"Letterbox Eyes" by Glenn McGoldrick

Glenn McGoldrick can write stories that begin like any short story might but then take a turn into the unexpected. His newest short story, “Letter Box Eyes,” is no exception. 

A young woman lives with her mother. Her parents are divorced; she tried living with her father but his second wife didn’t like her and was undoubtedly glad to see her go. So, she moved in with her mother. 

 

The young woman can’t seem to hold a job. She works for two or three months, and then things seem to go wrong. But she has Mum to fall back on, at least for food and a roof over her head. And that’s all she really wants or needs.

 

And then tragedy strikes.

 

Glenn McGoldrick

“Letterbox Eyes” is a new dark tale by the British author. McGoldrick focuses his stories on the working class, people who often lead lives right on the line between survival and disaster, or between law-abiding and criminal. And every story has a surprising twist.

 

Writing since 2013, McGoldrick specializes in short stories with a twist, and usually a dark and often a deadly twist. He worked for both land-based casinos and cruise ships for a time, basing many of his stories on those experiences. His stories are gritty, and his characters run the gamut of good, bad, and something in between. They often find themselves moving far beyond the boundaries of acceptable behavior. McGoldrick lives in northeastern England (which I’m assuming is not as dark as his stories might imply). 

 

Related:

 

“Waiting” by Glenn McGoldrick.

 

“Shaking Hands” by Glenn McGoldrick.

 

Idle Hands by Glenn McGoldrick.

 

“The Moor Road” by Glenn McGoldrick.

 

“Yellow Feet” by Glenn McGoldrick.

 

Three New Dark Stories by Glenn McGoldrick.

 

“Six Down,” “Somewhere in England,” and “Dark Progresion” by Glenn McGoldrick.

 

 4 Stories by Glenn McGoldrick.

 

3+ Stories by Glenn McGoldrick.

 

Five Mysteries: 2 Short Stories, 2 Novellas, and a Long Story.

 

The Dark Stories of Glenn McGoldrick.

 

Watching Crows by Glenn McGoldrick.

 

Some Light and Dark Holiday Reading.

 

"Waiting" by Glenn McGoldrick

Henry Wilson is a British Army veteran. He works as a warehouse supervisor and lives in the town of Old Thornton in northeast England. He’s lived in his house for 20 years. And perhaps the only thing of serious note in his life has been a failed relationship. 

And now someone is pranking him. A taxi shows up, and the driver says he was called to pick up a Henry Wilson. A second taxi shows up a few days later, with the same instructions. Then he arrives home from his night shift and finds rubbish strewn across his front yard. He’s incensed enough to find out who’s behind it. And he’s waiting.

 

Glenn McGoldrick

Waiting is the new dark short story by British author Glenn McGoldrick, and it has all the hallmarks of a McGoldrick story. A brooding protagonist, living something of an anonymous life. Something happening that upsets the routine. And a twist – always a twist. It’s a rather haunting story – being pranked by person or persons unknown is not an uncommon experience. And McGoldrick knows how to use that experience and smack you upside the head with it.

 

Writing since 2013, McGoldrick specializes in short stories with a twist, and usually a dark and often a deadly twist. He worked for both land-based casinos and cruise ships for a time, basing many of his stories on those experiences. His stories are gritty, and his characters run the gamut of good, bad, and something in between. They often find themselves moving far beyond the boundaries of acceptable behavior. McGoldrick lives in northeastern England (which I’m assuming is not as dark as his stories might imply). 

 

Related:

 

“Shaking Hands” by Glenn McGoldrick.

 

Idle Hands by Glenn McGoldrick.

 

“The Moor Road” by Glenn McGoldrick.

 

“Yellow Feet” by Glenn McGoldrick.

 

Three New Dark Stories by Glenn McGoldrick.

 

“Six Down,” “Somewhere in England,” and “Dark Progresion” by Glenn McGoldrick.

