acclaimed debut collection, Frank Bill announces himself as an author of fiercely defined vision. In these vivid tales, Bill’s southern Indiana proves a literary destination of immense nuance, even as his mostly working-class characters cry out in voices that cannot be denied.

FBI Agent Landon Michaels is looking forward to a weekend of fun and ease with his witchy love, Bay Winchester. Unfortunately for him, relaxation isn't in the cards. When his boss hands him a cold case from Hemlock Cove before he leaves for an extended weekend, Landon is annoyed. When Thistle Winchester gets a vision from the file, bother turns to intrigue.

A collection of twenty-six horror/thriller stories with surprise endings to thrill you and chill you to the bone. The creepers include: REST STOP: Martin loved the story The Lady or the Tiger so much he started playing the game with real people and hybrid beasts. THE CURSE: When Rebecca found the pharaoh's tomb, she refused to leave no matter how many perished. TILL DEATH DO US PART: Isabelle discovered her new husband had been married before, and all ten brides had disappeared without a trace. THE EXECUTION: Myers has a crazy dream he's on death row, waiting to be executed. LIFE TO THE ...

The popularity of Agatha Christie’s debut novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, and the public enthusiasm for its hero, dapper Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, prompted the editor of London-based society magazine The Sketch: A Journal of Art and Actuality, to offer the author a contract for a series of 12 short stories. When they finished, they had proved so popular that Ingram asked for a second round - another 12.

For lovers of the supernatural and the macabre comes this collection of ghostly and chilling stories from legendary mystery writer Agatha Christie. Fantastic psychic visions, specters looming in the shadows, encounters with deities, a man who switches bodies with a cat - be sure to keep the light on whilst listening to these tales. The Last Séance gathers 20 stories, some featuring Christie’s beloved detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, in one haunting compendium that explores all things occult and paranormal, and is an essential omnibus for Christie fans.

There's a body in a trunk; a dead girl's reflection is caught in a mirror; and one corpse is back from the grave, while another is envisioned in the recurring nightmare of a terrified eccentric. What's behind such ghastly misdeeds? Try money, revenge, passion, and pleasure. With multiple motives, multiple victims, and multiple suspects, it's going to take a multitude of talent to solve these clever crimes. In this inviting collection, Agatha Christie enlists the services of her finest - Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple, and Parker Pyne.

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....

In his three novellas, In Short Measures, Strong Conspirators, and Sally Forth, Michael Ruhlman delves deeply into the nuanced complexity of romantic and sexual love - and the inevitable evolution of the heart over the span of years and decades. Each novella asks questions about the nature of love in terms of loyalty and fidelity - what are one's obligations toward one's spouse, one's family, and one's heart?

Twenty-nine-year-old Imogen Banks is hashtag struggling. After a disaster ends her career, destroys her home, and burns up all the money she’s saved to open her own bakery, she enters a baking contest for an all-or-nothing last-ditch chance at getting her life together. But when she arrives at the mysterious island off the coast of France, she discovers all the inhabitants of the quaint town are magical, and if she wins the contest, she’ll become the next royal baker at the castle on top of the hill. No worries that the last royal baker appears to have been murdered.

Gripping flash fiction. Polly’s wait for the mortgage advisor drags on. When she investigates the delay, danger finds her again.

Cherringham parish council has invited Laurent Bourdain, mayor of a French village on the Brittany coast, to a gala reception to join the two villages in a mutually beneficial 'twinning.' The venue: Lady Repton's manor house, which her Grandson hopes to turn into a world-class conference center. An elaborate dinner worthy of the French dignitary has been prepared. But as the night wears on, and the wine flows, the mayor will vanish from the celebration, only to be found floating dead in the nearby lake.

From the UK best-selling author of Abbot's Keep comes a new dimension in terror. Spanning four decades, the dark history of Church Farm House is explored within four interlinking horror stories. Welcome to the nightmare... Benedict Ashforth is the author of the UK best-selling Kindle ghost story, Abbot's Keep.

Every few years, a cabin goes dark. The door stays locked. And the red eyes return. In a forgotten Alaskan village, no one talks about the disappearances — the empty cabins, the warm meals left untouched, the locked doors with no one inside. When a newcomer arrives to teach at the village school, she starts to notice strange behavior: children drawing glowing red eyes in the trees, elders who whisper warnings, and tracks that circle the homes but never lead away. At night, something moves beyond the tree line. It watches. It waits. And when it knocks… it knows who will open the door. ...

The Blood Test – A Psychological Thriller That Will Keep You Guessing When Olivia takes her son Henry for a routine checkup, the last thing she expects is a blood test result that doesn’t make sense. She and her husband, Noah, conceived Henry through IVF—but the numbers don’t add up. With a nagging suspicion that won’t let her go, Olivia digs deeper, uncovering a series of unsettling coincidences. Then she meets Margo, another mother at Henry’s preschool, whose daughter looks eerily like him. The two women bond over their shared experience with the same fertility doctor—Dr. ...