A multimillion-dollar art heist.A murder suspect on borrowed time.The shocking conspiracy that ties them together.Houston private investigator Malcolm Ly doesn't need dangerous cases. He's still regaining his footing after a recent job cost him his son's life. The only reason he accepts his latest client, a man locked up for a double homicide who says he's been framed, is the paycheck.Tragedy or not, rent is...

Second place winner of the 2025 Short Story competition hosted by the Houston Writer's Guild/ WIVLA.When a fresh body drops with new evidence linking it to a series of cold case murders, semi-retired death investigator Sam Nolan is forced to open old wounds to catch the killer before another girl goes missing. Will he finally be able to put the case to rest, or will this hideous crime simply unravel perplexing new secrets.

A perfect family. A moment that will change everything.Emma wakes up in hospital with no memories of the past 24 hours and no idea why she’s there. And her husband and son refuse to visit her.As she frantically tries to piece together her memories to find out what happened, Emma is desperate to ensure her loved ones are safe. But all she can remember is the last thing she saw before she blacked out: a pair of cold, dark eyes…An ad...

V is for Vengeance is the twenty-second in the Kinsey Millhone mystery series by Sue Grafton.Las Vegas, 1986. A young college graduate is murdered when he is unable to pay back a loan funded by notorious criminal Lorenzo Dante.Two years later private investigator Kinsey Millhone finds herself assisting to apprehend a shoplifter - Audrey Vance - in a shopping centre. Events take a much darker turn when Audrey's body is discovered beneath the Cold Spring Bridge, a lo...

Kara needs fast cash to pay her ailing father’s gambling debt.Working as a blackjack dealer at the Billionaire Club is her last resort.Until a one-night-stand with notorious bad boy Cash Westbrook changes her luck.Cash has offered to pay her father’s debt…for a price.I can’t believe my luck when I land a job dealing blackjack at the new Billionaire Club in Las Vegas. And it keeps getting bet...

Friendly, affable Bobby looks like a younger version of Richard Gere, but with even more charm. You'd love to have him for a next door neighbor until he tells you stories of his life as a drug addict. In this article, he talks about robbing a pharmacy at gunpoint to get the drug OxyContin, which is a painkilling opoid. Young men like Bobby are robbing drug stores throughout the United States to get this drug. Bobby also hijacked a van, crashed during a police chase, faked seizures in the h...

Welcome to Red Heights. A town with a killer reputation… Seriously.Monsters. Homicidal maniacs. A killer sock monkey that never stops laughing. A whole gang of nightmares await your arrival with bloody, open arms.With LESSONS V: THE TERRIBLE TOWN AND OTHER MORBID DRABBLES, you'll find forty short tales, each only a hundred words long. Some will make you giggle. Others might make you want to sleep with the lights on.Either way, your stay at Red Heights will be a memo...

**A New York Times Notable Book of the YearA New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice"Unspools with gorgeous precision. The heart of Hollow Spaces lies in the way children repeat their parents’ mistakes—and the not-so-casual racism in privileged spaces." —The New York Times Book ReviewThe only Asian American partner at a prestigious law firm sees his professional and personal life demolished when he is put on trial for murder. Th...

When you come out of safe mode, they may just bury you if you're not careful...Deep Six computer guru Dex Buchanan goes to Vegas get his geek on, but runs into his ex-lover getting her freak on. Or is she?No, Dr. Grace Wentworth is in Sin City to find her missing sister who was lured there by a monster. Dex agrees to help her, but will they find her before her final curtain call? Or will he pay the ultimate price for not minding his own business?In ...

BOOKS 1-4 OF THE GIRL UNDERCOVER SERIES:LAPD Detective Gabi Longoria returns home one night to a nasty surprise--her husband has been brutally killed. A note next to his body says: "Rats always get what they deserve."Her captain refuses to let her join the murder investigation, so Gabi decides to do her own. Convinced the reason to her husband's death can be found at the New York health club where she met him, she goes undercover as a trainer there.In the process of...

This true story about chasing a burglary suspect through a housing project has an unusual ending for the police officers and the suspect. First in the Nine Lives Series of short stories.

Rick, a high school senior distraught over his parents' impending divorce, thinks that nobody cares if he lives or dies. The young man's lack of faith in both himself and a higher power leads him to suicide.Expecting death to be a meaningless void, Rick is surprised to meet John, a man claiming to be his guardian angel. John shows Rick the effect his suicide will have on his friends, loved ones, and even strangers.Armed with this second chance provided by heavenly insight, ...