 

 4 Stories by Glenn McGoldrick.

 

3+ Stories by Glenn McGoldrick.

 

Five Mysteries: 2 Short Stories, 2 Novellas, and a Long Story.

 

The Dark Stories of Glenn McGoldrick.

 

Watching Crows by Glenn McGoldrick.

 

Some Light and Dark Holiday Reading.

 

"Shaking Hands" by Glenn McGoldrick

John Baxter is a debt collector, not for a bank or loan company but for some unnamed private lender. He has to collect 300 pounds owed by Kevin Hitchcock, who’s been avoiding Baxter for weeks. And then Baxter finds his quarry fishing along the riverbank.  

“It’s only three hundred quid,” Hitchcock tells him. They fight, and Hitchcock dies. And now Baxter has a worse problem than collecting an old debt.

 

Glenn McGoldrick

Shaking Hands is a new Dark Teesside story by British author Glenn McGoldrick. Set where all the Dark Teesside stories are set, in northeastern England, it’s a story about what happens when something relatively straightforward – collecting a debt – goes seriously awry. The death is only the starting point, the precipitating action; the story comes in what follows.

 

Writing since 2013, McGoldrick specializes in short stories with a twist, and usually a dark and often a deadly twist. He worked for both land-based casinos and cruise ships for a time, basing many of his stories on those experiences. His stories are gritty, and his characters run the gamut of good, bad, and something in between. They often find themselves moving far beyond the boundaries of acceptable behavior. McGoldrick lives in northeastern England (which I’m assuming is not as dark as his stories might imply). 

 

“Shaking Hands” explores the human psyche of a man whose life unravels after a single unanticipated yet precipitous act.

 

Related:

 

Idle Hands by Glenn McGoldrick.

 

“The Moor Road” by Glenn McGoldrick.

 

“Yellow Feet” by Glenn McGoldrick.

 

Three New Dark Stories by Glenn McGoldrick.

 

“Six Down,” “Somewhere in England,” and “Dark Progresion” by Glenn McGoldrick.

 

 4 Stories by Glenn McGoldrick.

 

3+ Stories by Glenn McGoldrick.

 

Five Mysteries: 2 Short Stories, 2 Novellas, and a Long Story.

 

The Dark Stories of Glenn McGoldrick.

 

Watching Crows by Glenn McGoldrick.

 

Some Light and Dark Holiday Reading.

"Idle Hands" by Glenn McGoldrick

Mark, to use the common expression, is between jobs. He sleeps in after his wife Liz goes to work and drops off their son at school. He gets up, eat, and reads for an hour, and then rides his bike into town of Teesdale, right up to Newport Bridge. Then he turns around and heads home, arriving in time to eat lunch before picking his son up at school. 

That’s his life, until the day he notices a red hoodie hanging on the fence by the bridge. And there’s a note inside, but not addressed to him. 

 

Mark’s life is about to change. And not necessarily for the better.

 

Glenn McGoldrick

Idle Hands is the new Dark Teesside short story by British author Glenn McGoldrick. Writing since 2013, McGoldrick specializes in short stories with a twist – and often a deadly twist. 

He’s worked for both land-based casinos and cruise ships for a time, basing many of his stories on those experiences. His stories are dark, gritty, often involve a twist, and inevitably open insights into the human psyche. And his characters run the gamut of good, bad, and something in between, and often find themselves moving far beyond the boundaries of acceptable behavior. He lives in northeastern England. 

 

If you like dark, gritty stories with unexpected endings, then Idle Hands is a good one to try.

 

Related:

 

“The Moor Road” by Glenn McGoldrick.

 

“Yellow Feet” by Glenn McGoldrick.

 

Three New Dark Stories by Glenn McGoldrick.

 

“Six Down,” “Somewhere in England,” and “Dark Progresion” by Glenn McGoldrick.

 

 4 Stories by Glenn McGoldrick.

 

3+ Stories by Glenn McGoldrick.

