Macy Walks The Labyrinth

Crime Fiction by Lina Chern Macy dreams of the little girl in red again. Old-fashioned pinafore dress, pigtails. Or pigtail. One eye, half a mouth frozen in a toothy grin. Macy only sees half of her, like she is always just around the corner. Today, for the first time, the girl is all there. She’sContinue reading “Macy Walks The Labyrinth”

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”

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”

Detroit Noir

Flash Fiction by Drew Bufalini Danny Bonbono parked on the Belle Isle beach in his Escalade nervously puffing a cigarette, rethinking for the trillionth time the wisdom of going behind his Family’s back. His father would either be proud or murderous. Launching a new Family on the backs of his enemies was ambitious. There wasn’tContinue reading “Detroit Noir”

The Solid Right Cross

Flash Fiction by William Kitcher She was good. Really good. Not perfect; her style was slightly sloppy, but not enough to attract undue close negative attention from the average passerby of life. You see, she’d punched this guy at the end of the bar who’d been paying no attention to her with a right crossContinue reading “The Solid Right Cross”

A Slip And A Fall

Crime Fiction by Russell Guenther Norv watched as the three boys laid their trap, making no attempt to stop them. He found it more effective to let them finish their mischievous little games and catch them afterward. They were more remorseful this way. He stood at the glass entry doors leading into the main schoolContinue reading “A Slip And A Fall”

Cold Turkey on Black Friday

Flash Fiction by Bern Sy Moss  Almost, one year. Black Friday marks the day my wife, Janie, disappeared. I remembered her saying, “early bird gets the worm,” on that morning as she pecked at my forehead with a gesture that almost resembled an actual kiss before she headed off to the shopping mall. “Birdbrain,” IContinue reading “Cold Turkey on Black Friday”