Stories

We return to Orono, Maine, where Detective Gennaro Saggio makes another appearance. This time, the killer is even harder to track down than was Parker Toliver, she of ‘The Fascinator Murders.’

Detective Gennaro Saggio’s first email of the new year announces a murder. Curiously, it is signed OOOI. The victim was a suspected arsonist, found dead in an abandoned warehouse. A suicide note was present, but the victim was handcuffed in a closed and chained tanning bed. The victim had previously been arrested, tried, and acquitted of first-degree murder, and arson.

Apparently, someone didn’t believe he was innocent.

Alex Mason and Jack Langdon have more in common then they might acknowledge. They, along with Niomi Asouta, find themselves in a paradisical location on a very important photo shoot for Ardmani. This could make or brake their careers, earn them and the company they work for lots of money. But behind the facade there are darker movements embroiling them all in a murderous whirlwind with dramatic consequences.

Note: Detective Eliott Carter appears in my short story The Vanishing Act posted on GA.

In this short story we are introduced to his sidekick, Danny Fink (Prompt 113 - Challenge). Together they investigate a fire at the Pink Flamingo club.

Avery Noonan is a man with a unique ability. He sees people’s auras. He not only sees them, but he sees them in different colors. As he ages, he discovers the colors each take on their own meaning. He continues to learn more and more about this ability as his life progresses.

Damien Moreau has disappeared and his vanishing act causes waves. A well known figure in the world of art and antiquities who cannot be found raises questions. Not least from his protégé, the budding artist Ethan Blake. The investigative skills of Detective Eliott Carter are called upon, but the eventual turn of events leads only to a deepening mystery.

Orono, Maine had been panicked by a curious serial killer. The killer always leaves a fancy hat, called a fascinator, at the scene of the crime.

The few clues point toward a female perpetrator, which is fairly unusual. As little as 8% up to 17% of serial killers are women. The killing method is always different. The victims apparently have nothing in common. And the only common clue besides the hat is a few strands of hair, likely a woman’s. Other clues indicating a woman killer are left but are as random as the victims.

Is the woman who has that hair the suspect, or is it a case of massive misdirection?

To have someone to love is one of life’s greatest gifts, his grandma used to say. However, what grandma didn’t know, and Otis didn’t have the heart to tell her, was that getting there in this day and age required going through a painful phase called dating. Something he’s not very good at, to put it lightly. However, when someone moves in an apartment a few doors down from his, Otis begins to see the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel.

Full summary inside.

We follow Ken, Joe, Tom and George as they take a long awaited vaction. They decide to go to South Beach.

We follow Ken and family, as Ken receives a letter concerning something that happened whilst at University.

We follow Tom and George Vincente-Hall as they start at Binghampton University.