 

Five Mysteries: 2 Short Stories, 2 Novellas, and a Long Story.

 

The Dark Stories of Glenn McGoldrick.

 

Watching Crows by Glenn McGoldrick.

 

Some Light and Dark Holiday Reading.

"The Moor Road" by Glenn McGoldrick

Jack is at the cemetery in Thornaby, in England’s northeast. The priest says a few words. Jack’s wife Kate is crying and being comforted by her sister. Jack looks around at the people gathers. Familiar faces all – friends, relatives, acquaintances. They are all there for the burial service. 

Jack’s burial service. 

 

“Sometimes I get the feeling that he’s still here,” Kate says to her sister.

 

Glenn McGoldrick

The Moor Road is a short story by British author Glenn McGoldrick and part of his Dark Teesside series of short stories. It’s a ghost story that is less about haunting and more about families, marriages, mistakes, and regret.

 

Writing since 2013, McGoldrick specializes in short stories. He’s worked for both land-based casinos and cruise ships for a time, basing many of his stories on those experiences. His stories are dark, gritty, often involve a twist, and inevitably open insights into the human psyche. And his characters run the gamut of good, bad, and something in between, and often find themselves moving far beyond the boundaries of acceptable behavior. He lives in northeastern England. 

 

Related:

 

“Yellow Feet” by Glenn McGoldrick.

 

Three New Dark Stories by Glenn McGoldrick.

 

“Six Down,” “Somewhere in England,” and “Dark Progresion” by Glenn McGoldrick.

 

 4 Stories by Glenn McGoldrick.

 

3+ Stories by Glenn McGoldrick.

 

Five Mysteries: 2 Short Stories, 2 Novellas, and a Long Story.

 

The Dark Stories of Glenn McGoldrick.

 

Watching Crows by Glenn McGoldrick.

 

Some Light and Dark Holiday Reading.

Some Light and Dark Holiday Reading

Holidays are a good time to catch up on reading – and here are two short works that make some light and dark reading. 

What Child is This by Rhys Bowen

What Child is This, a novella by Rhys Bowen, is the story of Jack and Maggie, a young couple who live in London’s East End. It’s Christmas Eve, 1940, the Blitz is on, and German bombers decide to bring an extra Christmas present. Jack and Maggie flee their home when an incendiary bomb is dropped on the block, and they lose everything. She wants to go her sister’s farm in the country, but Jack has to stay near the docks, where he works and is exempted from military duty because of his protected status.

 

Virtually penniless, then find themselves in London’s West End near Hyde Park, until Jack discovers a nearby home with the front door wide open. The block is deserted, no one’s in the house, so they make themselves at home is what is a very posh place. And then a little boy wanders downstairs and asks if they’re burglars. It’s a Christmas-time story, overlaid by the tragedy of wartime and loss.

 

Bowen is a bestselling author of more than 40 novels. Her novel The Tuscan Child has sold more than a million copies, and her works have been translated into numerous languages. She’s received several awards for both her mystery books and her historical novels. A transplanted Brit, she lives in California and Arizona. 

Dark Project by Glenn McGoldrick

For a darker (and shorter) story, British author Glenn McGoldrick has published his latest story in the Dark Teesside series, Dark Project. 

 

Brian is the type of work colleague who seems to blend into the background. He’s known as “Boring Brian,” and it seems that women don’t find him very interesting, either. He had dated Jane, one of his fellow workers, for a time, but she lost interest or just stopped responding to him. 

 

He follows the news, and he’s currently following the disappearance of a man well-known to police for his drug and assault offences. The police believe the disappearance is gang-related, by Brian knows better. Dark Project is one of those stories that has you looking over your shoulder.

