A page-turning whodunit set in the wilds of a remote movie ranch, Bottom Feeders describes the hapless Hollywood cast and crew that eke out a living working on low-budget fare.Their ambitious TV movie needs to be made fast and cheap, but a brutal murder grinds production to a halt. An approaching forest fire forces everyone to evacuate. In the confusion not everyone gets out. Eddie is the alcoholic director, Sheila the vulnerable camera assistant, Tom the self-centered act...

This is our third Halloween issue of the month, with ghoulishly fun (and seasonally appropriate) tales from John Shepphird (thanks to Acquiring Editor Barb Goffman), father-and-daughter writing team Harding McFadden & Eleanor Hawkins, and British master John S. Glasby.We also feature mysteries by N.M. Cedeño (thanks to Acquiring Editor Michael Bracken) and Ed Teja, plus a vintage 1908 Holmes short-short by Wex Jones that I recently turned up in my pulp research. Our novel is a clas...

It doesn’t have to be the dark of a rainy night for it to be noir. It doesn’t have to be shadowy rooms of Venetian blinds. It doesn’t even have to be a femme fatale. Noir is somebody tripping over their own faults, somebody who has an Achilles heel, some kind of greed, or want or desire that leads them down a dark path, from which there is sometimes no return.No one is safe. There’s no place to hide in this collection of twelve stories from the dark side of the American Dream....

Denim, Diamonds and Death offers a fine collection from authors supporting the 50th Anniversary of the Bouchercon World Mystery Convention in Dallas, Texas.Here are fifteen stories that run the gamut from heists to revenge, intricate plots to secrets uncovered, and more than a few tales that defy easy classification.Proceeds from the sale of the book will go to the 2019 Bouchercon’s official charity, Literary Instruction for Texas (LIFT).Edited by Rick Ollerman with...

Issue four closes our exciting first year with the very talented debut of Arthur Klepchukov. His intelligent “A Damn Fine Town” is followed by film director and writer John Shepphird and a prequel to his award-nominated “Shill” trilogy, a bit of a teaser for those of you who may not have discovered Jane Innes…yet.Brian Silverman is up next with a story set on his fictional Caribbean island of St. Pierre featuring his characters, Leonard and Tubby. The featured story this issue is o...

Love means nothing in tennis.This is a collection of hand-picked authors contributing unique and original crime stories. Noir features protagonists that are either victims, suspects, or perpetrators-often self-destructive. It's all here: murder, revenge, heists, betrayal, double fault, break, advantage, and the dreaded alley. It's a racket.Stories by Scott Adleberg, Richard Brewer, Colin Campbell, Jen Conley, A.C. Frieden, Steve Jankowski, Lawrence...

Rooting out deception is Jack O'Shea's stock-in-trade.On the road to redemption from his criminal past, reformed-swindler-turned-private-eye Jack O'Shea investigates a strange death at a shadowy Northern California mountain college—a "visa mill" with clandestine ties to Silicon Valley.Accompanied by his retired racing greyhound, Jack discovers the college is built on top of an abandoned gold mine. Dark secrets lie below.As he investigates the suspicious death, Jack'...

There are a number of noteworthy articles in this issue of The Magazine.We are fortunate to feature some of the correspondence between two legends of crime fiction, Walter Satterthwait and Bill Crider, both of whom recently passed away. For those who knew Walter and Bill, or were just fans of their work, there is a touch of their personalities that comes through in these exchanges and, at least for a moment, gives us an opportunity to experience their unique voices just a little bi...

The ShillStruggling actress Jane Innes is seduced by a handsome new arrival in her acting class. He makes a proposition. He admits he's a con man and needs Jane to pose as a rich, carefree heiress to fulfill her part in his intricate scam.Would you agree? Or run the other way?All goes as planned until Jane's true identity threatens to surface and their scheme begins to crack at the seams.It all leads to a tangled maze of deception, depravit...

HOW WILL YOU REMEMBER THE PANDEMIC?40 authors from around the world set out to record their innermost feelings-- to offer inspiring, heartfelt, creative takes on the Covid-19 pandemic. Crime fiction, elegant and angry poetry, and gut-wrenching personal essays: all paint a picture of the year and help us make sense of the sacrifices we've made in 2020.Thank you for your generous support: all profits donated to charity.A brainchild of editor Lise McClendon, the anthol...

A page-turning whodunit set in the wilds of a remote movie ranch, Bottom Feeders describes the hapless Hollywood cast and crew that eke out a living working on low-budget fare.Their ambitious TV movie needs to be made fast and cheap, but a brutal murder grinds production to a halt. An approaching forest fire forces everyone to evacuate. In the confusion not everyone gets out. Eddie is the alcoholic director, Sheila the vulnerable camera assistant, Tom the self-centered act...

Struggling actress Jane Innes is seduced by a handsome new arrival in her acting class. He makes a proposition. He admits he’s a con man and needs Jane to pose as a rich, carefree heiress to fulfill her part in his intricate scam.Would you agree? Or run the other way?All goes as planned until Jane’s true identity threatens to surface and their scheme begins to crack at the seams.It all leads to a tangled maze of deception, depravity and murder.The Shill