Showing results by narrator "Randy McCarten" in All Categories

In his seventh hard-boiled tale, New York-based Private Eye Joey Mancuso travels to the lush, verdant shores of Miami Beach. But this is no vacation - Joey’s wading knee deep into a gritty cesspool of corruption, using his street smarts and industry connections to investigate a vast financial conspiracy. A young hedge-fund employee - a kid right out of college, green as can be - was killed by an anonymous sedan while on a motorcycle ride after hitting the South Beach clubs. Miami Beach police don’t seem interested, but Joey does - the kid’s dad is a friend of a friend. 

A presumed Russian spy is found tortured and shot in the face in his high-rise condominium in South Beach, Florida. Incredibly, the perpetrators of the gruesome murder correctly copied the manner in which the victim was killed, as described in best-selling author, Jack Ryder’s last novel. Jack is a 40-year-old divorcee, and a Wall Street retired financial analyst turned crime mystery writer. His new lifestyle does not include alarm clocks, suits, or ties. Plus two more novellas!

Dieter Webber, a former Jump Armor pilot, lost his war. Years later as a broken ex-pat, half a galaxy away, the former combat pilot is haunted by the ghosts of the war and looming debts to organized crime. An encounter with an Android, Reis, serves as an invitation from his former commander to a reluctant escape: Mercenary work in her company, Valkyrie LLC.

Arriving in Thailand for my first black-op, Operation DFC, as part of an elite team ready to act on recent intel that over a thousand men and/or their remains are still behind enemy lines, Bangkok is our last stopping point before slipping into Vietnam and extracting as many American prisoners as possible.

The vic Oscar Stanton (name etched into his designer trousers) was gunned down in Washington Square Park in broad daylight, just after a lunchtime rendezvous with a business associate. A quick and dirty ID reveals the real Oscar Stanton was working in cybersecurities for the DO and, perhaps unsurprisingly, was KIA in Afghanistan. And Mancuso’s antics tend to weave a winding yarn as intricately connected as a satisfying Sherlock Holmes.

Joey Mancuso, Father O'Brian, and the rest of the team are back for their ninth hard-boiled tale. Consistently working out of their Lower Manhattan Irish pub and office. This time, there is no client. Instead, Mancuso has been sucked into this series of senseless murders by personal invitation. A text with the location and an invite to come over. It appears like random killings of homeless people at subway stations. But there is nothing unexpected about the texts.

When a man, partially disguised with a medical mask and large sunglasses, approaches Joey Mancuso and asks him to solve his murder, Mancuso is skeptical. But when a series of murders begin to happen, Joey and his wife, former FBI Special Agent Marcy, find themselves embroiled in a dangerous web of deceit, smuggling, and theft.

The widower says his wife was killed by gangs - but now he’s running for Mayor of New York City. Just to be sure (or else to portray himself as a properly mourning husband), he hires PIs Joey Mancuso and Father Dom to solve the murder. Only they can’t help noticing he’s pushing them to come to the gang conclusion as well. Hey, is something fishy here?

Like many truckers, Ron Hartman drives long hours far from home, trying to make ends meet. Chasing the dream of owning his own big rig, he has lost the thing he loves most; his wife and son have moved out of his run-down trailer house. Desperate to win his family back, with his own truck and schedule, Ron is an ideal target for recruitment by major drug smuggling rings. When his truck breaks down and someone offers him a load that seems too good to be true, he is too desperate to heed the warning signs.

Based on a true story, HANGTOWN is a historical western about the hangings in a placer mining town that once went by that moniker, one of the first established diggings during the chaos of the Gold Rush. Set from 1848 to 1850, the unlawful were punished and hanged swiftly for crimes of theft and violence, haunting forever what is now Placerville, California.

Enter the world of Leslie, a young girl thrust into the clutches of an ominous storm as her life spirals into an abyss of uncertainty. A single knock on the door changes everything, setting in motion a series of events that will test her courage and resilience. In this captivating narrative, Leslie finds herself entangled in a world of fear, anger, darkness and mystery. Her journey becomes a battle as she reaches the inescapable truth, her life will never be the same.

Ex British special forces, Frankie Armstrong turned American private eye, is dragged into an investigation when two skeletons are unearthed in the grounds of the condo complex where he lives in Naples Florida. Frankie’s colleague Detective Sam Randazzo is on vacation so the pressure piles on Frankie as he’s simultaneously tasked to find a doctor who’s gone missing in mysterious circumstances.

Sheriff Lance Tallbear’s half-blood Apache heritage leaves him struggling to find his place in a world where neither white nor Indian wants or readily accepts him. He faces the world his shaman father turned away from and acknowledges the one his shaman grandfather prays he’ll return to. Tallbear’s new case uncovers a mysterious plane wreck discovered in the Superstition Mountains that turns out to stir both his life decisions and ultimate direction. Along with his troubled FBI partner, Brad Hanley, they face a myriad of obstacles in their journey to the truth.

There were two certainties for the residents of Bilurn. One, that Mitch Stone was the biggest, baddest bully that’s ever graced the halls of any middle school...ever. And two, that the Cleveland House was as haunted a house as you’ll find. Nobody needed to prove these facts to Jon Evans, age 13, but he ended up finding out just how true both of them were, anyways.

I did not learn of the cold-blooded assassination of several CIA agents, who were part of the team on our previous mission, Operation DFC, until it was too late. Spencer “RedDog” Watkins and I are still alive, but our loved ones paid the ultimate price for being a part of our lives, leaving us heartbroken and consumed by an unquenchable thirst for revenge. Black Viper and Raccoon survived the first round of murders orchestrated by the de Santos cartel and were assigned to join us on a total black op, which I nicknamed Operation S&D – Seek and Destroy.

Do you experience never-ending cycles of anxiety? These are common feelings, commonly unresolved with the most common solution: everything but God. But I am here to tell you that God is the answer to everything!

Fred always saw himself as more important than the other fish in the lake. After all, he was much bigger, faster, and smarter than them all. But when he decides to crown himself as king, things go a little different from how he had planned. He ends up on the surface. But what is the lesson he is meant to learn before the time runs out?

This is the incredible story of a boxer who meets a genie. Perhaps this is just the inspiration you were looking for. This is a remarkably inspiring, moving, thought-provoking, and hair-raising short story.

Patrick Rodgers dreams of becoming a master architect just like his parents. However, there's just one problem—he is blind. A heartwarming, emotional, and ultimately inspiring story about standing up to bullies and giving up on your dreams. Suitable for the whole family.

A heartwarming short story of an unlikely friendship forged between two races. Morvar the Vast flies over the forest one day when he encounters the one creature all dragons fear.