A sign of the crimes
Collected murder mystery and other crime fiction from the keyboard of R. G. Taylor
These short stories are all of the murder-mystery and general crime genre. Each presents a puzzle, inviting the reader to solve it. Then again, you could say that about any fictional story... other than the most predictable. All these tales are written by me, Raymond G. Taylor (Ray to my friends) and I hope some at least will pique your interest. Some you may wonder, at first, why they appear here. That is all part of the mystery. Followers of my work may recognise some of the stories that they have seen before. I hope there are some you have not and which you will equally...
ENJOY
"No, don’t! It’s not allowed."
Lucy spluttered as she spoke, half giggling, shifting from foot to foot in her nervous excitement. With all three of them standing on the tiny space at the rear of the boat, it looked as if she would fall off at any moment.
Continue to read: Tunnels of love
O ~ o ~
I came to this town to do a job and keep my head down. Sure, there is plenty of excitement here, if that’s what you’re looking for. I wasn’t.
Continue to read: A new job in the big city
O ~ o ~
"Kindly read from the passage in your book, Mrs Christie. So that the jury may hear the words you wrote."
Continue to read: Murder she wrought
O ~ o ~
I ended up in Grand Central Station. All I had to decide was what to do and where to go next. As I stood there, a stranger came up and asked me: “Do you need any help?”
Continue to read: Grand Central
O ~ o ~
Jeremy Connor carefully tapped the last section of colored glass into place, completing the gilded key motif.
Continue to read: Window to the soul
O ~ o
I was nervous as hell that day. It had all been arranged. As one of only three senior executives with access to the strong room combination, I was alone out back with Christmas takings of over $2.5m in used notes awaiting cash-in-transit collection. The heist mob agreed a cut of $250,000 to me as the inside man.
Continue to read: The inside job
I'd seen gray snow, I'd seen brown, mushy snow on the highway. I'd seen yellow snow too, but this was the first time I had seen pink snow. The sight of it turned my stomach. The crimson stain had grown into a shadow, an outline, like an island. The spatter from the blow had left a telltale bloody trail leading away from the gaping wound in the victim's head.
Continue to read: Telltale crimson trail
O ~ o ~
All I could hear was a rushing, roaring sound, like a waterfall or a drum roll, or maybe a radio not quite tuned in. The noise blotted out all other sound. I thought I had seen a bright flash of light. Perhaps it was lightning, a distant thundercloud. I tried to open my eyes without success. There was a vague notion of someone speaking but I could discern nothing meaningful.
Continue to read: Dreams in which I'm dying
A married couple take a friend on a weekend trip to an isolated cabin in the snow. A story of betrayal and revenge.
Continue to read: Two's company
Ambitious to find something better, young fisherman Jim still earns a living from the sea.
Continue to read: Lord help poor fishermen
To me, the ‘eerie’ silence of the secluded sepulchre was a welcome respite from the hustle and bustle of the wicked world outside. If I found what I was looking for it would certainly be worth my while.
Continue to read: A macabre profession
He was the politest thief I ever met.
Continue to read: A great train robber
O ~ o ~
About the Creator
Raymond G. Taylor
Author living in Kent, England. Writer of short stories and poems in a wide range of genres, forms and styles. A non-fiction writer for 40+ years. Subjects include art, history, science, business, law, and the human condition.
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By John Oliver Smith7 days ago in Humor
Comments (4)
Collecting a list of stories by theme is a great idea! Thanks for putting this together; my lunch break tomorrow is going to be much more fun!
There seems to be a few that I've not read. I'll bookmark this piece and revisit when I have some free time
Great array of creepy stories! I had already read most of them, but took a look at the ones I had not as well. Wonderful idea to put them all in a collective piece.
You have quite the collection here. I can picture them on lined up on a library shelf waiting to be read.