Category: Crime

The first time I met Vincent Morelli, he was dead. He was sitting upright in a leather chair in the back office of Club Ardente, a cigarette burned down to the filter between his fingers, a thin ribbon of smoke Read more…

Detective Carmen Rodriguez stood in the abandoned courtroom, dust motes floating through shafts of afternoon light. The building had been closed for renovations for three months, which made the body sprawled across the judge’s bench particularly disturbing. “Marcus Webb, fifty-seven,” Read more…

Detective Maria Vasquez had investigated hundreds of missing persons cases, but none had ever begun with a live television broadcast. She watched the footage for the fifth time, trying to understand what her eyes were telling her was impossible. The Read more…

Detective Frank Morrison stood in the greenhouse, surrounded by death disguised as beauty. Foxglove, oleander, lily of the valley—every plant in the glass structure was toxic, and somewhere among them was the key to solving a murder. “Belladonna,” said Dr. Read more…

Detective Rebecca Torres had seen plenty of break-ins during her fifteen years with the LAPD, but none quite like this. The Victorian mansion stood pristine in the Hollywood Hills, its security system intact, its locks undisturbed, its windows unbroken. Yet Read more…

The neon glow of Sunset Boulevard cut through the smog like a knife. Detective Alex Mercer lit a cigarette and leaned against his car, the leather collar of his coat stiff against the chill of the night. His phone buzzed. Read more…

Rain slicked streets glistened under the streetlights of San Francisco. Detective Elena Vargas stepped out of her unmarked car, adjusting the collar of her coat. The city was quiet—too quiet, for a Saturday night in the Financial District. Her phone Read more…

The Collector’s Final Piece The gallery was silent except for the soft whir of climate control systems keeping the temperature at a precise sixty-eight degrees. Detective James Hartley stood before the empty frame, a rectangle of absence on the pristine Read more…

Rain slicked streets glimmered under the neon of downtown Chicago. Detective Marcus Reed adjusted his coat collar and scanned the Loop from the corner of Lake Street and Wabash. The city hummed with life, but somewhere in the shadows, someone Read more…

Detective Sarah Chen had seen her share of crime scenes in twenty years on the force, but nothing quite prepared her for the peculiarity of this one. Father Michael O’Brien lay face-down on the polished marble floor of St. Augustine’s Read more…