Dark Humor Mystery

El circo y La Mariposa es una novela colectiva escrita por 13 autores de Rosario, en pandemia, “encerrados con un solo juguete”, como diría Juan Marsé. Al producirse el 20 de marzo de 2020 el primer confinamiento nacional dispuesto por el gobierno con motivo de la pandemia Covid-19, quedaron varados en el territorio argentino, cuarenta (40) circos, situación que no se ha modificado mucho en el momento que escribo estas líneas, un año y medio después.

Failed lawyer Robert Green has such a good plan: Crack three hundred safe-deposit boxes and sail off to South America with his brilliant, morally flexible sister, Penny. If it weren’t for the damned freezing rain. In the dying resort town of Granite Shores, cop Jack Biddle is self-appointed king—mostly of bad decisions. Between his family’s crumbling legacy, a wife who just joined the city council, and life-threatening gambling debts, Jack’s looking for a way out. Then he spots a van spinning off a mountain road into the valley below.

Barry and Beth, high school sweethearts separated by time and circumstance, find themselves reunited at the Blue Loon Village senior living center in Minneapolis. Now both seventy, they rekindle their relationship only to discover how differently time has shaped them. Beth has blossomed into a free spirit with a goth flair, while Barry has transformed into the curmudgeon he swore in his youth he’d never become.

Sie lieben sich, sie hassen und sie töten sich – mit Alpenveilchen, Christrosen oder Eisenhut denn gegen alle(s) ist ein tödliches Kraut gewachsen, egal, ob ausgediente Ehemänner, alte Widersacher, verhasste Haustiere oder nervende Nachbarn. Wenn böse Menschen die hohe Kunst der botanischen Giftmischerei zelebrieren, wird es mörderisch spannend – bis zum letzten Blatt.

When Agatha Benedict plucked Kelly off the city streets to replace her dead cat Poopsie, she neglected to inform him of some very important house traditions. The history of the Benedict Estate prescribes that once the estate owner passes on, a will reading is to take place. However, the reading is more than passing on a loved one's final wishes: it's a figurative gunshot into the air, an alert to all in attendance that a playful game of anything-goes murder has begun. The prize? The inheritance, of course.

Mi chiamo Grace Bernard e, con ogni probabilità, il mio nome non vi dice proprio niente. Nessuno mi conosce perché languisco dietro le sbarre per l’unico crimine che non ho commesso. Eppure, se devo dire la verità nient’altro che la verità, ho ucciso diverse persone, alcune in modo brutale, altre con maggior delicatezza – vale la pena specificarlo, perché fa un’enorme differenza agli occhi giudicanti della gente. Quando ripenso a ciò che ho fatto, avverto persino una punta di tristezza, giusto una fitta trascurabile, al pensiero che nessuno verrà mai a conoscenza del mio strabiliante piano.

Marilyn Monroe died just after midnight on August 5, 1962; former Little League champion Kimitake "Clyde" Koba was born on the same day, at the same time. As Clyde struggles to escape the ghost of his brother and his alcoholic father and stumbles through his first love, he finds strength in the belief that he is the reincarnation of Monroe. Meanwhile....

Berlin: a man wakes up in a trash can with no idea who he is. He's taken to hospital for treatment. Then people start trying to assassinate him. The man has to find out why, how to get them to stop, and what the CIA has to do with all this. There's also the little problem of working out who he used to be, and why that changed. Meanwhile, his girlfriend Piper and best friend Lance are trying to find him.

Edward was a respectable architect when a disagreement over the wrong shade of Georgian red with Aubyn, a mean-spirited conservation officer, saw the full force of the law applied. Ian had been a successful accountant until he was shafted by dodgy PPI pusher Kevin. Their lives tumble and they end up in prison, where they meet Nelson, banged up after stealing a sapphire and a Bentley from a contessa in Monaco. An early release prompts Edward, Ian, and Nelson to take a road trip in search of a new life, revenge, and adventure. Will the vintage Bentley manage the trip?

Maeve has everything. A high-powered job, a beautiful home and a string of uncomplicated one-night encounters. She’s also an addict - a functioning alcoholic with a dependence on sex and an insatiable appetite for killing men. When she can’t find a support group to share her obsession, she creates her own. And Psychopaths Anonymous is born. Friends of Maeve. Now in a serious relationship, Maeve wants to keep the group a secret. But not everyone in the group adheres to the rules.

