2360+ Crime Short Stories to read

Submitted by writers on Reedsy Prompts to our weekly writing contest. Feed your fascination with the latest crime short stories. From thrilling accounts of lovable burglars to chilling tales of stone-cold murderers, these bite-sized pieces are so addictive, they should be illegal.

🏆 Winning stories

“beneath the quaking aspen” by Myia Melendy

He buried her in the forest before the leaves of the quaking aspen turned golden. No one noticed the tamped down soil, or the way the wild grasses died back all around her, or even the circle of whimsy brown mushrooms that erupted soon after.And when autumn came, and the leaves changed, the trembling giant whose roots she fed turned scarlet instead.“I am here,” she called. “Please find me!”But, after the first frost, the leaves turned rusty, and were then indistinguishable from the rest.No one...

231 likes 177 comments 177 WINNER 🏆

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“unoccupied” by R E

Guest rooms were always hiding things. No one starts out wanting a guest room. It’s usually an office first, but then you got fired and can’t look at it anymore, so you throw a bed in it that you’ll never sleep in. Sometimes it’s a kid’s room, but they’ve moved out into a college dorm room. It used to be storage but then the divorce happened leaving it depressingly empty. A studio for recording music but the bass player ...

463 likes 158 comments 158 WINNER 🏆

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⭐️ Recommended stories

“A Cup of Suspicion” by Sharon Harris

Warning - If you accept your invitation to this tea party, there will be mentions of poison and murder. It starts at 3.30pm GMT. Don’t be late.Why had Hazel invited the taxman to tea? Was he the next to suffer, like they had? Last month she’d asked the planning officer who’d refused to let her build a conservatory, the month before that, it had been the headmistress who’d given Billy a detention.There was a pattern, but only Jude could see it. The other friends (or were they victims?) thought H...

9 likes 12 comments 12

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“A Thousand Years in Tokyo” by Alex Sultan

Anyone who wins the lottery on their first ticket should be considered a time traveler. A win on their second ticket as well and they're giving themselves away. Takeshi yawned. The car radio read 2:45 a.m. He drank the last of his coffee, cold and bitter, then clicked on the overhead lights. In a couple of minutes, a woman by the name of Naoko Asari would walk out of the gas station with two winning lottery tickets. She’d cash them in before returning to her time.He would arrest her before she could.Takeshi checked hi...

115 likes 56 comments 56 SHORTLIST ⭐️

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“Family Tree” by Elli Lewis

Present Day: LolaWe see our lives as solid. Structures we have built, brick by brick. But I know they are shoddy constructions, not fit for purpose. It’s the illusion of normalcy that is dependable. Just look at my living room, unchanged even as my world crumbles. Only the officers in their uniforms spoil the otherwise familiar scene. And even they will be gone soon.Over the past week, as it all unfolded, I kept thinking about the time Grayson broke his arm. Just a normal Saturday afternoon at t...

35 likes 6 comments 6 SHORTLIST ⭐️

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✍️ All stories

“A Cup of Suspicion” by Sharon Harris

Warning - If you accept your invitation to this tea party, there will be mentions of poison and murder. It starts at 3.30pm GMT. Don’t be late.Why had Hazel invited the taxman to tea? Was he the next to suffer, like they had? Last month she’d asked the planning officer who’d refused to let her build a conservatory, the month before that, it had been the headmistress who’d given Billy a detention.There was a pattern, but only Jude could see it. The other friends (or were they victims?) thought H...

9 likes 12 comments 12

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“Strange Tea and Its Consequences” by Bruce Friedman

My day started off in an unusual way. I’m an experimental psychologist doing research on how brain pathways are affected by psychotropic drugs. The lab next to mine was occupied by Jack Sprague who was pursuing a similar line of research but using only one drug, psilocin, which is to say magic mushrooms. Jack was a pioneer in this research and had invited me to have coffee with him that morning. This was quite a surprise. We were not close so I was curious about what he had in mind.Regarding psilocin, there’s a cons...

9 likes 5 comments 5

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“Early Hours” by Pat Edinger

I maneuver my way around the countertop, scouring its marble surface for a very basic thing, a form of tea. I stop and turn, almost knocking over a dish rack and busting all of the plates and cups suspended and drying. I panic and dash forwards and catch the collapsing rack. It’s around five o’clock in the morning and, to clarify, I am not a morning person. And so this, this half asleep, confused, and groggy state; it’s...

6 likes 0 comments 0

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“The Tea Party” by Jeremy A. Wall

Tea reminded Haley of death. Not the taste, she never touched the stuff. It was the cups. Those little handles, decorative and curled, almost impossible for Haley to fit a finger through. The saucers. The delicate pot. When she closed her eyes she could still see them shattered on the floor, grey water pooling in the white shards. The stylish man doubled over in his chair, eyes frozen. Ha...

