The Haze

Short tales about deadly books, by top mystery authors. An aging mobster finds trouble in a nursing home in the latest caper from an Edgar Award–winning author. Back in the day, Little Mo Connor was a hired gun for Slick Dickey Scalini, taking down opponents without discretion, always with the same signature kill: three shots to the head, one shot to the heart. Now he's living out his last days hidden away in an anonymous facility, surrounded by other seniors. Haunted by his past, his dementia comes as something of a blessing . . . though he can't always remember what it is he wants to forget-he's always mixing up the memories from his own life with those from books he's read and movies he's seen. A lover of crime novels from the pulp paperback era, Little Mo relishes lurid tales-the more violent the better. Take, for example, his most recent acquisition: a novel in which he and his trusty .38 snubnose are the stars. It tells the story of a former hit man in love with Varla, a geriatric serial killer who convinces him that murdering his grown daughter is the only way to escape the captivity of their nursing home. But as the plot of the novel begins to play out in Little Mo's waking life, he must struggle to separate fact from fiction before they meet in a deadly conclusion. Hailed a "master of suspense" by the New York Times Book Review, author of the Thorn Mysteries James W. Hall now presents one of the most unusual and enthralling novellas in the Bibliomystery series. The Haze is a treat for book lovers and mystery buffs alike.