Short Fiction by Linda Maye Adams

Short Fiction: Vagabond by Blood

A weary assassin on a luxury space cruise must protect the woman he was sent to kill over when her husband’s deadly agents close in.

Series: Standalone

Length: Short story

Genre: Science Fiction, Space Adventure

Subgenre: Thriller, Space Opera, Action Suspense

Main Characters: Nick Cobb, Anna Perry, Mr. & Mrs. 1425

Setting: Interstellar cruise ship; Spacewalk deck; Promenade Deck; orbital station

Themes: Identity, redemption, autonomy, surveillance, moral choice, found courage

Timeline Placement: Far future / Interstellar era. Set before the large‑scale alien wars seen in Theater Ship

Link: https://books2read.com/u/mePgNA and https://www.curios.com/buy/1001365

Description: Nick Cobb is a soldier on the run, hunted across unstable frontier space where alliances shift as fast as the terrain. When a routine escape turns into a deadly encounter, she must rely on instinct and the thin line between duty and survival. This standalone science‑fiction short delivers fast pacing, sharp tension, and a vivid look at life on the edges of human‑controlled space.

Short Fiction: Theater Ship

An aging actress performing for soldiers in deep space finds herself trapped on the front lines when the alien war shifts into her theater’s flight path.

Series: Standalone Science Fiction Short Story

Length: Short Story

Genre: Science Fiction

Subgenre: Space Opera / Action & Adventure

Main Characters: Catherine Mason (aging actress), Earth Defense soldiers, alien intruders

Setting: A traveling theater ship stationed near Earth’s defensive perimeter; active alien war zone

Themes: Themes: Courage under fire, art in wartime, aging and relevance, unexpected heroism

Timeline Placement: During the first year of the alien war; concurrent with early Earth Defense operations

Link: https://books2read.com/u/bxj10v & curios.com/buy/1001368

Description: Catherine Mason thought her days of Hollywood danger were long behind her—until her traveling theater ship gets too close to the alien front. When the battle line shifts, she and her troupe must perform for soldiers who may not live to see another show. But when an alien machine breaches the ship, Catherine discovers that survival demands a different kind of performance. A tense, character‑driven science‑fiction short about the thin line between stagecraft and survival.

Short Story: One Red Shoe

A private investigator’s investigation into a missing actress’s home, where a single red shoe becomes the key to surviving a deadly confrontation.

Series: Al Travers Mysteries — Historical Noir Mystery Series

Length: Short Story

Genre: Mystery

Subgenre: Noir Mystery / Historical Mystery (1940s Hollywood)

Main Characters: Al Travers, Mike Reeves, Lily Boone, Dov Ackerman

Setting: Laurel Hills, California — 1940s Hollywood

Themes: Deception and hidden motives, The danger behind Hollywood glamour, War trauma and instinct, Survival in close quarters, Trust vs. betrayal

Timeline Placement: Early‑mid in the Al Travers Mysteries chronology. Standalone — can be read independently.

Links: https://books2read.com/u/3JQ9og or https://www.curios.com/c/05YKZL

Short Story Collection: Stain of Secrets

A private investigator pokes at the shadows of 1940s Hollywood, where secrets and lies glamour turn every case into a fight for survival.

Series: Al Travers Mysteries — Historical Noir Mystery Series

Length: Short stories + one novel

Genre: Mystery

Subgenre: Noir Mystery / Historical Mystery (1940s Hollywood)

Main Characters: Al Travers, Mike Reeves, Dov Ackerman

Setting: 1940s Hollywood — film studios, backlots, glamorous homes, seedy apartments, and the darker corners of Los Angeles.

Themes: Secrets behind fame, cost of ambition, glamour vs. danger, corruption and power, identity and reinvention, survival in a ruthless industry

Timeline Placement: Standalone stories set in the same era, loosely chronological but readable in any order.

Link: https://books2read.com/u/4DKYWd

Description: A gritty, character‑driven mystery series set in 1940s Hollywood. Private investigator Al Travers uncovers the truth behind dangerous obsessions and studio secrets. Each story blends noir atmosphere with emotional depth, revealing the hidden lives behind the silver screen. Glamour and danger collide as Al navigates a world where fame comes at a price.

Short Story: Backlot Deception

A private investigator is forced into a murder case on a Hollywood soundstage, where studio politics hide a truth Al Travers may not be ready to face.

Series: Al Travers Mysteries

Length: Short story

Genre: Mystery

Subgenre: Noir Mystery / Historical Mystery (1947 Hollywood)

Main Characters: Al Travers, Dov Ackerman, Mike Reeves

Setting: Hollywood, 1947 — Ackerman Pictures Backlot

Themes: corruption beneath Hollywood glamour, Hero worship vs. truth, Power dynamics and coercion, burden of loyalty, moral cost of doing the right thing, How fame distorts relationships and motives

Timeline Placement: Standalone story within the Al Travers Mysteries series. Chronologically early‑mid series, but fully independent.

Link: https://books2read.com/u/3JXDvB

Description: Private investigator Al Travers doesn’t handle murders — until studio boss Dov Ackerman forces him onto a case involving actress Allison Hayes, found dead on Stage 9. The police call it an accident, but Dov suspects director Howard Epps, a man Al has admired for years. As Al digs deeper, he discovers some secrets are meant to stay buried.

Short Story: Lost Night

A private investigator wakes up beside a dead woman with no memory of the night before. He must piece together the missing hours before the police catch him and the real killer strikes again.

Series: Al Travers Mysteries

Length: Short Story

Genre: Mystery

Subgenre: Noir Mystery / Historical Mystery (1948 Los Angeles)

Main Characters: Al Travers

Setting: Los Angeles, 1948

Themes: Memory loss and unreliable perception, trauma from war, Innocence vs. guilt, survival under pressure, corruption and danger in Hollywood, the thin line between victim and suspect

Timeline Placement: Standalone story within the Al Travers Mysteries series. Chronologically mid‑series, but fully independent.

Link: https://books2read.com/u/4jLVKX

Description: Private investigator Al Travers wakes in an alley beside a dead woman, his memory gone and the police closing in. With only fragments of the previous night Al must reconstruct his missing hours before he’s arrested for murder.

Short Story: Ransom

A rising Hollywood star is kidnapped, and private investigator Al Travers must navigate studio politics and a ticking clock to bring her home alive.

Series: Al Travers Mysteries

Length: Short Story

Genre: Mystery

Subgenre: Noir Mystery / Historical Mystery (1947 Hollywood)

Main Characters: Al Travers, Mike Reeves, Dov Ackerman

Setting: Hollywood & Laurel Hills, 1947

Themes: Power and corruption in Hollywood, the cost of fame, moral compromise vs. doing the right thing, loyalty under pressure, violence behind glamour, race‑against‑time rescue

Timeline Placement: Standalone story within the Al Travers Mysteries series. Chronologically early‑mid series, but fully independent.

Link: https://books2read.com/u/3LVyXw

Description: When rising star Jean Hartman is kidnapped, private investigator Al Travers is pulled into a dangerous ransom case the studio refuses to hand over to the police. Every clue points toward a personal motive with a deadly endgame. In 1947 Hollywood, fame can be fatal, and Al has only hours to save her.