Hard-boiled قصص

In 1950s Los Angeles, prolific "people-finder", RICK YOUNGE must find an embezzling mob accountant, a missing dead husband (who might not be so dead after all), a mystery by-mail 'secret admirerer', and his own kidnapped dog, all while trying to keep the lights on for another month and stay sober long enough to ponder what life's all about in this debut adventure for L.A.'s most 'by-the-seat-of-his-wrinkled-pants' private detective.

Allow me to introduce myself: the name's Dylan Neville. I'm a decent writer, a good cook, and (if I do say so myself) the sharpest shot in the City. Nice to meet you all. Well, I found out the hard way that there's only so many bridges you can burn before you've got no more places to run. So I had to turn to my brother, currently sitting on his newly minted detective agency and looking for assistants. Ryan spent most of our childhood as an amateur sleuth. But I'd say there are significant differences between being a kid detective and doing the business as an adult. For instance; your name gets stamped above the door for the mighty convenience of anyone who wants you dead. Can't say this is how I imagined spending my twenties. But hey, I've got nowhere else to go. Might as well make the best out of it.

They say the streets of Brooklyn are cleaner now. They lied. Nico Moretti is a ghost from a world that no longer exists. After 30 years behind bars, he steps out into a 2026 Brooklyn that smells of plastic and neon instead of coal and sweat. The old rules are dead, replaced by shadows you can't see and enemies you can't touch. But Nico didn't come back to fit in. He came back for what's his. Armed with nothing but his scars and a "high-tech prosthesis" that sees what human eyes miss, Nico begins a one-man war against the new underworld. This isn't just a story about the future. It's about a man who refuses to become a relic. Welcome to the Storm. The wolves are hungry.

After being dumped by her boyfriend at a Christmas dance in Chicago, a girl takes an Uber ride home that turns into a night of terror and a horror for the holidays

Third story in the series Stories from The Server. In their first big case, hard-boiled kuudere detectives Moon Potato and Yancey broke up a gang of counterfeit spud smugglers. Yancey hoped this would get him back into Saki's good books, so he could gamble in the Great Casino, but Saki still did not forgive him. He was hoping for another big case to placate Saki, when a worried member with a missing Waifu turned up at the agency office.

Everyone in the neighbourhood knew her. Everyone saw her everyday going about her business. Everyone loved her. But nobody knows where she went. Nobody knows what she's doing. And nobody knows if she's safe... except somebody does, dont they?

One of Hollywood's elites has been murdered, the accused her estranged husband. The situation doesn't look good for the husband, whose appetites for booze, gambling, and extramarital sex are as outsized as his ego. To make matters worse, he is on the hook to his bookie for a quarter million bucks, and with next to no alibi, multi-million reasons to kill his wealthy wife.

The first time I saw Adam Davis, he was at the casino. The second time he was dead. I have all the luck at making friends. It's a gift. I don't do murder cases. There's a more than even chance that you'll end up with an empty wallet and a bullet in your back. Adam was someone else's dirty business, and I didn't want to get pulled into it, but sometimes you don't get a choice... Author's note: This was a short story I submitted for a detective fiction competition in 2013.

The Dominant Motive is the first novel in the Alex Goldfinger mystery series written by Jack D. Kelly. Alex Goldfinger is an office manager/private investigator-in-training that inherits her boss's private investigation firm. Overnight she goes from office manager to private investigator. Alex's first solo case is to locate a man suspected of killing his wife twenty years earlier.

What should I have mentioned is that this story fell in the genre of mystery, science fiction and thriller. And the main characters were iron-blooded, determined and logical. Wrote this in 2016

A hardboiled yarn, served black.

Un dialogo tra un ergastolano e il suo avvocato in un futuro prossimo venturo, in cui il protagonista (il criminale) apprende che forse ci sta una remota possibilità di essere scarcerato... ma con un prezzo. Come la maggior parte dei miei racconti, questo titolo inizia a un certo punto e termina a un certo punto. Non ha un inizio stabilito o una fine, consideratelo come una sorta di esperimento. Magari se a qualche lettore piace, potrei completarlo in seguito, chi sa! Non conosco bene la classificazione di Watttpad, ma il racconto non è violento, sanguinario o altro; essendo ambientato in un penitenziario americano ha un linguaggio un pò... colorito, per fare più scena. Buona lettura!

