Short Thrillers

If you hear the whistle… it’s already too late. Park ranger Caleb Mercer has spent a decade watching over Bitterroot Ridge — a remote national park known more for its silence than danger. But now, hikers are vanishing without a trace, and only Caleb hears the strange high-pitched whistle that seems to follow him deeper into the trees. When wildlife biologist Dr. Naomi Voss joins him to investigate, the pattern becomes disturbingly clear: the whistle isn’t random. It’s a call — and it’s been echoing through these woods for decades. As the disappearances mount and the whistle ...

Sticking their noses where they are most definitely not wanted. Despairing of their humans, these pets take it upon themselves to solve the cases they see as only cats and dogs can. Whether they sniff out the clues or fool the criminals into thinking they are harmless pets to be ignored, Rex, Amber, Buster, and more enjoy escapades a plenty in this fun collection of short stories. Grab your copy and be ready for the fur to fly! Includes: Police Dog - Day One Amber's Bust The Little Lost Dachshund Hell Cat Hell Hounds The Clown, the Witch, and the Cat The Case of the Missing Pasty

Sharon Shinn's Twelve Houses books have fascinated fans and critics alike with their irresistible blend of fantasy, romance, and adventure. Now in Quatrain, she weaves compelling stories in four of the worlds that fans love in "Flight", "Blood", "Gold", and "Flame".

Cherringham - a quiet town in the Cotswolds. Nothing ever happens there, or so it seems - until one morning a woman's body is found in the river. A terrible accident, according to the police. But is this true? Sarah believes there must be more to it. In Jack, a former NYPD homicide detective, she finds a partner who is willing to start investigating with her. They soon find out that things are not as clear as the police want them to be ... This first - of many cases brings Sarah and Jack together in an unlikely partnership.

From its launch in 1920 until its demise in 1951, the magazine Black Mask published pulp crime fiction. The first hard-boiled detective stories appeared on its pages. Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, Erle Stanley Gardner and John D. MacDonald got their start in Black Mask. The urban crime stories that appeared in Black Mask helped to shape American culture.

The house always wins. Unless it falls down… When Bubbles acts as a witness in a high-profile murder case she’s warned to stay low. Taking on a gambling gangster and his henchmen wasn’t in the cards. But then he went and made it personal… HoloCity Hard Boys is the second stand alone mystery novella in the HoloCity Case Files series, a companion collection to the Bubbles in Space series. Blade Runner meets The Fifth Element in this eccentric cyber-noir thriller series about a bleak world ravaged by corrupt leaders, mega-corporations, and crime lords… and the washed-up detective who...

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

Frank Becker is a highly sought after, expert assassin. When Becker takes a mysterious job, he has no idea that it will force him to delve deeply into his own past. Undeterred by obstacles he is determined to complete his assignment. But he may realize too late that his success will permanently alter his future.

Josephine Ying longs to overthrow Big Uncle as the best host, and after his roast duck incident, she’s finally getting her chance this Chinese New Year. Even better, her son is bringing a surprise. Unfortunately, the surprise turns out to be a gold-digging fiancée—who dies at the dinner table. Her problems just got a lot bigger than hosting the perfect meal. Certain there’s a killer at the table, Josephine sharpens her questions to find them out.

This bundle includes Tracing a Killer, Search and Detect, and Christmas K-9 Guardians.

Available only on audio, this exciting collection features original stories by Adam-Troy Castro, some never before published. The stories collected here include "The Assassin's Secret"; "Narrow Escape of Zipper-Girl"; "A Place Without Portals"; "The Hour in Between; "Greetings, Humanity! Welcome to Your Choice of Species"; "The Refrigerator in the Girlfriend"; "My Wife Hates Time Travel"; and many others.

A heart-warming Victorian Christmas mystery with a touch of peril, this story is performed by award-winning narrators Simon Prebble and Wendy Tremont King. When Sir Henry Baskerville, now happily married, invites Sherlock Holmes to Baskerville Hall, that infamous baronial mansion in darkest Devonshire, the entire Baker Street team accepts his invitation for a family holiday. But Sir Henry has an ulterior motive and the powers of evil are at work.