A continually bullied runt of a youngster, Chas Larkin discovers his chutzpah and decides to take on the London gangs. In the sleazy and violent East End, he is unwittingly assisted by Scotland Yard and MI5, who use the boy to delay an IRA campaign in the city. Together with the mysterious DCI Casey, an enigma amongst the bomb-damaged slums, they stir the pot of fermenting disquiet.

Dundalk—The Town, to locals—took Aoife in when she left home at eighteen. Now she’s gone from a small-time slinger of hash to a bona fide player in Dundalk’s criminal underworld. Aoife’s smart, savvy, and cool under pressure. Except, that is, when it comes to Annie. Annie is mysterious and compelling, and Aoife is desperate to impress her and keep her close. Unfortunately, not everyone in The Town shares Aoife’s opinion of Annie.

When Verity Hudson goes missing, Peddyr Quirk—with assistance from his wife Connie—investigates a strange new case which unfolds in an unsavory part of town. It soon becomes apparent that they are not the only ones looking for Verity. A freelance researcher is searching for her birth mother. An influential man of power and money is desperate to find his estranged sister. A local politician is determined to expose a hidden tragedy. A TV journalist will stop at nothing to expose the true story…if it can be uncovered. Where is Verity, who is Verity, and who will find her first?

The good folk of Perpetuity Valley, Wyoming, have a secret. These modern-day citizens aren't just descended from the original settlers—they actually are the original settlers. They trekked here by wagon train in 1846, and for some mysterious reason, none of them has aged a day since. Of course, if word ever gets out about a miracle like this, the valley might get a wee bit crowded. So about a hundred years ago the townsfolk agreed to keep the secret to themselves and never allow any property to change hands.

Kerry had different plans for her first high school party—like not going. All she wanted to do was stay home in the safety of retro rom-coms and her strict retainer schedule. Instead her BFF, fiercely outgoing mystery-fanatic Annie, has roped her into going to the party to investigate who’s cyberbullying Heather, the most popular girl in school. Finding herself getting close with her dreamy crush is odd enough, but when the two of them discover Heather’s second in command, Selena, suffocated with a menstrual cup, things get really weird.

Björn Diemel will reden: sowohl über die Einschulung seiner Tochter als auch über das Tantra-Seminar, das er aus Versehen mit seiner Ex-Frau besucht hat. Leider hat ein Unbekannter Björns Achtsamkeitstrainer, Joschka Breitner, krankenhausreif geprügelt – bei dem Versuch, dessen Tagebuch an sich zu bringen. Björn entwendet kurzerhand selbst die Aufzeichnungen seines Therapeuten und macht sich auf die Suche nach dem Täter.

Der Richter, dein Henker. Als junger Student träumte Siggi Buckmann davon, die Welt ein Stück gerechter zu machen. Als alter Hase im Richteramt schiebt er nur noch Dienst nach Vorschrift. In den Behörden regiert die Bürokratie, und sämtliche Urteile, die Siggi fällt, werden in Berufungsverfahren wieder aufgehoben. Wozu sich also Mühe machen? Doch als ein Obdachloser ums Leben kommt, ohne dass die Verantwortlichen zur Rechenschaft gezogen werden, beginnt Siggi, die Dinge anders zu betrachten. Vielleicht ist die Arbeit im Justizapparat ja doch zu etwas gut.

In the spring of 2014, struggling musician Mike Bradley is forced to do some manual work over the spring bank holiday to make ends meet. What was supposed to be a routine decorating job turns into a life-changing decision. Is the Memorabilia Man all he appears to be? A story of loyalty and betrayal and a misguided sense of honor.

Scott Fletcher is dead—his lifeless body in a pool of blood. Sarah Holden’s life is turned upside down the day she is discovered with her fiancé’s body next to the motorbike he’d been working on. She has blood on her hands, but the screams do not come. If she didn’t kill him, then who did? The answer seems too easy, the culprit too obvious. Peddyr and Connie Quirk, husband-and-wife private investigators, are brought in to unravel the tangle, prove Sarah’s innocence, and find the true culprit. As they are about to discover, the truth is sometimes more than skin-deep.

Desde que David Valenzuela, un joven ingenuo y poco lumbrera, mató en defensa propia a uno de los hermanos Castro, conocidos narcotraficantes del Triángulo Dorado en la región de Sinaloa, su vida se convierte en una huida llena de oportunos golpes de suerte y en la que se cruzará con los más variopintos personajes que, sin él pretenderlo, le involucrarán en situaciones tanto trágicas como cómicas.