The door was locked from the inside. On her bedside table was a glass. She was positioned on the bed as though laid out by a nurse or undertaker.’From ‘A Mussoorie Mystery’ by Ruskin BondThere are very few readers who don’t get a feeling of satisfaction from reading a good short story. It is the ending to a story that can make the reader sit up and think about it—some can be good, some twisted and some absolutely anticlimactic! Read about a couple who set out to get the perfect gift for each other and the surprising twist in the end in ‘The Gift of the Magi’; a robotic dancing partner, which creates more menace than a human partner ever can in ‘The Dancing Partner’; and Bond’s own telling of a mystery set in Mussoorie, which caught the fancy of none other than Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes; and many more such stories. Selected and edited by Ruskin Bond, this collection is abound with several fantastic, scary, surprising and humorous stories.

    So he is completely unprepared for when he is assigned the case of a murdered high school gym teacher who was found beaten to death and wrapped up in a volleyball net. Encountering the likes of a compulsive overeater, a female gym teacher with an attitude, and an advice-giving dog, Charley's life gets a little crazy.

    THEY THOUGHT WRONG.It all began with the phone call asking former porn star Angel Dare to do one more movie. Before she knew it, she'd been shot and left for dead in the trunk of a car. But Angel is a survivor. And that means she'll get to the bottom of what's been done to her even if she has to leave a trail of bodies along the way...

    But when for the first time in Doc's long criminal career, his shot doesn't hit the mark, everything begins to fall apart. And Doc begins to realize that the perfect bank robbery isn't complete without the perfect getaway to back it up.THE GETAWAY is the classic story of a bank robbery gone horribly wrong, where the smallest mistakes have catastrophic consequences, and shifting loyalties lead to betrayals and chaos. The basis for the classic Steve McQueen film of the same name, as well as a 1994 remake with Alec Baldwin, Thompson's novel set the bar for every heist story that followed--but as Thompson's proved time and again, nobody's ever done it better than the master.

    A ruthless criminal gang. A law unto themselves. Detective Jim Hacker has watched The Dogs grow from thuggish youths to psychotic criminals and seems to be the only cop in town with the determination to see justice done. Meanwhile Jamie Strange, a young Royal Marine, finds himself embroiled in the lives of the gang when his girlfriend, Laurie Holland, cuts off their engagement... to be with the most dangerous of The Dogs: Frankie Verdi. Strange knows right from wrong, but when Verdi begins to target Jamie's family, he makes an enemy of a man, more dangerous than even he could imagine. Crisp, slick and often terrifyingly violent, this 1980's crime thriller will appeal to the readers of Ian Rankin, Martina Cole and Stephen Leather.

    He's lost everything - his wife, his dreams, his future. He finally enters the death chamber at the famous 'Walls' prison in Texas. He's strapped to a gurney and given an injection of lethal drugs in front of witnesses. Minutes later he's pronounced dead. But that's not the end of it. After the execution comes the shocking revelation - Jordan is still alive. And to stop him talking he has to die all over again - before he brings down the entire American justice system.

     Two years limited edition eBook. Get it while you can. Step into our twisted minds for six horrifying tales. Seeing Red, by J.L.Clayton All her life, Challis has been bullied by the people around her, and now the thin string holding her sanity intact has snapped...The only thing she sees is crimson. They say revenge is best served cold, but Challis will take hers: hot, sticky and red! Come along for one horrific ride as author J.L.Clayton takes a forsaken girl and turns her into a heartless killer. Seeing Red has never looked so frightening. Twisted Insanity, by R.L. Weeks Author R. L. Weeks brings you Twisted Insanity. It cannot be reasoned with. It cannot be bargained with. Jacob has been locked up for ten years, waiting for his chance to take his revenge on Gale, his ex-wife. After persuading the mental health team that he has recovered, he goes on a killing stint. Gale is about to find out the extent of his twisted insanity. Truth or Dare, by K.L. Humphreys Taken to a psychotic man's playground, Becca only hopes her husband can get help to save her, before she ends up like the others.The Missing Persons Unit team know that unless they stop a madman and find missing Becca, they will be finding body parts in the forest. Author KL Humphreys will have you looking over your shoulder wondering what is really going on in the minds of those you call family. Hell House, by Becca Moree A walk through the Hell House leaves Erin questioning if visiting the Carnival of Darkness was a good idea after all. The sounds pouring from the mouths of the actors in each room were just a little too good.A little too...real. Step into a world of unthinkable torture as author Becca Moree takes one innocent college student on a Halloween outing she will never forget. Poison Pen, by R.B.Wood Upset the author at your own peril. A young down-on-his-luck author makes a demonic deal to remove a few obstacles from his writing career and stardom. White Wedding: Reckoning, by Steven Evans Jen's best friend, Jess, is an emotional train wreck. Too weak and afraid of her abusive father and now forced to marry a man she doesn't love, Jess' life is spiraling out of control. Jen desperately wants to help her friend but... What's a doll to do? Steve Evans brings a wickedly sweet twist to a tale of friendship in "White Wedding: Reckoning".

