Features an anthology of some of the best short stories written by famous and lesser-known authors in the two genres.

The mystery in 2009 / Jon L. Breen -- Animal rescue / Dennis LeHane -- Family Affair : a Smokey Dalton story / Kris Nelscott -- Survival instincts / Sandra Seamans -- Julius Katz / Dave Zeltserman -- Seeing the moon / S. J. Rozan -- Dark chocolate / Nancy Pickard -- Telegraphing / Marcia Muller -- The Valhalla verdict / Doug Allyn -- Pure pulp / Bill Crider -- Blood sacrifices and the catatonic kid / Tom Picirrilli -- Patterns / Richard Lupoff -- The tell-tale purr / Mary Higgins Clark -- The big switch : a Mike Hammer story / Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins -- Crazy Larry smells bacon / Greg Bardsley -- Femme Sole / Dana Cameron -- The dark island / Brendan Dubois -- The Caretaker / Terence Faherty -- The case of the Colonel Crockett's violin / Gillian Linscott -- The case of Colonel Warburton's madness / Lyndsay Faye -- Time will tell / Twist Phelan -- By hook or by crook / Charlie Dress -- The final nail : A Val O'Farrell story / Bob Randisi -- Amapola / Luis Alberto Urrea -- Cougar / Laura Lippman -- Digby, attorney at law / Jim Fusilli -- The way they limp / Clark Howard -- O'Nelligan's glory / Michael Nethercott -- Between sins / Robert Levinson.