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The Bad Sign: Crime and Horror Stories
Four standalone stories of high-stakes crime and pulse-pumping terror. Desperate mobsters, man-eating tigers, and hired killers inhabit these blood-soaked tales.
- The Bad Sign: Michael Cociarelli is a washed-up never-been in the crime business. But at thirty nine years old, he still wants to live up to his legendary father. When his antics cause the death of an important mobster, he slides down into the depths of the Los Angeles underworld until he must either make a painful sacrifice, or go down shooting.
- The King of Cats: A gangster and a billionaire smuggle a litter of man-eating tigers onto a cargo ship for an illegal deal south of the border. But when a storm hits the ship, the tigers get loose and a determined security officer, Jean Antonia, catches onto their plan. Caught between a vicious animal and an unrelenting monster, Jean must put a stop to the billionaire’s plan before anyone else dies.
- Crematorium: A group of ghost hunters film their show at an abandoned crematorium near the Texas border. Just when things start to get interesting, they discover a horrifying secret and meet the men who’ve kept that secret for many years.
- Badmen: After ripping off the wrong dealer, a stickup crew must steal a priceless card collection from a mobbed-up comic book shop. But things go sideways when the wrong guy takes a bullet and they find an empty vault. They must nurse their rival back to health and find the cards before the stakeholders decide to clean house.
- The Bad Sign: Michael Cociarelli is a washed-up never-been in the crime business. But at thirty nine years old, he still wants to live up to his legendary father. When his antics cause the death of an important mobster, he slides down into the depths of the Los Angeles underworld until he must either make a painful sacrifice, or go down shooting.
- The King of Cats: A gangster and a billionaire smuggle a litter of man-eating tigers onto a cargo ship for an illegal deal south of the border. But when a storm hits the ship, the tigers get loose and a determined security officer, Jean Antonia, catches onto their plan. Caught between a vicious animal and an unrelenting monster, Jean must put a stop to the billionaire’s plan before anyone else dies.
- Crematorium: A group of ghost hunters film their show at an abandoned crematorium near the Texas border. Just when things start to get interesting, they discover a horrifying secret and meet the men who’ve kept that secret for many years.
- Badmen: After ripping off the wrong dealer, a stickup crew must steal a priceless card collection from a mobbed-up comic book shop. But things go sideways when the wrong guy takes a bullet and they find an empty vault. They must nurse their rival back to health and find the cards before the stakeholders decide to clean house.
244 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 1, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
April 8, 2025
Fresh off finishing James Maxwell’s The Bad Sign, a wild ride containing four stories with surprises you won’t see coming. In the end, that’s my favorite aspect of James’ writing: nothing is as it seems and no one gets through unscathed. Gritty, hard-nosed, and bleak as can be.
My favorite story, “Crematorium,” is about a group of young adults that ventures into an old building in hopes of capturing a ghost on film, only to get way more than they bargained for. Tightly written with chilling scenes and a finale I wasn’t expecting.
My favorite story, “Crematorium,” is about a group of young adults that ventures into an old building in hopes of capturing a ghost on film, only to get way more than they bargained for. Tightly written with chilling scenes and a finale I wasn’t expecting.
October 19, 2025
Four fun crime tales
Four well done crime tales. The first is novella length and deals with small time criminals and how things never quite work out. There is also a fun tale of dangerous tigers on a cargo ship. Next is a ghost hunting show that got unearthed more dangerous then ghosts. Ending with a crime tale about baseball cards of all things, and several different crooks going after them when the owner blabbed about how much they were worth. Everyone has their own angle for sure, very fun tale.
Highly recommended, all are fast moving tales with interesting characters. Some really fun setups to build the tales on and the writing is well done.
Four well done crime tales. The first is novella length and deals with small time criminals and how things never quite work out. There is also a fun tale of dangerous tigers on a cargo ship. Next is a ghost hunting show that got unearthed more dangerous then ghosts. Ending with a crime tale about baseball cards of all things, and several different crooks going after them when the owner blabbed about how much they were worth. Everyone has their own angle for sure, very fun tale.