    

    Anxious to start a new life, Samantha decides to open up a business of her own, and throws herself into making the dream a reality. But along the way, there are plenty of obstacles popping up to make life a little more challenging than she expected - nosy neighbors and cranky in-laws, attractive men and pretentious sisters, a gossipy mother, mysterious hate mail, and ghosts from the past that threaten to destroy everything she's worked to achieve. And just when Sam thinks things couldn't possibly get worse, there's a murder on her property that the local detective seems mighty determined to pin on the newest resident of Peabody. Suddenly Sam is overwhelmed with troubles she never imagined, and she knows the only way to get through any of it is by keeping her sense of humor and trusting that God really does know exactly what He is doing.

    Wild ravings from an insane man turn to prophecy when the Truth is revealed.Cover illustration: Michael WhelanContents:"Introduction" (Lin Carter) "The Other Gods" (1921) "The Tree" (1920) "The Doom That Came to Sarnath" (1919) "The Tomb" (1917) "Polaris" (1918) "Beyond the Wall of Sleep" (1919) "Memory" (1919) "What the Moon Brings" (1923) "Nyarlathotep" (1920) "Ex Oblivione" (1921) "The Cats of Ulthar" (1920) "Hypnos" (1922) "Nathicana" (1927) "From Beyond" (1920) "The Festival" (1923) "The Nameless City" (1921) "The Quest of Iranon" (1921) "The Crawling Chaos" (1920) "In the Walls of Eryx" (1935) "Imprisoned with the Pharaohs" (1924)

    This left him unconscious on the floor of my home. Amazingly, this bullet did not kill him.Ten years ago I adopted Blue as a present to myself after I broke up with my boyfriend one hot, early summer night with the windows open and the neighborhood listening. The next morning I went straight to the pound in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Articles on buying your first dog tell you never to buy a dog on impulse. They want you to be prepared for this new member of your family, to understand the responsibilities and challenges of owning a dog. Going to the pound because you need something in your life that's worth holding onto is rarely, if ever, mentioned.I asked the man at the pound to show me the biggest dogs they had. He showed me some seven-week-old Rottweiler-German shepherd puppies that he said would grow to be quite large. Then he showed me a six-month-old shepherd that would get pretty big. Then he showed me Blue, the largest dog they had.The man called him a Collie mix and he was stuffed into the biggest cage they had, but he didn't fit. He was as tall as a Great Dane but much skinnier, with the snout of a collie, the markings of a Siberian husky, the ears and tail of a shepherd and the body of a wolf, with one blue eye and one brown. Crouched in a sitting position, unable to lie down, unable to sit all the way up, he looked at me from between the bars, and I fell in love."He's still underweight," the man in the blue scrubs told me as we looked at Blue. "I'll tell you, lady, he's pretty but he's skittish. He sheds, and I mean sheds. I don't think you want this dog." But I knew I wanted him. I knew I had to have him. He was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.Blue cost me $108. I brought him home, and we lived together for years. He was, for most of our relationship, my only companion. But when I first met Blue, a lifetime ago now, I had family and friends. I worked at a crappy coffeehouse. I was young and lost; I was normal.Back then, at the beginning of this story, before I'd ever seen a corpse, before Blue saved my life, before I felt what it was like to kill someone in cold blood, I was still Joy Humbolt.I'd never even heard the name Sydney Rye.P.S. The dog does not die.**Beware: If you can’t handle a few f-bombs, you can’t handle this series.**

    When it comes to deeply unqualified guardians of the moral high ground, it would be tough to find many that equaled Black Jack Justice and his erstwhile partner, Trixie Dixon, girl detective. But they will learn the hard way just how serious the sender was, and that in the end, only Dead Men Run.The his and hers private detectives of Decoder Ring Theatre’s long-running radio mysteries return to two-fisted prose adventure, delighting long-time fans and new readers alike with the classic, hard-boiled feel of their exploits.

