Short Stories/Novellas

Contains the Edgar® nominated Best Short Story, "A Good Safe Place" by Judith Green. Contains the Agatha nominated Best Short Story, "Size Matters" by Sheila Connolly. Contains the Derringer nominated Best Flash Story, "The Book Signing," by Kathy Chencharik.

Just in time for the holidays, New York Times bestselling author Sheila Connolly gives you a short story that will whet your appetite and last just as long as your tea stays warm. In this quick taste of Sheila’s mysteries, a neighborhood that takes care of their own sometimes has to take care of business . . . “Dinty’s Bar has occupied the same corner in Cambridge since before I was born. Not the Cambridge with the glitzy shops and exotic restaurants catering to parents dropping their little darlings off at the Big H, or the Cambridge filled with techy wonks. Dinty’s keeps a toehold in the back end of Cambridge, between Central Square and the river. Its patrons come from the neighborhood and they’re pretty consistent: blue-collar, mostly construction workers, a scattering of cops and firefighters, all Irish in some way or another. Somehow this little area called Cambridgeport has escaped the gentrification that has crept through the city, and that’s the way the people here like it. I’m the one who doesn’t belong. I was one of those pampered students, and when I graduated I didn’t know what I wanted to do, or at least I knew what I didn’t want to do. I wanted some time with no grades, no letters of recommendation, no internships and interviews to make a professor or parent proud. Nope, I just wanted to stick around for a while and breathe. My bewildered parents didn’t put up much of an argument, and as a graduation present they gave their baby boy enough cash to put a deposit on a top-floor apartment in a rundown triple-decker, with enough left over to buy a bed and a kitchen table with a couple of chairs. I heard about the opening behind the bar at Dinty’s through a friend of a friend, and I’d wandered in with no expectations and gotten the job. Just for the summer, I thought. Three summers later I’m still here. After one of those increasingly rare calls from my folks, I try to convince myself that I’m collecting information for a novel that I’ll probably never write. Mostly I’m drifting and watching. It suits me, at least for now.” And so begins the latest short story from New York Times bestselling mystery author Sheila Connolly. Loosely based on an old Irish ballad, The Rising of the Moon tells the tale of a young bartender at an Irish pub in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and how, together with the community, he takes a stand against crime. In addition to the story, readers will get a sneak peek into the first book in Sheila’s new County Cork Mystery Series, Buried in a Bog. About the Author: Sheila Connolly began writing mysteries in 2001, and has since been nominated for an Agatha Award twice. Her most recent books are the New York Times bestselling Sour Apples (Orchard Mystery Series) and Fire Engine Dead (Museum Mystery Series). Her new series, set in Ireland, will debut with Buried in a Bog in 2013. Sheila lives in Massachusetts with her husband, daughter, and three cats.

Contains the Agatha and Anthony-nominated Best Short Story "Kept in the Dark" by Sheila Connolly, the Derringer-nominated stories "A Regular Story" by Peggy McFarland and "Double Wedding" by Mo Walsh and the Al Blanchard award-winning story "Out to Sea" by VR Barkowski. Level Best Books' tenth anthology presents thirty-one tales from New England's dark side written by the region's most acclaimed, award-winning crime and mystery authors, plus several exciting new voices. Noir and nuanced Hideous and hilarious Happy, sad, and barking mad-- Anything can happen under a Blood Moon.

National bestselling author Sheila Connolly presents a stand-alone story, only available digitally… After part-time librarian Sarabeth Dodson discovers elderly Edith Hathaway dead in a snowdrift in small-town Strathmere, Pennsylvania, she enlists the help of Police Chief Vanessa Hutchins to get to the bottom of the mystery. With no footprints around the body and no purse, what was the retired school teacher doing out in the middle of nowhere in the snow? The answer may have something to do with the library book Edith failed to return… Includes a preview of the first book in Sheila Connolly’s brand-new County Cork Mystery series— Buried in a Bog . Also includes excerpts from the first book in the Orchard Mystery series— One Bad Apple —and the first book in the Museum Mystery series— Fundraising the Dead .

Get just a taste of what readers love about the Irish stories of New York Times bestselling author Sheila Connolly in this stand-alone short story. Ellen Leonard is feeling both free and empty. Just out of a two-year relationship, she decides a trip to Ireland could be the perfect opportunity to shake off her lethargy and also reassert her independence. But as she settles in at a remote cottage in the Irish countryside and her days take on a comfortable routine, Ellen begins to discover that sometimes things that go bump don’t always do it just in the night. “Under the Hill” also features a sneak peek at two of Sheila’s newest books, Relatively Dead and Picked to Die . And watch for An Early Wake , the third book in the County Cork Mystery Series, coming in February! About the Author Sheila Connolly is an Anthony and Agatha Award–nominated author who writes the New York Times bestselling County Cork Mysteries, which draw heavily on her Irish ancestry and frequent trips to Ireland. She is also the author of the New York Times bestselling Museum Mysteries and Orchard Mysteries. In addition, she has published Once She Knew , a romantic suspense; Reunion with Death , a traditional mystery set in Tuscany; Relatively Dead , a paranormal romance and a New York Times bestseller ; and Seeing the Dead , as well as a number of short stories. She lives in Massachusetts with her husband and three cats.

A new short story from New York Times bestselling author Sheila Connolly! With working conditions deteriorating and tempers wearing thin, construction supervisor Mason is having enough trouble completing the massive building project on time and on budget—the last thing he needs is a dead body. Sure, on a job as big as this one accidents happen, but this death was no accident. Hoping to clear up the murder quickly, Mason begins to search the site and question the construction crew who have set up camp nearby. But with few clues and fewer suspects, he’ll have to turn to an unlikely source for the solution—and an explanation that’s as old as the project he’s given his life too. About the Author: Sheila Connolly is an Anthony and Agatha Award–nominated author who writes four bestselling cozy mystery series: the Museum Mysteries, the Orchard Mysteries, the County Cork Mysteries, and the Relatively Dead Mysteries. In addition, she has published Once She Knew , a romantic suspense; Reunion with Death , a traditional mystery set in Tuscany; and a number of short stories. She lives in Massachusetts with her husband and three cats and travels to Ireland as often as possible.