Stories
Mike Bradford pushed, twisted and cursed the child-proof cap, dumping red tablets onto his desk. He’d popped a couple while shaving, but the dull ache in his hip had grown into a throbbing pain by mid-morning. The prescription label called for two pills every four hours; he figured that three …
Stories
Circle of Confusion – A Gil Tanner Mystery
Business at the Tanner Detective Agency was slow at the moment. During the Depression year of 1934, folks weren’t able to or willing to spend what some called “disposable income” on a private investigator except under the direst of circumstances. The only dire circumstances on the horizon were mine. Things …
Stories
"Miss Abbey, please help us!” Benito fell through the office door, blood pouring from his forehead onto his ripped blue denim shirt and black twill work pants. PI Jennifer Abbey jumped from behind the desk and rushed to him as he collapsed to the floor. She knelt down and pulled …
Stories
I’m not a nice man. That’s why people hire me. They want payback, not a shoulder to cry on and they sure as hell don’t want my love. My clients come to me because they want somebody to hurt, to feel pain. Some people who hire me like broken bones. …
Stories
Martin “Bugs” Garcia laid a practiced hand on the top strand of barbed wire, tightened his grip, and vaulted over the fence. The posts were aged juniper, and the rusty wire creaked and sagged under his weight. But he was young and agile and had no trouble. The trouble, if …
Stories
To Chase the Dragon: (Idiomatic expression) To chase after the promise of a continually fulfilling high from an addictive substance. She was the fever that never left. Gliding towards me. Ms. Burberry 2020: lithe elegance—in pump flats—and through my door. Asleep and awake, this was twenty years of something dreamt; …
Stories
Zev Einhorn had just beaten Joseph “Hack” Hackford in a particularly grueling game of chess when a persistent knocking at their apartment door interrupted his moment of gloating. “Don’t get up, Pharaoh,” he said when it appeared clear his roommate had no interest in discovering whoever might be on the …
Stories
Loud voices, announcing the arrival and departure of trains, overlapped in a confusing cacophony that made her head swirl. It was late morning and the shadows created by the sun streaming through the windows resembled prison bars encircling the travelers, keeping them trapped. Dust motes, highlighted in the daylight, cascaded …
Stories
The man coming down the sidewalk caught Charlie Cranston’s attention immediately. His stride was more purposeful than the lunch crowd trickling out of the surrounding office buildings, his jacket and tie more rumpled than the Armani and Anne Klein suits he wove through. And he was headed right for Charlie. …
Stories
I will never forget the first day that I met Dillon Lyles. It was a Monday morning, and I was staring down a tower of unmarked case files that rested on my boss’s desk. I had been summoned to be at the office of Steven Phillips, Deputy Chief Investigator for …
Stories
You Can Take the Boudreaux Out of the Bayou
Rachel, my new human, pulled into the driveway. I jumped on the couch and smooshed my wet nose against the front window. The wiggles took hold of my backside and tail, as they tended to do every time she came home. I’d fallen crazy in love and was not ashamed …
Stories
When Tonya got home from work, Harris was already sitting on the small front porch with his feet propped up on the rickety railing, which meant he’d either quit his job or been fired again. The mail was piled beside him on an overturned bucket they used as a table. …
Stories
Camilla clung to Stan's arm at the class reunion. She was as beautiful as she had been in college and would have been mine, if not for him. "I see your play is now a big hit movie," I said. "That's right." Stan smiled. He was unable to wear contacts, …
Stories
That morning Ivy had pulled an elastic band from her desk drawer to bind her long, thin, dark hair. Now, mid-morning with a middling passing of customers and hours spent snipping, potting, toiling among shoots and stems earthbound into apportioned flimsy plastic squares called flats - anything but, green stalks …
Stories
The two men stared at the body on the dining room floor while they waited for the police to arrive. Simon shrugged his shoulders and said, “Not much to tell you, Doc. It happened quickly. She was eating her dinner and she just started convulsing, then she keeled over. That’s …
Stories
Oo-ee’s eyes widened. Her lips compressed. Her arm swung into position to hit Max. “You appear angry,” he said. She stepped toward him. “I am . . . angry.” “I’m sorry, Oo-ee.” For a nanosecond, though, he looked pleased. She lowered her slender arm, unable to hit Max while processing …
Book Excerpt
EXCERPT: Drama Oz (the 14th Nicky and Noah mystery) by JOE COSENTINO
Blurb: The Treemeadow College theatre crew stage an original musical adaptation of The Wizard of Oz, entitled Friends of Dorothy, at a summer theme park in Key West. Quickly cast and crew members melt away like a witch submerged in water. Nicky, as the Wizard on stage and off, …
Book Excerpt
EXCERPT: Death Rules The Night, the fourth Dan & Rivka Sherman Mystery by Rosemary & Larry Mild
Chapter 1 Split Seconds Monday, May 8th, 1989 The worst thing about accidents and missteps is that we don’t know when or how to anticipate them. If we were able to see the when and how, we might learn to avoid them altogether. But alas, we are only human and …
Book Excerpt
The Story Behind the Story American antiques dealer Kate Hamilton is back in Long Barston, helping her colleague Ivor Tweedy organize an auction in a seaside village on the Suffolk coast. An abandoned Victorian insane asylum is being converted into luxury townhouses, and Kate and Ivor have been …
Columns
As I write this column in March 2022, many of the U.S. mask mandates have been lifted, and I feel ready to return to movie theaters, but I haven't yet. I'll probably see director Matt Reeves' THE BATMAN (starring Robert Pattinson as the Caped Crusader) on disc, just as late …
Columns
I’m excited to present four new authors for this feature! There is lots of variety in what they write and in how they write it. Have fun peeking in at their answers. Kathleen Kalb is our first author for this issue. Here’s a bit about her: BIO: Kathleen Marple Kalb …
Interviews
Keith Bettinger is a retired Suffolk County (N.Y.) Police Officer. He’s been writing for law enforcement publications for more than 25 years and has received 18 awards for his articles, stories, poems, and books. He has a Master’s Degree in Human Relations with a major in Clinical Counseling. During his …
Interviews
INTERVIEW: Kelli (K. L.) Peacock
Kelli (K. L.) Peacock lives in Tucson, Arizona. She is an avid photographer, traveler, and rose gardener. Born and raised in Central New York State - near the Finger Lakes, she moved to Tucson over twenty-eight years ago. Kelli graduated from Long Island University with a B.A. in History and …
