Life Is Short and Then You Die
Mystery Writers of America Presents First Encounters with Murder
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Narrated by:
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Graham Halstead
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Laura Knight Keating
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By:
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Kelley Armstrong
About this listen
Life Is Short and Then You Die is the Mystery Writers of America's first teen anthology, edited by number-one New York Times best-selling author Kelley Armstrong.
Adolescence is a time of "firsts." First kiss. First love. First loss. First job. The first taste of adult responsibilities, and the first look at an independent life away from both the restrictions and the security of home.
And in this case, a very different type of "first": murder.
This short story collection of murder mysteries adds a sinister spin to the joy and pain of firsts that have always been a major part of life, whether it be high school cliques who take the term "backstabbing" too seriously, stumbling upon a body on the way home from school, or receiving a Snapchat message that promises something deadly.
Contributors include Barry Lyga, Caleb Roehrig, Emmy Laybourne, Jonathan Maberry, R.L. Stine, Rachel Vincent, Y.S. Lee, and more!
©2019 Kelley Armstrong (P)2019 Recorded BooksListeners also enjoyed...
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Story
Driving home one rainy night, Cassie Larkin sees a man and woman fighting on the side of the road. After calling 911, the veterinarian makes a split-second decision that will throw her sedate suburban life into chaos. Against all reason and advice, she gets out of her minivan and chases after the violent man, trying to help his victim. When Cassie physically tries to stop him, he suddenly turns on her and spits out an ominous threat: "Let her die, and I’ll let you live."
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Crazy Stuff
- By Selene Rackley on 02-22-20
By: Heather Chavez
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Last Girl Standing
- By: Lisa Jackson, Nancy Bush
- Narrated by: Angela Dawe
- Length: 12 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
At Bristol High they were an elite clique known as the Five Firsts: Amanda, Bailey, Carmen, Delta and Zora...ABCD & Z. They could have accepted their classmate, Emmy, as "E", but with her bookish disposition and her embarrassing status of scholarship student to boot, they rejected her and chose wealthy Zora instead. At a pre-graduation party just before the end of senior year, Lance Ventura, the hottest guy in school, falls down an embankment toward the river and is barely rescued in time to save his life. One of the Five Firsts, Carman, rushes to save him, but isn't so lucky.
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Real life
- By lisa on 06-09-20
By: Lisa Jackson, and others
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Lights over Cloud Lake
- By: Nathan Hystad
- Narrated by: Melissa Thompson
- Length: 8 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Reporter Eva Heart is sent to Cloud Lake to write an exposé on flying saucer sightings, a subject she is extremely familiar with. Nearly 20 years ago, Eva, then known as Jessica Carver, went missing, only to appear a week later, confused and frightened. A man went to jail for the crime. Now Eva must face demons from her past as she meets both old and new friends along the way. Will her real identity be exposed? Can history truly repeat itself?
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Suspenseful scifi mystery at its best!
- By rockgnome44 on 12-03-19
By: Nathan Hystad
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Jack: Secret Histories
- Young Repairman Jack Series 1
- By: F. Paul Wilson
- Narrated by: Alexander Cendese
- Length: 6 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Ever come across a situation that simply wasn't right - where someone was getting the dirty end of the stick and you wished you could make things right but didn't know how? Fourteen-year-old Jack knows how. Or rather he's learning how. He's discovering that he has a knack for fixing things. Not bikes or toys or appliances - situations...It all starts when Jack and his best friends, Weezy and Eddie, discover a rotting corpse - the victim of ritual murder - in the fabled New Jersey Pine Barrens. Beside the body is an ancient artifact carved with strange designs.
By: F. Paul Wilson
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The Lost Causes of Bleak Creek
- By: Rhett McLaughlin, Link Neal
- Narrated by: Vikas Adam
- Length: 10 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
At first, high school freshmen Rex McClendon and Leif Nelson believe what they’ve been told - that local students’ strange demises at Whitewood, a local reformatory, were all tragic accidents. But when the shoot for their low-budget horror masterpiece, PolterDog, goes horribly awry - and their best friend, Alicia Boykins, is sent to Whitewood - Rex and Leif are forced to question everything they know about their unassuming hometown and its cherished school for delinquents.