10 likes 2 comments 2

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“Ledrith's Remorse” by Jason Grimberg

Warning: This story contains attempted rape, physical violence, and murder. The smell of the herbs hung thick in the air, far too potent to be considered pleasant, as the pestle pounded and ground down into the mortar.  Of course, a potent smell for this particular brew was a good thing.  Medicinal tea may not have been something anyone liked to sip on, but when it would soothe the thr...

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“The Assassin and the Last Cup of Tea” by Mg Singh

The young lad is preparing a cup of tea as Ronnie Singh enters the small tea stall at the edge of the tea Garden. His mind is in ferment. He remembers his last meeting with the big boss at the Planters Club in Jorhat. This city is the centre of the tea plantations in upper Assam. He remembers the meeting vividly in the lounge of the Planters Club. He had gone straight to the lounge where the big ...

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“Tea Leaf Tells” by Tara Jones

There is something about how she swirls her tea that always makes him suspicious. She hula-hoops it gently in her hands gazing in it as if searching for the bounty of a riptide deep, peering into its tide-pooled chamber. She searches the depths, and swirls the detritus in her handheld eco-system, instead of answering his questions. There is something about her demeanor that has changed ever since she lost the uncle he nev...

10 likes 4 comments 4

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“Russian Tea House Roulette” by Mark Nero

Tea… I don’t like tea. I’m an espresso, macchiato type of guy so why am I in a Russian Tea room at the Queen Victoria Building in Sydney?! My contact who selected the time and place, must be some well to do sort of guy. As opposed to me, who came from the other side of the tracks but since I was there, I ordered myself some tea, otherwise I’d look like a tool. Even I’m not ‘that’ uncouth...

8 likes 0 comments 0

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“Charlie O'Brien, Private Investigator II” by Professor Alan Dale Dickinson

CHARLIE O’BRIEN, PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR - II [4]. Charlie’s secure satellite cell phone rang, and as always it rang to “Private Eyes”, of course, what else would a real-life private eye have for a ring tone? Charlie always loved “Hall and Oates” the fantastic singing/s...

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“Dirty business” by Evina Tsouti

It’s been about an hour since I was waiting in the tea house. I get my phone out of my bag and check again the message he send me this morning. I will explain everything. Meet me at Charlie’s at 4 o’clock. I’m not in the wrong place. However, is 5.15 and he’s nowhere to be seen. I give him a call. Voicemail. I let out a sigh and put my phone on the table. The waitress comes ...

10 likes 4 comments 4

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“THERE IS A LITTLE DUCK IN MY CUP OF TEA” by Mara Masolini

THERE IS A LITTLE DUCK IN MY CUP OF TEA Alice removed the paper and put the tea  bag into the cup, while she waited for the water to boil. Of course she too knew that tea, a real tea should be prepared with the leaves of tea dried to the right point, on which to pour water at first boiling, without the presence of the filter, yes, very thin, but that however it was not tea. In tea bags  th...

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“Invitation to tea” by Colleen Pinner

Mary typed the note she had carefully planned. Kara,                 David was everything to me. He wasn’t supposed to go first. We had so many plans for our future. This is probably a cowardly thing to do, but I just can’t go on alone.  You’ve been such a good friend. Guiding me through the worst of it; advising me on all the financial matters. I was surprised at how much was involved. I think...

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“A Cup Of Cheer” by Kev Neylon

“Make us a cup of tea love.” It’s always the same, my lazy tosser of a husband shouting through to me in the kitchen to make him a cup of tea. As if I’m not busy enough doing everything else in this house whilst he sits in front of the television watching sports or some other inane rubbish that anyone with half a brain wouldn’t touch with a barge pole. I switch the kettle on. At least when...

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“The Riggsburg Reckoning” by Alex L

By: Alex Lape There were very few words Adrian Tippen found to give meaning to his otherwise chaotic and volatile life - one of them being security. And security was exactly what Adrian found when he pretty much made a mad dash out of Riggsburg, New Hampshire as soon as the final bell of his senior year at Brutus H. Heddings High School rang out. As soon as he felt the ignition of ‘89 Camaro turn...

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“A Formidable Buzz” by Ellen O

Jenny had a gut feeling that made her insides rumble like thunder. A tingling started up her neck and reached her scalp making her head buzz like it was filled with angry hornets. Her hands drifted to the bottom of the steering wheel. She slowed her car down, the fresh white snow crunching underneath her tires as she began to pass Woodson Road. The buzzing continued. Her eyes focused on the narrowing of the snow-covered ...

10 likes 6 comments 6

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