Book picks similar to
Blue Lamp by Diane Marina
mystery
short-story
short-story-or-novella
shorts
Aria
Allison M. Dickson - 2011
Unfortunately, the way home isn't as clear-cut as he'd hoped and he's forced to turn to Aria, his GPS, for an alternate route. However, Aria has something far more sinister in mind...
Beautiful Tears
David Duane Kummer - 2016
The bridge holds many secrets.Two hurting women face each other on this night, destinies merging. Mistakes have been made, people have been hurt, and these two are the victims. After the many years, they are ready to give up, ready to end it all. But one thing keeps them from giving up.The bridge holds many secrets, and the city breeds scum. But together, they can heal and help.This passionate, emotional story about the power of forgiveness takes you far away, to a city you'll always remember and never forget. Follow me to the place where mercy and grace mingle, where love and pain go hand-in-hand. Follow me to the bridge.
An Unreasonable Doubt
Jonathan L. Howard - 2014
Unfortunately, the Cresswill case was anything but. It started as a suicide, but then it was a murder pretending to be a suicide. Then it appeared that it was a suicide masquerading as a murder pretending to be a suicide. It was all so ridiculous, but the only thing a jury needs to acquit is a reasonable doubt, even when it seems quite unreasonable. Or is it? Or not? Perhaps to find the truth, the police need help that is every bit as unhinged as the case…
Eleven Minutes
Megan Miranda - 2012
And what happens in between—well, that's Decker's story. This is the story of those eleven minutes, and the six days that follow, from his perspective. Because while it must be terrifying to be trapped under the ice, it's a different kind of terror seeing your best friend trapped... Especially if it's your fault.
The Trespassers (Kindle Single)
Elmore Leonard - 2013
Told from the perspective of a young wife who’s become increasingly frustrated with her mild-mannered husband, “The Trespassers” begins as a quiet domestic drama and quickly escalates into a nightmare. When Evan refuses to confront men who are illegally hunting on the couple’s remote homestead, Chris takes matters into her own hands, with terrifying results. Written in 1958, when Leonard was working at a Detroit advertising agency and writing short stories on the side, “The Trespassers” shows the emerging talent of a man whose spare style and dark wit would redefine a literary genre. Filled with as much sexual menace as Sam Peckinpah’s classic thriller “Straw Dogs,” this timelessly relevant story delivers a sly surprise that could only come from the mind of Elmore Leonard. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Elmore Leonard wrote forty-five novels across his six-decade career, including the bestsellers “Road Dogs,” “Up in Honey’s Room,” “The Hot Kid,” “Mr. Paradise,” “Tishomingo Blues,” and the critically acclaimed collection of short stories “When the Women Come Out to Dance.” Many of his books have been made into movies, including “Get Shorty,” “Out of Sight,” and “Jackie Brown.” “Justified,” the hit series from FX, is based on Leonard’s character Raylan Givens, who appears in “Riding the Rap,” “Pronto,” the short story “Fire in the Hole,” and the novel “Raylan.” Leonard received the National Book Foundation’s Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, the Lifetime Achievement Award from PEN USA, and the Grand Master Award of the Mystery Writers of America. He was known to many as the “Dickens of Detroit” and had lived in the Detroit area since 1934. PRAISE FOR ELMORE LEONARD “Elmore Leonard can write circles around almost anybody active in the crime novel today.” —The New York Times Book Review “There is no greater writer of crime fiction than Elmore Leonard, and no one who has more resplendent energy.” —The Guardian (UK) “Elmore ‘Dutch’ Leonard is more than just one of the all-time greats of crime fiction. He’s … an authentic American icon.” —The Seattle Times “People look on writers that they like as an irreplaceable resource. I do. Elmore Leonard, every day I wake up and—not to be morbid or anything, although morbid is my life to a degree—don’t see his obituary in the paper, I think to myself, ‘Great! He’s probably working somewhere. He’s gonna produce another book, and I’ll have another book to read.’ Because when he’s gone, there’s nobody else.” — Stephen King “The King Daddy of crime novelists.” —The Seattle Times “As crime fiction goes, Leonard has few living equals. His characters leap from the page with a few short keystrokes, like a form of bloodstained haiku.” —The Cleveland Plain Dealer “[Leonard’s] finely honed sentences can sound as flinty/poetic as Hemingway or as hard-boiled as Raymond Chandler. His ear for the way people talk—or should—is peerless.” —The Detroit News “A master of narrative … A poet of the vernacular … Leonard paints an intimate, precise, funny, frightening, and irresistible mural of the
Merry Bloody Christmas
Ellie Scott - 2018
A chocoholic grizzly bear, a talking Christmas tree, mince pie overdoses and a very bloody murder. Will poor old Saint Nick make it out alive? Sad, strange, funny and gruesome, this overlapping, multi-genre collection of tales has a little something for every reader. Curl up with a mulled wine and some fictional festive misery, and discover what Father Christmas really likes to drink when he wriggles down your chimney. Spoiler: it isn’t milk.
