This collection features twenty short stories from humorous thriller writer J.A. Konrath. Included are a few hardboiled tales, some noir, some parody and satire, a few straight-out comedy pieces, and a few stories that didn't fit into Konrath's other two collections, Horror Stories and Jack Daniels Stories.
The twenty stories include:
The Big Guys - Flash fiction, winner of the Derringer Award.
A Fistful of Cozy - A satire of the mystery cozy genre.
Cleansing - An ancient crime of biblical proportions.
Lying Eyes - Solve it yourself, given the clues.
Perfect Plan - Another solve it yourself. Don't you remember One Minute Mysteries and Encyclopedia Brown?
Piece of Cake - Another solve it yourself, originally featured in Woman's World.
Animal Attraction - Solve it yourself.
Urgent Reply Needed - A cautionary tale about dealing with spammers.
Blaine's Deal - A parody of hardboiled noir.
Light Drizzle - A light-hearted send-up of hitman stories.
An Archaeologist's Story - How digging up old bones leads to fresh corpses.
Don't Press That Button! - An essay about the gadgets in the James Bond universe, and which you need to buy.
Piranha Pool - A writer seeking criticism pays the ultimate price.
A Newbie's Guide to Thrillerfest - Never been to a mystery conference? Here's the in-depth dirt.
Inspector Oxnard - He's either brilliant, or too stupid to breathe.
One Night Only - A sports fan ends up in jail, all for the love of the game.
Could Stephanie Plum Car Really Get Car Insurance? - An essay about Janet Evanovich's famous character.
Cozy or Hardboiled? - Take the test to find out which type of book you're reading.
Addiction - What's the worst drug you can get hung up on?
Weigh To Go - A humor column about health clubs.
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"I LOVE the Jack Daniels series and wondered about this collection of short stories. I read it in a surgery waiting room and often had to contain my mirth. Very eclectic, odd and just down right entertaining. I think I love you, J.A.!"
— Moondance (4 out of 5 stars)
" I read the first two stories. It is quality writing and I personally didn't appreciate the style. "
— Barth, 3/9/2013" Really awful collection of short stories. There were a couple of chuckles in there, but for the most part I felt like there is something mentally wrong with the author because of how a lot of the stories end with the main character killing others for no real good reason. "
— Rick, 2/22/2013" Excellant book, a series of short crime stories, some funny, some well i,ll let you imagine the rest of them don,t want to spoil the book for you. highly entertaining though. couldn,t stop reading. "
— Georgiann, 1/21/2013" Interesting assortment of short-stories. Each one had a very different style. "
— Genevieve, 10/6/2012" Loved these stories! Great fast read of short stories that were interesting and funny. "
— Shelley, 9/10/2012" Reading one or two short stories between books. These got boring after awhile. Wouldn't bother. "
— Joyce, 9/6/2012" A great collection of shorts. You know they're gonna be good when they're written by Konrath. Love his work. "
— Dawna, 8/19/2012J. A. Konrath (a.k.a. Joe Konrath, Jack Kilborn, and Joe Kimball) is the author of eight novels in the Jack Daniels thriller series, including Whiskey Sour, Bloody Mary, Rusty Nail, Dirty Martini, Fuzzy Navel, Cherry Bomb, Shaken, and Stirred. Konrath writes horror under the pseudonym Jack Kilborn (Afraid, Trapped, and Endurance) and science fiction under the name Joe Kimball. He has sold over one million e-books.
Joyce Bean is an accomplished audiobook narrator and director. In addition to having won several AudioFile Earphones Awards, she has been nominated multiple times for the prestigious Audie Award. Equally adept at narrating fiction and nonfiction, and she also narrates audiobooks under the name Jane Brown.