As a publisher of predominantly full-length fiction, we always wanted to create a collection of short stories by our talented Crooked Cat authors – so here it is!
You will find twenty tantalising tasters from Crooked Cats from the UK and the US, all keen to showcase their writing skills with glimpses into their existing releases, or with something new altogether.
Twenty stories of historical and contemporary fiction, crime and drama, fantasy, humour and ghostly shenanigans. Murder. Love. Adventure. Gossip. Growing up. Scheming. Friendship – Crooked Cats’ Tales has it all!
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Crooked Cat authors and their contributions:
Cocktail Hour by Pamela Kelt
A Rescue in Graphite by Maggie Secara
Once Again by KB Walker
The Pied Piper of Larus by Kathy Sharp
Her Visitors by Ailsa Abraham
White Rose by Carol Hedges
A Bright New Copper by Catriona King
Altared by Adele Elliott
Misgivings by Nancy Jardine
Saturday Fever by Sue Barnard
The Wanderer by T.E. Taylor
Sheffield Steel by Trevor Ripley
The Blue House by Carol Maginn
Processionary Penitents by Nik Morton
The Second Summer of Love by Michela O’Brien Young Loves by Jeff Gardiner
Cradle of Man by J.L. Bwye
Silken Knots by Frances di Plino
The Thread that Binds by Mark Patton
Boo! by David W Robinson
From the Bestselling Author of RUIN.
The ring of the emperor Diocletian was lost long ago. However, a modern-day Russian oligarch is willing to pay whatever it takes to find and own it. He has hired an expert, Daniel Taylor, to track it down in Rome. Meanwhile, another Englishman, another man, a very different Daniel Taylor, has arrived to enjoy a holiday in the Eternal City. Their identities are mistaken in the quest for the ring. As confusion mounts, and the stakes grow higher, their fates are increasingly entangled.
Murder. Betrayal. Hope.
On his return from battle at Lincoln, Geoffrey de Mortagne, under-sheriff of Gloucester and spy for the Empress Matilda, assists a dying knight caught in an ambush. Promising to look after the welfare of the knight’s only daughter, Geoffrey stays at her manor, investigating the murder. Keen to join the Empress on her progress through England, he is torn between his oath and his duty.
Left to defend her manor following her father’s death, Alleyne de Bellac reluctantly accepts Geoffrey’s support. As she doesn’t trust the taciturn stranger, she asks Will d’Arques, an old friend, for help. But loyalties change. Her life in danger and her inheritance at stake, Alleyne must decide which man to trust.
Discover England and Normandy divided by a brutal civil war, where vows are broken as allegiances waver.
“…a great read…”
“…captivating…engrossing…highly recommended”
“Read everything with his name on” – Tony Parsons
“A little bit of Fellini/Fitzgerald in feeling” – Oliver Stone
In these 24 short stories, author Tom Ward invites you inside a world at times heartbreaking, occasionally violent, and often perverse.
Featuring: a sophisticated assassin, celebratory Parisian cabaret dancers and a magazine cool enough to literally explode minds, and diving into: love and shattered hopes in the South of France, the ghost of Norman Mailer, a disgraced Father Christmas, and cannibalistic school teachers, there’s something here for everyone to enjoy, or at least be offended by.
And that’s before we’ve even touched on: Lithuanian beauties, fingers cut to the bone, a bag of eyeballs, Mexican evenings with dishonoured famous cyclists, Charles Bukowksi’s pub, and the latest in scientific seduction techniques.
Oh, and there’s the occasional dog, as well.
Includes the GQ Norman Mailer Award-winning ‘Four Night Stand’
They do like to be beside the seaside.
With The Lazy Luncheonette under threat of redevelopment, Joe, Sheila and Brenda take time off for the STAC Easter outing to Blackpool, fun capital of the North of England. But after a scrape with a drunken lorry driver on the motorway, Joe finds himself embroiled in a double murder at a parcel distribution depot where everything is done by the book.
Confronted with obstinate police officers, reluctant witnesses and a tangled puzzle of personality clashes, Joe is driven to distraction trying to pin down the killer. Hounded by a determined property tycoon and wooed by an amorous shop steward, Joe is sure of only one thing…
It’s MURDER at the mail order depot.
1966.
Four seventeen and eighteen year-olds from South London – Carol-Anne, Jeanette, Terry, and Mark – head to Brighton, intent on a weekend of seaside fun. Dancing, drinking, and sex are high on the agenda, and not necessarily in that order.
It’s the Swinging Sixties, and the world is changing fast. An exciting time, but a confusing one, too. Freedom is all very well, but brings with it endless worries and complications. Each of the teenagers has a secret; nobody is quite what they seem.
Especially Jeanette.
When she disappears on a night out, tensions begin to rise as the others struggle to work out what to do. They agree on two points: no parents, and no police.
But can they really handle the situation on their own?
In the midst of the chaos, one thing is certain: after the weekend, nothing will ever be the same again.
Has this puppy landed on his paws?
Dougal the Labradoodle – a complete hypochondriac and Boris Johnson’s #1 fan – arrives in Greenwich with great expectations.
He longs to travel the world on Virgin Atlantic, dine at royal banquets and either become a superstar and party the night away or work as a doorman at the Savoy. Imagine all the treats!
Behaviour classes were never on his wish-list, neither were cliff-hanging experiences on the Thames, booze cruises to Calais or obsessions for eating socks. And as for traipsing across London – he most certainly faced mortal danger!
Can Dougal survive life with a chaotic owner and her eccentric friends? Can he deal with his jealousy when a foster puppy comes to stay?
And as for his dreams of fame and treats, will they ever come true?
Katie Button is getting married!
On a surprise trip to New York City, James pops the question. Wedding planning is the top of Katie’s lists (mainly on Pinterest). Whilst celebrating their engagement with James’ brother, Jack, their father, John Sr. and Jack’s ex-soap star girlfriend, Saskia, Saskia makes a sarcastic comment about long engagements and Katie blurts out a wedding in June, leaving only five months to plan. But confidence is one thing Katie doesn’t lack and can do this, once the honeymoon period of their relationship passes. Which is does, quickly when Peter shows them his manuscript for his book based on Katie and James’ past lives. James is less than impressed and a row ensues, causing Katie to experience a past life dream.
Prequel to the Amazon #1 bestselling, THE HAUNTING OF HIGHDOWN HALL, by Shani Struthers.
“Eve is a poignant story with a knockout impact.”
~ Mallory Heart Reviews
What do you do when a whole town is haunted?
In 1899, in the North Yorkshire market town of Thorpe Morton, a tragedy occurred; 59 people died at the market hall whilst celebrating Christmas Eve, many of them children. One hundred years on and the spirits of the deceased are restless still, ‘haunting’ the community, refusing to let them forget.
In 1999, psychic investigators Theo Lawson and Ness Patterson are called in to help, sensing immediately on arrival how weighed down the town is. Quickly they discover there’s no safe haven. The past taints everything.
Hurtling towards the anniversary as well as a new millennium, their aim is to move the spirits on, to cleanse the atmosphere so everyone – the living and the dead – can start again. But the spirits prove resistant and soon Theo and Ness are caught up in battle, fighting against something that knows their deepest fears and can twist them in the most dangerous of ways.
They’ll need all their courage to succeed and the help of a little girl too – a spirit who didn’t die at the hall, who shouldn’t even be there…
