Showing results by publisher "Spoken Realms" in Crime Fiction

According to legend, in 1910, Marie Belloc Lowndes attended a London dinner party where a guest told her that his mother’s butler and cook claimed they had once rented rooms to Jack the Ripper, the notorious mass murderer. The idea for “The Lodger” was born. Mr. and Mrs. Bunting have sunk their savings into their house with plans to let rooms. But no lodgers have materialized, and they are on the verge of penury when, one foggy night, a knock on the door brings Mr. Sleuth, an unassuming gentleman whose needs are perfectly suited to the suite of rooms the Buntings have to rent.

William Hope Hodgson wrote "The Terror of the Water-Tank" in 1907 and the story has been published in several pulp magazines since then. Mike Vendetti has taken this story and turned it into an engrossing audiobook. The story takes place in England where crowning the heights on the outskirts of a certain town on the east coast is a large, iron water-tank from which an isolated row of small villas obtains its supply. The top of this tank has been cemented, and around it have been placed railings, thus making it a splendid "look-out" for townspeople who may choose to promenade upon it.

Dive into Marco Polo, a heart-pounding psychological thriller set in 1940s Pittsburgh, where shadows whisper secrets and heroes skirmish with personal demons. Follow Captain Wendell Lee, a dashing African American war hero turned attorney, as he battles alcoholism and the damage caused to his family and his life while racing against time to rescue his kidnapped daughter. With hard-drinking private investigator Declan “Dekker” O’Shea by his side, they face the chilling underbelly of a city entangled in racism, addiction, pedophilia, suicide, murder, and shocking betrayals.

Bound by the Mafia’s code of honor, loyalty, and silence, Maria Lombardo has always dreamed of another life. But when her father dies, she must take over from him as head of the Lombardo clan, the most powerful member of the Sicilian Mafia, La Cosa Nostra. On the other side of Palermo, the Amato family’s growing lust for power presents a dangerous problem. Maria is forced to take action that goes against every fiber of her being, or she will lose the respect of her clan. Falling for Simone complicates an already complex situation.

Meet Al Nicely, a man whose last name is the only pleasant thing about him. With a history as a ruthless hoodlum and a deadly .45 that speaks louder than words, Al has climbed the ranks of the North Side crime syndicate seldom needing to throw a punch. From his early days in the Army, where he honed his self-defense skills and navigated the shadows of street life, Al's ambition knows no bounds. But in a world where power comes at a price, how far will he go to rise to the top?

The town bum, nobody knows or remembers his name. A long-ago event that he can no longer recall harmed his body and his mind. He, unknown to others is involved in two incidents on B Street but is recognized and soon forgotten for only one.

A body is uncovered in an empty classroom at Lincoln Lane Prep, West Jackson Boulevard, it's ruled as an accident. A heroin overdose. The case is closed within a month.

A collection of 24 short stories from the prolific British writer Edgar Wallace, exploring the adventures of the astute and phlegmatic Police Constable Lee of the Metropolitan Police, as he performs his duties among the varied and colourful criminal characters inhabiting the Notting Dale Division.

When a tiny island--a jewel on the breast of the broad Pacific--becomes a maniac's murder laboratory, the serene beauty of Mauilei is shattered by a series of gruesome killings. The body of Grant, a skilled rider, is found with a bloated, bruised neck and a terrifying expression frozen on his face. As the plantation manager, Rice Lauder, and his team grapple with the horror, they uncover a chilling pattern of violence and madness.

Escaping the mafia should have been simple. A new life with a new identity in a new location. But that plan was conceived long before Simone captured Maria’s heart. Maria’s love for Simone changes everything. When Maria receives devastating news that sends her world into turmoil, she must overcome her demons and face her toughest adversary to date.

A man murders his friend for a reason you will discover in the audiobook. Now he is alone in the room with his now-dead friend, but he also feels a sinister presence in the room. When will the police arrive and take him and is now-dead friend away? Or will they?

Cole Harper came to Atlantic City for a break—a few days to clear his head, sip a drink, and forget the mess he left behind in Philly. But when a redhead with a Southern drawl and a face he almost recognizes wins big in a backroom casino, then ends up bound to his hotel bed, vacation is over.

It started as an investigation of a simple insurance claim, but soon the Continental Op is embroiled in murders, narcotics, a religious cult, and a supposed family curse. No one is who they seem, and the bodies continue to pile up.

Mr Fortune Explains is HC Bailey's sixth collection of eight golden-age mysteries for the eclectic surgeon-detective Mr Reginald Fortune. Including a child kidnapped from a picnic; a milliner's assistant vanishing from home without a word to her friends; a strange visit, followed by a violent attack on Mr Fortune himself; a raid on a jeweler's shop, and the theft of a photograph; an ill-situated rock garden, and a haunted man; a rigidly saintly clergyman suspected of a trivial theft; a dead policeman and a broken bicycle lamp; and a curiously disturbing picture in the Paris salon.

Welcome to the Fiction on the Web audiobook series, featuring a collection of short stories with a different theme for each volume. Lovingly curated by the owner of Fiction on the Web, Charlie Fish. Come and share in the joy and power of short stories.

An artist, Mr Ruxton, is seeking an ideal model for a planned sculpture of Antigone. He travels to the Beech Grove estate in search of his model and encounters Miss Hurd, who is employed at the house. He is overwhelmed by her beauty and feels compelled to pursue her. However, he quickly finds that he has a rival for the lady's affections, a man of great wealth and power. Miss Hurd takes flight, but Ruxton is unable to forget her. When he later sees her again on a streetcar in New York he finds himself drawn into a mysterious web of tragedy and evil.

Philadelphia, 1947. When private investigator Cole Harper is summoned to the penthouse of Sam Hensley—a powerful but shadowy industrialist--he knows it's no ordinary case. Luxury goods, military surplus, and counterfeit money are disappearing from Hensley's warehouses, and the clues point to an operation as sophisticated as it is ruthless. But Harper soon discovers this is no simple theft—this is the black market at its most dangerous.

When a body turns up at a Texas Uni Campus, police initially believe it’s the result of an initiation gone wrong, the victim covered in graffiti while suspended above a fire pit. As more bodies are found, each the result of a sadistic game played by a vicious killer, it soon becomes clear that a new evil has risen. With the death toll mounting and the police left clueless, Sam is quickly dispatched to help locate the monster. But things take a turn when a student makes a confession so shocking, it leaves many questioning the very force meant to protect them.

When an elderly man is found dead on a bench overlooking Eagle Lake in Maine, the authorities eventually identify 74-year-old Nathanial Johns. But what they discover leaves more questions than answers. Having been laid to rest hundreds of miles away, the authorities are stunned to find a fresh corpse in his reburied coffin. Soon more bodies show up, each replaced with a fresh victim to lie in their stead.

A female killer calling herself “Black Death” is murdering men around Chicago’s less-than-respectable establishments. Each body is found with a black rose, together with the same cryptic calling card, leaving authorities baffled as to her identity. When the latest victim turns out to be a well-respected police officer, the city’s mayor reaches out for help.