Tough Messes brings together eleven short stories featuring a range of characters from varied backgrounds. From a group of mob soldiers trying to mitigate blowback from decades-old deeds in “Moving Day,” to a low-level arms dealer trying to stay alive after present-day blowback in “Leaky Pipe,” to a man making his bones for a modern crime family in “Quality Time.”

In “Luxury Goods,” old-school grifters set their sights on a hapless mark in a hotel bar. And “Flush” takes readers into the world of a master safecracker on parole. Just days away from being clear of his past, he’s presented a shot at a lucrative score. If he pulls it off, he’ll clear six-figures, that is if his partners don’t kill him first.

Also featured in this collection is a story that takes readers inside the mind of a serial killer searching for a victim on the streets of Denver, a corporate nepo baby who pushes unchecked greed to the limits, a low-level drug dealer pushed into an impossible situation, a man trying to rebuild his life and save his nephew from the depths of addiction, a couple struggling to define right and wrong, and a man trying to escape his past—and his many enemies.

This collection of stories, available for the first time in a single volume, is a welcome addition to the library of anyone who enjoys crime, noir, and mystery fiction.