Book picks similar to
Sour Tales For Sweethearts by Patricia Highsmith
short-stories
fiction
short-story
thriller
The Body
Robin Waterfield - 1982
As they travel, they discover how cruel the world can be, but also how wondrous.
The DCI Jack Logan Collection Books 1-3: A Scottish Crime Fiction Series
J.D. Kirk - 2020
Parting Shot
Jonathan Stone - 2006
As Sam covers a once-in-a-lifetime story---one that has turned Webster County into bedlam but is at last providing Sam with an opportunity for media stardom---he suddenly sees an even better chance: to solve his personal problems forever. But there’s another player thrust into the national spotlight along with Sam: It’s Sheriff Billy Wyatt, who’s in way over his head. The FBI is breathing down his neck, and the national press highlights his every bungle. He’s confronting a madman---and his own limits. Can he outsmart either? Out of elements that thriller readers have come to expect, Jonathan Stone has woven a story they assuredly will not expect. In whirlwind action and hurricane prose that echo the best of James Patterson and Harlan Coben, Stone is in top form here, delivering a tale about the unchecked power of the media and the unreasonable passions of fatherhood---with a payoff that will stun and startle, yet make perfect sense.
Act of Revenge
Dick Couch - 2014
Garrett Walker is a warrior. For the last decade and a half he’s been continuously at war –combat rotation after combat rotation. He’s a veteran of the close fight. And he’s taken a great many lives. Yet, all that combat and all those deaths were in the service of his country. Now, that’s about to change. Since their college days, Garrett and his identical twin have been estranged. They were both in love with the same woman, and she chose Garrett’s brother. So Garrett chose the Navy SEALs. Then, following the death of their younger brother, also a Navy SEAL, yet another tragedy strikes the Walker family. The twin is caught in the web of a Russian Mafia organ-theft ring. He was just another business man in Las Vegas on just another business trip. Then drugged and alone, strange men enter his hotel room and crudely remove his kidneys. It’s a rare crime, but one that happens more than is reported. For those in the black-market organ trade, easy pickings right? But they didn’t count on the resiliency of the one twin, nor the rage of the warrior twin. Together, they embark on a mission. Together, they put all the rules to aside bring about the ultimate Act of Revenge. About the Author Dick Couch. Navy SEAL, Combat Veteran, CIA Case Officer, New York Times Best Selling Author–with eighteen books to his credit. During the Global War on Terror, Dick Couch alone has been allowed to embed with the component commands of the US Special Operations Command. Dick Couch alone has tracked the SEALs, Green Berets, Rangers, and Marine Special Operators as they trained for war–and written extensively about this training. Now after eight books of special-operations nonfiction, Act of Revenge marks his return to fiction.
No Mercy
Wendy Cartmell - 2012
Was it an accident or something more sinister?If you like short stories, try this free collection, from the best selling crime, thriller and mystery author Wendy Cartmell. It's an excellent introduction to the best-selling Sgt Major Crane crime thriller series, perfect for fans of Angela Marsons, Rachel Abbott and Robert Dugoni.What readers are saying about No Mercy"Excellent read from a slick pacey writer - leaves you wanting more!" Andrew ButlerCartmell Rocks! This collection of short stories showcases Wendy Cartmell's fresh style and engaging prose. She presents a variety of situations of people caught in intriguing circumstances. The author delivers a twist to many of her stories in this collection.Ed Benjamin Author
The Long and Faraway Gone
Lou Berney - 2015
Six movie-theater employees were killed in an armed robbery, while one inexplicably survived. Then, a teenage girl vanished from the annual State Fair. Neither crime was ever solved.Twenty-five years later, the reverberations of those unsolved cases quietly echo through survivors’ lives. A private investigator in Vegas, Wyatt’s latest inquiry takes him back to a past he’s tried to escape—and drags him deeper into the harrowing mystery of the movie house robbery that left six of his friends dead. Like Wyatt, Julianna struggles with the past—with the day her beautiful older sister Genevieve disappeared. When Julianna discovers that one of the original suspects has resurfaced, she’ll stop at nothing to find answers.As fate brings these damaged souls together, their obsessive quests spark sexual currents neither can resist. But will their shared passion and obsession heal them, or push them closer to the edge? Even if they find the truth, will it help them understand what happened, that long and faraway gone summer? Will it set them free—or ultimately destroy them?
