Sleuth Stories

"Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead." After six years away, Raven Chavez returns to her hometown when her "perfect" twin, Reena Chavez goes missing. Her father refuses to involve the police and chooses reputation over answers. Hence, Raven does the unthinkable: she pretends to be her twin and enters her school to investigate. There, she crosses paths with a charming, intelligent Nikolaus Fuentebella adored by everyone and protected by his status as a lawyer's son. Ally or threat, she can't tell. As secrets surface, masks crack, and mischief turns into mayhem, she learns that some truths demand more than courage but rather, they demand a cost.

Disgraced physicist Shawn Ronin needs to keep solving problems. After his ivory tower life came crashing down around him, Shawn's compulsion to find hidden answers drove him to become a private investigator. Unfortunately, the career change doesn't end up straightening out his messy life or even net him much money. Instead, it just shines a light on how much more complicated human problems can be than anything found in a textbook. Presented with the opportunity to help another professor avoid a similar fate to his own, Shawn finds himself unable walk away. Returning to the university that forsook him, he uncovers more than just misconduct lurking in the ego-driven, high-achiever world where he used to thrive. None of Shawn's once Nobel Prize worthy papers can help him now. Can a man used to solving some of humanity's most complex problems learn to ask for help with his own?

I'm just writing random stories about Enola Holmes and Sherlock Holmes (and sometimes Mycroft, Watson,etc.). I've now read all nine of the Enola Holmes books and have edited the story to fit. (Yes, books, not movies, although I watched those too, but this isn't based on that. Yes, 9 books, this is written before the 10th came out). It was supposed to be fluff, but that didn't last very long it may return to that, but who knows.

The Saturday market in Mellow Reach smells like warm bread and fresh basil-the kind of place where neighbors argue about tomato prices and mean nothing by it. Sticky cobblestones. Chipped enamel mugs. Nothing much goes wrong here. Then Thomas Reed's display collapses, and suddenly everyone's an expert. Most people saw the argument. Most people made up their minds before the pole stopped swinging. Officer Harper poked at the wreckage, called it an accident, and snapped his notebook shut. Done. Margaret Ellison wasn't there. Didn't matter. Thirty years as Mellow Reach's librarian teaches you things-how to go unnoticed while noticing everything. The angle of a fallen pole. A timeline with a loose thread nobody pulled. The particular way someone's hands flutter when they're hiding something embarrassing rather than something dangerous. She knows the difference. Always has. She knows Thomas, too. Helped him find his footing here fifteen years ago, back when this town was still deciding whether to let him in. Watched him build something worth keeping. So when the whispers calcify into verdicts-when old friendships crack along old fault lines and the harvest festival her late husband spent a decade building is suddenly up for debate-her stomach drops like a stone in cold water. Staying out of it is a choice. She's made enough of those. Semi-Retired. Not blind. Not yet done. This is an early draft shared for feedback. I'd love to know: - Would you continue reading? - Does it feel cozy? - Where did your interest drop?

Rowena Flores has problems...and we're not just talking about her anger management issues. After cursing her cheating ex-boyfriend, this home goods cashier's life is turned upside down when a pack of werewolf shifters accuse her of being a murdering witch. Will Rowena ever prove she's not a witch? Will the hunky pack alpha ask her out? More importantly, will she clear her name before she's burned at the stake? A Not So Cozy Mystery Series: Book I: Good Witch, Bad Alpha Book II: Never Cheat a Witch Book III: Oh, Shift! *cover made with Canva

(What? Am I a little late to the Problem Sleuth fandom? Alright, alright. Whatever. This is my first serious fanfiction, it'll most likely be super cringy.)

When the body of a social worker is found on the stairway inside the building where she works, a mouthful of Scrabble letters tells Detective Valentine that this is not a random killing. And it’s not. A brutal killer with a sinister connection to Child Protective Services is prowling the streets in Detective Sydney Valentine’s jurisdiction. More letters are needed to piece together the puzzle, but that means more people will die. A dead juvenile court judge, a single mother – the body count climbs. Detective Valentine becomes a target and the stakes rise. Her sister is attacked and Valentine realizes she needs to step it up before it’s too late. Her courage and investigative skills are put to the test. She must protect her family and take down the killer before any more people die. A fast-paced novel of mystery and suspense, The Protector will grip you from the very beginning, so hold on tight and leap into the dangerous world of Detective Sydney Valentine. She's a sassy, contemporary cop with an edge and an attitude. Tough and potty-mouthed, she's going to see justice served—no matter what. Sydney Valentine is the friend you wish you had. She’s the cop you’d be wise to fear if you’re walking on the wrong side of the law.

When private investigator Tom Hart flies back to Brooklyn for the first time in a decade, it's supposed to be for one thing: to bury his oldest friend, Jimmy Grillo. The cops call it a mugging gone wrong; a random act of violence on a quiet Bensonhurst street. But Jimmy's wife, Ann, thinks otherwise. She believes Jimmy's death has ties to Carmine Perro, a local bookie and loan shark Jimmy owed money to. As Tom digs deeper, old neighborhood ties pull him into a dangerous web of secrets, lies, and betrayal. Everyone has something to hide; Jimmy's gambling debts, Ann's complicated marriage, even the cop investigating the case.