Highly recommended, all are fast moving tales with interesting characters. Some really fun setups to build the tales on and the writing is well done.
October 28, 2024
James Maxwell is not the modern Elmore Leonard. But Elmore is dead and Maxwell is alive, so he's got room to grow into that role, and if his debut, The Bad Sign, is any indication, he is gonna be the hot new crime author to watch!
This collection of stories features a main novella, two short stories, and one shorter novella and I'll break down my feelings on each one.
The first, and biggest story, is The Bad Sign, from whence the collection gets its title, and here Maxwell leads with his strongest work. It's a delightful noir of scumbags making awful decisions and the terrible results of those decisions.
It follow Mike, a loser suffering the worst mid-life crisis imaginable, as he fails as a father, an ex-husband, and a gangster. He is an alcoholic nobody who thinks, because of his abusive father's legacy that he is a somebody. And thanks to a few fateful decisions, he is about to be embroiled in a violent power shift in L.A.'s underworld.
Maxwell crafts a compelling anti-Scorsese tale here. Whereas Scorsese made us understand the allure of a life of crime, Maxwell shows us the ugly scars and dirty underbelly. Nothing good can happen to these dirtbags and their crude attempts to exist in a violent and cruel world, but it doesn't mean they are without a chance at redemption.
I will not spoil the end, but he takes the story in a very different direction than what I was expecting and proves a satisfying point without getting preachy. One of the best modern noir stories I have read. Period.
Next up is King of the Cats a fun little thriller that would have been right at home in Black Mask magazine. It has a simple recipe: Billionaire jerk, cargo ship with a family of man-eating tigers, bad storm, and crappy cage design. This makes for a delicious concoction of thrills, action, and compelling characters. Great short story.
Crematorium didn't work for me. Awkward blend of attempted horror and crime with neither quite clicking. But it didn't overstay its welcome.
Badmen, the final story, is a prequel to the first story and follows the violent and destructive misadventures of some titular bad men as they try to recover a valuable baseball card.
It's not as noir as The Bad Sign, has a little more humor, but is just as mean and exciting. It felt like a Coen Brothers movie with the large cast of misfits and the escalating stakes. I loved it. Further proof to me that Maxwell is going to be someone to watch closely.
What a collection of crime stories! One misfire didn't even come close to weakening the whole for me. An absolute unit. I am eager for what comes out of his typewriter next!
This collection of stories features a main novella, two short stories, and one shorter novella and I'll break down my feelings on each one.
The first, and biggest story, is The Bad Sign, from whence the collection gets its title, and here Maxwell leads with his strongest work. It's a delightful noir of scumbags making awful decisions and the terrible results of those decisions.
It follow Mike, a loser suffering the worst mid-life crisis imaginable, as he fails as a father, an ex-husband, and a gangster. He is an alcoholic nobody who thinks, because of his abusive father's legacy that he is a somebody. And thanks to a few fateful decisions, he is about to be embroiled in a violent power shift in L.A.'s underworld.
Maxwell crafts a compelling anti-Scorsese tale here. Whereas Scorsese made us understand the allure of a life of crime, Maxwell shows us the ugly scars and dirty underbelly. Nothing good can happen to these dirtbags and their crude attempts to exist in a violent and cruel world, but it doesn't mean they are without a chance at redemption.
I will not spoil the end, but he takes the story in a very different direction than what I was expecting and proves a satisfying point without getting preachy. One of the best modern noir stories I have read. Period.
Next up is King of the Cats a fun little thriller that would have been right at home in Black Mask magazine. It has a simple recipe: Billionaire jerk, cargo ship with a family of man-eating tigers, bad storm, and crappy cage design. This makes for a delicious concoction of thrills, action, and compelling characters. Great short story.
Crematorium didn't work for me. Awkward blend of attempted horror and crime with neither quite clicking. But it didn't overstay its welcome.
Badmen, the final story, is a prequel to the first story and follows the violent and destructive misadventures of some titular bad men as they try to recover a valuable baseball card.
