Crime Stories: Twenty Thriller Tales

Written by J.A. Konrath

Narrated by Luke Daniels and Dick Hill

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.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio
• Release date: Mar 13, 2012
• ISBN: 9781455812233

J.A. Konrath

Joe Konrath has sold more than two million books in twenty countries. He’s written over thirty novels and over a hundred short stories in the mystery, thriller, horror, and sci-fi genres. He’s twice won the Love is Murder Award for best thriller, and has also won the Derringer Award, and the Ellery Queen Readers Choice Award, and has been nominated for many others including the Anthony, Macavity, and Gumshoe. Konrath edited the collection These Guns for Hire, and his fiction has appeared in dozens of magazines and anthologies including Ellery Queen, Alfred Hitchcock, Cemetery Dance, The Strand, Thriller edited by James Patterson, and Wolfsbane & Mistletoe edited by Charlaine Harris (True Blood). He’s considered a pioneer in self-publishing. His blog, A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing, gets several million hits per year, and Konrath has been featured in Forbes, Entertainment Weekly, Newsweek, Playboy, USA Today, Time, Woman's World, the LA Times, and the New York Times among many other periodicals. He also blogs for the Huffington Post. Find out more at www.jakonrath.com.

Reviews for Crime Stories

[Monica Wojtak Barden · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

LOVE IT!!
Excellent writing, spectacular narration. Lovers of dark comedy will adore the writing style. I listened to the second story, a parody of cozy mysteries, several times because the all of it was so dang hilarious. Frankly, cozy mysteries had it coming. I am going to scour to find everything this author has written.

Well done.

[bsiemens_2 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I read the first two stories. It is quality writing and I personally didn't appreciate the style.