A young woman is murdered in Armstrong City, Luna, and both the police and organized crime want to understand why. Captivating.
Content warnings 1
death
Detective Noir
20 free-to-read stories tagged “Detective Noir”
"You see them, the shadows, everywhere. They look like the person you knew, maybe someone you were related to, maybe someone you loved. Always someone you lost. But they aren’t that someone. That’s the infuriating and the comforting part. They can’t be...
"Did you know,” the Ijt Ambassador said, as she sipped gently at her soup with her long, blue, curling tongue, “that your predecessor, in an act of yofishi —” the translator choked on the word, but Station Commander Ennie Niagara knew that it meant...
A private detective tries to find a source for a device that makes you feel really good when you hold it. So good he can’t think of anything else. A device that’s out of this world.
Content warnings 2
self-harmsubstance-use
"On the morning of June 3rd, 2307, Galactic Standard, Mo cycled through her hundreds of sensors, checking that everything on the Eris Express was well. Her processors whirred as she calculated trajectories for the ship, which she always found calming. She...
"When the vault in the abandoned coal mine collapsed, it took four days for the engineers to complete their inspection and certify that it was safe for law enforcement personnel to enter the site. Beth drove out from town with her deputy, Ken Osgood, and...
Content warnings 1
suicide
"Orli staggered out of the door of her suite, her workbag over her shoulder, her hands shaking. The back of her right shoe had crumpled under her heel after she’d slid her foot into the supposedly comfortable loafer (lies, all the claims about comfort here...
Content warnings 2
abuseviolence
"Before I bothered traveling for six months to see it for myself, Sunfire had been described to me in glowing terms as a palace in the sky. Phrases like that immediately trigger my alarms. I begin to suspect that someone’s trying to sell me something."
"Taffy’s bedroom was a bit too warm, but I sensed that the chamber itself was cold. Couldn’t feel it of course. It was just a projection from Geneva. And it was probable that none of the people I faced were really at ARM’s Geneva facility at all. The...
Content warnings 2
animal-harmsuicide
"The funeral began when the temple clock tolled at sunset, crimson and lavender and gold clouds against a violet sky. Or an artificial version of nightfall—day changing to night on the video screens tiling the walls and ceiling of the giant cavern that...
Content warnings 2
death-of-a-loved-oneviolence
The hard-boiled narrator runs investigations in cyberspace and reality. This time they’ve got a murder to solve, and it’s proving a challenge—even though they saw it happen.
Content warnings 1
sexual-violence
"Police detective Hector Kovack couldn’t take the bullet back. He lay in the gray, predawn ooze of a hungover Martian Tuesday morning, twisting the thought with all his might. Or trying. Drunk, hungover or sober, the truth wouldn’t twist. No matter how...
Content warnings 2
substance-useviolence
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
PseudoPod 1042: Jerry Got Bit – Part 1 is a PseudoPod original. C/W: implied child abuse, guns From the author: “One of the questions I’d always left for myself in previous stories in this setting was where Jerry the werewolf had come from. It was clear...
Content warnings 2
deathviolence
PseudoPod 1043: Jerry Got Bit – Part 2 is a PseudoPod original. C/W: implied child abuse, guns From the author: “One of the questions I’d always left for myself in previous stories in this setting was where Jerry the werewolf had come from. It was clear...
Content warnings 3
deathgoreviolence
Maria Haddid looked like she was screaming. I’ve heard singers say that’s all singing is deep down, but if you’ve seen enough screams you won’t often get them mixed up. The faithful gathered around her in the picture—the soccer mom, the children, the...
Content warnings 2
substance-useviolence
“The Hollow Temple” was first published in Black Mask, December 1928. This is the second of four novelettes that were fixed up into the novel The Dain Curse. I Eric Collison came into my office. There was too much pink in his eyes and not any in his skin....
“The Hollow Temple” was first published in Black Mask, December 1928. This is the second of four novelettes that were fixed up into the novel The Dain Curse. IV I spent most of the day fidgeting in and out of my room. The general vagueness of my job in...
Content warnings 3
deathgoreviolence
“The Hollow Temple” was first published in Black Mask, December 1928. This is the second of four novelettes that were fixed up into the novel The Dain Curse. The Thin Man (Novel) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thin_Man The Thin Man (Movie)...
Content warnings 3
deathgoreviolence
"Hold it right there, gasbag.’ The red balloon turned. The beam of a searchlight from high above momentarily crisscrossed the dark alleyway, catching the smooth surface of his face and the scotch tape scar on the left. ‘… Oh, it’s you,’ he said. Three big...
Content warnings 3
deathsubstance-useviolence