    Her career as a broadcast journalist is on fire, she finally found a good man to come home to, and her new Manhattan apartment is the stuff of dreams. When a stranger sends her a chilling but cryptic email about a newly nominated Judge in her hometown, she knows she should ignore it. Secret sources armed with conspiracy theories were nothing but trouble. Still, she can’t seem to shake the feeling that there’s something amiss about Judge Aaron Michaels. Driven by an insatiable quest for truth and a desire to do the right thing, she heads back to Tampa and comes face-to-face with a killer.

     First THREE books in series. BOOK ONE: Live and Let Diet USA Today BestsellerSybil Potts moves to Little Tatterford, a small town in the middle of nowhere in Australia, seeking to find peace and quiet after the upheaval of her divorce. Although the town is sleepy and nothing has ever happened, her arrival coincides with a murder in the property adjacent to her cottage. Sybil soon finds she is at odds with the attractive Blake Wessley, the exasperated police officer who is trying to solve the murder. After Sibyl narrowly misses becoming the next victim, she turns her attention to the suspects. Is it the English gentleman, Mr. Buttons, who serves everyone tea and cucumber sandwiches, or her landlord, Cressida Upthorpe, who is convinced that her fat cat, Lord Farringdon, speaks to her? Or is it someone else entirely? BOOK TWO: Natural-born Grillers When one of the new boarders, an eminent professor of Socratic philosophy, is found poisoned by hemlock in a meal of grilled quail, eccentric boarding house owner Cressida Upthorpe soon becomes the main suspect. Sibyl Potts, with the help of Mr. Buttons, launches herself into the investigation, much to the consternation of stressed police officer Blake Wessley. As the body count mounts, will Sibyl be able to clear Cressida’s name and find the real killer? BOOK THREE: Dye Hard Obnoxious ghost hunters descend on Cressida Upthorpe’s boarding house, convinced it must be a source of paranormal activity given that three murders have occurred there in a short space of time. After one of the ghost hunters is murdered with poisoned hair dye, Sibyl does her best to keep well away from the investigation, that is, until Cressida almost falls victim. With the bumbling detectives back in town and on the scene, Sibyl races to solve the murder before the body count rises. In this fun cozy mystery series so far: 1. Live and Let Diet 2. Natural-born Grillers 3. Dye Hard 4. The Prawn Identity 5. Any Given Sundae 6. Last Mango in Paris

    That’s about to change! With Small is Big, Rafaa Dalvi has created a potpourri of 100 diverse micro tales (140 characters or less) that will provide you a rich experience in easy-to-digest fragments and urge you to read one page after another before you finally finish the book. And the best part is that there’s a story for everyone, including YOU! If you’re a romantic at heart, this micro tale is for you- She kissed his cheek as he smiled back. Nothing had changed much since two decades. Her husband called her. She hid the photo in the closet. If you love happy endings, this micro tale is for you- You rested on my lap, opened yourself before me and shared your fantasies with me. Then the stories ended and you turned back into a book. If you ever had a tough time fitting in, this micro tale is for you- Nerd. Not anymore. A new college. A new identity. Math. First lecture. Finished my test first. Teacher graded me aloud- 20/20. I had failed. If you are a big fan of word play, this micro tale is for you- They’re lying in bed. “You’re the one,” he says; he’s lying. “I never doubted it,” she says; she’s lying. They’re lying in bed. And if you like thrillers, this micro tale is for you- There were two of us and one vacant position. He would die for this job and I would kill for it. No wonder it worked out just fine for me. In fact, there are 100 such small tales that will have a big impact on you. So what are you waiting for? Scroll to the top of this page, buy the book and start reading today. About the Author: Rafaa Dalvi is a vibrant mess of innumerable thoughts, quotes and movie dialogues, who tries to escape from the mundane with words and contemplates about befriending the voices in his head. He dreams about changing the world, one smile at a time. Already published numerous times, his stories can be read in the anthologies – Curtain Call (editor), Terribly Tiny Tales- Volume 1, Kaleidoscope, Myriad Tales, and many others. He’s the recipient of Indian Bloggers League Booker Prize 2013 and a Select Writer at Terribly Tiny Tales.