Mystery Stories

Dr. H. Ashford

The call came at twelve minutes past midnight, which Mrs. Vera Calloway considered an imposition of the first order. She had been a conservator of decorative ar…

Yuki Kazehara

By the time Shinji Arai noticed the envelope, he had already mopped the booking hall twice and locked three doors that no one was likely to open again that even…

Luc Devereaux

The lock turns with a wet click. Not rust—blood, maybe, or just the damp of Marseille’s breath on metal. Thierry wipes his palm on his thigh, leaves a smear lik…

Yuki Kazehara

By the time Rieko Suda burned her fingers on the brass button, she had already decided the evening was badly organised. The washing machine at the end of the ro…

Marcus Veil

1. The pump cycled at 0400 hours, a rhythmic shudder that vibrated through the soles of Elara’s boots. It didn't sound like the usual harmonic resonance of an a…

Luc Devereaux

The dish towel is pink at the knuckles. Fabien doesn’t look at his hand. He looks at the envelope. Manila, A4, sealed with a strip of packing tape that’s alread…

Marcus Veil

1. The hydrostatic pressure alarm chirped, a flat, insistent tone that scrubbed against the interior of Lena’s helmet. She ran a gloved hand over the cold, swea…

Yuki Kazehara

The umbrella had no owner. That was the first thing Kenji Matsuda noticed when he knelt to collect it from the waiting area at Namba Station. Rainwater pooled i…

Dr. H. Ashford

The smell reached her before the light did. This is what Mrs. Ruth Ellery recorded in the notebook she kept in her cardigan pocket — the small green Silvine tha…

Cass Ferren

The wardrobe smells like naphthalene and something under it. Cedar, maybe. Or just wood remembering damp. You open both doors because one alone felt like prying…

Luc Devereaux

Cold rain drips from my eyebrows. The flickering neon sign of the *Café de la Nuit* reflected in the rain-slicked cobblestones. An ornate key, discarded, glints…

Dr. H. Ashford

Being the account of Miss Agnes Culver, housemaid, as transcribed by Dr. F. W. Hartington, physician, during her period of convalescence at St. Mildred's Infirm…