Elrod's picked 15 of her favorite short works for this multi-genre collection spanning 15 years of publication.Also included is a never before published VAMPIRE FILES story, featuring her urban fantasy vampire PI, Jack Fleming!Each story has been polished afresh for this anthology, with pages of new material added.More information -- and previews of the stories! -- may be found at her website vampwriter-dot-com.Titles:1. A Night at the (Horse) Opera (Vampire Files, Fleming)2. The Breath of Bast (Vampire Files), Ecsott)3. Bossman (Original mystery, no vamps)4. Slaughter (Vampire Files, Fleming & Gordy)5. The Devil's Mark (Original historical vampire)6. You'll Catch Your Death (Vampire Files)7. Izzy's Shoe-In (Historical mystery introducing Izzy DeLeon, fearless girl reporter)8. The Quick Way Down (Vampire Files, Fleming and Gordy)9. The Scottish Ploy (Original romance/mystery)10. Grave-Robbed (Vampire Files, Fleming)11. The Company You Keep (Vampire Files, Gabriel Kroun)12. Death in Dover (Jonathan Barrett before he got vamped, historical mystery)13. Drawing Dead (ALL NEW VAMPIRE FILES, Fleming)14. King of Shreds and Patches (Hamlet from a different point of view, mystery)15. Fugitive (Science fiction/space opera)16. BONUS STORY! The Wind Breathes Cold (Quincey Morris: Vampire)

    The plots are all new, with painstaking attention to the mood, tone, and detail of the original stories. Here is a fascinating volume of mysteries for new Sherlock fans, as well as for those who have read all the classics and crave more!The Adventure of the Seven Clocks The Adventure of the Gold Hunter The Adventure of the Wax Gamblers The Adventure of the Highgate Miracle The Adventure of the Black Baronet The Adventure of the Sealed Room The Adventure of the Foulkes Rath The Adventure of the Abbas Ruby The Adventure of the Dark Angles The Adventure of the Two Women The Adventure of the Depthford Horror The Adventure of the Red Widow

    The first novel, The Sins of the Fathers, appeared in 1975, and A Drop of the Hard Stuff - the 17th and most recent - was published in 2011. Over the years Scudder has also been featured in 11 short works of fiction; A Candle for the Bag Lady, which first appeared in AHMM in 1977, is the second of them.Out the Window and A Candle for the Bag Lady kept Scudder alive for me after Dell failed to sell the first three books effectively. There seemed little point in trying to interest another publisher in a series that had already proved unsuccessful, but I couldn't abandon Scudder, and wrote the two novelettes for magazine publication. Then I wrote the fourth novel, A Stab in the Dark, and Don Fine published it at Arbor House, and Scudder was back in business.If you catch me in a weak moment, you might persuade me to sing the title song...A Candle for the Bag Lady was briefly retitled Like a Lamb to Slaughter in order to serve as the title story of a collection; it's original was subsequently restored. It is included in The Night and the Music, my collection of all 11 Matthew Scudder short stories, available for Kindle or as a handsome trade paperback.

    However, he very soon gets caught up in a terrifying murder.

    Heiress Elena Marks needs proof of her layabout husband's infidelity before she can begin divorce proceedings. When the undercover work Stone sets up turns dirty - and catastrophic - leaving the errant husband dead and the mystery woman gone without a trace, Stone must clear his own good name and find a killer hiding among the glitterati of New York's high society. Reckless Abandon: Stone Barrington is, once again, right at home in New York City; but this time he is joined by the tenacious Holly Barker from Orchid Blues, the lady police chief of Orchid Island, Florida. In Reckless Abandon, Holly finally makes it to Manhattan, hot on the trail of an evil fugitive from her jurisdiction. Stone is, well, glad to see her, right up until the moment when her presence creates a great danger to both of them - and to their surprise, she becomes the pursued, not the pursuer.

    The sign of the four --The adventure of the blue carbuncle --The adventure of the speckled band.

    

    Watson are on their first trip across the Atlantic—to nineteenth-century America! From the bustling neighborhoods of New York City and Boston to sinister locales like Salt Lake City and fog-shrouded cities like San Francisco, the beloved British sleuth faces the most cunning criminals America has to offer, while meeting some of her most famous figures along the way, such as Teddy Roosevelt and Harry Houdini.A groundbreaking anthology, Sherlock Holmes in America features original short stories by award-winning American writers, each in the extraordinary tradition of Conan Doyle, and each with a unique American twist that is sure to satisfy and exhilarate both Sherlock Holmes purists and those who wished Holmes could nab the nefarious closer to home. There is:“The Adventure of the Missing Three Quarters” by Jon L. Breen“The Adventure of the Coughing Dentist” by Loren D. Estleman“The Case of Colonial Warburton’s Madness” by Lyndsay Faye“The Minister’s Missing Daughter” by Victoria Thompson“The Adventure of the White City” by Bill CriderAnd more!This is a must-read for any mystery fan and for those who have followed Holmes' illustrious career over the waterfall and back again.

    The case of the sulky girl -- The case of the careless kitten -- The case of the fiery fingers.

    Reginald Harlan, M.A. Of course Archer generally didn't like people whose names started with a single syllable. Harlan hired Lew to find his sister. A respectable school mistress that has run off with a bohemian artist type. But he finds more than what he expected when he has a corpse literally dumped on him!

    Rhyme must rely on his wits and intuition to track the elusive murderer through New York City—knowing they have only forty-eight hours before the Coffin Dancer strikes again. THE EMPTY CHAIR Read by Joe MantegnaRenowned criminalist Lincoln Rhyme faces his ultimate opponent: a kidnapper and murderer dubbed the Insect Boy. But Rhyme is in for a surprise when he learns that catching a criminal is one thing...and keeping him is another.THE STONE MONKEYRead by Boyd GainesLincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs have been recruited by the FBI to capture "the Ghost"—a homicidal immigrant smuggler. But when they corner him aboard a cargo ship, the bust goes disastrously wrong and the Ghost escapes. Now, he must eliminate the only witnesses—two families who jumped ship and vanished into Chinatown. Against a ruthless adversary, Lincoln and Amelia race to find the families before the Ghost can silence them...

    Anderson also authored several works of fantasy, historical novels, and a prodigious number of short stories. He received numerous awards for his writing, including seven Hugo Awards and three Nebula Awards. This volume collects 8 classic stories:WITCH OF THE DEMON SEAS (1951)DUEL ON SYRTIS (1951)SECURITY (1953)SENTIMENT, INC. (1953)THE SENSITIVE MAN (1954)THE CHAPTER ENDS (1954)THE VALOR OF CAPPEN VARRA (1957)INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION (1963)And if you enjoy this volume, don't forget to search your favorite ebook store for "Wildside Press Megapack" to see the more than 170 entries in the MEGAPACK™ ebook series, covering science fiction, fantasy, horror, mysteries, westerns, classics -- and much, much more!

    Each book in the series has been designed with today's young reader in mind. As the words come to life, students will develop a lasting appreciation for great literature.The humor of Mark Twain ... the suspense of Edgar Allan Poe...the danger of Jack London ... the sensitivity of Katherine Mansfield. Creative Short Stories has it all and will prove to be a welcome addition to any library.

    

    Where the red fern grows / Wilson Rawls --Lob's girl / Joan Aiken --Luke Baldwin's vow / Morley Callaghan --Old dog / William Stafford --Grip / Brendan Kennelly --Friends of the hunted Ryland Loos --Why they quit: thoughts from ex-hunters / Dena Jones Jolma --Two dreamers / Gary Soto.