Smart Detective

When the Australian Mystery Writers' Society invited me to their crime-writing festival aboard the Ghan, the famous train between Darwin and Adelaide, I was hoping for some inspiration for my second book. Fiction, this time: I needed a break from real people killing each other. Obviously, that didn't pan out. The program is a who's who of crime-writing royalty. But when one of us is murdered, six authors quickly turn into five detectives. Together, we should know how to solve a crime. Or commit one.

When a modern home in High Peaks burns to the ground killing the family, it appears as if the tragic deaths were an accident. But a gut instinct tells Noah Sutherland otherwise. Days later, a family at another residence is found dead under bizarre circumstances. A coincidence, or are the two related? As the calculating stalker dubbed The Smart Killer stays in the shadows and continues slaughtering ordinary families in their homes, the investigation shakes the small Adirondack town to the core.

She's beautiful, street-smart, and hoping to leave her troubled past behind her. Makedde Vanderwall has finished her studies and is ready to start practising as a forensic psychologist. She's also starting a new life in Australia with her detective boyfriend Andy Flynn. Hoping to scrape together some extra cash, Mak begins doing part-time work for an infamous Sydney PI.

When a bloody corpse is discovered in a North London park, Detective Inspector Daniel Graves is the man tasked with finding the killer. However, with no clues and no suspects, the case seems like a dead end. Then another body turns up—and this time, it looks like it could be Graves’s fault. Has his investigation caused the murderer to strike again? As the case gets ever more complicated, a report comes in of another suspicious death—but this is nothing like any other Graves has dealt with. All involved are convinced that something supernatural is to blame: a demon.

The Greatest Mysteries of All Time, Volume 4 is the fourth in a series featuring the finest short story mystery fiction by the most acclaimed writers, past and present. From Lawrence Block, Sara Paretsky, Georges Simenon, Edward D. Hoch and everyone in between, this unique collection, edited by multi-award-winning mystery connoisseur Otto Penzler, is a delightful mixture of mystery and suspense.