It's not as noir as The Bad Sign, has a little more humor, but is just as mean and exciting. It felt like a Coen Brothers movie with the large cast of misfits and the escalating stakes. I loved it. Further proof to me that Maxwell is going to be someone to watch closely.
What a collection of crime stories! One misfire didn't even come close to weakening the whole for me. An absolute unit. I am eager for what comes out of his typewriter next!
December 16, 2024
Gritty is an overused word for crime fiction, but in Maxwell's collection, The Bad Sign, it's a word that fits well. You can feel the streets these characters are on, or in one of the stories, a boat... if a boat can be gritty. And I say it can! The King of Cats was my favourite tale of this collection of four stories (one novella, and then three shorter pieces.) It was one of those stories that I had to read between splayed fingers, but I needed to keep going— I felt as if I was walking down the steel corridors of a cargo ship that is carrying a litter of man-eating tigers. The experience was akin to the best thriller movie, where at any moment someone's throat was going to get ripped out.
The Bad Sign, the novella of the bunch, sets the tone for Maxwell's fine writing style. It's complex, characters weave in and out, and the reader needs to pay attention to the jump cuts. The story sets its own rhythm, something that sets it apart from some other crime novels being written today. That is not to criticize those other writers, but to say this is something unique.
Characters in all of the stories are rich in detail, both in what they wear and how they move and talk. I like that you can taste, hear, and smell the street... colour pops out when someone pours out a drink or simply walks down a street of gritty (that word again) buildings.
Crematorium is the story that comes closest to horror, but it'd be more accurate call it a kind of ghost story. Again, here I was deeply intrigued by the characters. So much so that I thought a full novel could be built around their back stories. You can smell the blood in this story, but not in a way that is gratuitous. Like the rest of Maxwell's writing, you can feel the terror, and the gothic sublime.
The last tale, Badmen, is a prequel to the title story. There's more bad men with guns and hard fists, and this time baseball cards in a mobbed-up comic shop. (I'm a sucker for a story with those elements.) More than that, I'm there for the environment. I can drink up descriptions like, "Late night in L.A., the sky was starless. The glow of the city refracted through the dull smog."
There are places where some of the transitions in and out of scenes could be smoothed out—if only to bring the reader along. But as a first collection I feel this is to be expected. The storytelling gifts are all there, and I'm looking forward to whatever Maxwell puts out next.
Highly recommended.
The Bad Sign, the novella of the bunch, sets the tone for Maxwell's fine writing style. It's complex, characters weave in and out, and the reader needs to pay attention to the jump cuts. The story sets its own rhythm, something that sets it apart from some other crime novels being written today. That is not to criticize those other writers, but to say this is something unique.
Characters in all of the stories are rich in detail, both in what they wear and how they move and talk. I like that you can taste, hear, and smell the street... colour pops out when someone pours out a drink or simply walks down a street of gritty (that word again) buildings.
Crematorium is the story that comes closest to horror, but it'd be more accurate call it a kind of ghost story. Again, here I was deeply intrigued by the characters. So much so that I thought a full novel could be built around their back stories. You can smell the blood in this story, but not in a way that is gratuitous. Like the rest of Maxwell's writing, you can feel the terror, and the gothic sublime.
The last tale, Badmen, is a prequel to the title story. There's more bad men with guns and hard fists, and this time baseball cards in a mobbed-up comic shop. (I'm a sucker for a story with those elements.) More than that, I'm there for the environment. I can drink up descriptions like, "Late night in L.A., the sky was starless. The glow of the city refracted through the dull smog."
There are places where some of the transitions in and out of scenes could be smoothed out—if only to bring the reader along. But as a first collection I feel this is to be expected. The storytelling gifts are all there, and I'm looking forward to whatever Maxwell puts out next.
Highly recommended.
April 3, 2025
Cool to see a book predict Cartel Crematoriums before that news story a week or so ago...
Good collection here with lots of grit and grime. Losers with big weapons and small time ambitions.
FFO modern crime stories and situations that get a little stripey...
Good collection here with lots of grit and grime. Losers with big weapons and small time ambitions.
FFO modern crime stories and situations that get a little stripey...
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews