This collection features twenty short stories from humorous thriller writer J.A. Konrath. Included are a few hardboiled tales, some noir, some parody and satire, a few straight-out comedy pieces, and a few stories that didn't fit into Konrath's other two collections, Horror Stories and Jack Daniels Stories.

The twenty stories include:
The Big Guys - Flash fiction, winner of the Derringer Award.
A Fistful of Cozy - A satire of the mystery cozy genre.
Cleansing - An ancient crime of biblical proportions.
Lying Eyes - Solve it yourself, given the clues.
Perfect Plan - Another solve it yourself. Don't you remember One Minute Mysteries and Encyclopedia Brown?
Piece of Cake - Another solve it yourself, originally featured in Woman's World.
Animal Attraction - Solve it yourself.
Urgent Reply Needed - A cautionary tale about dealing with spammers.
Blaine's Deal - A parody of hardboiled noir.
Light Drizzle - A light-hearted send-up of hitman stories.
An Archaeologist's Story - How digging up old bones leads to fresh corpses.
Don't Press That Button! - An essay about the gadgets in the James Bond universe, and which you need to buy.
Piranha Pool - A writer seeking criticism pays the ultimate price.
A Newbie's Guide to Thrillerfest - Never been to a mystery conference? Here's the in-depth dirt.
Inspector Oxnard - He's either brilliant, or too stupid to breathe.
One Night Only - A sports fan ends up in jail, all for the love of the game.
Could Stephanie Plum Car Really Get Car Insurance? - An essay about Janet Evanovich's famous character.
Cozy or Hardboiled? - Take the test to find out which type of book you're reading.
Addiction - What's the worst drug you can get hung up on?
Weigh To Go - A humor column about health clubs.

If you are a more sensitive (or adventurous) reader, this handy scale rates specific categories from 1 (lowest) to 10 (highest) to give you some idea if this is your kind of book.

CRIME STORIES by JA Konrath
Bad Language - 5
Scary - 5
Violent - 5
Funny - 7
Sexy - 2

• We started tracking this book on August 24, 2010.
• This book was $2.99 when we started tracking it.
• The price of this book has changed 17 times in the past 5,451 days.
• The current price of this book is $0.99 last checked 4 hours ago.
• This lowest price this book has been offered at in the past year is FREE.
• The lowest price to date was FREE last reached on July 8, 2025.
• This book has been FREE 8 times since we started tracking it.
• The highest price to date was $2.99 last reached on August 24, 2010.
• This book has been $2.99 one time since we started tracking it.

• Literature & FictionHumor & SatireSatire
• Humor & EntertainmentHumorSatire
• Mystery, Thriller & SuspenseMysteryTraditional Detectives

• Publication Date: March 1, 2010
• Text-to-Speech: Disabled
• Lending: Disabled
• Print Length: 156 Pages
• File Size: 608 KB