The Man From Nowhere
A pilot’s crash landing in an unfamiliar town leads him to a new land, life and love, beyond his wildest dreams.
Short form
Short Stories
Pulp Adventures, Howard Millar capers, flash fiction, and hardboiled mystery — from Bold Venture and Wildside to Hardboiled Magazine and beyond.
Halo in Gold
One of Halliday’s Howard Millar capers — the Queen City private eye helps a little old lady find something that isn’t so simple after all.
Bedhead Fred’s Redhead’s Dead
A private detective’s chance meeting with a high school chum leads him into the investigation of two seemingly unrelated homicides. Also published in The Noir Mystery Megapack.
Black Sunrise
A Texas ranger finds himself left for dead at the bottom of a ravine where he muses about his investigation into the murder/robbery of a small-town physician that got him there.
Rainy Tuesday
A physician’s orderly daily routine is rudely interrupted by unexpected correspondence describing his murder in advance — from the object of a homicide plan of his own.
Room 801
Just another date for some, but August 5 signified revenge and redemption for other people. An elderly man visits a vacation spot that evokes memories of a youthful romance — one that eventually led him to murder and more in Niagara Falls, Canada. Re-published digitally and in print by The Horrorzine (Fall 2016).
Great Caesar’s Ghost
Appeared in Pulp Adventures and later in Black Cat Weekly.
Stranded at Saturn
An astronaut muses about his missed opportunity to reach Neptune while stranded at Saturn, where the memory of a murder is also introduced.
The Burning Man
Millar becomes judge, jury and executioner in the case of a murdered teenager — investigating as a friend of the grieving family in this noir, hardboiled short. Adapted as a first-place short script at The Indie Gathering 2019.
In the Blood
Millar resorts to a supernatural solution for an insoluble case — the suspect in three murders is an older man bedfast in a hospital, despite DNA and fingerprints at every scene.
Finding Phyllis
Millar endeavors to find a widow’s missing daughter — who happens to be his girlfriend. Semi-finalist, 2017 ScreenCraft Cinematic Short Story Contest.
The Woman in the Elevator
A P.I. gets trouble as his “thank you” for accompanying a woman to her car in a parking garage. The basement of a hospital garage becomes a stranger’s refuge — and Millar’s problem.
Don’t Bank On It
Flash fiction in the inaugural issue of Black Cat Mystery Magazine.
I Live Two Lives!
Flash fiction first published at The Story Shack; later in Black Cat Weekly.
Remembering Leonard
Published in Iris Literary Journal and the Wildside Press digital anthology.
Moonlight and Roses
A screenwriter from the Midwest finds more than he bargained for during a long walk with a beautiful actress in Santa Monica in the wee hours of the morning. Dark hardboiled fare — later a third-place short suspense script. Honorable mention, The Writer’s Journal.
Washroom Talk, Stalking Susan Storm, Number Eight, Coffee Shop, & The Typewriter
Additional stories included in Kawanga, and Swan Song and Other Mystery Stories.
Commission
Need an original story — or a series bible?
Commissioned fiction and screen work available. Tell him what you’re after at jack@jackhalliday.com.