Sammy always liked a good practical joke. After years spent working in the same office, sending invoices for a paint company, you’d have to find something to laugh at. It could be worse, he liked to say—we weren’t the ones manufacturing or testing the new colors. At least we weren’t being paid to watch paint […]
The rollicking, foamy sea crashed against the pier. The sun hung high over watchful dunes. A hermit crab sat alone in a booth made of cracked, deep-sea wood. From a chilled cup before him he sucked anxiously through a straw the color of rainbows. He was startled into awareness as a seagull, head feathers styled […]
They met in Strega Cafe, twenty minutes before closing. In the corner, a man with tan skin and gray hair propped himself up with a bottle of wine. In a booth, a pair of teenagers slumped low, halfway down each other’s throats. Metzger sat with his back to the wall, facing the door. He wore […]
First time I saw it was back last March, when me and the crew started casing the Everette branch of SunLand Savings. We were in this Taurus I’d boosted from the airport. I pulled to the curb opposite the bank so Gunther and Reade could study the teller area through the building’s large plate glass […]
Jakob Schultz, up to pee at 3:30 AM, heard pounding on the front door. Struggling into his bathrobe, he headed down the hallway. “Who is it?” The feel of the Walther PPK under the foyer’s console table reassured him. “It’s Dixon. Open up, Schultzie! Don’t bother with that gun.” Both men worked for Harrison O’Neill […]
Section 1: Preparation The last time you messed up is the last time you’ll mess up. Now you check your supply box once per quarter, even if you haven’t found a new friend. The box ALWAYS HAS: Step 1: one month before you meet up with your newest friend, make sure to ask Reggie for […]
Albert Tucher brings us back to the Big Islands with a mystery featuring Officer Jenny Freitas in Pele’s Prerogative, the 4th book in The Big Island Mysteries. The series has been called Hawaii Five-O with modern sensibilities and style. What to Expect inside… Officer Jenny Freitas of the Hawaii County Police survives an encounter with […]
Jonah Martin delivered the first of his six lousy words while glaring at his rival through the helmet’s faceplate.“Halt!” Instead of halting, the dashing rogue Jonah challenged leapt up onto the parapet behind them. “I will have the princess for my wife, King Roland,” he loudly pledged to the ten-watt stars twinkling above. “And a […]
There’s the Fat Man. Watch him work. Detective Corlett—she sat behind the wheel under the shade of a big tree. At the back of a cul-de-sac, Fat Man sat on a stool in his garage turning wrenches on a primer-gray Chevelle. California state and Waffen SS flags hung in odd competition in the back. Fat […]
The fucking dentist was a hack. One goddamn filling, and that dickbag numbs up half my face, leaves me drooling like an overmedicated mental patient. On top of that, I’ve got this burr now, rough as grout, tongue drawn to it like a junkie to a fix. It’s gonna be a bitch to floss around, […]
On the eve of New Year’s Eve we look back at 2024 and ahead toward 2025. We had several exceptional releases this year, all which need more love. All books need love, right? 2024, A Review We kicked off the year with NEGATIVE TILT by Bobby Mathews, his first collected volume of short stories. BAD […]
The large digital clock above SunLand Savings ticks from the last minute of Christmas Eve to the first minute of Christmas Day. And out there in the middle of Richmond Street, Frank’s entire crew lies dead on the asphalt. Frank’s the only one with any life left in him. He’s splayed out on the sidewalk, […]
