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Discover weekly, the best short stories

Looking for a steady supply of crime short stories? Every week thousands of writers submit stories to our writing contest.

4810+ 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.

Crime Short Stories – Page 223 of 321

The Night of Flames

Submitted to Contest #95

Torchlight flickered and bounced around the darkened alleyway, crouching down, Bobby steadied his breathing. Tonight is the night, he was finally going to have revenge on the townspeople for the wrongs they did to him. He was going to burn down their warehouse of flammable goods and weaponry, as well as destroy their ships, making them lose a huge chunk of their income. “You ready?” whispered his partner, Jonathan. “Yeah, let’s do this”   As Bobby and Jonathan hurtled down the street, keeping to the shadows, they looked around f...

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Missing Henry

Submitted to Contest #96

She stood there, staring into that empty room. Empty of life and laughter. Empty of joy and filled with quiet. She hated that room but couldn't bring herself to leave. All his stuff was still there,The little bed in the shape of a boat, the messy bubble guppy bedding. The pillows that always seem to wind up on the floor when he slept, His lonely stuffed lion he named duck, that like her, was waiting for they're little boy to come back home, His toys were still strewn all over the floor. His pirate telescope laying on the windowsill...

8 likes 1 comment 1
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A Life Saving Decision

Submitted to Contest #95

I was on my way to a meeting when Laura called. “Hey, girlfriend, I’m in town and have an hour to kill. Want to meet me for coffee?” Running late and with a to-do list longer than the Santa Fe Trail, I decided what the heck. It wouldn’t hurt anything if I missed the meeting. “Sure. Why not?” “Great,” she said. “I’ll grab a booth.” I made a left at the next light and hit the bank’s drive-thru. At least I could get one thing off my to-do list. I began to relax as I waited in line at the bank. The historical society met on the sec...

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The reflection in his eyes were mine

Submitted to Contest #95

"Wake up! You're going to miss the school bus again!" I fell off my bed with my brother holding my messy ponytail. I grabbed my hair and jerked it out of his hands. I turned to him and spoke through gritted teeth, "Thank you for waking me up." He rolled his eyes and went to my door, "It's no fun with you not yelling at me." He grumbled and stomped to the kitchen. He was so annoying. All he wants is a reaction. I slouched to my door and closed it. I messily put on some jeans and a hand-me down light blue t-shirt. I put my medium lengt...

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The Dark Knight

Submitted to Contest #96

A shadow of a figure was running in the dark. All around were tall trees, and only a small fraction of the moon’s rays got through the canopy. The ground was a black void with no difference between the dirt and the tree roots.  A pack of wolves howled in the distance. With every gust of wind, the tree branches and leaves banged and rustled like a toddler playing with pots and pans. Under all of that was a low mumble, rhythmic like a drum cadence but ghostly in origin. The figure trips. "Eli?" The scene quakes. “Eli!” The moon disappeare...

27 likes 7 comments 7
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Weekend at Jason's

Submitted to Contest #95

Odin slid across the grass, kicking a ball. It flashed across the yard between another boy's legs and through the fence behind. Three boys cheered and another four waddled away in defeat as Ambrose picked glass blades and weeds as he laid out on the sidelines. The party was quickly stopped when a woman came out onto the steps of the nearby house. "Helios! Time for bed!" "Mom!" he exasperated. "Now!" she said, disappearing back into the house.  “Tomorrow guys?” Helios said, plowing his fingers through his hair. A series of ‘see ya t...

17 likes 0 comments 0
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Carolina Moon.

Submitted to Contest #96

There are roughly seven-point-something billion people in the world today. All fiting into one of two categories friends-of or foes-to.I fully recall,correctly, the night I met her. It was the first Sunday of the month, rain was stealing the air, too late and way too cold for anyone to be out. The sky had been as dark as the coffee I had been drinking. It was the night the lights went out in Georgia and the sheriff had blood stains on off-duty hands. Looking at her right, then and there, she had no hand out to flag down any of the numer...

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Why do anything, Ceri? You'll only dance in Elysia one day.