The DI Kate Burrows Trilogy: The Ladykiller / Broken / Hard Girls
Martina Cole - 2017
Perfect for fans of Val McDermid, Karin Slaughter and Patricia Cornwell.'The Queen of Crime' - Woman & Home on Hard GirlsThe deadly DI Kate Burrows trilogy: the only time Martina's written from the Old Bill's perspective.Kate is the hard-but-fair copper whose investigations - and heart - become dangerously entwined with London's most infamous gangster, Patrick Kelly. But when there's a killer on the loose, Kate Burrows is the only woman for the job. THE LADYKILLER. BROKEN. HARD GIRLS.
What did Tashi do?
Anangsha Alammyan - 2019
An anonymous stranger. A spine-chilling nightmare that blurs the thin line between online bullying and a full-blown real-life ordeal. Tashi Chotten is a woman from Arunachal Pradesh working and living a normal life in New Delhi. Her world turns upside down one night when she receives an anonymous email with a picture attached. Curious, she clicks on it to find that the photograph is her own – a semi-naked one she had clicked almost four years back when she was in a relationship with Akash. Tashi's breath catches in her throat: how could this be possible? How could an image of four years ago come back to haunt her now? Was Akash doing this to take revenge on her for dumping him? But why would he wait so long if revenge was his intention? She had so many questions she needed the answers to, but first of all, Tashi had the anonymous sender’s strange request to oblige: should she fight back or should she give him what he was demanding? In a fast-paced, mind-numbing tale of misplaced trust and poor data security, blackmail and friendship, lust and a love that had gone cold years back, will Tashi be able to regain control over her life and win the fight against the man who seems to be one step ahead of her, no matter which direction she chooses to go? **PRAISE FOR "WHAT DID TASHI DO"** 1. What I like most about the book is in the end it teaches you something. ~ Gaurav 2. The story was a learning and further sensitized me (as a man) about the vulnerability and ordeals a working lady suffers today. I feel thankful to the author. ~Ambuj Sahu 3. I wish I could add a few more stars on the reviews but there are only five of them. ~ Vanita Das 4. Portrayal of emotions is the author's forte - and despite the limitations of plot-details that a full-length novel might well negotiate - it makes the novella an hour's delight and absolutely recommendable. ~ Anurag Anand 5. If you are not a fan of cliched topics and dare to try something new, this is it. ~Dhruv Agarwal
A Good Fuck Spoiled
Laura Lippman - 2008
The author of the enormously popular series featuring Baltimore P.I. Tess Monaghan as well as three critically lauded stand-alone novels, Lippman now turns her attention to short stories—and reveals another level of mastery.Lippman sets many of the stories in this sterling anthology, Hardly Knew Her, in familiar territory: her beloved Baltimore, from downtown to its affluent suburbs, where successful businessmen go to shocking lengths to protect what they have or ruthlessly expand their holdings, while dissatisfied wives find murderous ways to escape their lives. But Lippman is also unafraid to travel—to New Orleans, to an unnamed southwestern city, and even to Dublin, the backdrop for the lethal clash of two not-so-innocents abroad. Tess Monaghan is here, in two stories and a profile, aligning herself with various underdogs. And in her extraordinary, never-before-published novella, Scratch a Woman, Lippman takes us deep into the private world of a high-priced call girl/madam and devoted soccer mom, exploring the mystery of what may, in fact, be written in the blood.Each of these ingenious tales is a gem—sometimes poignant, sometimes humorous, always filled with delightfully unanticipated twists and reversals. For people who have yet to read Lippman, get ready to experience the spellbinding power of "one of today's most pleasing storytellers, hailed for her keen psychological insights and her compelling characterizations," (San Diego Union-Tribune), who has "invigorated the crime fiction arena with smart, innovative, and exciting work" (George Pelecanos). As for longtime devotees of her multiple award-winning novels, you'll discover that you hardly know her.
The Part-Time Job
P.D. James - 2005
What was important was to make sure that the deed was done without suspicion settling on me.Follow P D James, 'Queen of Crime', as she takes us into the mind of a man who has waited decades to enact his patient, ingenious revenge on a school bully. A small, dark, treat, 'The Part-Time Job' is published in this special edition - for the first time in book form - in celebration of what would have been P.D. James' 100th birthday.
