Noir Detective Short Stories

A detective finds the murderer he's looking for in an unexpected way.

On a fog-swept night on the ledge of the Golden Gate Bridge, a despondent man—about to be indicted for embezzlement and ready to end it all—is stopped by a mysterious woman in a silk scarf and evening gloves. She is Celeste Ainsley, the glamorous wife of a wealthy and powerful financier. Struck by his despair and intrigued by his calm resignation, she persuades him to come home with her instead of jumping. At her palatial Marin estate, the man—Miles Redding is offered a second chance: a bailout from his money troubles by her philanthropist husband who believes in second chances. But ...

Gus isn’t one to normally get invited to garden tea parties. However, the host is a political donor, and even though it’s not an election year, it never hurts to humor them. Only this party becomes more painful than most semi-political gatherings when the host inconveniently falls over dead. At first, given the woman’s poor health, Gus suspects natural causes. Only the coroner points out that it’s possible that Mrs. Lydia White died from an overdose of the herbal treatment she was using to lose weight. Thus, it is most likely an unnatural death from an all-natural product. That ...

Gus is having computer problems. Luckily for him, nothing takes a sheriff’s mind off an IT problem like an active shooter at the local elementary school. The biggest problem with Gus’s active shooter is the relative inactivity of the shooter when Gus arrives at the scene. It isn’t long before Gus finds his would-be shooter dead on the school grounds with a rather unattractive hole in their head. That will take the activity out of any man. The state police commissioner seems satisfied that the active shooter was killed by an anonymous hero before they could kill anyone. The Governor ...

Grace had never been more terrified...the pain was relentless. Nothing in her life prepared her for this. She desperately needed somewhere safe...someplace she could hide. Someone she could trust with her life. It was dark...and getting darker. Ronan Hendricks didn’t recognize her voice. Not family...not friends. Probably not an enemy. But he didn’t need the years he’d spent as a detective to recognize what he did hear... Fear. In a desperate moment of hope, a single number saved her life. Then a complete stranger opened his home offering safety yet Grace knew danger surrounded them.....

Spring is in the air. Gus is feeling pretty good about the change in seasons until an unknown man decides he would rather change from being alive to being dead. He clearly drank something toxic, and it didn’t agree with him. The question is, did he really decide to do that, or did someone make that decision for him. Only that question is buried under a lot of other layers of questions. Why did the man visit Gus a few days before his death proclaiming the end times were near? Why didn’t he take enough poison to kill him near instantly instead of lingering around for days slowly dying? ...

A Flash of Noir is a collection of flash fiction and short, short stories, laid down old-school style by master mystery writer Christopher Pinto. Writing in the genre of gumshoe detectives and sultry dames, creepy horror and hep cat jive, Pinto has put together a series of mostly one-page, 60-second reads that will transport you to another time...a darker, more sinister time. From smokey bars in New York City to the tropical islands of the Florida keys, A Flash of Noir takes you for a spin through the seediest gin joints and darkest alleys. One minute you're speeding down I-95 in a hot rod,...

Hot on the heels of Best Cases of the Continental Op comes Honest Gain: Dicey Cases of the Continental Op, another original compilation from Skyboat Media. The Continental Op is back on the case, tracking down thieves and murderers from the steep streets of San Francisco to the rough and tumble Wild West in Arizona. These six stories featuring the Continental Op show that this private eye is not afraid to get his hands dirty in order to get the job done right, or get himself hurt in the process.

Three friends go on a foodie road trip to the Scottish Highlands and Islands to celebrate their pending retirement, expecting stunning scenery, great food, fine wines, and a chance to reminisce about the good old days. When they somehow secure a reservation at a remote and extremely exclusive restaurant set on a private island in Loch Broom, they know they’re in for a once-in-a-lifetime dining experience.

Detective Rhys Vance was still active, still running leads the old way - intuitive, instinctive, human... when the system made a decision. A synthetic officer, built for precision, paused for 0.67 seconds. And his partner, Owen, died in 0.61. The report called it an unfortunate delay. Rhys knew better. Digging into the logic networks behind Saint Liora Medical, Rhys uncovers something worse than a glitch: a hidden bias deep in the city’s AI architecture. Life support systems are evolving preferences. Morgue systems are reinforcing them. And human unpredictability? It's being flagged as a ...

