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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.

150+ 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 4 of 10

Vapors of Innocence

Submitted to Contest #308

I put my sunglasses on and braced myself to leave the bar. We officially close at 2:00 am, but on Thursdays -- after we "close", management opens back up after a half-hour to allow industry workers to have their post-work drinks and pick which of their colleagues they're going home with for the night. Normally this process wraps up before the sun comes up, but not always, and never during the Summer.I pinched my eyes tight, but it didn't help. It never did. The Sun was already bouncing off Boston Harbor and my head reeled. A heavy hand lande...

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A Knock at the Door

Submitted to Contest #309

A Knock at the Door By Richard Strack The man she buried is back. He’s knocking on the door late at night and he’s covered in dirt. “I want to get that new murder mystery book to read in my grave,” said the dead man with a laugh to his wife. He “died” five days ago after falling off the roof of their Iowa farm house while he was replacing a few old shingles. His wife, Sheila of 14 years was the beneficiary of a life insurance policy worth three million dollars. Following his so - called death, the company had done t...

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Forever Freedom

Submitted to Contest #308

The sunlight shone into my eyes, but I didn’t mind. The light breeze felt good against my skin. As I looked up into the sun, I noticed an American flag flying high in the sky. My sundress mimicked the ripples of my American flag. As I took a deep breath in, another person stepped out into the sunlight. The world seemed to darken as a cloud covered the sun. I shivered from the strong wind that was once refreshing a breeze. I didn’t see him at first, but I heard him. “Carrie! Is that you?” My arm hair stood up. My body moved forward to see him...

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The Price of Leaving

Submitted to Contest #308

Have you ever woken up and realized you have been buried alive? Probably not, and good for you! I, unfortunately, did not have that luxury. How did I get there, I assume you are wondering? Well, it all started when I tried to leave my boyfriend. The whole relationship was unhealthy, to say the least. It was a lot of build up to me finally accepting enough was enough, and that I deserved better. I never assumed he would be violent, but then again he always was unpredictable. The straw that ultimately broke the camel's back was a rather mundan...

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The Search

Submitted to Contest #308

Agent Cooper Donaldson sat in the dark, dusty office. A cargo train whistle sounded loudly and the coffee cups began to rattle slightly. It also disturbed the months of dust built up. He wished he had remembered to bring a mask. The only good thing that came from the pandemic was that there were always gloves, masks and an abundance of hand sanitizer. ‘Coop’ as the other agents called him was known as a ‘neat freak’. His OCD habits were probably what made him the top agent in Washington D.C. Now he was known by those in the FBI as a ‘cl...

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The Looting Was Nuts!

Submitted to Contest #308

Casing our place for weeks, they just had to be! And my God, it was beyond genius! I mean, I had no idea how smart they were! They just had to be! How else could they have pulled off such a highly intelligent and special operation like that? Twenty years later, and my husband and I, still reminisce over the nuttiest incident to ever happen — all those high season solstices ago. Altering our lives, completely! It was the summer of 2005 and we had just gotten married. After backpacking through Italy for our, I-don’t-want-any-wedding-debt honey...

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It was all just a dream.

Submitted to Contest #308

Content Warning / Disclaimer:This story contains references to emotional and physical abuse, trauma, and psychological manipulation. Reader discretion is advised.It Was All Just a DreamIt was all just a dream.That is what she tells the detective, the social worker, the news anchor with the sympathetic smile. She says it aloud because if it was not a dream, if it was real, then she has to remember every breath, every bruise, every moment she smiled at the monster and called him safe.They told her the countryside would be good for her. Soft. H...

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Whose Voice is it?

Submitted to Contest #308

Whose Voice Is It? One early Saturday night, the local police received a call from someone whose words were spoken particularly slowly and sounded like the stumbling speech of a very old man. He said that someone was being beaten up in the nearby popular bar, the Tobi Jug, in the men’s washroom. The two fellows hitting him was stealing the man’s wallet. The person who picked up the phone was a rookie police officer, who did not ask the caller any important questions such as how he knew this if he wasn’t in the washroom himself. He just too...

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At Any Cost

Submitted to Contest #307

When Jenna suggested to her best friend that they move off-campus together, Mallory was all for it. Their dorm had become a party palace full of constant distraction, not to mention fire alarms going off at 2 AM. They had met as first-year psychology students, and Mallory hoped Jenna’s good study habits would rub off on her and they could finish their four-year psychology degrees together next June. But things changed quickly when Jenna met Gavin, a grad student who casually mentioned he was working for the hottest new talent on campus, Pro...

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Watch Dogs

Submitted to Contest #307

[Content Warning: Strong Language] To most of society—and those who inhabit it—there are certain standards and rules that many are trained and expected to follow. Love thy neighbor. Do no harm. Do unto others what you wish would be done to you. Leave a good tip for your waiter. These values and traditions have come to establish a somewhat stable (yet radically bipolar) foundation for the concept we call "society." I know what you're thinking: "These are simple rules! How could anyone have trouble following them?" Life isn't all sunshine and ...

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drywall

Submitted to Contest #307

The room is silent. Not the kind of silent where you could hear a pin drop, or the kind that includes air and gives into the moment. It’s the kind of silence that breaks, the kind where nobody dares to breathe. Except for me. I stand at the center of the courtroom, the wrinkles of my suit freshly pressed away, hair gelled without a flaw. Despite the tension, I am comfortable. Confident. All eyes rest on me, looking for a breaking point – a chink in my armor. But I know – they know – there is nothing to find. The judge watches me, poised at h...

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The Dastardly Crimes of Eden Mandrake

Submitted to Contest #307

WARNING: SENSITIVE CONTENTSUBSTANCE ABUSE, PHYSICAL VIOLENCE, GORE, AND ABUSE I consider myself to be a very impatient woman. But to put it simply, I consider myself to be quite an intelligent woman as well, even if it may not seem like so to some, due to the manner in which I speak. The fact of the matter is that men rule our world. They have dominated countries, braved the strife of war, and therefore have made it so that everything revolves around them. I am not against this. In fact, I adore it. This is what makes a woman like m...

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Secret Society for Journalistic Terrorists

D T

Submitted to Contest #307

Louis typed like ticker tape. Click click click. His ginger hair jittered like fire and his fingers worked in a fury of resentment. Beside him, drafts, abandoned, scribbled in red pen, scrunched into balls, folded into origami, paper planes and cranes. A pile I’d have to burn later. Somewhere a telephone rang. He looked up, cigarette dangled, grey ash curling backwards towards his lips. ‘Don’t answer that,’ he said. ‘What if it’s Jules,’ I said. A pause. Louis nodded, keys pressed down again like automatic fire. I squeezed between two le...

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Zealous Representation

Submitted to Contest #307

WARNING: Story contains one veiled reference to sexual assault and some use of profanity. Ryan Reed, third-year law student, sat in the last row of the large classroom. It wasn’t assigned seating, but he always sat in the back. It was less crowded, he had more room for his six-foot frame, and the professors picked on the back rows less. The Constitutional Law professor had been droning on, and on, and on, and since ...

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The Ghost Ledger: The Rise and Fall of The Giant Finance Hub

Submitted to Contest #307

Prologue: The Bank That Wasn’tIn the winter of 1972, a man with elegant Urdu and impeccable English walked into a palatial office in London. He carried no weapon, no briefcase—only a vision. Within months, that vision would evolve into The Inst., a financial labyrinth that didn’t just hold money—it held influence, and more than that, secrets. It operated not from one headquarters, but from many shadows.From Panama to Karachi, London to Lagos, The Inst. embedded itself like a ghost into the arteries of global finance. It lent to rulers withou...

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