Crime Fiction by Sean O’Leary A fourteen-year-old girl was missing. Candy had taken the call two hours ago. The father, Peter Ling, sounded like he was in agony when he told Candy his daughter had been missing for two days. Missing or lost forever. That was Candy’s job. The missing girl’s name was April. CandyContinue reading “Shadowland”
Category Archives: Noir
Jump
Flash Fiction by Nate Hochstetler Omair stood in an alley smoking what looked to be a cigarette but was really hashish, a habit he picked up in Pakistan as a teenager. That life felt so far away now. He took his phone from the pocket of his Adidas jacket. He had dark brown skin butContinue reading “Jump”
Yes, Mama
Crime Fiction by London Baker His name was Big Tony and as for me, I was called Al Greco. Big Tony was sort of the boss, you see? He was a big deal back then, though I guess he still is now. But now isn’t that important. Back then is what matters. Back then IContinue reading “Yes, Mama”
The Getback
Crime Fiction by Michael Downing Eddie Reid died sometime after midnight. Cool on the street. A legend. But once you’re dead, all that cool means nothing. Dead is dead, and dead don’t care who you were or what you did before the end. His death was violent, ugly, the kind of thing that gets peopleContinue reading “The Getback”
Bitter Autumn
Crime Fiction by Scott Kauffman Two Fridays before Thanksgiving, Autumn watched through a rain-runnel windshield as her father hobbled out from under the stone-archway of Lucasville Penitentiary. In his one hand he gripped a small duffel bag. In his other what looked like could have been the same Bible he had with him when theContinue reading “Bitter Autumn”
Whack A Moll
Crime Fiction by M.E. Proctor It takes a special kind of sinner to commit murder in a church. A sanctuary, a haven. A safe place that hadn’t been safe for Myrtle Ballard. “St Peter’s on twennyfourth. Next to the confessional.” Al ‘Matt’ Matteotti spit the words in disgust. He was pale with outrage. Matt wasContinue reading “Whack A Moll”
Hard Luck Penny
Flash Fiction by Scott McKinnon Penny sits on a warehouse floor, handcuffed to a pallet stacked five feet high with cheap towels emblazoned with the words: I stole this from Alcatraz. The fluorescents above cast a flat light over mountains of tacky novelty items and three humorless thugs standing over her. The leader has aContinue reading “Hard Luck Penny”
Someday You Will
Spy Fiction by Tom Milani In 1966, after nearly six years in Hamburg, Richter had gone back to what he did best. An intelligence agency provided him with housing in Virginia. His job was to photograph foreign assets in compromising positions, the agency’s penchant for irony apparently unlimited. The work was sedentary in nature. ToContinue reading “Someday You Will”
Aileen and the Aliens
Crime Fiction by Hillary Lyon “I woke to the sound of dresser drawers opening. Someone was in the far corner of our dark bedroom, riffling through drawers. You were in bed next to me, sound asleep. “Who are you,” I said aloud, sitting up on my elbows. “What are you doing here? What do youContinue reading “Aileen and the Aliens”
The Backstabbers
Crime Fiction by Robb White Tre’Mayne stood there, eyes boxing the room same way he did every time, all five-foot-six inches in raggedy-ass wifebeater and high-tops. Mondair didn’t say a word, just held out his hand for his latest rap effort. Tre’Mayne was a one-man rap machine and he was harder to get rid ofContinue reading “The Backstabbers”