 

Writing since 2013, McGoldrick specializes in short stories. He’s worked for both land-based casinos and cruise ships for a time, basing many of his stories on those experiences. His stories are dark, gritty, often involve a twist, and inevitably open insights into the human psyche. And his characters run the gamut of good, bad, and something in between, and often find themselves moving far beyond the boundaries of acceptable behavior. He lives in northeastern England. 

 

Related:

 

“Yellow Feet” by Glenn McGoldrick.

 

Three New Dark Stories by Glenn McGoldrick.

 

“Six Down,” “Somewhere in England,” and “Dark Progresion” by Glenn McGoldrick.

 

 4 Stories by Glenn McGoldrick.

 

3+ Stories by Glenn McGoldrick.

 

Five Mysteries: 2 Short Stories, 2 Novellas, and a Long Story.

 

The Dark Stories of Glenn McGoldrick.

 

Watching Crows by Glenn McGoldrick.

"Watching Crows" by Glenn McGoldrick

Philip spends a lot of time watching the birds by the river. He watches mostly the crows and what they do with the crusts of bread he throws them. 

At home, things are not good. His wife is increasingly flaunting her lovers, reflecting her anger at not having children. She blames Philip for that. She refuses to get a divorce Because she likes the lifestyle. And he’s growing frustrated. Until he remembers the crows.

 

Glenn McGoldrick

“Watching Crows” is another short story in the Dark Teeside series by Glenn McGoldrick. It’s a simple story and a dark story about a relationship with no future – and no present. But them there are the crows.

 

Writing since 2013, McGoldrick specializes in short stories. He’s worked for both land-based casinos and cruise ships for a time, basing many of his stories on those experiences. His stories are dark, gritty, often involve a twist, and inevitably open insights into the human psyche. And his characters run the gamut of good, bad, and something in between, and often find themselves moving far beyond the boundaries of acceptable behavior. He lives in northeastern England. 

 

Related:

 

“Yellow Feet” by Glenn McGoldrick.

 

Three New Dark Stories by Glenn McGoldrick.

 

“Six Down,” “Somewhere in England,” and “Dark Progresion” by Glenn McGoldrick.

 

 4 Stories by Glenn McGoldrick.

 

3+ Stories by Glenn McGoldrick.

 

Five Mysteries: 2 Short Stories, 2 Novellas, and a Long Story.

 

The Dark Stories of Glenn McGoldrick.

“Yellow Feet” by Glenn McGoldrick

The Dark Teesside stories of Glenn McGoldrick often feature small-time criminals or non-criminals who happen to find themselves engaged in criminal activity. There’s usually a twist, sometimes ironic, and the tables often get turned. Even the best-laid criminal plans can go awry. 

Glenn McGoldrick

In his newest story, “Yellow Feet,” the “darkness” is internal. Brian is dealing with the impact of a rather unfriendly divorce, talking with a therapist, taking time off from working to try to get his head together. Short scenes with the therapist and his daughter are interspersed with walks along the river or to the local cemetery. As he walks, he makes note of the yellow feet painted on the walk to indicate where to go.

 

Writing since 2013, McGoldrick specializes in short stories. He’s worked for both land-based casinos and cruise ships for a time, basing many of his stories on those experiences. His stories are dark, gritty, often involve a twist, and inevitably open insights into the human psyche. And his characters run the gamut of good, bad, and something in between, and often find themselves moving far beyond the boundaries of acceptable behavior. He lives in northeastern England. 

 

“Yellow Feet” describes a man not realizing how much he’s struggling with his failed marriage and his anger. It’s another classic Dark Teesside story.

 

Related:

 

Three New Dark Stories by Glenn McGoldrick.

 

“Six Down,” “Somewhere in England,” and “Dark Progresion” by Glenn McGoldrick.

 

 4 Stories by Glenn McGoldrick.

 

3+ Stories by Glenn McGoldrick.

 

Five Mysteries: 2 Short Stories, 2 Novellas, and a Long Story.

 

The Dark Stories of Glenn McGoldrick.

