Distinguished Mystery Story

Posted on by Diana Deverell

“Payback is a Bitch” was named a Distinguished Mystery Story of 2018 by Otto Penzler, editor of the The Best American Mystery Stories series. Tangent Online deems the story an “incredibly fast-moving short thriller . . .  the tension doesn’t let up. . .”

In “Payback”, security professional Bella Hinton makes a routine visit to the US Embassy in Dhaka, Bangladesh and ends up trapped the rear seat of her armored vehicle, surrounded by four bodyguards prepared to sell her to ISIS.

“Payback” sets the stage for Bella’s breakout as lead in the political thriller Bitch Out of Hell.

Buy this ebook short story and hear in Bella’s own salty words what happened that fateful day in Dhaka.

You can find a retailer with a copy for you by clicking on the cover below or following this universal link.

"Payback is a Bitch", A Distinguished Mystery Story of 2018

Enjoy my only ghost story!

Posted on by Diana Deverell
"Turquoise Trail: A Short Story is now available as a standalone ebook from most online vendors.

“Turquoise Trail: A Short Story”, which I wrote on assignment for an anthology magazine, is now available as a standalone ebook.

My editor wanted to hear about a troubled teenager who is offered a chance to wish his worries away. I’m skeptical about magical events.

To make the fantastic element credible, I had to set the story in the most magical place I know.

As soon as I started writing, ghosts popped into the story. I followed one to a sunset evening on Santa Fe County’s Turquoise Trail and let the tale play out.

The happy ending makes this story just right for the season!

Click on the cover above or follow this universal link to get to an online retailer in your area with my story for sale.

A story I love is out now!

Posted on by Diana Deverell

I love “Mercy Find Me: A Derringer Award Finalist Short Story” and am delighted to release it as an ebook. Click on the cover below to find an ebook retailer with a copy for you.

In this poignant story Nora Dockson’s former cellmate Winnie Yates is serving mandatory minimum sentences in an Oregon correctional facility adding up to nineteen years and two months. Locked up from age twenty until she turns thirty-nine.

A harsh punishment when her victim came through the so-called home invasion with only a bruise on her forehead.

Winnie’s appeal failed but today she has a chance to make a better deal. Her reward will be immediate release, shaving forty months off her sentence.

Winnie has only to own her crime. Convince her victim she regrets what she did. She has the words down pat. But how does she demonstrate true remorse when she’s never seen anyone do it?

Originally published in the anthology magazine Fiction River – Justice edited by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, “Mercy Find Me” was a finalist for the 2019 Derringer Award for short mystery fiction.

Read “Mercy Find Me” and discover a dramatic scene that happens offstage in Help Me Nora, Diana’s first Nora Dockson legal thriller. Available from most ebook retailers.