Short Thrillers

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. Modern computer games, films, and television are rooted in the fiction popularized by "the seminal and venerated mystery pulp magazine" ( Booklist).

Step beyond the biohazard tape and into the chilling silence of places where healing meets horror. Have you ever felt an inexplicable chill in a sterile corridor, or heard a whisper from an empty hospital room? Ghost Stories: Haunted Hospitals cracks open the locked doors to fifteen terrifying tales, each one breathing life into the unsettling atmosphere of abandoned asylums, forgotten wards, and modern medical facilities with dark secrets. This gripping horror anthology invites you to explore: The sealed ward where a "Charred Lady" weeps for a past tragedy... and a new victim. An ...

A short ghost story from the best-selling author of Abbot's Keep. A photographer reluctantly agrees to take images of an abandoned manor house on the Dorset clifftops only to find the building is not completely empty.

The New York Times best-selling author continues his colonial-era thriller series with eight tales of mystery, adventure, and supernatural suspense.

Christmas is six days away - and Sarah Booth Delaney has her hands full! To honor a group of international investors, Shaw, Mississippi, resurrects the old custom of drifting miniature, lighted Christmas floats down Silver Bayou. The Italian delegation from Venice may bring much-needed new jobs and commercial opportunities. Among the investors is notorious womanizer, Enzo Aceto. He is handsome, witty, and eager for new conquests. Then Enzo disappears. Rumors of murder are buzzing.

A judge’s first murder trial. A defense attorney in over his head. A prosecutor out for blood and glory. The accused, who is possibly innocent. And the killer, who may have just committed the perfect crime.

The costume Valentine's party is the hot ticket in the Mississippi Delta. But Tinkie's title of Queen Bee of Delta Society becomes jeopardized when her Valentine's guests are all robbed. There's nothing for it but that Tinkie and Sarah Booth Delaney find out what happened to the very handsome Cupid (who failed to appear at the party) and where the short, hairy, Pan-like Cupid (who crashed the party) came from. Certainly not Central Casting.

Akashic Books continues its award-winning series of original noir anthologies, launched in 2004 with Brooklyn Noir. Each book comprises all new stories, each one set in a distinct neighborhood or location within the respective city. In Hong Kong Noir, 14 of the city’s finest authors explore the dark heart of the Pearl of the Orient in haunting stories of depravity and despair.

The Nowhere Man is a figure shrouded in secrecy - a near legendary figure who helps those lucky few who are given the means to reach out to him. Before he was the Nowhere Man, Evan Smoak was a highly trained government operative known to a few as Orphan X. This is the story of Smoak's first outing as the Nowhere Man, where after completing a mission in Northern California, he happens to spot a young woman at a coffee shop....

A collection of horror/thriller stories for readers who would enjoy a stroll through a graveyard after midnight.The nightmares include: SHIVERS: The last thing Steve remembers is stopping at the rest stop off the interstate. UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT: The meat at Big Mama's Restaurant is extremely fresh. TATTOO: Marla picks a ferocious black panther for the free tattoo she won. GENIE IN THE BOTTLE: Three college friends find a strange bottle in the surf and make a wish that comes with a price. DOMINANCE: The Simmons family encounters an escaped madman on a camping trip in the Adirondacks. ...

A terrifying mosaic of transformation and terror, "Eyes Like Mirrors, Flesh Like Ash" collects twenty macabre tales by Kevin Lintner that claw beneath the skin of reality. From a solo escape room session that unlocks an ancient evil, to haunted photographs that predict one's grotesque demise, each story delivers its own brand of psychological and cosmic horror. Enter cursed houses, twisted minds, eldritch forests, and nightmarish realities where flesh remembers, shadows whisper, and dreams consume. These stories are not for the faint of heart—they are for those who seek the forbidden, the...

When an elderly, world-famous magician is found dead in his Cherringham mansion, there is nothing suspicious about the passing. According to the doctor, it was a heart attack - plain and simple. But the performer's long-time assistant suspects something sinister and she asks Jack and Sarah to investigate. And like the great magician's amazing tricks, it soon becomes clear that his death is anything but simple: in the world of magic, nothing is ever what it seems, and sometimes even illusions can turn deadly.

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...

If you’re a fan of fiction that is more than just black and white, this latest story collection from number-one New York Times best-selling author George R. R. Martin and award-winning editor Gardner Dozois is filled with subtle shades of gray. Twenty-one all-original stories, by an all-star list of contributors, will delight and astonish you in equal measure with their cunning twists and dazzling reversals. And George R. R. Martin himself offers a brand-new A Game of Thrones tale chronicling one of the biggest rogues in the entire history of Ice and Fire.

"A MUST READ FOR FANS OF MYSTERIES AND FOLK HORROR." - NP CUNNIFFE, BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF "THE WEEJEE MAN". "...IT'S A WELL WRITTEN HORROR STORY WITH FANTASTIC CHARACTERS, BLOODY KILLS, AND I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT" - HORROR READS, 5 STAR AMAZON/GOODREADS REVIEW. "IT'S LIKE STEPHEN KINGS VERSION OF GREMLINS" - THE DANSE MACABRE Detectives Ryan and O'Connell turn their investigative eyes toward the local garda of Enniskregg township. Tasked to protect and serve the township and its people, as the first to discover the brutalized bodies of the ill fated research team at the druid henge in the ...

Fashion designer turned amateur sleuth Maddie Springer can't wait to spend the holidays with her boyfriend, LAPD Detective Jack Ramirez. It's their first Christmas together, and Maddie wants it to be perfect. But between her zany family and wacky friends, Maddie's having a hard time finding alone time with her man. But come Christmas morning, this is one holiday she'll be sure to remember - naughty or nice!

Robert Louis Stevenson brings his mastery of story-telling and suspense to these intriguing tales of island mystery. In 1888, a year after leaving England, Stevenson and his wife left San Francisco and sailed to the South Pacific. The beauty, mystery, and lore of the islands captivated the great author, inspiring him to write several wonderful short stories. "The Bottle Imp," the main story in this outstanding collection, is a suspenseful folktale, introducing us to various ghosts, demons, and other frightening creatures.

Susan Harris lived in self-imposed seclusion, her mansion featuring numerous automated systems controlled by a state-of-the-art computer. Every comfort was provided. Her security was absolute. Until her security system is breached - from the inside. In the privacy of her own home, and against her will, she will experience an inconceivable act of terror and become the object of the ultimate computer’s consuming obsession: to learn everything there is to know about human flesh.

Every town hides a few dark secrets. Some dogs track scents. Bentley tracks trouble. And Maggie Shaw has learned to trust him with her life. If you love quick read, small-town suspense, layered mysteries, and strong women who won’t back down, The Shelter Conspiracy is the perfect escape. When a simple volunteer job at a local animal shelter uncovers a chilling secret, Maggie and her intuitive therapy dog, Bentley, find themselves in the crosshairs of a danger no one saw coming. What makes The Shelter Conspiracy impossible to put down? A fearless K-9 handler willing to risk everything for ...

Unlike the other arts, American literature has been a powerful, influential, and leading aspect of American culture. By turns sedate and mercurial and possessing a moral mind set of various social values, the American short story reveals in its pages the psyche of a growing, sprawling nation whose sense of destiny has always been larger than life. Here are seven masterpieces that will make you smile, make you frown, and leave you pondering the mystery that surrounds the soul of a great nation.