Three New Dark Stories by Glenn McGoldrick

The Teesside region of northeastern England is tucked between York and Newcastle-on-Tyne. It’s an old manufacturing area, and it’s the setting for a series of short stories by British author Glenn McGoldrick. I should say dark short stories, where a criminal mind or criminal activity is always just below the surface, people do the unexpected, and life if full of twists and turns. Three recent stories show how. 

In Small Town, Abbie Gordon is a young woman nearly beside herself over a series of small animal killings, including her cat Mr. Tibbets. She’s so upset that she begins to ask around, and she learns that other animals have been and are being killed. She’s determined to find the culprit, and she begins to distribute small posters all over town. But it’s a small town, and sometimes you might become a bit too successful.

 

The narrator of Next Lover is more than a bit crass. He starts his story with “I needed a new partner, as things were getting a bit stale with Sarah.” You think you know what he’s talking about, until the “things” turn out to be stagings of attempted robberies, usually in car parks, which lead to something more sinister. 

 

The Wrong House to Burgle is a story of revenge, or perhaps karma. A thief burgles a house, not knowing that it’s the house of an experienced criminal. It’s never nice to pick the wrong house of someone who knows how to find you. 

 

Glenn McGoldrick

Writing since 2013, McGoldrick specializes in short stories. He’s worked for both land-based casinos and cruise ships for a time, basing many of his stories on those experiences. His stories are dark, gritty, often involve a twist, and inevitably open insights into the human psyche. And his characters run the gamut of good, bad, and something in between, and often find themselves moving far beyond the boundaries of acceptable behavior. He lives in northeastern England. 

 

Reading these dark Teesside stories, you feel like you may have just stepped into a criminal version of The Twilight Zone. You’ll find yourself wondering how many appearances are deceiving, and you’ll be looking over your shoulder to see who may be behind you.

 

 

Related:

 

“Six Down,” “Somewhere in England,” and “Dark Progresion” by Glenn McGoldrick.

 

 4 Stories by Glenn McGoldrick.

 

3+ Stories by Glenn McGoldrick.

 

Five Mysteries: 2 Short Stories, 2 Novellas, and a Long Story.

 

The Dark Stories of Glenn McGoldrick.

“Six Down,” “Somewhere in England,” and “Dark Progression” by Glenn McGoldrick

Dark story writer Glenn McGoldrick is back, this time with three stories with enough twists to remind older readers of the old Twilight Zone television series.

In Six Down, police are on a stakeout, watching and waiting for an extortionist to pick up the cash. But the suspect turns out to be unexpected, and the question becomes whether the crime is justified, or not.

In Somewhere in England, a pretty hitchhiker wearing suggestive clothes has no trouble finding rides. It’s the drivers who discover they may have picked up more than they bargained for. And we listen to the hitchhiker’s interior monologue as she considers whether the driver deserves the kind of justice she metes out.

In Dark Progression, a “Dark Teesside” short story, a man seemingly concerned about a dead duck in the water sees that he’s being watched. He hurries away but is followed. He loses the man following him, until he arrives home. And then the story takes an unexpected turn.  

Glenn McGoldrick

McGoldrick specializes in short stories, which he’s been writing since 2013. He worked for both land-based casinos and cruise ships for a time, using those experiences for many of his stories. He lives in northeastern England. His stories are dark, gritty, often involve a twist, and inevitably open insights into the human psyche. And his characters run the gamut of good, bad, and something in between, and often find themselves moving far beyond the boundaries of acceptable behavior. 

Like the other stories published by McGoldrick, Six Down, Somewhere in England, and Dark Progression are provocative, surprising, and often disturbing. And always entertaining.

Related:

 4 Stories by Glenn McGoldrick.

3+ Stories by Glenn McGoldrick.

Five Mysteries: 2 Short Stories, 2 Novellas, and a Long Story.

The Dark Stories of Glenn McGoldrick.