When a vengeful ghost begins haunting New York's City Hall, Mayor Adam Winter has only one option left: Julius Q Bygone, Supernatural Sleuth of Shadows.

The murder case of Inspector Hector is solved as soon as it is presented but Detective Sagan, failing to accept the utter absurdity of the solution, resolves to find a solution that is acceptable.

Four men sit down to a poker game. The first is a company commander, returned from the War under suspicious circumstances. The second is a humble soldier, although humble he certainly is not. The third is Lieutenant Robert Newham, and the fourth is dead before the games are over. It's a closed-room case, and Allie will need every scrap of wit and determination she has to solve the case before the police get involved. -The fourth book in the Alianna Winter series. Her earlier cases: 1.Death At Scarlet Leaf 2.The Merryweather Jewel Thefts 3.A House On The Hill Her later cases: 5.The Incident Concerning The Alsatian Dog 6.At The Plaza Majestic 7.Madame Juror 8.A Murder Shall Commence 9.The Impossible Poisoning 10.The Final Endgame

With mounting fear, Tamannah and the rest of The Gang plead with the police officer to let them through but he refuses. In a spur-of-the-moment decision, helped by their growing panic, they push past him and rush to their friend's room. At the door, they come to an abrupt halt. A chilling scene welcomes them.... The Determination Tamannah is determined to find out what happened to her friend that day. She sets out on a mission, certain that when she has all the answers life will become bearable again. The Truth A sinister truth lurks in the shadows. Step by step, she inches closer to it, not realizing that it is unlike anything she imagined. It has the potential to put her past, present, and future at risk... The Aftermath Everything is lost. The aftermath of her encounter with the bitter truth, catching her unawares, decimates her. Will she gather the courage to fight back? Will that be enough...?

Andrea has been suppressing her psychic abilities all her life. Now that she's moving to a new city, she's challenging herself to blend into this vibrant and chaotic environment. If she can stand it here, she can make it anywhere. But her hopes of reinventing herself come crashing down when she sees the brutal murder of a young woman in her vision. How does she report a crime she didn't see? how can she catch a killer without any proof? In her pursuit of uncovering mysteries, she becomes entwined with a dark side of the city and the even darker detectives who keep it safe.

Ricardo Torres has spent most of his twenties chasing the bohemian lifestyle, right down to the paintbrush that seems permanently attached to his hand. In his quest to capture the damage wrought to his beloved Lake Fúquene on a canvas, Rico once again finds himself lakeside. However, he soon discovers that the lake has been hiding a secret beneath its waves. With the water all but gone, a stolen Botero sculpture emerges from the cracking, muddy lakebed. Shortly after the police are called, Detective Sonia Mendoza arrives on the scene, eager to warm up this cold case. But as soon as Ricardo and Sonia are back at the police station in Bogotá, they learn that the lake was hiding one more secret. Now this unlikely pair must team up to solve a mystery neither of them anticipated. [[[ONC 2021 Longlister]]] [Based on Prompt #5]

A short story about a man taking an impromptu nighttime stroll around a lake park as he encounters the sinister prospect of crime and murder in the form of an abandoned rowboat silently floating in the middle of the lake.

Val Kamara is not new to loneliness on Valentine's Day. It's something she has experienced since she was old enough to know what the day stands for. Except this one is not about to end in the same boring way as the others. A girl turns up dead and she decides to investigate, despite the fact that police don't want her interference. But, how can she not interfere when it involves rubbing shoulders with the most handsome policeman she has ever met?

The first in the Hourglass series, Red Hourglass is a dark coming-of-age thriller romance that explores themes of identity, dominance, and submission. A fast paced read with strong female protagonists. The novel is set in today's globalized world, and infused with undercover agents, poker, tango, and a mix of Eastern and Western philosophy. A POWERFUL, MYSTERIOUS woman finds a starving homeless girl in a New York subway. She renames the girl Janet and takes her under her wing. Within a few short years, Janet's transformation is complete. She's a beautiful young assassin in the White Queen's covert force. Her code name is Red Hourglass. Janet's first deep cover assignment is to infiltrate Wilmar Enterprises as Scarlet Walters. She's hired as the secretary to Wilmar's Chief Security Officer, Conan Casey. Her mission is to stop Wilmar's upcoming expansion. Scarlet soon learns that her boss is heir to the billion dollar Wilmar organization, putting him in grave danger. She tries to resist Conan's dark seductions, but she falls prey to his charms and twisted secrets. He leaves her gasping for more ... wondering if she'll be able to kill him if the order comes. The stakes are high in this dangerous game of love. Where do her loyalties lie? Will she betray the White Queen for Conan? Can they get out alive? Will she ever know who she really is?