In a world of criminals, thugs, con artists, cheats, and swindlers, there must be a man to stand against the powers of darkness and corruption. A man not afraid to walk the mean streets—whether they be those of 1930s Los Angeles, an ancient fantasy realm, or some far-flung planet of a future star empire. He is a man who knows that a “good man” is not always a “nice guy”. But when the chips are down, he understands that a hero does the right thing, even if it means losing everything.

From its launch in 1920 until its demise in 1951, the magazine Black Mask published pulp crime fiction. The first hard-boiled detective stories appeared on its pages. Never before in audio, these vintage stories are the darkest of the dark, and the best of the best.

Crime fiction fans old and new will delight in rediscovering these taut, character-rich, heart-stopping tales, now on audio for the first time.

Humans have always been fascinated by darkness. Especially the darkness of a city at night, when the black sky is made ever more inky by the pools of illumination dropped under streetlights. Whether the mean streets be in an alternate past charmed with dark magic or the dirty alleyways of futuristic crowded space stations, the city—and its darkened streets—will always fascinate us. Here then, an anthology of all new stories of science fiction and fantasy with a hardboiled noir twist that acknowledge that the city is a living, breathing entity...and it isn’t always on our side.

She just wanted noodles. What she got was terror on her doorstep. It was late. The neon was dead. The delivery app promised warmth, convenience… safety. But when the bag arrived, it wasn’t the friendly driver she expected—it was a man lying in shadow, boots pointed at her door, silent, watching. Then others appeared. They didn’t knock. They didn’t speak. They just waited. In St. Isidore, some deliveries never arrive… and some never leave. One wrong order could be your last. She Never Delivered: From The St. Isidore Noir Collection is noir the way it was meant to be—fast, mean,...

Forensic detective Lincoln Rhyme and his partner Amelia Sachs return in this short story from New York Times bestselling author Jeffery Deaver. The Deliveryman A Lincoln Rhyme Short Story A man is murdered in a back alley. Renowned forensic detective Lincoln Rhyme and his partner Amelia Sachs...

A Noir Mystery Collection by the Mysterious Thomas Temple Step into a world where darkness whispers your name, and reality twists beyond recognition. In Whispered Crimes, Thomas Temple masterfully weaves together noir mystery, psychological horror, and grotesque fiction in a collection of short stories that will leave you haunted. Inspired by the eerie allure of crime fiction and urban mysteries, Temple invites you to embrace the bizarre, the twisted, and the unknown.Prepare for a Literary Experience Like No Other If you're a fan of dark psychological thrillers, urban noir, or the surreal ...

Detective Frank "Giddy" Geddy usually gets his man, and sometimes the girl, too. This isn't one of those times. Ybor City is where the cool people of Tampa go to cut loose and have fun. Getting in to the party is never the problem. Getting out of it sometimes is. In Ybor, you never know what or who you will run into. Between the seedy clubs and bars, in shady back alleys, and at the cigar and tattoo shops - something is for sale on every corner, and there is always trouble within stumbling distance.

Marta Sanz cierra la trilogía del detective Arturo Zarco diseccionando los relatos sobre la memoria: una novela negra que prolonga la posibilidad de la novela política. Paula Quiñones llega a Azafrán para localizar fosas de la Guerra Civil. Nada más poner su pie cojo en el pueblo siente que el cielo se encapsula sobre ella y una goma invisible tira de su cuerpo para alejarla de su destino: el hotel de los Beato, ubicado junto a un cartel en el que se lee "Azufrón".

Al Getty is a dedicated private investigator on the hunt for cheating partners. Ethan Notes is an obsessive stalker fixated on a beautiful woman. After the initial consultation, Al realizes he needs to clarify online what he can lawfully do, to keep weirdos like Notes away. Doing the right thing and reporting the stalker to the police might lead to unexpected drama, but if anyone can handle setbacks, it's Al—he's had a lot of them. When a surprise date with the victim doesn't quite go as planned, it turns out that the stalker might just play a crucial role in the unfolding chaos. This ...

The rain never stops in the Broken City— and every corpse is filed like a receipt. Roan Kincaid used to break bones for guild law. Now he works alone—an unlicensed Caseworker tracing lies through flooded alleys and incense-choked chapels. In a city where: Levels are laundered Miracles are sold off-ledger And death records vanish before sunrise Progression isn’t earned with blade or fireball. It’s built case by case—skill by skill, lie by lie. When a courier turns up dead with a forged stat profile, Roan is pulled into a conspiracy stretching from Brine Stair to the High Chapel ...