Taking Care Of Business

Detective Fiction by James Clar Honolulu, 1948 My chair creaked as I lit a cigarette and leaned back to make myself comfortable. I had some foot-dangling to catch up on. I was out of practice. The overhead fan in my office above a pawn shop on Hotel Street did little to blunt the odors fromContinue reading “Taking Care Of Business”

Bedford Drive

Crime Fiction By Charles Jacobson Los Angeles: Friday, April 4, 1958. 8:06 pm. Detective Ken Stricker left his ailing mother at the Valley Hospital, put on a coat and slid into his black ’56 Packard. Vice had been quiet. He caught a 273 and 314 on the scanner, switched it off and dialed in GuyContinue reading “Bedford Drive”

An Angel With Rented Hair

Crime Fiction by Frank Sonderborg It was mid-afternoon, so I thought I had the bar to myself. The Sang Real Bar had a reputation, and form. I could still see the bullet holes from a recent gangland execution. The thick sticky blood had seeped deep into the carpet fibers, and no amount of pink vanishContinue reading “An Angel With Rented Hair”

Sweet Little Straight Razor

Crime Fiction By Michael Fontana It was after midnight and rain beat my head like tympani.  I checked my look in a shop window: mid-thirties, five-ten, black haired, green eyed and gaunt, nose flattened to my face from a case where it was broken by a punch from a semi-professional football player, a woman whoContinue reading “Sweet Little Straight Razor”

The Sunny Side Of The Street

Police Fiction by M. E. Proctor “Pull over,” Tom Keegan said. “Let’s stop the carnage.” “Oh, come on! Haven’t you had enough for one day?” Al “Matt” Matteotti was driving the unmarked. He always drove. He said it relaxed him. The way he handled the San Francisco streets, it sure didn’t relax Tom. Matt’s frustrationContinue reading “The Sunny Side Of The Street”

Darklands

By Alec Cizak “It’s funny.” He scratched his khaki pants, picking at the sleeves of a pink button-down shirt. “A couple of nights ago, my daughter asked what it means to die. I always figured the sex talk would be the toughest. Turns out, explaining to a child that someday she’ll no longer exist, well,Continue reading “Darklands”