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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 229 of 321

The Extra Guest

Submitted to Contest #93

JanetIt rained like this on the night my sister was murdered, Janet thought to herself as she slicked the plastic coral lipstick on her lips and scrutinised her wrinkled, grey reflection in the dressing table mirror. The colour didn’t suit her.The bedroom still smelled like her, like Anna, and a faint whiff of white musk and face powder lingered in the air, as it mixed with the mouldy damp odour which permeated the whole house. Wind rattled the door frames like an unwanted intruder trying to break in whilst raindrops played percussion on the...

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A Masquerade Ball with Sparks

Submitted to Contest #93

“A masquerade ball in the woods? Are you sure this is a good idea?” I asked as Stella and Valeria stared at me before bursting into loud laughter. “Willow, this is the best idea we’ve had so far. We won’t even need tickets or money to buy costumes.” Stella declared and she was right. Her mother worked at the theatre and had an entire room full of all the costumes anyone could ever ask for and according to her, sneaking into the event was not going to be difficult since it was all happening outside. We found ourselves costumes in a ...

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The Lost Story

Submitted to Contest #93

“I don’t know exactly how to say what happened. It was just--just so much. I don’t even know how I got this far.”, I say, taking the cup of coffee presented to me from the center table. I am sitting in a white room with paintings of famous artists on the walls and dark blue furniture. The man standing in front of me, leaning against the table, and looking straight into my eyes, is Dr. Henrick, the college therapist. He responds, now turning away from my face and going back to sit in his chair,” Look, I’m not appointed to listen to every stud...

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If You Can Survive Jail, You Can Survive a Graduation Party

Submitted to Contest #93

It’s been a rough few years. Jail changed my life. House arrest was a challenge. Then mom got sick. I really should go to the party tonight; it’s the only time my nephew will graduate from university and I should be there to help him celebrate. He worked so hard, and I am proud of him being the first college graduate in our family. But. I can’t face these people. If embezzling from our local parish wasn’t bad enough, I had to write bad checks to my grandma. They will never forgive me, not that I expect them to-I will never forgive myself. ...

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Crimson Lace

Submitted to Contest #93

The champagne pops as the stream cascades down into the glass. The waitress turns the bottle and moves on to my friend. I feel trapped in my skin as the days events come to mind. Married. Tomorrow I will be married. A bride. Another fallen victim to the patriarchy, for tomorrow my husband will own me. At least he thinks he will. A hand waves across my face, trying to attract my attention, “Lucy! Hey,” My eyes dart over to hers. I look at her with wide eyes, as if I’ve just been awoken from a coma. She continues, “Lucy, I was just asking what...

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The Bet

Submitted to Contest #94

“I could too! Especially if they deserved it!” That was me telling Tom, Adrian and Luka that I had as much chance to win the bet as they did.            “You would not, you don’t have the guts,” Luka blurted out, all mean-like with her red-streaked hair and black nail polish. Tom just smiled; that smug look had bothered me before. When we were younger, at Morton Elementary, he used to tell me that I had the guts of a rabbit.           &...

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A murder most foul

Submitted to Contest #93

“He’s dead!” The body lay sprawled on the floor, blood pooling around his limp corpse, skin ashen.  “Has he been shot?” “I didn’t hear anything, must’ve been stabbed”, “Where’s the knife then dumbo?” “Where’s the gun?” Toby glared over at Simon, “What’s that in your pocket?” Simon reached into his jacket, the shiny metal glinted in the light, “What is it?” Simon unwrapped the tin foil to reveal a somewhat squashed sandwich, “Is that tuna?” Toby turned up his nose at the stench of warm fish, “What are you doing with that?” “I get pec...

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Somebody Is Always Watching

Submitted to Contest #94

“Ok, so what do we do with it?”  Ah. So, that was our one million dollar question. Or, such was the case right now, the $20,000 question.  “We should return it” Haley says, and I can just hear the rest of the group groan collectively. “Someone is clearly missing a lot of money!” She insists when she can gauge nobody is on her side.  “Or, we keep it and each become $5,000 richer” Brad points out to her, gesturing to the four of us. We stood huddled under the big elm tree in our local park, where we had discovered the gift...

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Capital Punishment

Submitted to Contest #93

I was a fourteen-year-old girl when I attended my first carnival. We moved into a new city after my dad passed away. I came to the carnival along with my pregnant mother and her brother. The place was crowded and bustling and we arrived at the carnival at its rush hour. We had to squeeze ourselves into the crowd to go from one place to another. I was soon lost in the crowd and by the time my mum realised this I was long gone.  I tried to shout but with loud carnival music, my tiny throat stood no chance. My mum told me about the announc...

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Operation Bucharest

Submitted to Contest #93

It's 4 a.m. in Sunnyside, New York, December 2nd. A restless blonde woman of small stature sits in an unmarked patrol vehicle with a detachable siren on the front hood, she had just previously received a call from her Sergeant regarding a "ten seventy-one", witnesses describe the alleged culprits as four men with long hair in a pick up truck fleeing from the scene of the crime. After a few more sips of caffeine she exits and walks towards the front door of a residential building in a wealthy gated suburban neighborhood. She is well dres...

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The Voice Thief

Submitted to Contest #93

Tom Have you ever been in that situation when you are in a serious emergency but you can’t tell anyone. Well if you have you might have a similar story to mine, it all happened last year. I was at McDonalds for my best friend's birthday party when it happened, I was just walking around when a man in a Ronald Mc Donald costume walked past me. He looked at me and said “Come here child…” Ok, that was a bit weird and I was now questioning if this really was a man in a suit. So I kept my distance, that made him mad. “I said COME HERE child…” He...

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Venenum Ad Mortem

Submitted to Contest #93

TW: Alcohol, drug involved deathsMia Finn, 21:28  Mia parked her car on the curb beside the house and made her way to where the loud chatter was coming from. She would have preffered to stay home and study for her math exam the next morning, but Sarah had begged her to come with, and just to get her to shut up she agreed to get one drink.   But as she circled the house she couldn’t find her friend's red Subaru, a very generous gift from her parents, so she knocked on the door to it being opened by a guy she had never...

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We Don't Know

Submitted to Contest #93

TW: murder, gore The world comes to a stop.   One. Two. Three.   I count as everything moves in slow motion around me.   Four. Five. Six.   I can hear my heart beating in my chest at an unusual speed.   Seven. Eight. Nine.   What have I done?   I can hear my name being called, but it seems to be coming from so far away, like I'm underwater.   "Gabby."   Am I drowning?   "Gabby!"   Ten.   "Come with us right now!"   I don't have time to nod, or agree, or do anything before I'm b...

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Party Animal

Submitted to Contest #93

Detective Timothy O’Carter             “Move to a smaller city”, they said. “There’s still interesting cases, but no gang wars, and you’ll get promoted faster”, they promised. “They” were right. But what they failed to mention was that in this smaller city, interesting didn’t begin to describe some of the cases that we dealt with. Most of them, actually, now that I think of it.             My first case in this to...

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Mistake

Submitted to Contest #93

Warning: death, blood, murder, etc. “TURN THE MUSIC DOWN BRIAN!” Tiffany screamed at the top of her lungs in hopes the music won’t drown her words.            Loud footsteps followed her words, before her door swung open.            “Can you be any more annoying than this? It’s a party!”            “One that mom and dad didn’t agree to, and if the neighbors tell them about the...

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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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