Short Mystery Collection

This set of 5 tales from the noir school of crime and mystery highlights the dark spot on the human psyche that haunts people with the siren call of revenge, destruction, or ill-gotten gain. Here are featured a variety of characters and crimes, with different outcomes. Everything from cool, calculating killers to tortured souls caught in a net of circumstance beyond their control. Plotted heists, schemes, and cons, along with acts of passion committed in the heat of the moment.

Mark has a wife and two kids, a sense of purpose, financial security, and a fragile contentment. However wistful his visions of the future, Mark knows who he is. But a summer trip with his abrasive brother-in-law and unhappy sister-in-law leave Mark questioning everything he thinks he knows about his family—and himself.

"The case of the missing Mayan Codices". "I do not suppose that you have brought your revolver with you Watson?" I shook my head to indicate that my response was in the negative to his question. He turned his head forward again and led us through the kitchen, past several side pantries. As we cautiously inched forward, Holmes observed that the blood trail consisted of droplets of varying size. "Whomever it came from, they must have been applying intermittent pressure on the wound as they walked."

"On the busy, bustling, colonized future Moon, McAuley reminds us that although everyone makes mistakes, some mistakes have far greater consequences than others..." So writes Gardner Dozois, editor of the Seventeenth Annual Collection of The Year's Best Science Fiction, about this thrilling and...

It’s bad enough that its venom-dripping chelicerae can slice through flesh like warm butter. Worse? It’s right there under the bunk. It’s a fact now. To make it through the night, the children must obey the rules: don’t get out of bed, stay out of the shadows, and don’t wake the beast. But as the threats multiply, so do the rules of survival. And with the safety of dawn still hours away, the fun is just beginning.

Dirty Laundry in Paradise. For a moment, my estimation of the good Mr. Brae had increased somewhat, as I gathered he didn’t want one of his servants taking the blame for a deed the poor soul hadn’t perpetrated. I glanced at Holmes to determine his take on the situation, but I wasn’t surprised that he had taken little notice of Mr. Brae. “Would you pass the milk, Watson?” Ignoring the man completely as one could ignore a bumbling buffoon, as Holmes had dubbed him after our previous encounter. Dutifully, I passed him the cream which he slowly poured into his tea.

This is not your typical Cooper story. That is, the main character in this story, Eddie Heller, crosses paths with Matt Cooper but the story is really about Eddie and his quest to become a cop in Hollywood during the 1930s. It follows Eddie life from birth on, ending up on the streets of Hollywood in the 1950s.

Jimmy was a good cop, but age and changing times were getting the better of him. If he could only get an edge, take advantage of some of that new-fangled tech - what would be the harm? I mean, everybody cheats a little, don’t they? Just be careful not to get caught… Listen to In a Flash to see how Jimmy gets himself out of trouble.

It's business as usual for Matt Cooper's son, Clay and his grandson, Elliott...well almost. Something has got Clay distracted. He's found himself a girlfriend and Elliott's dying to know who the lucky woman is. Clay's not about to kiss and tell, and besides, they have a triple homicide to look into and they don't need the distraction of a woman slowing their reaction times. The things these two private eyes are into could prove deadly for one of them, but it isn't what you might expect.

Elliott Cooper's off to Las Vegas for a week-long P.I. convention and he's driving there in his new car. He stops for gas in Barstow and two thugs carjack him and his car. They slug him, dump him in the desert and leave him for dead. This could have been the end for Elliott Cooper had Jane not come along when she did. She takes Elliott back to her house in the middle of nowhere. Elliott had been hit so hard on the head that now he can't remember who he is, what he is and where he belongs.

Is it possible to scare someone to death? Absolutely. And that's just what this pair of killers is doing so as not to leave any traces of trauma on the victims. Each death appears to be caused by a heart attack. Why does Elliott NOT want to get involved in this case, now that his business is called Cooper and Son again? The answers are all right here in this 122nd installment of the four generations of Coopers in the private eye business.

Matt, Tom, and Elliott (and their wives) are hired by a salvage company to visit the major movie studios and try to buy some of the interior sets from vintage movies. The six of them have a ball going through all that is available and come back with some good finds. However, all is not well back at the salvage company as Matt will soon find out. Meanwhile, Matt makes a bet with his son, Nicky, that he can't retrace one of the original cases that the 1946 Matt handled and do it as efficiently as he did back then.

A publishing company wants to do a book the entire Cooper clan, starting with Matt. The publisher also has a movie deal lined up after the book is released. The Coopers' private lives will soon become public-very public. Things heat up during the interview process when Clay lets some family secrets slip out and they end up in the book. Meanwhile, Clay, Elliott and Gloria enlist retired police lieutenant Dean Hollister's help in tracking down the man who killed Gloria's father more than three years earlier.

Good and evil battle in this unusual tale of supernatural conflict. First in the AngelStories short story collection from award-winning author Michael Lynes.

Un prefecto de la policía recurre al detective Dupin y a su amigo, el narrador, con el objetivo de resolver el caso de una carta robada en las cámaras reales, la cual, el ladrón usa para obtener poder sobre él con fines políticos. El ladrón fue visto por la víctima y un tercero, robando la carta.

Neighborhood businesses are being plastered with graffiti - some of it artful and some of it garbage. The police want to hire Elliott to find these spray can artists and offer them a deal of working with the merchants. Elliott is on another case, so Gloria steps up and handles this one with surprising results. The two brothers who are leaving their marks all over the city have been tagged The Marks Brothers by the merchants.

Matt also has some big news for Elliott and Gloria. Meanwhile Gloria joins Elliott on her last case before she retires to make room for Matt. They're checking the background of a potential investor when that client turns up dead - hanging in his own living room. Suicide? Elliott doesn't think so.

Elliott and Matt are hire by the police to handle the leg work for them on a kidnap case that has brought in the FBI. The two private eyes have to check area body shops, machine shops, fabrication shops and any other place capable of manufacturing a fake U.S. Mail box, used in the ransom drop.

The Doll Maker is taking women off the street and turning them into dolls before killing them. Will he be caught?

Matt Cooper is hired to tail a political candidate to see if he's conducting himself and his campaign in an ethical manner. Meanwhile, someone is killing citizens around Hollywood and the police don't have a clue where to start looking for suspects. Matt's kid sister, Olivia is preparing for her high school graduation. Does Elliott have to worry about Matt taking on this job alone?