Dead Man S Tale

The gates of the prison slowly open. The frail bent man limps out after seventeen years. Little does he understand of the trap he is walking into. Can he stay alive? Can he keep his children safe? Does he have the skill it will take? It will take all he learned in prison and more. Strap yourself in, it will be a bumpy ride.

Who killed Arnold Gibbs is no great mystery. Or is it? Dallas homicide detective Reese Barrett strives to solve a riddle, which involved a suspect that has an alibi at the assumed time of death. But more puzzling is why the dying man was kidnapped from a coma ward in a major hospital when doctors projected he had only weeks to live. And who is the victim now occupying his bed, forced into an irreversible coma and bearing Arnold Gibbss identification? After his partner is hospitalized, Barrett finds hes alone in search of a solution to the puzzling conspiracy of murder, which has a lot more questions than answers. His first solo case is complicated further by the reappearance of a ghost from his past, an attractive young woman whose search for justice for her murdered husband was blocked by Reeses incompetence as a rookie. Reese follows the threads of what is almost certainly a conspiracy, well aware that the eyes of a woman he is growing to love had witnessed his failure three years earlier. This time, he does not have the aid of his senior partner and will be totally responsible for the outcome.

Charlie Moon, Ute rancher and investigator, isn't afraid to throw the dice even when a man's life is at stake, but when that man is betting against himself and Moon's ability to save him, that makes for some awfully high stakes. Hard times have come to Colorado, and Moon's ranch is feeling the pinch. Investor Samuel Reed has never had that problem. He seems to have a special intuition when it comes to picking stocks and claims to be able to remember the future, which gives him quite a leg up on Wall Street. So it's no surprise that Reed is confident when he makes a wager with Moon's best friend, Granite City Chief of Police Scott Parish, that Parish can't keep him alive. Even when Reed doesn't give them any details beyond the date and time of his impending demise, that's more than enough information for Moon who wants in on the action and is just as confident that he's well on the way to saving his ranch. But Moon's best plans go awry when instead of one homicide on his hands, he ends up with two. James D. Doss infuses the pages of A Dead Man's Tale, the fifteenth in his popular series, with his potent brand of high spirits and homespun humor that has made him a favorite among mystery readers.

Dead Man's Tale & Other Stories is a collection of short thrilling stories. The strange events that are conveyed in each story will compel you to ask what really transpired. They will arouse your curiosity and send chills down your spine ... for you thought you knew all things.

A fixer hunts down a man in Europe for the sake of his lover’s fortune In 1943, Barney Street was flying a bombing mission over Holland when the Germans knocked his plane out of the sky. He bailed out at the last minute and was rescued from the Nazis by a Czech officer named Milo Hacha. Decades later, Street is dead, and his widow is desperate to get her greedy mitts on his estate. There’s just one problem: His will leaves every cent to Hacha, who disappeared years ago. Street’s widow hires her lover, Steve Longacre, to go to Europe in search of the missing benefactor. If he’s dead, all is well. If not, Longacre will have to kill him. From Holland to Switzerland and beyond the Iron Curtain, Longacre stalks the Czech’s trail. He may have come for money, but he’ll be lucky to escape with his life.

Longarm enlists a play-pretty in a game of play-deadly! Deputy U.S. Marshal Custis Long is out to recover fifty grand that the late Abner Prentiss hid away before being arrested—in the company of hired gal-pal Cherry Poppin. Since Prentiss murdered his partners, his former play-pretty may be the only one who can lead Longarm to the stash. But traipsing around town with everyone’s favorite whore is no way to conduct an investigation—and Longarm is soon defending Miss Poppin’s honor like a latter-day Don Quixote. And now that a suddenly cash-rich local lawman may be involved, it looks like a lot more blood will be shed over this dead outlaw’s blood money…

After the collapse of California's economy and the film industry's departure from Hollywood for greener pastures, Chicago developed a niche for producing television commercials. This business is now being threatened by a predator who is stalking the performers and stealing their most valuable assets. A native Chicagoan hunts the hunter and in the process, uncovers a conspiracy of historic proportions.