Warm Hands, Cold Heart

By Ray FitzGerald

Crimes happen every day, everywhere. What they have in common is typically a criminal and a victim.

But what happens when the lines between the two blur? We present to you a collection of short stories where the victim can sometimes be the criminal, or vice versa. It's up to you, the reader, to decide who is truly guilty and worthy of your disdain.

Included in this collection:

Regrets: Poor Bob Johnson can't seem to win. First, he finds his wife of 15 years is cheating on him. Then, when he tries to cancel the hit he's put out on her for revenge, his whole plan goes haywire. Can't a guy catch a break?

Keep Your Eye on the Hanging Man: A small town has its biggest event in years when master magician Harry Houdini puts on an escape act in the middle of the park. But while the show is taking place in the air, the townspeople get more than they bargained for down below.

Big Thunder: After 10 years of sweat and sacrifice, Jimmy Rogers has finally risen to the pinnacle of his career - head of maintenance on the greatest roller coaster at Happytown Amusement Park. On his first day on the job, there's a problem. This is one even Happy the Hound Dog can't solve and one that could end in disaster for a whole lot people.

Warm Hands Cold Heart: A serial strangler is on the loose and cops have no idea which lead to follow. A young newspaper reporter is on the case, but the cost of getting his stories on the front page of the paper is more than the city dwellers are willing to pay...but someone has to pay.

Nothing: Who says a high school dropout can't be a success? With a ten-year reunion days away, one man sets out to prove that things aren't always what they seem on the surface and that failure isn't always habit forming.

Top-40 Hit - Edgar Johnson is the biggest radio host in Austin, Texas. But that isn't enough to pay the bills when his wife is diagnosed with cancer. A high-interest loan puts a Band-Aid on things, but Edgar's next move is one that even he doesn't expect.

Bound by Hate - The old man Plimpton's prized race horse has come up missing and there are too many suspects to count. Who wouldn't want to stick it to the crotchety old miser? Don't blink during this one, because finding the horse, and keeping everyone alive, might just come down to a photo finish.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ray FitzGerald
• Release date: May 13, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370838639

Ray FitzGerald

Ray FitzGerald lives in Gainesville, Florida, where he writes hard-boiled detective fiction and pulp stories in the style of his heroes from the golden age of the genre. His main series features detective Frank Frost, who tackles cases big and small in Hollywood during the early 1940s - the golden age of the film industry. He is a veteran journalist and has been published in hundreds of newspapers and magazines over the last decade. Ray FitzGerald is inspired by the world around him, as well as what he reads; his literary influences include Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, W.R. Burnett, Cornell Woolrich, David Goodis and Michael Avallone. He is an avid classic film fan, with heavy interest in anything starring Humphrey Bogart and a wide range of early Film Noir pieces. He is currently working on a new Jimmy Powers Adventures series. He recently finished the first of a serialized Frank Frost Mystery series that will be broken up into episodes and seasons. Season One, Episode One - entitled "Trap Her Keeper" is scheduled to be released in June, 2017, with subsequent episodes every week until the end of the season.

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