Showing results by author "Bill Bernico" in All Categories

Crime Never Pays runs 1 hour and 57 minutes and consists of the following short 10 short stories: "A Perfect Match," "Cellblock," "Cocaine," "Dog Day Morning," "Is It Safe?," "Loan Shark," "New On The Job," "Stella And The Chief," "The Fish Tie Strangler," and "Trick Or Treat."

Betty and Frank live a normal married lifestyle. She's a homemaker and he owns a third generation butcher shop. He's content with his life, but it seems Betty is not. She's been seeing Frank's friend, Bruce on the sly for afternoon delights. As long as Frank doesn't find out, what's the harm? Frank finds out.

Jeff could see the lettering on the side of the armored truck as it made a wide left turn on the street just ahead of his own car. He pushed down on the turn signal arm and followed, not because he wanted to, but because he happened to be going that way, too. Jeff grabbed the radio knob and twisted, looking for a clear signal. Keeping one eye on the road and the other on the dial, he turned until a song came in clear and strong.

It doesn't pay to be seen with Matt Cooper. First, his new girlfriend gets hit in the head with a rock and killed. Next, a potential client ends up dead on the floor outside Matt's office with a pair of scissors sticking out of his back. And lastly, a man Matt is questioning about the second victim gets killed with paper. Paper? That's right... Paper, Rock, Scissors. Sounds like some stupid kids' game, but the stakes are deadly in this case. And Matt's on the case, to be sure.

Get a real job? Not on your life. You'd rather keep pulling the same cons on unsuspecting rubs. Your latest con involves selling TV boxes with just a picture tube in it to the gullible public. It keeps you in money and your cost is zero. But what happens when you unkowingly sell one of these useless boxes to Anthony Vonetti, crime underworld hit man? Well, you did and when they see what's in the box, your life won't be worth a plug nickel. You have to get it back before that happens. Good luck.

Elliott is hired by a member of the local country club to find out who has been stealing things from his locker. Sounds tame enough, but after Elliott sets up his surveillance cameras to catch the thief in the act, he catches something else on video instead - murder. Who bashed that fellow's head in with a Ping driver?

Your Aunt Grace is dying and you are her only living relative so you would be the logical choice as sole heir to her fortune. However, Aunt Grace has nine cats that also figure into the equasion. Will you split the fortune 10 ways? Or will that plan you've hatched help you keep it all? What will you do?

Lillian opens the door and a man is standing there with a gun. He forces his way into her home and tells her he plans to kill her husband when he gets home. Why? What'd he ever do to this punk? Uh-oh, here comes her husband. Now what?

The storyline in my Matt Cooper series now shifts to his son, Clay, who has taken over the private eye business. It's 1992 now and Matt's 81. Clay is 42 and his son, Elliott is 12. Bodies are showing up all over town with notes pinned to their bare flesh. The notes are clues from the killer. Sergeant Dean Hollister is not sure how to interpret these clues, but he knows someone who can - Clay Cooper. The clues are all connected. Can you figure out what the connection is?

It's 1964. Philip Duran has been driving all night to make a sales meeting in the wee hours of the morning in Hollywood. Vern Grayson has the purchasing power at MGM. Mr. Duran's new invention could be just the thing MGM needs to pull ahead of its competitors, but can Duran convince Grayson to buy his contraption? Find out here, because Philip Duran will do, anything for a sale.

It's a long holiday weekend and Clay Cooper decides to take his son, Elliott fishing. As they sit there peacefully in the boat, Elliott sneezes and Clay automatically says, 'Bless you,' prompting Elliott to question the whole superstitious custom and how it came to be. By the time he's finished explaining it to Dad, Dad has some questions of his own.

"Get in. We're goin' for a ride." Art grabbed Eddie's left arm, while his partner, Gordo took the other arm. They hurried Eddie along the sidewalk and nearly threw him into the back seat. Eddie quickly scooted across the seat and cowered in the corner near the opposite door. Gordo crawled in next to him while Art slid in behind the wheel. The car squealed away from the curb and headed out of town on the Old Plank Road. Eddie has a fifty-fifty chance of coming out of this alive.

Mark Martin rose up in the ranks of his company fast - a little too fast to suit some of his fellow employees. Mark markets adult diapers and is about to hold the sales presentation of his career. Will he land the new account, or is he all wet?

Jon is a grade school student who has a part-time job at a labratory where they experiment with animal DNA. When he hears that one of the scientists needs a tray full of samples, Jon runs to get it, trying to show how helpful he can be. In his haste he spill the contents of nine cups of animal DNA and the contents mix together. Sure, it was an accident, but the results make for an amazing discovery.

There was nothing Fred Pickering liked better than standing on his back porch on a warm summer's evening watching the sun dip down below the horizon. Well, almost nothing. Fred loved birds. He loved everything about birds. His personal library of bird books numbered in the dozens. He had bird feeders hanging from most of the trees in his yard and he'd even given names to several of the more recognizable birds.

It's 1980 and Clay Cooper is now running Cooper Investigations with his father, Matt, helping out as needed. Matt decides to join a lonely hearts club to try to find a companion his own age. He finds one and they have a wonderful night of coffee and talking. The next morning when he goes to call her, Sergeant Dean Hollister (Dan's son) answers the phone. The woman has been murdered and Matt was the last one to see her alive. He's been framed but he and Clay won't sit still for it. What they find during their investigation is a case of major proportions and a lot of people will die before this story is over...some you'll know and some will be strangers.

The man who bought Matt and Amy's house after she was killed 10 years earlier decides to remodel. When workmen pound a hole in the basement wall they find an adult skeleton. But the body has been dead for almost 30 years - since just about the time Matt moved into it with his new wife, Amy. Now Matt's sitting in jail trying to explain what the skeleton was doing there in his house. He hasn't a clue, but his son, Clay, means to find out...and quick. The answer will NOT be what you'd expect from the upstanding Cooper.

This story takes place in 1944, two years before Matt leaves the L.A.P.D. to start his own investigations business. He and Sergeant Dan Hollister are on patrol when they get a call about a dead woman hanging by her heels from a fire escape. The murderer was easy to catch - he was asleep in that same building. Finding the murder weapon, however, proves to be a little more of a challenge for Matt and Dan.

Doug has been having disturbing dreams about his friend, Alan, who had killed himself nearly thirty years earlier. While shopping at the annual flea market one summer day, Doug is drawn to a mirror in a plain wooden frame. He brings the mirror home and hangs it in his office, the perfect place for it as far as he's concerned. One night while sitting in front of his word processor trying to find the inspiration he desperately needs to finish his latest story, Doug sees something out of the corner of his eye and it's moving.

You have a chance to audition for the lead guitar position in Ricky Nelson's band. You have the experience, you just bought a new Fender Telecaster and you are ready to make the big time. But be careful what you wish for, you just may get it.