Short Stories
Lot 41: contents of a piano stool
A house clearance catalogue, itemised by someone who was paid to describe objects and not to think about them. Short…
Stories
Short reading for a spare ten minutes. Every piece says plainly at the top whether it is reported or fiction, so you always know what you are reading. Short stories, mystery, historical pieces and stories that leave you with something.
Mystery Stories
The 19:40 to Carlisle
Every Thursday she bought a ticket to Carlisle. Every Thursday the train left without her. It took Reeve four months to work out why. Short fiction.
Short Stories
The last wash
It is twenty to midnight in a launderette on a wet Tuesday, and there is one shirt still going round.…
Short Stories
The complaint
A man wishes to return a bread maker. It is outside the returns window, it is not faulty, and he…
Short Stories
Three letters to the occupant
Behind a loose panel in the meter cupboard of a first-floor flat, three tenants left instructions for whoever came next.…
Short Stories
The lamp room
A lighthouse keeper has recorded the weather twice a day for thirty years. His granddaughter wants to know why he…
Mystery Stories
The second key
The lock had not been forced, which was not what the man in the hallway wanted to hear. Short mystery…
Life Lessons
The long way round
Everyone in the office took the eleven-minute route. Tomas took twenty-six, and for two years nobody asked why. Short fiction.
Short Stories
The cartographer’s error
Every map Halvard drew contained one deliberate lie, to catch copyists. Then a surveyor arrived with a complaint about a…