Submitted to Contest #95

A thought as old as the first professions of any world is, why do anything? This is especially true in Helusch, with the rather tragic economic condition of the area.  Ceri was just a Gythan Bo, looking for his next meal, his next trick, next move. He really wasn’t up for the quandary, as he rather drunkenly took the dare. “Get back here, ya Rum Dum Jungle buzzard!”, was what the old fool had said as Ceri made off with his Road Stake, Elam had him on a bet, and Ceri would make good on his Daring exploits. All good Ruckus was had i...

69 likes 22 comments 22
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Jailbird

Submitted to Contest #95

A dead sky hang above motel six at 4 a.m., that existed along a desert highway, leading from nowhere to nowhere. Dead as the corpse that lay on cold bathroom tiles besides a few white pills, a syringe and two empty vials. This was the room to the right of room 114 on the second floor.    Colton Brown sat in this room on what was supposed to be a mattress on a bed-like, welded set of rusting metal. The tight fitting jeans and average checkered shirt added to the, lean and fairly tall, man’s perturbation. The second hand of his wall ...

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Bored

Submitted to Contest #95

This is a sequel to my previous short story Partners Against Crime. Kassian leaned his forehead against the glass wall, watching people pass by on the street below him. He folded his sinewy, tattooed arms and leaned into the window, allowing his nose to smoosh against the glass and his mind to wander. If he hadn’t, he’d have noticed much sooner that Chandra had approached him and was now watching him with an amused expression on her face. “Bored?” she joked. Kassian didn’t move. “How long is Atlas going to be gone?” Chandra leaned against th...

14 likes 2 comments 2
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Afraid of Nothing

Submitted to Contest #95

  TW:murder Mike stood there, and soaked in the applause like a sponge. He gave some quick nods and “thank you”s as the clapping and cheering continued. The gallery of people that attended this party knew they couldn’t start the festivities without him, and now that he was here, they could pop the champagne and cue the music.    Mike’s hair was freshly combed for this special event, and the single ladies couldn’t stop looking. He turned his eyes, radiant and sharp, towards them, giving them a wink in their direction. The girls...

8 likes 0 comments 0
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The Acquired Taste of Bitter

Submitted to Contest #95

Her dark scowl while driving was fitting with the frozen desert which surrounded her car in all directions. Only one of two vehicles on an infinite highway that had so many times before been stained with loss, dread, and blood. After countless failed attempts signaling for him to pull over, she angrily cut in front of him, forcing themselves onto the bare roadside to confront one another. Immediately, she rushed out of her car with a pistol at the man’s head. “Out of the car, now!” She yelled, not giving any leeway. When the man did so...

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McGarr’s Last Heist

Submitted to Contest #95

I stood panting before two closed doors in a dead-end hallway. With every passing second, my pursuers’ distant footsteps grew louder. Heart thumping and runnels of sweat racing down my cheeks, I turned the handle of the right-hand door and it opened outward disclosing a cleaner’s cupboard brimming with mops and buckets. I grabbed a wooden handled mop, thinking it could be useful.I tried the other door. It moved but wouldn’t open. I shouldered it and flew into a bright room. I slammed the door and wedged it shut with the mop handle.I looked a...

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Dead Boys Can't Send DMs

Submitted to Contest #95

This is a straightforward decision, Lea thought firmly to herself. Before she could completely cut off her stream of thoughts and take a step forward to finish the task at hand, another voice floated in to her conscious: it would be an easy decision if you did more research before acting so brashly. "Augh”, she audibly sighed out loud, a bit louder than she intended – not that her pair of guests were conscious to hear it. That grating voice in the back of her head had finally taken a break from berating her and instead had reinvented itsel...

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Didn't I kill him?

Submitted to Contest #95

“What the hell? Who is that? Is that..?”  Cody thought to himself. His tongue retreated backwards when he wanted to shout his name. His body froze while he stood on the road in a dilemma. His adrenaline started to spike and his face was pale like he saw a ghost. Perhaps it was a ghost. Cody continued to follow Victor until he suddenly vanished after taking a left turn. He could not believe what he saw. Seeing Victor, Cody relived the memories of the sins he committed the week before on a snowy afternoon. Cody broke into his home and m...

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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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