July 2012
1 post
10 tags
27 - Make Mine A 99
Finally, some fucking sunshine. As if things hadn’t been bad enough this summer, it’s been the wettest June since records began. Since records began. Un-fucking-believable. Maybe that’s why it’s all kicked off the past few weeks. When the sun’s shining and everybody’s out and about, then there’s enough trade for everyone, but when it’s day after day...
June 2012
1 post
52 Murders will be on hiatus for the month of June. Normal service will be resumed in July.
May 2012
4 posts
7 tags
26 - Digging A Hole (Again)
I’ve got a wicked fucking hangover and I’m trying to waiting for the Alka Seltzer to dissolve when “La Cucaracha” screams out of my phone and into my ears. Dougie set it up and now I can’t work out how to change it. As I stumble across to where my jacket’s lying, I knock over one of the beer cans from last night. Stale lager and cigarette ends spill across the...
4 tags
25 - In Conversation With Albert Bassom
Excerpt from The Journal of Murder Vol. 72, Issue 2
After establishing himself as one of the foremost proponents of the classical school of poisoners, Bassom shifted direction in 1972, eschewing his previous methods and embracing what he termed the “New Brutalism”. This excursion was marked by the savage beating of Claude Bastopoule, whose body was found in Montmartre on 4th October...
4 tags
24 - A Brave Face
All you need to do is keep it together. You’ve done alright so far - greeting the mourners, accepting condolences, talking to the crematorium, negotiating with the caterers, deciding on the flowers and managing all the tasks that come with organising a funeral. You’ve spoken to the in-laws and told them thet you’re doing OK and as much as you appreciate their offers of help,...
7 tags
23 - Pathology
Transcript of recording. 4th May 2012
MP: The time is 4:47 pm on 4th of May 2012. I’m Milton Povey, medical examiner for Maynard County, conducting an autopsy on a caucasian male identified as George Withers. Subject is 170cm in height and weighs 164 pounds. I would estimate his age to be in late forties, early fifties. Hair is brown, eyes brown. There’s a small birthmark on his...
April 2012
4 posts
5 tags
22 - Local Man Gets Life
MARIETTA, GA. William Jefferies was found guilty of four counts of second-degree murder at the state court yesterday. His case received nationwide attention after Jefferies was involved in a series of bizarre incidents that saw him attempting to take his own life, but killing others in the process. The first of these failed suicides took place in 2005, when Jefferies threw himself off...
5 tags
21 - Composite
“My name is Eileen Papadoukis. I run the shop on Halsey Road.”
“Jasper Green. 67 Halsey Road. Date of birth, 10th October 1951.”
“Navinder Chakravarti. N-A-V-I-N-D-E-R C-H-A-K-R-A-V-A-R-T-I.”
Tell me what happened, so the spirit can find justice and there can be peace in the universe.
“It was about quarter to twelve.”
“It was...
6 tags
20 - A Moment or Two
What is it that distinguishes murder from manslaughter or mishap? Is it motive? Intent? Forethought? Sometimes, it’s nothing more than a moment in time - a few seconds that make the difference between life and death and, by extension, innocence and guilt.
Take, for example, the example set by the Harlow brothers, co-owners of Harlow Confectionery. Theirs was a business that had been handed...
4 tags
19 - Breakdown →
Click the title to access the story. For technical reasons, it has to be hosted elsewhere. If you post a link to this, please use the URL of this tumblr page, as the hosting address will probably soon change.
edit: fixed some problems with broken story links. “Rewind” feature was interfering with multiple run-throughs. Use the “Restart Story” button or refresh the page if...
March 2012
5 posts
5 tags
18 - Blood Donor
It had been on Peter’s “to-do” list for some time now, so when he saw the tent at the village fete, he took it as a sign that he should stop talking and roll up his sleeve. He walked in and and said, quite clearly:
“I’d like to donate some blood.”
The young woman in the white uniform - presumably a nurse - didn’t say anything, but just looked at Peter...
4 tags
17 - Chicken
Nando’s was neutral territory and had been ever since it opened. People needed a place to chill, talk or take their kids for birthdays without having to worry about somebody stepping up and trying to start something. So, it was understood - no matter how bad the situation, no matter how bloody the feud, you didn’t start anything in Nando’s.
The problem with drawing a line in the...
4 tags
16 - XP
Tonight we take the Obsidian Gauntlet. It’s all I’ve been able to think about all day, throughout the eight depressing hours at the office and on the train ride home, all I’ve wanted to do is log on and get started with the raid. It’s been a long time, but finally, as a guild, we’re ready to complete this, the most challenging mission in our history. We’ve been...
4 tags
15 - I Killed Moonbeam
Man, I really didn’t mean to do that, you know? It just, like, happened so quickly. We were out in the field, talking about this year’s crop and he started going on and on about how we had to get serious and have, like, a business plan and shit. I mean, that’s not my scene at all, so I thought I would just let it go, but he kept on and kept on and before you know it, we were...
