Short fiction about people on the edge that "masterfully balances the absurd, the horrific, and the humorous" ( Booklist).The characters in Inappropriate Behavior teeter on the brink of sanity, while those around them reach out in support, watch helplessly, or duck for cover. In their loneliness, they cast about for a way to connect, to be understood, though more often than not, things go horribly wrong. Some of the characters come from the darkest...

The iconic thriller series that inspired the upcoming streaming show on Prime Video, in development now!**Someone has murdered euthanasia champion Dr. Eldon Mate—a self-styled Dr. Death responsible for scores of assisted suicides. In a burst of bloody irony, the killer chooses to dispatch the doctor in the back of Mate's own suicide van, hooking him up to the killing apparatus dubbed “the Humanitron”—and adding some butchering touches of his own. The case is assig...

Discover a more lighthearted side of the funeral industry in this collection of real-life stories from the authors of Mortuary Confidential.Not knowing what to do, I sat on the church steps and waited. As the gravity of my failure began to well up in me, I began to cry . . . I Had Lost The Hearse!Funerals and the all the things that accompany them are traditionally somber, contemplative events in which the bereaved look to their undertaker...

All it took to destroy Andy Nocera's seemingly perfect life was an anonymous tryst at an Interstate rest area. Sentenced to probation and thrown out by his wife, he spends his week as a traveling salesman, and his weekends at his mother's house where no questions are asked--and no explanations are offered.To clear his record, the State of North Carolina requires Andy to complete one year of therapy without another arrest. He attends his sessions reluctantly at first, struggling to ...

During the height of a harsh Vermont winter, the body of a woman is found hanging from the steel-mesh retaining net lining the cliffs along the interstate. She was brutally murdered, with the word "dyke" carved into her chest. She was also a state senator and best friend and ally of the current governor, Gail Zigman. At Zigman's personal request, Joe Gunther and his Vermont Bureau of Investigation team agree to help the Vermont State Police in their investigation before the victim's high p...

Hollywood burgler Junior Bender finds himself caught in a revenge plot epic enough for the silver screen.Los Angeles’s most talented burglar, Junior Bender, is in the middle of stealing one of the world’s rarest stamps from a professional killer when his luck suddenly turns sour. It takes an unexpected assist to get him out alive, but his escape sets off a chain reaction of blackmail, strong-arming, and escalating crime. By the time Junior is forced to commit his t...

**From the acclaimed author of the Pulitzer Prize finalist Jernigan—and one of America's most talented, witty, and emotionally intelligent writers—come eleven "gripping, sophisticated, gasp-inducing stories" (The New Yorker) and a novella populated by characters who carry the full weight of the human condition.A Hand Reached Down to Guide Me is populated by characters, young, old or somewhere in between, who are broadly knowledgeable and...

"'The doctor tells me I have Alzheimer's.' The truth of my husband's words shook our world. This is my diary written for a time during the ten years of his spiral into another space."There's no question Alzheimer's is a horror for those who are afflicted by it. But what about those who love them? This diary shows what Alzheimer's is like from the other side, the eyes and heart of a wife who is no longer only a wife but a caregiver. It is not an easy story. But that is how Alzheimer...

It's not so easy to be the star in your own action movie!All Bailey wants is to be a good negotiator, and to impress his boss and teacher, the legendary Drew Fletcher. He admires Fletcher for his skills in the field, but that doesn't stop him admiring the man for other, more romantic reasons as well. In a tense hostage situation, it's pretty unlikely Bailey's usual, rash behaviour will cover him in glory, but in his dreams, it's all going to happen just like in the movies.W...

"Axelrod's promising debut introduces a protagonist who will remind readers of Robert Parker's sleuths. The two-part story structure ("Premeditation"and "Post Mortem") also gives readers an Ellery Queen type of opportunity to "help solve" the crime." — Library JournalWhen Nantucket homeowner Preston Lomax is killed, everyone on the island could be a suspect. Lomax lived large, owed money, and the word was spreading he was planning to stiff them all and dis...

James Fitzroy isn't doing so well. Though his old friends in Buffalo believe his life in New York City is a success, in fact he writes ridiculous taglines for a greeting card company. Now he's coming home on Thanksgiving to visit his aging father and dying mother, and unlike other holidays, he's not sure how this one is going to end. Buffalo Lockjaw introduces a fresh new voice in American fiction.

Its a fact. Womens brains were built to deal with more than one thing at a time. We prove this everyday. We wake up, usually an hour to 1 1/2 hours before the guys. We shower, put on face that says, Look at me, husband, kids, job and house and somehow I still find time to put on makeup. Then off to the closet to find just the right outfit t that will have all the girls saying, Ooh, I love that outfit! Perfect hair, makeup, clothes, now its time to wake up the kids and debate with them for ...