Exiled from his birth country for many years, the vampire spared one of the young women his servants captured—a woman from his homeland—and demanded she tell him of it.
“This murder is a fishy business, sir,” Detective-Inspector Shad Rowe said. “You’ve been of great assistance to us in the past when it comes to solving bizarre crimes and I hope you can help us now.”
I spend every year literarily mixed up in murder. Notice I said "literarily," not “literally." Of the multitude of novels and short stories I read annually, relatively few are not of the mystery/detection/suspense variety, but then my fiction diet has always contained generous helpings of crime and mystification.
One of the ways that KRL is celebrating Earth Day is to focus in this issue only on e-books. Check out these reviews of 4 different mystery novels/novellas that are all available as e-books, some only as e-books, and you can enter to win a copy of all of them at the end of this post: Fatal Debt: A Dana Mackenzie Mystery By Dorothy Howell, The Play of Light and Shadow By Barry Ergang, Flossed by Elaine Macko, and Justified Action by Earl Staggs.
With Spring in full bloom it seemed a perfect time to share this mystery flash fiction story by Barry Ergang! This story originally appeared in the print anthology Short Attention Span Mysteries, which was published by Kerlak Publications in 2005.
The vision of Ramona Braithwaite in ecstasy over her accommodations at the Forest Grove Inn warmed the profit-minded hearts of Lainie Truscott and her husband Frank, owners of the bed-and-breakfast. The wealthy, widowed Mrs. Braithwaite in a state of distress induced a polar opposite effect. On that Tuesday morning after the Memorial Day holiday, an icy climate settled over the Inn when Mrs. Braithwaite reported her diamond-and-ruby bracelet missing. She made the mistake—in the owners' view, at any rate—of mentioning the fact to the other guests, all of whom immediately took stock of their own valuables.
The Mall Tea's Fall Kin is an original mystery short story by Barry Ergang originally published by Mysterical-E in 2006.
When Delmer opened the door to his knock, Winston Grohner said, “Out of my way, punk,” and shouldered his way into the apartment’s vestibule.
Bebe Gunn saw the expression on his face and said: “Wince, what took you so long? Are you all right