The Private Op series follows the adventures of secret-agent-for-hire, Ashiel Hammond, of Archangel Security Consultants. Archangel SC, founded by retired CIA agent, Gabriel Sexton, works all over the world righting wrongs – for a fee of course. The field operative for the organization, Ashiel Hammond is a modern day hard-boiled detective thrust into a world of international intrigue.  Stories average 15-20 pages so you get a great read in a short time. If you enjoy hard-boiled detective fiction or espionage thrillers and you like unique characters in exotic locales, all with a sprinkling of clever pop culture references and just the right amount of snark, then this is the series for you!

First-time private investigator Eddie Greene is having a bad weekend. It’s about to get worse … When he finds the slab-cold body of his first client, he knows something’s up – he only spoke to her fifteen minutes earlier. Free-wheeling, swash-buckling, trash-talking Eddie is not just out of place in a humdrum northern town. He’s out of his depth on his first case, out of funds from a now deceased client and out of favour with Weighton’s big society. As Friday night slides into Saturday morning, each twist in the case turns a bad situation worse; the police want him for murder, the local crime boss wants him dead, the mayor wants him out of town and his girlfriend wants him out of her life. Increasingly desperate, Eddie takes on all-comers in a barnstorming bid to crack the case and clear his name. And somewhere between all the froth and fury, his affections are reclaimed by the girl who got away – but will she abide ‘til Monday? “Great fun with some cracking jokes – ‘this femme is fatale’ being my favourite – it reminded me of the Lynne Truss serial on Radio 4.” Sue Fletcher, Deputy MD, Hodder & Stoughton “Faultless – engaging, controlled, visual and fast-paced. Lots of action and a strong sense of tongue-in-cheek.” Caroline Smailes, Harper Collins author, ‘In Search of Adam’ “It’s like ‘Film Noir’ meets ‘Phoenix Nights’!” Mark Roman, author of 'Ultimate Inferior Beings' on Cogwheel Press.

Max Payne is a man with nothing to lose in the violent, cold urban night. A fugitive cop framed for murder, and now hunted by cops and the mob. Max is a man with his back against the wall, fighting a battle he cannot hope to win. Prepare for pain... Check out my debut YA novel here: http://www.blackrosewriting.com/childrens-booksya/thegraveyardgirlandtheboneyardboy Follow me on Facebook @MartinMatthewsWrites

[In this alternate history universe in which the French Revolution never happened and the United States ends at the Mississippi River] Nicholas Cortez Lyon is a private investigator, among other things. He spent five years in the Republic of Louisiana Navy during World War II, most of which was spent conducting Allied operations against USR ships in the South Atlantic and the Gulf. Across the Galveston Bay sits the City of Laffite, named after the privateer and Louisiana founding father. Laffite is a boom town, made wealth by oil, made famous by becoming the glitzy heart of the world film industry, colloquially known as Sugarlad. One day, he is summoned to the Belmont family estate by the daughter of the wealthy Gabrielle Belmont, Marla Belmont. She hires him for a job: investigate the suicide of Charles Belmont, her brother and heir apparent to the Belmont empire. You don't "solve" a suicide but she makes him an offer too good to refuse. But once Lyon starts to pry, he finds himself hopelessly entwined in the machinations of industrialists, film stars, and the city's organized crime. As he rapidly reveals the secrets of Sugarland, the question remains: Why?

GAME OF SPADES Paranormal/ Urban Fiction It's 1996 in the Windy City. Summer time. A few million in counterfeit bills are won by Miguel, a sharp mexican Chicago gangster with a quick fuse, in a spades game in Isla Mujeres while on vacation. He decides to use it to take some territory from Snake, an old spades partner he ran long cons with in his earlier years. His plan stirs up fire. Divine, is a charismatic hustler with abnormally keen perception. He knows what's poppin' in the hood before the hood does, but keeps below the radar. Low key. His ' feelers' catch a preview of the heat coming. He forsees in his mind's eye a rush of drama in the streets. Deaths and tricks. He tries to stay out of it, but becomes helplessly attracted to Tomika, a clever, androgynous gangstress. Lost, on the run, and desperate. She has similar abilities. Rhonda, her lover and a ruthless chick, was collecting a trail of bodies with her clique. It was paying well. Getting them both close to the dream of moving out the city and living good. Rhonda, works for Snake. When Snake sends her to murder three of his own men to steal 80 grand in counterfeit bills from. Miguel, she is killed by him personally. This sets off a storm of murder, lies and deception. Divine loses his best friend to the mess and at the same time, discovers a portion of the bills are in his possession. He has to get out of the city. Tomika and Divine decide to unite forces to outsmart their pursuers and leave to realize their dreams.