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Does it hold up beyond the R&L fandom?
- By BrettM on 12-01-19
By: Rhett McLaughlin, and others
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Ashes to Ashes
- By: Tami Hoag
- Narrated by: David Colacci
- Length: 18 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
He performs his profane ceremony in a wooded Minneapolis park, anointing his victims, then setting the bodies ablaze. He has already claimed three lives, and he won't stop there. Only this time there is a witness. But she isn't talking. Enter Kate Conlan, former FBI agent turned victim/witness advocate. Not even she can tell if the reluctant witness is a potential victim or something more troubling still.
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Damsel In Distress Romance Torture Novel. Ho-Hum
- By Ted on 04-03-15
By: Tami Hoag
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If You See Her
- By: Ania Ahlborn
- Narrated by: Brian Holden
- Length: 10 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The house on Old Mill Road has stood in an open field for longer than Jesse Wells has been alive, its crooked windows and jutting turret tormenting the kids of Warsaw, Michigan the way only a haunted house knows how. Everyone imagines that something terrible lurks within the house’s abandoned rooms - especially Jesse and his two closest friends, Casey and Reed. But when Reed chooses the house as a backdrop for his own suicide, childhood ghost stories are transformed into a nightmare that sends Jesse into a downward spiral of grief.
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DNF. Quit halfway through. A slog.
- By Smart, AZ on 07-10-22
By: Ania Ahlborn
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Dragonfly Summer
- By: J.H. Moncrieff
- Narrated by: Natalie Gold
- Length: 7 hrs and 40 mins
- Original Recording
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Overall
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Story
Jo Carter never thought she'd return to Clear Springs, Minnesota. But when the former journalist receives a cryptic note about the disappearance of her friend Sam twenty years before, she's compelled to find out what really happened. During her investigation, she learns another high school friend has died in a mysterious accident. Nothing is as it seems, and Jo must probe Clear Springs' darkest corners and her own painful and unreliable memories to discover the truth - and save herself from the killer who could still be on the hunt.
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Home is not always where the heart is...
- By shelley on 02-15-20
By: J.H. Moncrieff
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What Happens Next
- By: Christina Suzann Nelson
- Narrated by: Rebecca Quinn Robertson
- Length: 9 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Popular podcaster and ex-reporter Faith Byrne has made a name for herself telling stories of greatness after tragedy—but her real life does not mirror the stories she tells. When she's asked to spotlight her childhood best friend's missing person case on her podcast, she uncovers desperate secrets and must face the truth before she can move forward.
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Enjoyed This!
- By Freida Keith on 05-14-23
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The McAvoy Sisters Book of Secrets
- A Novel
- By: Molly Fader
- Narrated by: Nancy Peterson
- Length: 9 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
It’s been 17 years since the tragic summer the McAvoy sisters fell apart. Lindy, the wild one, left home, carved out a new life in the city, and never looked back. Delia, the sister who stayed, became a mother herself, raising her daughters and running the family shop in their small Ohio hometown on the shores of Lake Erie. But now, with their mother’s ailing health and a rebellious teenager to rein in, Delia has no choice but to welcome Lindy home.
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Great story
- By Nessa on 09-25-23
By: Molly Fader
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The Last Place You Look
- By: Kristen Lepionka
- Narrated by: Allyson Ryan
- Length: 10 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Nobody knows what happened to Sarah Cook. The beautiful blonde teenager disappeared 15 years ago, the same night her parents were brutally murdered in their suburban Ohio home. Her boyfriend, Brad Stockton - black and from the wrong side of the tracks - was convicted of the murders and is now on death row. Though he's maintained his innocence all along, the clock is running out. His execution is only weeks away when his devoted sister insists she spied Sarah at an area gas station.
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Alcoholic PI
- By Karwyn on 05-17-18
By: Kristen Lepionka