Busted Flush Press: fine thrillers and hard-boiled crime fiction novels

BUSTED FLUSH PRESS was created in 2005 by David Thompson, an employee of Houston's Murder By The Book, one of the nation's oldest and largest mystery bookstores. The intent of the press is to reprint fine thrillers and hard-boiled crime fiction. You can order these books from Murder By The Book or a wonderful mystery bookstore near you.

Check out the links on the right to find out all the information you want to know about BFP and the books we produce. We do reprints and anthologies as well as limited editions. There is also information for booksellers, a list of places to buy the books, a list of author events in Houston and a way to contact us. And last but not least, please join our Mailing List to keep up with what's new with BFP.

NEW! Busted Flush Press up for both Anthony and Macavity Awards:

Tower (by Ken Bruen & Reed Farrel Coleman)—Best Paperback Original (Anthony) and Best Mystery Novel (Macavity)

"Last Fair Deal Gone Down" (by Ace Atkins, in Crossroad Blues)—Best Short Story (also nominated for an Edgar®)

Winners to be announced at the Bouchercon World Mystery Convention in San Francisco, October 14-17, 2010.

Read more Award Nominations

NOW AVAILABLE!!

Tomato Red, by Daniel Woodrell

"Three pages into Tomato Red I got that inexplicable head rush that comes from wondering how I'd never heard of the book or of Daniel Woodrell, and regretting the years I was ignorant of both. Woodrell writes with a poetic, lyrical, breezy style that reminds me of authentic country artists like George Jones or Hank Williams but he somehow does it on the page. He packs an entire world into a short book and leaves you yearning for more. Thank you, Busted Flush Press, for introducing me to Woodrell. Now others won't make the mistake I made."
—C. J. Box

Killer Instinct, by Zoë Sharp

"Charlie Fox came on strong in Zoë Sharp's early novels but, like a lot of tough girls, softened up with time. Now, thanks to an enterprising small press, we can catch Charlie in the rough. Originally published in 2001, Killer Instinct finds this army-trained martial-arts expert on her first job, working security for a club in an English seaside town. Charlie looks like a made-for-TV model, with her red hair and motorcycle leathers, but Sharp means business. The bloody bar fights are bloody brilliant, and Charlie's skills are both formidable and for real."
—Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review, July 4, 2010

Tower, by Ken Bruen & Reed Farrel Coleman
First time in print. BFP's first original novel!

"It's a story as old as hard-boiled fiction, but Bruen, the prolific and gifted Irishman, and Coleman, his new partner in crime, have given it new life... Bruen's prose is some of the leanest, meanest writing crime fans will find, and Coleman's more discursive style amplifies and explicates the story, in the same way that John Coltrane's lyrical saxophone built on the clipped trumpet ideas of Miles Davis. The result is more than the sum of its parts, and it brings to mind Dennis Lehane's brilliant Mystic River. Readers who like their streets mean, and their criminals and cops meaner, will love Tower."
—Booklist

Walking The Perfect Square, by Reed Farrel Coleman

As heard recently on NPR's Fresh Air! Maureen Corrigan called Coleman "a terrific writer... a hard-boiled poet... If life were fair, Coleman would be as celebrated as [George] Pelecanos and [Michael] Connelly." Discover Coleman's Moe Prager private eye series for yourself. Start with the series debut, WALKING THE PERFECT SQUARE.

The Frog and the Scorpion, by A.E. Maxwell

"Maxwell is good, really good, able to create believable, engaging, and original characters and set them plausibly into a story of nonstop suspense"
—Chicago Sun-Times

Gatsby's Vineyard, by A. E. Maxwell

"Maxwell manages a slam-bang climax . . . and the California wine business background is unusual and entertaining."
—Publishers Weekly

"Evokes with grace, elegance and love the colors, smells and sounds of Napa Valley wine-making."
—Vanity Fair

Crossroad Blues, by Ace Atkins

"Ace Atkins brings to mystery what Muddy Waters brought to music--the totally unexpected and the absolute sublime."
—Ken Bruen

"Reading Ace Atkins's wonderful first novel, Crossroad Blues, you feel like a lonesome traveler, navigating backroads, half-forgotten juke joints, the creaking front porches of the Mississippi Delta. With a pitch-perfect ear for character, voice, mood, Ace Atkins harmonizes the classic hardboiled detective tale with the rich lore and legend of the Blues. The result feels both fresh and vital and beautifully, effortlessly timeworn."
—Megan Abbott

AWARDS & NOMINATIONS

TOWER (by Ken Bruen & Reed Farrel Coleman)

Tower was nominated for a 2009 Anthony Award for best paperback original and for a 2009 Macavity Award for best mystery novel.

CROSSROAD BLUES (by Ace Atkins)

"Last Fair Deal Gone Down" was nominated for a 2009 Anthony Award, a 2009 Macavity Award, and an Edgar® for best short story.

HELL OF A WOMAN

Cornelia Read's story "Hungry Enough" won the Shamus Award for Best Short Story!

Zoë Sharp's story "Served Cold" was nominated for the CWA Short Story Dagger.

Daniel Woodrell's story, "Uncle" was nominated for an Anthony Award and a 2008 Edgar® Award.

DAMN NEAR DEAD

Bill Crider's "Cranked" was nominated for a 2007 Edgar® Award, an Anthony Award and was the winner of the Derringer Award! Read it here (PDF format).

Stuart MacBride's "Daphne McAndrews & the Smack-Head Junkies" was nominated for a 2007 Derringer Award.

Megan Abbott's "Policy" was nominated for the 2007 Anthony Award.