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An indie bookshop owner realizes that a customer has stolen a book connected to an unsolved local mystery. What happens next?

Posted in Short Story on Jul 4, 2025

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✍️ 37 stories

The order of Valpaylon

Submitted to Contest #310

“Do you really have to name the place after June?” Her mum asked, crossing her chest.“Yes, I do. I think she’d would have loved it.” Tina said.“It feels like a bad omen.”“How can my sister’s memory be a bad omen?” She shot back.“Because of me.” Her mother simply stated. A wave of guilt crashed over Tina; she decided to let it drop. The disappearance of her younger sister June had caused her mother to withdraw completely. She had spent years blaming herself. When it got too much Tina left for London, her mother had retired in the little costa...

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The Lost Fortuna

Submitted to Contest #310

It was one of those hazy and humid afternoons in late summer. People had been browsing the shop as an escape from the heat. The ‘Lost Pages’ was a used and new bookshop just off the corner of Main Street in the seaside town of Willow’s Bay. Tourists lingered in the streets, sandy and sunburnt in the afternoons. Families with sticky handed children tinkled into the shop. Rebecca Clark looked up from behind the counter to give a smile which waned slightly as one rambunctious child knocked into a whole display. “Sorry,” the mother winced before...

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THE BINDING SECRET

Submitted to Contest #310

In the sleepy town of GreyStone Hollow, where fog curled through cobble stone streets and secrets lingered like the smell of old pages, Clementine Voss ran "The Hidden Chapter," an indie bookstore nestled between a bakery and an antiques shop. Her clientele were loyal, quirky and devoted to stories-but none as enigmatic as the man who walked in that Friday afternoon. He wore a faded green coat and asked for The Drowned Ledger, a book Clementine kept locked in a glass case. It wasn't for sale-not really. It was a relic tied to the still-unsol...

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To kill a man

Submitted to Contest #310

NOTE: This short story contains themes of domestic abuse, murder, and homophobia. Rage. Fear in my heart. Not for myself but for what is mine. Policemen, firefighters, and medics surrounded the bookstore, firing streams of water to douse the flames. They burned as bright as my rage. Emergency surrounded me, coddling me like a baby – I acted the part. But inside that thrum of fear beset as if it had a heart of its own. The town of Croyden had always been a peaceful place, save for the one time Ted Bundy ran through the place back in the 70s...

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Bad Gas

Submitted to Contest #310

Marge Curvello brewed up the darn-best chili in the entire nation. It was rich, spicy, and filled with ingredients even the Devil wouldn’t know. She often joked that a bowl of her chili would light your taste buds on fire and, with just a strike of a match, potentially blow up the Loco Café because it produced that much gas. People from all over Canada came to taste Mexican Marge’s signature dish, until she suddenly keeled over, taking her secret recipe to the grave. You see, Marge was buried in her favorite apron, which was colored red, whi...

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Solving a mystery

Submitted to Contest #310

Solving a mystery Patrick liked to arrive early on a warm summer’s morning and take a coffee before he turned the key to the front door, switched on the lights and took down the shutters. He sat on the cafe’s terrace in front of his bookshop for a few minutes thinking about his uncertain future. His was the only independent bookshop in the town. There were two other large bookstores owned by national names known in the book distribution activity. In the last few years the sector was being dominated by Amazon. He felt like a tadpole caught in...

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Art's House

Submitted to Contest #310

Llwellyn stood behind the counter as two detectives walked his bookstore. It was an old place, older than when he bought it. Dust from a bygone century still clung to rotten shelves, their tattered books yellowed with age and spines ready to give. He hadn’t planned on speaking to the cops, but here they were. If they were already inside, he might as well ask about his stolen book.He bought the store four years ago, before his wife fell ill. He made himself a room in the back, spending quiet days there while she worked on the silver screen in...

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