In a city where everything is recorded by data—from the coffee you drink to your most intimate secrets—Data Detective Frank Southwood, down on his luck and saddled with a gambling addiction, faces jail time if he can’t pay his debts. Working for an elite body of detectives who use big data for police work, Frank gets the case that might make his career when he begins investigating a high-profile money laundering ring. Meanwhile, he meets and falls for Jenny, a political activist with ties ...

"After Dinner Conversation" Magazine - October 2020Marble Lions: A conflicted employee must decide if she is willing to infect a remote tribal community to bring it generational developmental benefits.Holy Night: Three Auschwitz prisoners find a contraband bible and have to decide if they are willing to risk their lives to keep it.Performance: A sheepish brother is forced through ...

"After Dinner Conversation" Magazine - November 2022Water Under The Bridge: Rusty is beat up by the neighborhood bullies trying to steal his bike, and looks to get revenge.The Stone Piles: A young boy seeks the approval of his father through hunting, but finds he doesn't have the stomach for it.Cycles: An Associate English Professor goes through a series of unsuccessful relationships, and ...

DI Clare Mackay has two bodies on her hands.On Friday, DI Clare Mackay testifies in court against Jaxon Carlisle, a career criminal to whom nothing ever sticks. Two days later, his body is found. Murdered.At first, Clare doesn’t know what to make of the crime. Jaxon was no angel, and his friends and accomplices refuse to talk. But after some digging into his personal life, she might have the lead she’s looking for.Then another body is discovered – t...

DI Clare Mackay will be pushed to her limits as the bodies begin to pile up...A body is hauled out of St Andrews harbour. The cause of death – a blow to the back of the head.DI Clare Mackay and her team are immediately suspicious. This was no accident. Local Dennis Gibb was murdered.Meanwhile a string of burglaries across town divide Clare’s attention and she is drawn into a world of property developers, holiday lets and protestors determined to put...

SHORTLISTED FOR THE BLOODY SCOTLAND SCOTTISH CRIME DEBUT OF THE YEAR 2020In a famous Scottish town, someone is bent on murder but why?On the night of a wedding celebration, one guest meets a grisly end when he's killed in a hit-and-run. A card bearing the number '5' has been placed on the victim's chest. DI Clare Mackay, who recently moved from Glasgow to join the St Andrews force, leads the investigation. The following nig...

**2026 LAMBDA LITERARY AWARD WINNERFinalist for the New England Book Award"Reminiscent of Anthony Doerr's All the Light We Cannot See . . . Heart-stopping in its suspense and dramatic reveals." —The Boston GlobeA moving and deeply humane story about a trans man who must relinquish the freedoms of prewar Berlin to survive first the Nazis then the Allies, all while protecting the ones he loves**In 1932 Berlin, a trans man named Bertie and his...

Terror stalks the night…An old woman’s obsession with youth leads her to purchase a cursed appliance from a sinister antique shop. A new homeowner discovers her property comes with a deadly addition. And dark forces stalk a troop of innocent boy scouts when they spend the night on a haunted aircraft carrier…Scare Street delves into the darkness to bring you a new collection of spine-tingling terror. This diabolical tome is bursting with thirteen si...

How can DI Clare Mackay uncover the facts if nothing is what it seems?DI Clare Mackay is called to Albany High, where the body of a girl has been found. A suspected suicide yet Sophie Bakewell was by all accounts a cheerful, talented student. Could she really have been hiding a darker side?It's not the only disturbing case to land on Clare's desk. Across town, an elderly man is in danger. Yet before the police can determine the facts, everything changes and...

Inspector Ian Rutledge of Scotland Yard travels to England's windswept coastline to investigate a murder in a place where, several years after the end of WWI, the memory of the war still runs strong . . .July, 1921: England is suffering a heatwave and the coast of Northumberland, just across the border from Scotland, is filled with holiday-makers bird watching and enjoying the beaches. Pilgrims also come to visit the home of Saints Cuthbert and Aiden—the f...

Synopsis - A sheepish brother is forced through an experimental program to take on the overbearing traits of his crime boss twin.After Dinner Conversation is a growing series of short stories across genres to draw out deeper discussions with friends and family. Each story is an accessible example of an abstract ethical or philosophical idea and is accompanied by suggested discussion questions.Podcast discu...

Will DI Clare Mackay end up with blood on her hands?A young man is found dead near a nightclub. He has marks on his neck, the signature of the Choker, a killer who has been targeting gay men across the country. Now, it seems he's in DI Clare Mackay's territory.She discovers this victim has links to notorious criminals in the area. Is it possible his death was at the hands of someone else?More men, including ones linked to the victim, are attacked an...