The Book of Extraordinary Femme Fatale Stories , livre ebook

• Maxim has sold well over a million copies of his books.
  
• He has won numerous awards and is widely regarded as a world class writer and editor.
  
• He is a columnist for TIME OUT and the GUARDIAN, and contributed to most major newspapers and magazines, and is a regular arts commentator on British TV and radio.
  
• He also ran London’s annual crime film and literary festival CRIME SCENE and is a consultant for several overseas film festivals.
  
• He has won the Anthony and Karel awards for his contributions to, respectively, crime fiction and SF & fantasy.
  
• He also writes a monthly book review column for lovereading.co.uk.

A World of Sexy Sleuths, Mysterious Missus, and Female Villains

A delightful menu of villainy and seduction. Dangerous women are a steadfast tradition of crime and mystery books. Choose between stories that compare to mystery best sellers, tales that feature the smart sleuth, the daring detective, the mystery date-turned-nemesis, or the baby-faced beauty. Perfect for fans of crime novels, fiction, strong female characters, or mystery and suspense books, The Extraordinary Book of Femme Fatales honors its heritage with stories featuring strong women and female villains who have mastered the art of seduction.

Marvelous mysteries, hand-picked by an expert. Maxim Jakubowski, one of the top best selling authors in mystery fiction books, has scoured the genre for the best new mystery and thriller stories featuring femme fatales. In The Extraordinary Book of Femme Fatales, he presents the best of the best in mystery literature featuring strong women, fiction, and good for her stories.

Inside The Extraordinary Book of Femme Fatales, you’ll find:

• Stories with strong female leads, female villains, and more
• Crime, seduction, and adventure
• A look at what happens when women are the big bad heroes

If you liked The Maidens, The Jealousy Man and Other Stories, or The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2021, you’ll love The Extraordinary Book of Femme Fatales.

From "The Smoking Gunners" by Ashley Lister

one of the entries in The Book of Extraordinary Femme Fatale Stories

Beatrix stood over the corpse, a smoking gun in her hand and a smile of almost comic regret playing on her lips. If not for the enormity of what she had done, Jim would have sworn she looked like a woman who wanted to say, “Oops!” or “fiddlesticks!” and then giggle as though the matter was of no consequence.

Instead, she glanced at Jim and murmured, “This looks bad, doesn’t it?” Not waiting for his response, flexing a diplomatic smile, she said, “But I promise you now: as bad as this looks, worse things have happened.” Her features turned momentarily solemn as she added, “And we both know, too often, Wilkins has been the cause of those worse things.”

Jim wanted to scream.

It was rare for anything about Beatrix to look bad, but this scenario was an exception. She was a strikingly attractive brunette with her hair sculpted into a fashionable shaggy bob. Her scarlet heels accentuated her long coltish legs. The vibrant colour of her shoes complemented Beatrix’s scarlet nail polish and lipstick. The black stockings, thong, suspender belt and balconette bra made her look as though she was posing for some tawdry photoshoot in a men’s magazine. But, because she held a smoking gun as she stood over a still-warm corpse, he couldn’t think of her as appearing desirable, sexy, or arousing. He could only concede that the scene looked bad.

“It looks bad,” he groaned softly. Operating to the procedure he knew he had to follow, Jim pressed a finger against his earpiece and spoke for the microphone at his throat. “Ambulance to floor eight,” he snapped. “Urgent. Also, I want a secure guard on all exits. Beatrix Geraghty must not leave the building.” He glared at her and this time, looking as though he was saying it for her benefit, said, “Repeat: Beatrix Geraghty must not leave the building.”

Contents

Introduction—Maxim Jakubowski

Hava—Lavie Tidhar
How to Craft the Perfect Story—SJI Holliday
Bliss—Joseph S. Walker
The Smoking Gunners—Ashley Lister
Haunt Me—Michael A. Gonzales
The Night Walker—Bernie Crosthwaite
Belle and Donna—Keith Brooke
Bait—Simon Bestwick
Miss Scarlet—Rose Biggin
The Dance of Love and Hunger—Robert Lopresti
Blindsided—Eric Brown
She Told Me About You—Ali Seay
The Cliff—Alvaro Zinos-Amaro
The Rise and Fall of Melody Llines, Esq.—Rhys Hughes
Kane's Alibi—Bev Vincent
What I Don't Understand Is the Music—Ana Teresa Pereira
Null and Void—Claude Lalumière
The Obsidian Knife—O’Neil De Noux

About the Editor
About the Authors