Judy stood at the bay window with an old mystery novel she’d checked out from the library, watching as her husband Frank eased the Buick up the gravel driveway. The car radio was blaring a country ballad from the 1980s, one she couldn’t put a finger on. She couldn’t remember things like song titles anymore, […]
He said his name was Danny, but he sure didn’t look like a Danny. Trust me, I can tell when men lie. He took cash from my purse the first night I slept with him. I confronted him the next day, but he acted like I was crazy. Now that all my credit cards are […]
“So,” said Detective Ringnes, “he hired you and made his wife watch?” Diana could think of things she’d rather do than sit across from him in this barely furnished interview room, but at least he was treating her as a witness. To a lot of cops she was a suspect no matter what. “He didn’t […]
The summer before I entered fifth grade, my mother penned a handwritten note giving her permission for me to check-out adult books from the library. The public library was a recent addition to our small town and constructed inside the new middle school consolidating the county’s disbanded junior highs. Mom wasn’t sure what protocols these […]
Benny loved a good Singles’ Night, perhaps more than any of the actual singles there. He’d wear a colourful tee, something that complemented his eyes; then he’d artfully tousle his hair until it looked stylish but still in need of a woman’s guiding touch. He was going for competent partner vibes rather than sorry sap. […]
The guy in the car behind me laid on his horn. I could have made the turn, but the lady coming would have had to slow down a bit and I thought I’d let her coast through this small part of her day. The guy behind me had other ideas and hit the horn again. […]
We are please to announce the second book in The Mountaineer Mysteries, The Mountain Mystic by Russell W. Johnson. We hope you’ll enjoy it as much as you did The Moonshine Messiah. What to Expect inside… Since succeeding her dearly departed husband, Bill, to become Jasper County’s first female sheriff, Mary Beth Cain has closed […]
The move came after breakfast, while the prisoners were waiting for the Sheriff’s van to take them to court. Always a hold-up. If not the van then paperwork, or the prisoners themselves needing piss breaks or pussy plugs or some piece of vital correspondence they’d left in their cell. You could make enemies by making […]
A rude medley of street sounds enters the diner with each customer. “Hey.” Black running shoes and faded jeans, topped by a windbreaker and baseball cap, the barest hint of what I know is a Glock pressing against the material of her sweatshirt. She sits, pretends to read the menu. “Hi,” I say, snapshots of […]
The locals called it Suicide Bridge because of all the jumpers. He liked the Monongatawny Bridge anyway for its stone trusses and the old-growth pine forest on the riverbanks. This jumper was middle-aged. Sad-looking. Well, she would be. But this was sadness etched into a face over decades. A body broken by years of hard […]
Two years in the making, we are pleased to release Burning Down the House: Crime Fiction Incited by the Songs of the Talking Heads, a charity anthology to help fight climate change. Happy Earth Day! About the Book Twelve of today’s most innovative crime fiction authors bring the songs of the Talking Heads to life […]
Smitty and me had a big score planned on Friday. We’re spending Wednesday afternoon nursing beers at The Seven Mile House on Old Bayshore. Just passing time, trying to keep from getting too edgy. Smitty tended to be a little quick on the trigger. He had a habit of throwing a little lead around. Said […]