In this book, we are going to explore the specific challenges of writing genre flash fiction and short fiction, where you only have 500 to 1,000 words to tell a story. To do this well, you need to master three specific skills of genre writing. You need to understand the reader's expectations of the genre—the voice, the story arc, and the satisfying outcomes. More often than not, you will need to use familiar locations or settings; after all, you don't have many words to create a whole new world. The real skill lies in the twist—after drawing the reader in with familiar genre storylines ...

Long lost to the public in out-of-print pulp magazines, dusty Victorian anthologies, and the pages of now defunct newspapers, these vintage vampire stories have truly proved immortal. Resurrected now for the year 2011, this is a stunning collection of nineteenth-century vampire stories by heavyweights such as Sabine Baring-Gould and Bram Stoker. These rare stories are arranged in chronological order from 1846 to 1913 and are compiled by two of the world's leading vampire anthologists and experts.

A collection of horror/thriller stories with surprise endings to chill you and thrill you to the bone. The nightmares include: The CONDOM IN THE COFFIN: A wife finds a condom in the lining of her husband's coffin which triggers suspicions someone at the mortuary is a necrophiliac. THE LOOKER: Kidnappers abduct an unusually beautiful woman to harvest her organs for half a million dollars. THE BEAST OF SPOOKY HOLLOW: A freelance writer goes to his college reunion and decides a legendary beast devouring the locals there may be his ticket to a Pulitzer. THE ALIEN: A man struck by lightning ...

Taskforce operators Pike Logan and Jennifer Cahill are used to traveling all over the world for counterterrorist missions, but this time they're in the Old City of Jerusalem under happier circumstances. Their friends Aaron and Shoshana, former operatives with Israeli Mossad, are getting married, and they've chosen to tie the knot at the Western Wall of the Temple Mount. Unbeknownst to them, a cell of Palestinian terrorists has planned an attack against innocent tourists to incite the Arab world to demand that Israel retreat from the holy site.

Shadows of Bigfoot Something watches from the trees. Something ancient. Something that knows you're there. For centuries, legends of Bigfoot have whispered through the forests—stories of shadowy figures, eerie howls, and things that disappear without a trace. But what if the legends are true? And what if the truth is far worse than we ever imagined? In this chilling collection of Bigfoot horror stories, you’ll uncover: A lone camper who realizes he’s not alone in the woods… and never was. A government experiment that was meant to control the beast—but failed. A missing hiker’s ...

In the heart of the Staffordshire Peak District, a sinister secret lurks beneath the tranquil surface… When nineteen-year-old Tilley McCleave disappears without a trace, the historic market town of Leek is in shock. Detective Jessica Ryan is assigned the case, but things take a chilling turn when she discovers a horrifying connection to five women who were abducted. Four remain lost, their fates unknown, while one survivor’s harrowing tale is etched into her traumatised soul. Haunted by her ordeal, lone escapee Heidi Dawson has spent years confined to a psychiatric hospital. Could her ...

Some things are best left alone…. When Charlie gets a text inviting her to play a game, her first instinct is to delete it. It’s obviously a scam because nothing in life comes for free. But her world is painfully dull, her future uninspiring. Surely, just looking can’t hurt… right? The rational side of her warns against it. Don’t fall for it. No one hands out opportunities like this. And yet, she goes ahead and clicks ‘yes’ and in that instant, her life veers off course in ways she never could have imagined. And once she’s in, there’s no way out...

Kendra has been burned and broken, but this omega is ready to rise from the ashes. In the harsh and unforgiving underworld of Solstice Bay, omegas are marked with tattoos, their bodies adorned with the sigils of their claimed alphas. For Kendra, the tattoos she bears are more than just ink; they represent a life of restricted choices, a fate bound to the whims of others. But Kendra is no ordinary omega. Beneath her submissive veneer lies a fiery spirit yearning to break free from the chains of tradition. Fueled by an unwavering determination to forge her own destiny, Kendra's defiance ...