“Boilermaker” by Susan Hammerman
FICTION: “Delores didn’t want to think about what she was. Her job was done now, anyway….”
Read More “Boilermaker” by Susan HammermanCategory: Fiction
“Death Takes a Byline: the Interview” by D.S. Lliteras
The below was excerpted from Death Takes a Byline (Book One, Chapters 1-3) by D.S. Lliteras (Rainbow Ridge Books, 2020; Copyright © 2020 by D. S. Lliteras). She reached into a canvas bag that hung from her shoulder, pulled out a notepad, and studied him. He walked as if he was being followed; he was afraid […]
Read More “Death Takes a Byline: the Interview” by D.S. Lliteras“All You Need is a Gun and a Girl” by Jim Towns
He leaned across the seat and opened the door, watching every inch of her…. I. Bare trees clung to the snow-frosted hills around the ravine, and the girl who walked along the railroad tracks was tall and beautiful. She wore mirrored sunglasses, long coat, tall boots. An old surplus army bag swung on a leather […]
Read More “All You Need is a Gun and a Girl” by Jim Towns“The World Out There: from the Book Purgatory” by John Talbird
It has been a week since the first murders…. he looks slowly around the store, dark, still, and empty. Usually, William parks near the back of the lot in the Westabout strip mall so customers can have spaces closer to the door. In his four years of managing Book Purgatory, he has waged a never-ending […]
Read More “The World Out There: from the Book Purgatory” by John Talbird“Night Shoot” by Nat Segaloff
Sad news to report. Little Steffi Batchelder is dead….A beam of sunlight struck her and she turned into ash. From the book Hollywood and Venal by Nat Segaloff, illustrated by Thomas Warming. Text © 2020 Nat Segaloff; Illustrations ©2020 Thomas Warming; from BearManor Media. Sometimes you have to lie in order to get to the […]
Read More “Night Shoot” by Nat Segaloff“Bakersfield: Kern River, June 13” by Pierre Ouellette
The following is excerpted from Bakersfield: a Crime Novel by Pierre Ouellette (Jorvik Press, 2018). “You ever meet Hitchcock?” “Yep.” “I hear he hates cops. That right?” “Wouldn’t know. Never asked him.” “What about Bogart? Is he really an asshole?” “Hard to say. He didn’t talk much.” “I bet he drove a Cord or something […]
Read More “Bakersfield: Kern River, June 13” by Pierre Ouellette“A Question of Execution” by Basil Rosa
I’d heard Tiny Aria say a million times that in Fortuna, if you scratched beneath the surface, you’d only find more surface. He laid this on me again when he phoned about the Reno Morelli kidnapping. Reno managed The Gutterball, a dive where mooks, con-men, and low-level operatives met to figure out which cops weren’t […]
Read More “A Question of Execution” by Basil Rosa“Coffin Dress Girl” by Heather Santo
“I’m looking for someone,” I said. “A girl.” “Aren’t we all?” replied the punk. He took a drag from the cigarette stub pinched between his thumb and index finger, then exhaled dramatically. I watched as the large plume of smoke rose, flashing alternating colors in the club’s strobe lights. Red, blue, green, yellow and back […]
Read More “Coffin Dress Girl” by Heather Santo“The Coming Storm” by D. V. Bennett
Pulling up carefully on the latch handle, Jack Winslow stepped out of his Chevy Impala onto the lonely tree-lined street. The intense rain and wind would cover most sounds, but he was careful not to allow the low-register thump of his car door to cut through the din. Repossessing a motorcycle in the middle of […]
Read More “The Coming Storm” by D. V. Bennett“Nightfall” [excerpt] by David Goodis
It was one of those hot sticky nights that makes Manhattan show its age. There was something dreary and stagnant in the way all this syrupy heat refused to budge. It was anything but a night for labor, and Vanning stood up and walked away from the tilted drawing board. He brushed past a large […]
Read More “Nightfall” [excerpt] by David Goodis