For L.A.’s most uncertain private investigator (and old movie buff) Dave Beauchamp, attending the Hollywood Celebrity Expo should have been Heaven. But it wasn’t, particularly when the show’s stars started turning up dead in highly unusual and personal ways. Before long, Dave finds himself struggling to make sense out of a bizarre case that appears rooted in an unsolved string of murders from the 1980s. Both grippingly suspenseful and laugh-out-loud funny, Dead and In Person! demonstrates ...

Even by Hollywood standards, Nora Frost is the stage mother from Hell. Her futile drive to turn her talentless twin sons into child superstars has left figurative bodies strewn throughout Los Angeles. But after Nora hires hapless young private detective Dave Beauchamp to investigate a letter threatening the brothers, the body count begins to mount. It's up to Dave (a recovering lawyer and serious movie buff) to discover why people connected to Nora's crusade are turning up dead, and why so...

It starts for movie buff Dave Beauchamp, L.A.'s most hapless P.I., when the tomato walks into his office. At least that’s how she's dressed. But the woman in the tomato suit is not what she seems...and the restaurant she's promoting, which is owned by a powerful religious cult, harbors a deadly secret. "Aided" by the voices of classic film stars inside his head, Dave struggles to disentangle a web of corruption and murder, or die trying. Both suspenseful and laugh-out-loud funny, Eats to D...

Hidden in the desolate woods on the Central California coast, lost to time and memory, is a WPA mural unlike any other created during the 1930s. This one was not simply fashioned from charcoal and paint; it was crafted out of undying evil--the evil of an ancient demonic army called Legion. When structural inspector Jack Hayden stumbles upon the mural in a ruined civic building, he tries to convince himself that it might add to the crumbling structure’s value. But that note of hopefulness i...

It’s murder in the worst degree when an executive at a knife factory is killed with its newest product, a curved blade called the tiger claw. Was Sam Park murdered because of the “private project” he was working on, one that threatened to expose dirty secrets? Ominous message fragments only deepen the mystery. Most perplexing of all is why the dead man’s outstretched hand is resting on the open page of a world atlas. Was he naming his killer?All is not as it seems as Detectives Hen...

--Winner Best Independent Book Award: Detective Mystery--Silver Falchion Award Finalist, Killer Nashville International Writers’ ConferenceThe murder of an art expert and the disappearance of a priceless artifact propels Detective Henry Lau into the nebulous world of ancient antiquities. Complicating matters is a parade of dodgy suspects who wouldn’t know a truthful statement if it bit them on the leg. What is the Bronze Dragon? And why do ...

Who would want the director of the Minnesota Valley Zoo dead? Everyone! Anthony Wright made a career of getting what he wanted, whatever the price. When he's murdered and ends up as a late night snack for the zoo's fifteen- foot crocodile, few are shedding any tears.

Iwao Takamoto (1925-2007) spent a lifetime in the animation industry and was influential in the creation of some of the most beloved characters in the medium's history, including Scooby-Doo, Atom Ant, The Jetsons' Astro, The Flintstones' Great Gazoo, and The Wacky Races' Penelope Pittstop and Muttley, all of whom he designed. Iwao Takamoto: My Life with a Thousand Characters is the story of this legendary American artist, told in his own words.Ta...

This issue, we have a locked-room mystery novel, a far-future science-fantasy sword-and-sorcery novel, and 8 shorts featuring everything from dogs to cats to buried skeletons to time travel—and more! Truly, something for everyone.As always, special thanks to our Acquiring Editors, Michael Bracken and Barb Goffman, for picking a pair of terrific original tales. And our editorial board—Tom Easton, Ryan Hines, Vicki Erwin, Paula Messina, and Richard Prosch—who patiently read submissio...

The Philippines, 1609.A bad ship. Worse weather. A crew of morons. And the Dutch.Patrick Mallory wanted a quiet life of scholarship, translation, and avoiding situations involving cannons. Instead, his knowledge of Dutch gets him dragged aboard La Corona de Espinas que Carga La Más Gloriosa y Sagrada Cabeza de Nuestro Salvador Inmortal Rey de Reyes Señor de Señores Jesucristo Dios Nuestro, a Spanish vessel with a name longer than its supply list and a crew held together by ...

Best of “The Strand Magazine”: 25 Years of Twists, Turns, and Tales from the Modern Masters of Mystery and Fiction“The Strand Magazine was always a giant voice in our corner of the literary world—and it still is today. This collection proves why—these unearthed gems and exciting new pieces shouldn’t be missed.” —Lee Child, bestselling author of the Jack Reacher seriesThis star-studded anniversary collection features over t...

★ Mystery Magazine's annual Sherlock Holmes issue ★A double Issue filled with Pastiches, Parodies and Halloween thrills! Includes twice as many original stories as our regular monthly issues, and two You-Solve-It mysteries.Featuring:"The Case Of The Teller Of Tales" by Martin Rosenstock: Herman Starkey, famous author, has been murdered. Watson looked up to him. Did Starkey deserve admiration? Can Watson help Sherlock Holmes to find ...