Undercover detective Kate, using the alias Carolyn, infiltrates the world of serial killer artist Sophia and stumbles upon a chilling discovery in her apartment: a painting depicting Kate herself asleep in a hot air balloon. All previous subjects in Sophia’s art met their demise within three hours of being posted on Instagram. On the same day, Sophia shares this ominous painting on Instagram. Meanwhile, Kate enjoys a hot air balloon ride with her boyfriend Nick at the Great Forest Park Balloon Race in St. Louis, while her boss Aaron tails Sophia to uncover her murderous method.

The post New Story “The Picture of the Hot Air Balloon Race” Published in Close To The Bone appeared first on Aiden Dufort.

Synopsis: To sell a newly discovered painting by DaVinci, Art Agent Jackson Coleman and Harvard Professor Marcus Kern visit a crypto billionaire in his penthouse in the Bahamas. As they enter his penthouse, they find the billionaire’s dead body. Hurricane comes and a power outage happens. In the tower, they see a pirate-like demon try to kill them….

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The post Honorable Mention in the L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Contest appeared first on Aiden Dufort.

Synopsis: Detective Ashanti Lewis investigates serial killing around female boxer Isabella Lopez. Isabella’s boyfriend is murdered in her house in Las Vegas, and her necklace containing the teeth of her past opponents and a fake diamond is stolen. Ahead of the biggest fight of her career, a conspiracy theory blows out on social media: somebody carries out these murders to let Isabella rise to stardom. One night before the mega boxing fight, Isabella shows Ashanti a mysterious letter from the serial killer, who claims that he is Isabella’s real father…

The post New Short Story “The Boxer Girl” Published in The Yard: Crime Blog appeared first on Aiden Dufort.

Aiden’s debut short story “The Secret Map” (5300-word SF crime) was published in the Piker Press (Jan 16, 2023).

Synopsis: Noah Stevenson, an undergrad at Stanford University and VR video game fan, undertakes an uncanny part-time job. He drives a strange limousine with a 360-degree camera and AI system in Silicon Valley to create a secret map. Soon, he finds that all of his young predecessors mysteriously passed away…

The post Aiden’s short story “The Secret Map” appeared in the Piker Press appeared first on Aiden Dufort.