Everything My Mother Taught Me
Alice Hoffman - 2019
Adeline vows to never speak again. But that’s not her only secret. After her mother takes a housekeeping job at a lighthouse off the tip of Cape Ann, a local woman vanishes. The key to the mystery lies with Adeline, the silent witness. New York Times bestselling author of The Rules of Magic Alice Hoffman crafts a beautiful, heart-wrenching short story.Alice Hoffman’s Everything My Mother Taught Me is part of Inheritance, a collection of five stories about secrets, unspoken desires, and dangerous revelations between loved ones. Each piece can be read or listened to in a single setting. By yourself, behind closed doors, or shared with someone you trust.
Thorn in My Side
Karin Slaughter - 2011
The scene is an Atlanta bar. The music is loud and the dance floor is packed. The good-looking brother picks up a girl. But when dark deeds ensue out in the parking lot, what happens next can only be described in two words: vintage Slaughter.
Confessions of a Bombshell Bandit
Gemma Halliday - 2010
Instead she got an overbearing landlord, a booty-grabbing boss, and a repo man just waiting for her to park her car in the open. But Carrie's lifetakes a drastic turn for the worse when she's not only fired from her job at L.A. Mutual Bank, but also robbed by the sexiest bank robber alive and evicted from her apartment all in the same day. That's it. No more Miss Nice Chick. Carrie hatches a plan to take back her life - involving skimpy bikinis, semi-automatic weapons and one big bank heist. If Carrie can pull this one off, she just might realize her island dreams after all. That is, if Mr. Sexy doesn't beat her to the big score....AWARDS:Predators & Editors Readers' Poll Award - Best Mainstream Short StoryREVIEWS:"Gemma Halliday has a talent for blending humor with a sense of drama.'Confessions of a Bombshell Bandit' captures how far one will go whenthey are out of options...you will savor every word." - Zoë Knighton,Sensual Reads and Reviews"Gemma Halliday's story will leave the reader howling with laughter!This delightful tale is exceptionally clever as the reader is lulledinto accepting Carrie's viewpoint. Well done!" - Kwips and Kritiques"I also adore Gemma Halliday's 'Confessions Of A Bombshell Bandit',another short story that has me putting the author's name on the topof the list the next time I go bookshopping because I love thisauthor's voice! I love unrepetant Carrie in all her glory and I love this story." - Mrs. Giggles, Book Reviewer
Gunpowder Plots
Val McDermid - 2013
In Sneeze for Danger, a killer is unmasked by unfortunate means, and in The Consolation Blonde, a misunderstanding turns a bestselling author to crime…‘Very smart and memorable . . . both stories are great reminders of a time when McDermid was sharpening her teeth on the crime fiction genre and the great writer she was to become . . . an excellent aperitif before the next McDermid novel’
The 2020 Short Story Advent Calendar
Michael Hingston - 2020
For the special edition slipcase please go here.You know the drill by now. The 2020 Short Story Advent Calendar is a deluxe box set of individually bound short stories from some of the best writers in North America. This year's slipcase is a thing of beauty, too, with electric-yellow lining and spot-glossed lettering. It also comes wrapped in two rubber bands to keep those booklets snug in their beds.
One More Game
Ernie Lindsey - 2014
Then, the breathtaking sequels, Sara's Past and Sara's Fear, continued the terrifying journey where no one was safe and evil played by its own rules. Now, Lindsey returns with a final chapter, One More Game, the thrilling spin-off from The Sara Winthrop Series. **Novella-length title.**Teddy Rutherford, former coworker and arch nemesis of Sara Winthrop, now turned trusted friend and multi-millionaire, has left the United States behind for the supposed safety of Moscow. His beautiful and tolerant wife, Irina, pregnant and thrilled to once again be back in her homeland, has only one word of advice: "Relax." As if anything were really ever that easy in the life of Teddy Rutherford, especially when his closest in-laws are aren't shy about their connections to the Russian mafia. When Teddy tries to help, and the delivery of a small briefcase goes terribly wrong, he may find out just how many lives he has left.
Mad In Love
Chloe Morgan - 2019
Stealing the best talent from my competitor seemed like a grand idea. That was until I fell head over heels for the beautiful, curvy vixen. Love stories don’t belong in the office, but rules be damned. This woman has me wrapped around her finger almost from the start. I’m good with keeping things casual until she walks away. Then I’m willing to give away anything to get her back. I have no choice. She’s pregnant with my secret baby. And outside of that? I’m mad in love.
With This Ring
Margaret Maron - 2012
Hart and Martin Harry Greenberg (1993) and republished in “Shoveling Smoke: Selected Mystery Stories by Margaret Maron”, Crippen & Landru (1997).“The whole subject of bridesmaid’s dresses amuses me immensely. No one dress could be equally flattering to any bride’s six best friends, so someone’s nose is always out of joint. And as for their usefulness as a party/cocktail dress? In my lifetime, I have only seen two that might actually be worn after the wedding.”