5 tags
14 - Parts and Labour
When I get to the garage at 6:30, I see Dad’s yellow Peugeot parked outside. He doesn’t wave or raise a hand as I pull in to park, nor does he say hello when I get out of the car and walk over. The only affection he shows is towards my dog, who bounds over to greet him.
“Hello Tyson, hello boy,” he says, scratching the bull mastiff’s ears.
“That’s...
February 2012
4 posts
7 tags
13 - Programming Your Killbot
In previous chapters we’ve covered the preparation, assembly and control of your Killbot. In this section, we’ll explore the basic principles of programming and write a simple control script. Programming your Killbot has a number of advantages over manual control, as it allows the Killbot to operate to peak efficiency, leaving you free to deal with other tasks.
If you’ve never...
5 tags
12 - Post-its From The Fridge
3 tags
11 - Hinged
i can hear them ticking. all of them. at first i thought it was just mr green next door, but then i heard it in the milkman and the man who came to read the meter. i left the house to get away from them, but everyone is ticking just under the surface. what worries me more is the slight echo i hear under the skin. it doesn’t sound soft and pliant like skin should. no. it’s bright and...
7 tags
10 - Full Disclosure
Freddie Jacobs didn’t know what Mr Perskine looked like, but he recognised him all the same. There was no mistaking a buyer, particularly the wet, pliant sort. They were Freddie’s favourite kind. He smiled to himself as he took a last drag off his fag, flicked it out of the window and sprayed some deodoriser to mask the smell. When the scent of Alpine Forest had spread through the...
January 2012
4 posts
5 tags
9 - Safety
At 11:22 PM on Friday evening, PC Beresford and PC Dalton arrived at 18 Rose Hill Gardens to investigate reports of a disturbance. Neighbours had heard a commotion and the sound of a woman screaming. The house appeared quiet on approach, with a single light on in the first floor window. After ringing the doorbell several times, the door was finally answered by Shirley Cobham, a petite woman in...
8 tags
8 - Salt In The Wound
Detective Sergeant John Durban sipped rooibos tea from his flask and watched as the SOCOs sealed off the street corner. Uniformed officers directed traffic down Queen’s Road and fielded angry complaints from drivers on their way to work. Ice on the the roads had already complicated the morning commute, but that same ice had led to the discovery of the body, further delaying the irate...
7 - All Of You Are Going To Get it
The first one is my neighbour. He plays his music all day and night, but then has the balls to complain to me about some mould coming through the walls, as if that’s my fault. I’m just leaving my flat and locking the mortice when he comes out to meet me. He’s probably still up from the night before and it’s difficult to make out what he’s saying, but once I’ve...
6 tags
6 - Dr. Kenner's Journal
Day 187 Johnson’s really starting to get on my nerves. I know it’s inevitable, given that we’re alone together in the Antarctic studying ice samples, but I really am beginning to find him quite tiresome. He keeps making the same jokes over and over again. If I hear him say one more time that he’s just popping out to the shops for a pint of milk, I think I might snap.
Day...
December 2011
6 posts
5 tags
5 - One In, One Out
On the 1st of January at 12:02 AM, the following took place at The Wash nightclub in Dalston.
On the roof terrace:
Graham shuddered to the first orgasm he had ever shared with another person and thought that this was going to be the best year ever.
Florence suddenly wondered if she had remembered to take her pill. She was pretty sure she had. Almost definitely.
Paul was one of many people who...
5 tags
4 - Last Christmas
Jim and Toby had both worked in the health service long enough to know that you took Christmas when you could. Jim was a radiographer and was rostered on-call for the 24 hours spanning Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, while Toby was a paramedic working the graveyard shift of Christmas Day evening to noon on Boxing Day. They resolved, therefore, to have their own little Christmas on the 23rd, in...
5 tags
3 - Bitter Tang
When the phone call came, the staff at the Orange Blossom Palliative Facility tried not to get excited. The hospice had been home to several notable figures in their final days, but none of them had warranted a phone call from the White House. As much as the staff wanted to be around to eavesdrop, they recognised that this was a moment they could not intrude on and left the patient to have his...
Anonymous asked: who is writing this? a single author or a collection.
2 - 'Til Death Do Us Part
I told myself it was only ten minutes. Ten minutes was nothing. There were any number of reasons why a person would be ten minutes late. The cab could have got a flat tyre. There could be roadworks. She might have spilled something on the dress and stopped at a dry-cleaners. Really, when you thought of all the things that could prevent a person from arriving on time, it was a miracle that anyone...
4 tags
1 - The First Time
If I were to tell you that I have been interested in murder from an early age, you would probably conjure up an image of me as one of those gloomy, sallow youths who cowered in the shadow of the popular boys and wanted nothing more than to be left alone. The truth is, however, that that I was rather popular at school. While I would never be in contention for Head Boy and I didn’t have a...
