Showing results by publisher "Spoken Realms" in Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Arthur Conan Doyle once remarked that The Adventure of the Speckled Band, first published in 1892, was his best Sherlock Holmes story. In it, a young woman, Helen Stoner, consults Holmes about her ill-tempered stepfather whom she suspects had some part in the death of her twin sister, Julia. She fears her stepfather has the same plans for her: he has forced Helen to move into the mysterious and disturbing room in which her sister died under suspicious circumstances.

"Parker Addison, Philosopher" is short story number nine from the collected works of Ambrose Bierce volume 2. Three men die as one of them philosophizes about his pending execution.

Mild mannered Catholic priest Fr. Brown solves another mysterious mystery. How did the dead man get into the garden of Aristide Valentin, Chief of the Paris Police. There was no way in and no way out other than past a well guarded door. Also you may ask how did he end up dead, and who killed him. There are plenty of suspects, but Fr. Brown sorts it all out without relying on the confessional, therefore remaining true to his vows.

Why do you suppose some combat veterans give up the sport of hunting? Is it because they gain empathy with the hunted, or hunting a prey less cunning than they has lost its allure. Richard Connell, in this short story “The Most Dangerous Game” takes us where the hunter becomes the hunted. This hunter is not being hunted by a beast less cunning or calculating than he is, like a lion or a tiger. No, this hunter is a master at his craft, crueler and only slightly better armed than he is.

Unspeakable rituals are performed by an occult group residing in the Red Hook region of New York City in this haunting short story by H P Lovecraft, and told by Mike Vendetti.

Forbidden love in name baronial estate. An evil man dies with an evil smile upon his face believing his evil secret is going with him to the grave. And there it remains until the lovers creep into the crypt shortly after the stroke of midnight. An erie tale certain to creep you out and keep you in suspense.

The Devil and Tom Walker is a classic short story by Washington Irving. When you make a deal with the devil you have to shake his hand. At the time Tom made his deal, it seemed like a good idea, but as Tom aged and death approached, he became very pious and even carried two Bibles with him. But a deal is a deal as Tom would discover.

In the first book of the Lexi Fagan Mystery series, Baker's Dozen, Lexi is newly arrived in San Francisco and lands a job working at McCracken's Bakery. When her lover, firefighter Jerry Stevens, turns up dead in a devastating hotel fire, Lexi has no time to mourn. Homicide detective Robert Reiger discovers Jerry's death was no accident. Caught up in the investigation, Lexi uncovers a shocking secret that just might get her killed.

When a copycat serial killer begins recreating Jack the Ripper’s 1888 murder spree, two competing experts are forced to work together to stop him. Despite their well-documented antagonism, famous mystery novelist Barbara Thomas is paired with legendary Ripperologist Henry McHugh as they race against time to try to get one step ahead of the crazed killer. What they don’t understand - until it’s almost too late - is that his murderous spree is far more personal than either of them ever suspected.

Based on the source material for the Alec Guinness classic Kind Hearts and Coronets, Murder in the Title follows the exploits of Anton Gascoyne, a poor and distant heir to one of Britain’s great noble families, who decides to murder his way to the Gascoyne earldom. But the closer he gets to the coronet, the greater the suspicion he falls under. Will Anton get away with it? Murder in the Title will keep you guessing until the end!

In the first installment of the Bowman Case Files, bored and entitled university student Julia Strauss meets a captivating man during a random encounter at a cafe. She is instantly attracted to the handsome stranger and pursues him obsessively. What she doesn’t know is that behind all the charm, he has a secret agenda of his own. Can Julia see beyond the haze of her infatuation before it’s too late?

River Rules is a small-town environmental suspense novel with a deep heart and powerful conscience. What the housing bubble didn’t break in Bridgeville - a small New England community blessed by the Connecticut River - greed, double-dealing, and rapid-fire change just might. Peter Russo, a part-time farmer and full-time rambler with his rescue dog, has a knack for conflict, and a burning desire to protect Bridgeville’s land and water from exploitation.

DEA agent Aliyana Montijo must stop a drug lord’s killing orders and find a government mole. With a contract on her head, she trusts no one. While heading back to Florida with evidence, lightning strikes her plane. As it careens into the ocean, she thinks she sees a pirate ship. What she finds is a dashing and most unlikely ally. Four centuries ago, Wolfaert Dircksen Van Ness captained a vessel for the Dutch West Indies Company. Then an unearthly storm in the Bermuda Triangle blew him into a parallel dimension.

Kate Doyle has spent her life making lists. But her pleasure in planning comes to an abrupt end in the wake of a family tragedy. For the first time in two decades, she is living back in Brooklyn Heights, a neighborhood she discovers has not changed nearly as much as reports of hipster Brooklyn had led her to believe. Her discovery of a family heirloom teaches her that the Heights and its surrounding neighborhoods have been sustaining Doyles for well over a century.

Released not long after President John F. Kennedy's assassination, in the run-up to the 1964 national election, Eugene Burdick's blockbuster political novel, The 480, foresaw the rise of social media and 21st century analytical data manipulation, the use of computer-generated voter profiles to shape-for better or for worse - the outcome of a major national election. Burdick - coauthor of The Ugly American and Fail-Safe - was a true socio-political visionary, ahead of his time by more than half a century.

Escaping the mafia should have been simple. A new life with a new identity in a new location. But that plan was conceived long before Simone captured Maria’s heart. Maria’s love for Simone changes everything. When Maria receives devastating news that sends her world into turmoil, she must overcome her demons and face her toughest adversary to date.

Bound by the Mafia’s code of honor, loyalty, and silence, Maria Lombardo has always dreamed of another life. But when her father dies, she must take over from him as head of the Lombardo clan, the most powerful member of the Sicilian Mafia, La Cosa Nostra. On the other side of Palermo, the Amato family’s growing lust for power presents a dangerous problem. Maria is forced to take action that goes against every fiber of her being, or she will lose the respect of her clan. Falling for Simone complicates an already complex situation.

"Mistress of the Dark Pool" by Russell Gray is a captivating short story with elements of horror, sex, and suspense. First published in 1940 in the magazine Terror Tales. The story follows a young couple seeking solitude in the mountains, only to encounter a peculiar dog with human-like eyes. As the plot unfolds, they discover a local woman rumored to be a witch, and their encounter with her takes a dark turn.

The Lone Wolf: A Melodrama, by Louis Joseph Vance, was first published in 1914 and was the first of what eventually became an 8-book series. The main character, Michael Lanyard, also known as The Lone Wolf, is a jewel thief who in later stories reforms and becomes a private detective. In this first book, we learn of his difficult past and his journey that led to this pre-war moment, when he gets entangled with both a Paris crime mob and a woman, confronts his present and future course, and then seeks ways to escape his life of crime.

When private investigator Cole Harper is approached by Maria Moretti, a woman he barely remembers from 1943, she's holding two things he can't ignore—one of his old business cards and a postcard pulled from her mailbox. The message on the postcard is written in code...but the handwriting is unmistakable. It belongs to her son, Navy Yeoman Third Class Frank Moretti, who the Navy says vanished four years earlier and was officially declared "missing at sea."