A collection of nine short stories.

A treasure trove of nine locked room mysteries, with an Introduction from New York Times bestselling author Laurie R. King and a Foreword from impossible crime mystery historian Douglas G. Greene.

Appearing here for the first time, Derringer Award-winning novelette The Cambodian Curse.

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“The Curse of Cloud Castle” appears in the Asian Pulp anthology, published in July 2015 by Pro Se Productions. It also appears in the short story collection The Cambodian Curse & Other Stories.

“The Curse of Cloud Castle” is a locked-room mystery featuring Sanjay Rai, the Indian-American stage magician who performs as The Hindi Houdini. Sanjay is invited to perform his show at an old friend’s birthday party on a supposedly haunted island off the coast of California, and “the curse of cloud castle” plays out when one of the guests is murdered. But is the culprit a ghost, or an ingenious person who has pulled off the perfect crime?

“Tempest in a Teapot” appears in Ladies Night, the Sisters in Crime Los Angeles Chapter anthology, published by Down & Out Books in June of 2015. It also appears in the short story collection The Cambodian Curse & Other Stories.

“Tempest in a Teapot” is an impossible crime mystery featuring a new character from the Jaya Jones world: Tempest Mendez, a magician friend of Sanjay’s.

“The Haunted Room” appears in Murder at the Beach: The Bouchercon 2014 Anthology, published by Down & Out Books in October 2014.

“The Haunted Room” is an impossible crime story featuring Jaya Jones and her landlady Nadia solving a seemingly impossible series of thefts from San Francisco’s history. It also appears in the short story collection The Cambodian Curse & Other Stories.

“A Dark and Stormy Light” appears in the Malice Domestic Murder Most Conventional anthology.

Jaya Jones is attending a history convention at a hotel where a mystery convention is also taking place. Can Jaya and a famous mystery novelist solve the impossible crime that baffles the guests at the hotel?

“A Dark and Stormy Light” is also available in the short story collection The Cambodian Curse & Other Stories.

The locked-room mystery short story “The Hindi Houdini” was short-listed for Agatha and Macavity awards for Best Short Story of 2013.

The story originally appeared in Fish Nets: The Second Guppy Anthology, 22 More Tales of Murder and Mayhem from the Rising Stars of Mystery, published by Wildside Press in April, 2013.

In “The Hindi Houdini,” magician Sanjay Rai, aka The Hindi Houdini, solves a locked room mystery at the Napa Valley winery theater where he performs.

If you’re reading the Jaya Jones series, you’ll recognize Sanjay, Jaya’s best friend. A magician and escape artist, Sanjay chose the moniker “The Hindi Houdini” because it paid homage to his Indian heritage and his favorite illusionist—and because he liked the rhyme better than Hindu Houdini.

You can read “The Hindi Houdini” in the short story collection The Cambodian Curse & Other Stories.

The short story “The Shadow of the River”appears in FISH TALES: The Guppy Anthology, 22 tales of murder and mayhem by the rising stars of mystery.

“The Shadow of the River” is a locked-room mystery featuring Jaya Jones. It takes place before she was a history professor, back when she was a graduate student.

This was my first published short story. It is now available in her short story collection The Cambodian Curse & Other Stories.

All historian Jaya Jones wants is a relaxing vacation in Scotland before starting her first year teaching college. But when a world-famous chess set is stolen from a locked room during the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Jaya and her magician best friend, The Hindi Houdini, must outwit actresses and alchemists to solve the baffling crime.

A prequel to Artifact!

Note: The book is out of print, but you can read “Fool’s Gold” in THE CAMBODIAN CURSE & OTHER STORIES