The Good Girl
Mary Kubica - 2014
I know where she buys her groceries, where she works. I don't know the color of her eyes or what they look like when she's scared. But I will.One night, Mia Dennett enters a bar to meet her on-again, off-again boyfriend. But when he doesn't show, she unwisely leaves with an enigmatic stranger. At first Colin Thatcher seems like a safe one-night stand. But following Colin home will turn out to be the worst mistake of Mia's life. When Colin decides to hide Mia in a secluded cabin in rural Minnesota instead of delivering her to his employers, Mia's mother, Eve, and detective Gabe Hoffman will stop at nothing to find them. But no one could have predicted the emotional entanglements that eventually cause this family's world to shatter.
Baltimore Noir
Laura LippmanTim Cockey - 2006
She attended public schools and has lived in several of the city’s distinctive neighborhoods, including Dickeyville, Tuscany-Canterbury, Evergreen, and South Federal Hill.CONTENTSIntroductionPart I: The Way Things Used To Be“Easy As A-B-C” by Laura Lippman (Locust Point)“Fat Chance” by Robert Ward (Old Northwood)“Pigtown Will Shine Tonight” by Jack Bludis (Pigtown)“Over My Dead Body” by Rob Hiaasen (Fell’s Point)“The Invisible Man” by Rafael Alvarez (Highlandtown)Part II: The Way Things Are“Stainless Steel” by David Simon (Sandtown-Winchester)“Home Movies” by Marcia Talley (Little Italy)“Liminal” by Joseph Wallace (Security Boulevard-Woodlawn)“Almost Missed It By a Hair” by Lisa Respers (France Howard Park)“Ode to the O’s” by Charlie Stella (Memorial Stadium)“Don¹t Walk in Front of Me” by Sarah Weinman (Pikesville)Part III: The Way Things Never Were“As Seen on TV” by Dan Fesperman (Fells Point)“The Haunting of Slink Ridgely” by Tim Cockey (Greenspring Valley)“The Homecoming” by Jim Fusilli (Camden Yards)“Frog Cycle” by Ben Neihart (Inner Harbor)“Goodwood Gardens” by Sujata Massey (Roland Park)
An Elderly Lady Is Up to No Good
Helene Tursten - 2018
This funny, irreverent story collection by Helene Tursten, author of the Irene Huss investigations, features two-never-before translated stories that will keep you laughing all the way to the retirement home.Ever since her darling father’s untimely death when she was only eighteen, Maud has lived in the family’s spacious apartment in downtown Gothenburg rent-free, thanks to a minor clause in a hastily negotiated contract. That was how Maud learned that good things can come from tragedy. Now in her late eighties, Maud contents herself with traveling the world and surfing the net from the comfort of her father’s ancient armchair. It’s a solitary existence, but she likes it that way.Over the course of her adventures—or misadventures—this little bold lady will handle a crisis with a local celebrity who has her eyes on Maud’s apartment, foil the engagement of her long-ago lover, and dispose of some pesky neighbors. But when the local authorities are called to investigate a murder in her apartment complex, will Maud be able to avoid suspicion, or will Detective Inspector Irene Huss see through her charade?
Missing
Sam Hawken - 2014
Marina, the elder sister, persuades him to let her go there without him one night, to attend a concert with her cousin Patricia. Jack wants to say no - Nuevo Laredo is a very dangerous city, controlled by drug cartels and devastated by violence and corruption. But eventually he agrees - she's growing up and he has to let her have some independence.Marina and Patricia head out to the concert, but they never come back.A frantic hunt for them begins, with Jack leading the way. But this is Nuevo Laredo, and girls go missing all the time here. They're lucky to find that a good cop - Gonzalo Soler - is leading their investigation, but soon the whole police force is suspended due to endemic corruption. The army take over the city, and finding the missing girls is not their priority.To survive this nightmare and have any chance of finding Marina and Patricia, Jack and Gonzalo must take the law into their own hands. Their efforts to find the girls become more and more dangerous, and they uncover truths about the city of Nuevo Laredo that neither one of them ever wanted to face.
Troubled Daughters, Twisted Wives: Stories from the Trailblazers of Domestic Suspense
Sarah Weinman - 2013
Few know these characters—and their creators—better than Sarah Weinman. One of today’s preeminent authorities on crime fiction, Weinman asks: Where would bestselling authors like Gillian Flynn, Sue Grafton, or Tana French be without the women writers who came before them? In Troubled Daughters, Twisted Wives, Weinman brings together fourteen hair-raising tales by women who—from the 1940s through the mid-1970s—took a scalpel to contemporary society and sliced away to reveal its dark essence. Lovers of crime fiction from any era will welcome this deliciously dark tribute to a largely forgotten generation of women writers.