Short Thrillers Suspense

Under the Great British Baking Contest competition tent, there's more at stake than winning the title of Best Baker in All of Britain. For amateur baker Poppy Wilkinson, there are mysteries to solve, secrets and lies, even murder. As a fledgling witch, Poppy's having enough trouble controlling her sponge cake, never mind trying to control her powers.

In the title work in this collection of novellas, Poirot and Inspector Japp collaborate on the investigation of a suspicious suicide. The supernatural is said to play in the disappearance of top secret military plans in The Incredible Theft—an incredible claim, indeed, as Poirot will prove. The bullet that kills Gervase Chevenix-Gore shatters a mirror in Dead Man's Mirror—just the clue Poirot needs to solve the crime.

This collection of mysteries from a fresh voice in Southwestern fiction stakes out the common ground between Tony Hillerman, Elmore Leonard, and Cormac McCarthy. Collection includes Nail’s Crossing, Greasy Bend, Butcher Pen Road, and Ten-Acre Rock.

At age 26 Agatha Raisin has already come a long way. She has clawed her way up since leaving the Birmingham slum where she was born. She's lost her Birmingham accent, run away from her drunken husband, and found a job at a public relations office as a secretary. Then her boss asks Agatha to go to the home of Sir Bryce Teller to tell him that he is soon to be arrested for the murder of his wife and that the agency no longer wants to represent him.

When a heart attack sends Penn's father, Tom Cage, to the ER, Tom begs that his son be brought to his side to hear a dying declaration. But when Penn arrives, Tom denies ever making the request - keeping his secrets for another day. The emergency hurls Penn back to a chilling case in Houston, where he worked in a DA's office known as the "death factory", which sent more killers to death row than any other in America.

Did you hear the one about the thief and the sorcerer who went to rob a senator? No, of course you didn’t, it’s a dull tale hardly worth recounting. Ah. But what happened after, now that is a story. After being most unfairly swived and abandoned in the wilds, Breed Blake stumbles upon a barbarian who is also having a very bad day. It turns out when the great oaf isn’t being attacked by bandits, he’s on a mission to save a damsel in distress who is being held somewhere in the doom haunted Scathblight Mountains.

They were never supposed to cross paths again, but life's got jokes. Now, they can’t seem to stay away & are forced to face a past they've both been dodging. The tension? Thick. The history? Messy. The past? Ugly. The chemistry? Undeniable. This ain’t just romance—it's unfinished business.

Needing a break from the big city, Alvirah and WIlly escape to Cape Cod - only to meet a would-be heiress framed for murder in "Death on the Cape." When Alvirah and Willy seek the tranquillity of the Cypress Point Spa, it's the perfect getaway - until a jewel thief turns up in "The Lottery Winner." Back in Manhattan, the search for a neighbor's missing newborn makes for a suspense-filled Christmas in "Bye, Baby Bunting."

He's a billionaire recluse known for the world's most valuable invention. She's a lonely assassin hired to steal his ideas and end his life. . . . When these two meet sparks of passion fly that neither expected nor wanted. -------------------- Simon Canton doesn't trust humans with good reason. His last human girlfriend tried to murder him in his sleep. Simon is perfectly happy with his androids to keep him company . . . that is until he meets Draya. Draya Carter is a trained assassin hired to infiltrate Simon's world, steal his ideas, and end his life. Taken from her family as a child, she...

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....

A Vanished Masterpiece, a Sun-Worshipping Noble, and a Mystery Full of Twists! Sherlock Holmes and Lucy James are called to the crumbling mansion of a bankrupt aristocrat whose only salvation—a priceless painting—has vanished. If the masterpiece isn’t recovered, the bank will foreclose, leaving the family ruined. But instead of helping, the eccentric nobleman is obsessed with his bizarre sun-worshipping rituals. Then the case turns deadly. Two men are found murdered in the mansion’s decaying halls, and the nobleman’s spinster sister confesses, convinced she’s guilty. The police ...

What is a crimson trail? Is it blood? Or paint? Or yarn? Why would Sherlock Holmes revisit a previously solved case? How could an open window be important and how can a house be blackmailed? Dr. John Watson reveals the answers to these questions in The Crimson Trail and Other Stories along with cases involving the disappearance of a poet's intended, a Christmas card clue, a missing tiara, a caped murderer, a vampire attack, and a mythical moor creature.

The award-winning master of psychological suspense is in top form in this collection of diverse and diabolically clever stories. In the never-before-published “Just One More,” a married couple—longing for that old romantic spark—creates a playful diversion that comes with unexpected consequences.

Where Family Ties Are Rooted in Murder A crumbling vineyard. A long-buried letter. And bones that refuse to stay hidden. When graduate student Addison Lane joins a forensic anthropology practicum in the Ozarks, she expects dirt, science, and maybe a few local legends. What she doesn’t expect is to unearth a string of shallow graves—and the key to a mystery that connects her past to a decades-old murder. As Addison, Dr. Svoboda, and their unlikely ally Alexander dig deeper into the overgrown rows of Reznik Vineyard, secrets begin to surface—ones tied to Viktor Reznik’s final diary, a...

For Ellery Queen, there is no puzzle that reason cannot solve. In his time, he has faced down killers, thugs, and thieves, protected only by the might of his brain - and the odd bit of timely intervention by his father, a burly New York police inspector. But when a university professor asks Queen to teach a class, the detective finds there are people whom reason cannot touch: college students. Queen's adventure on campus is only the first of this incomparable collection of short mysteries.

Kandy Kane will experience PAIN; she could’ve never imagined. Between her marriage, pregnancy, her father Wayne, and Q’ being her brother, she’s drowning in total misery, and many regrets. Knowing her parents are probably right about her needing therapy, she’s willing to put an end to her nympho lifestyle. ONCE AND FOR ALL!All Kandy wants is a fresh start to happiness, but on the other hand, she soon realizes there’s no escaping her past doings. As she prepares for motherhood, unforeseen secrets will be revealed. Life-shattering events will take place. How much more pain can Kandy...

He has much in common with super-sleuths Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot, but there's a difference - Judge Dee Jen-djieh was a real person! Gathered here are tales of actual crimes solved by the magistrate of Chang-ping in 7th-century China. Listen as Dee ventures down winding paths in ancient graveyards to consult the spirits of the dead, and hear him solve real-life crimes through astute deductions.

In Lisa Gardner’s first-ever short story following 13 best-selling novels, "The 7th Month" takes listeners between the books and into a day in the life of Boston Detective D. D. Warren.

In her seventh month of pregnancy, D.D. should be taking it easy. Instead, she accepts a small consulting role on the set of a serial-killer film shooting in Boston. D.D. figures she’ll be useful to someone for at least one night, serving as a police expert and making a little extra money in the bargain. It seems like a simple task—until the previous film consultant, a former Boston cop, is found beaten to death.

In this batch of sweet, short murder mysteries, three cooks don’t spoil the broth. New York Times best-selling author Joanne Fluke pens the title story, in which a box of Hannah Swensen’s gingerbread cookies is found near the corpse of her neighbor. Popular co-authors Laura Levine and Leslie Meier offer “The Dangers of Gingerbread Cookies” and “Gingerbread Cookies and Gunshots”, respectively.

A far-from-warm welcome greets Hercule Poirot as he arrives for lunch at Lucy Angkatell's country house. A man lies dying by the swimming pool, his blood dripping into the water. His wife stands over him, holding a revolver. As Poirot investigates, he begins to realize that beneath the respectable surface lies a tangle of family secrets and everyone becomes a suspect.