I love nothing better than surprising the readers of my short stories with a big twist in the end. They think the story is going in one direction and, bang, it ends up some place else. This is true of A Dish Served Cold, a crime short story set in Arizona. If any readers can guess the ending, I'd love to hear from them (through my website)!

When a night-time call to 911 from a secluded Wisconsin vacation house is cut short, offduty deputy Brynn McKenzie leaves her husband and son at the dinner table and drives up to Lake Mondac to investigate. Was it a misdial or an aborted crime report?

From Jeffery Deaver — the New York Times bestselling author of the upcoming Lincoln Rhyme novel THE KILL ROOM (on sale June 4, 2013) — comes an original short story featuring Rhyme. When a young woman is found brutally murdered in a parking garage, with a veritable mountain of potential evidence to sift through, it may be the most challenging case former NYPD detective Lincoln Rhyme has ever taken on.

Jeffery Deaver's Short Stories

EDITORIAL REVIEW: **Lincoln Rhyme is back, on the trail of a killer whose weapon of choice cripples New York City with fear. **The weapon is invisible and omnipresent. Without it, modern society grinds to a halt. It is electricity. The killer harnesses and steers huge arc flashes with voltage so high and heat so searing that steel melts and his victims are set afire. When the first explosion occurs in broad daylight, reducing a city bus to a pile of molten, shrapnel-riddled metal, officials fear terrorism. Rhyme, a world-class forensic criminologist known for his successful apprehension of the most devious criminals, is immediately tapped for the investigation. Long a quadriplegic, he assembles NYPD detective Amelia Sachs and officer Ron Pulaski as his eyes, ears and legs on crime sites, and FBI agent Fred Dellray as his undercover man on the street. As the attacks continue across the city at a sickening pace, and terrifying demand letters begin appearing, the team works desperately against time and with maddeningly little forensic evidence to try to find the killer. Or is it killers . . . ? Meanwhile, Rhyme is consulting on another high-profile investigation in Mexico with a most coveted quarry in his crosshairs: the hired killer known as the Watchmaker, one of the few criminals to have eluded Rhyme’s net. Juggling two massive investigations against a cruel ticking clock takes a toll on Rhyme’s health. Soon Rhyme is fighting on yet another front—and his determination to work despite his physical limitations threatens to drive away his closest allies when he needs them most . . .

COUNTRY-POP INGÉNUE Kayleigh Towne’s career is just reaching new heights with her huge hit single “Your Shadow”—but increased fame is also bringing unwanted attention. An innocent exchange with one of her fans, signed with an “XO,” leads Kayleigh into the dangerous and terrifying realm of obsession. Edwin Sharp thinks Kayleigh’s songs contain messages that speak directly to him. Despite her clear rejection and threats from lawyers and law enforcers, he remains convinced that “Your Shadow” was written just for him, and he announces he’s coming for Kayleigh. Then a potentially fatal accident occurs at the concert hall where Kayleigh is rehearsing for a triumphant hometown performance, and she is convinced that someone—maybe Edwin—was there watching her from the darkness. True to his word, Edwin Sharp soon makes an ominous appearance in town, and California Bureau of Investigation Agent Kathryn Dance, a friend and fan of Kayleigh’s on vacation in Fresno to attend the show, intervenes on her behalf, drawing Sharp’s frightening attention to herself. That night a member of the road crew whom Kayleigh had once dated is murdered in an eerie echo of an image from her chart-topping song. As more deaths loom on the horizon, Kathryn Dance must use her considerable skills at investigation and body-language analysis to stop the stalker and save more innocent victims. But before long she learns that, like many celebrities, Kayleigh has more than one fan with a mission . . . This nail-biting thriller from suspense master Jeffery Deaver speeds along over just three short days, filled with terrifying twists that will keep readers held in rapt suspense until the final shocking revelation.Review“Thriller Award-winner Deaver’s excellent third novel featuring Kathryn Dance (after 2009’s Roadside Crosses) takes the California Bureau of Investigation agent on a vacation . . . plenty of surprises and red herrings complement developments in Dance’s problematic relations with boyfriend Jon Boling and Det. Michael O’Neil . . . Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs, the leads of Deaver’s other series, make cameo appearances in a novel sure to please fans of both.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)“Fans of Deaver’s celebrated sleuthing marathons will wait with bated breath as this onion is peeled to disclose multiple layers of deception, betrayal and triple crosses.”—*Kirkus Reviews*“Written with Deaver’s usual keen eye for dialogue and character and featuring his customary right-angle plot twists, the novel will be a sure-fire hit with not only his legion of fans but also with readers who have yet to sample a Deaver novel. And Deaver fans who have felt that the Dance novels aren’t quite as sharp as his Lincoln Rhyme series might have to think again. This may be the most compelling of the Dance books.”—*Booklist*About the AuthorJeffery Deaver’s most recent #1 international bestseller is Carte Blanche, the new James Bond novel that brought Ian Fleming’s Agent 007 firmly into the modern age. After revealing his lifelong admiration for Fleming’s novels while accepting the Crime Writer’s Association Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award for his thriller Garden of Beasts, Deaver was approached by the estate of Ian Fleming to write the next Bond thriller. It debuted on bestseller lists around the world.The author of two collections of short stories and 28 previous suspense novels, Deaver is best known for his Kathryn Dance and Lincoln Rhyme thrillers, most notably The Bone Collector, which was made into a feature starring Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie.  His many awards include the Novel of the Year at the International Thriller Writers’ Awards in 2009 for his standalone novel The Bodies Left Behind. The latest entries in the Lincoln Rhyme series are The Cold Moon, The Broken Window, and The Burning Wire.  Deaver has been nominated for seven Edgar Awards by the Mystery Writers of America, an Anthony Award and a Gumshoe Award. He was recently short-listed for the ITV3 Crime Thriller Award for Best International Author. His books are sold in 150 countries and translated into 25 languages. He lives in North Carolina.For further information, visit www.jefferydeaver.com.

'The face of war is changing. The other side doesn't play by the rules much anymore. There's thinking, in some circles, that we need to play by a different set of rules too…' James Bond, in his early thirties and already a veteran of the Afghan War, has been recruited to a new organization. Conceived in the post-9/11 world, it operates independent of MI5, MI6 and the Ministry of Defense, its very existence deniable. Its aim: To protect the Realm, by any means necessary. A Night Action alert calls James Bond away from dinner with a beautiful woman. Headquarters has decrypted an electronic whisper about an attack scheduled for later in the week: Casualties estimated in the thousands, British interests adversely affected. And Agent 007 has been given carte blanche.

When a lawyer discovers the possible existence of a lost, secret second novel from America's favorite writer, all hell breaks loose.For years, Frederick Lowell has quietly managed the estate of the revered novelist Edward Goodwin. Though the author of only one novel, that book has gone on to sell hundreds of millions of copies, keeping Lowell comfortable, as well as Goodwin's ne'er-do-well and feckless children. Then word comes that a sequel to the novel may in fact exist, and Lowell becomes a detective, navigating a series of startling twists that take him from a Hamptons retreat to a state penitentiary, from a Westchester homestead to a decaying Southern hotel. "The Sequel" is Jeffrey Deaver at his finest, diabolically plotted and filled with rich characterizations."The Sequel" by Jeffrey Deaver is one of 20 short stories within Mulholland Books's Strand Originals series, featuring thrilling stories by the biggest names in mystery from the Strand...