On a snow-swept night in Budapest, Máté Nádasdy waits to prevent an assassination no one else cares to stop. But when the would-be killer turns out to be a ghost from his past, the vigil becomes a reckoning.

A high-stakes chess match in an exclusive Budapest club draws gamblers, aristocrats, and a desperate player with everything to lose. But as Lieutenant Máté Nádasdy watches the pieces move, he realizes the real game is being played off the board.

The wheat was too green, the mist too thick, swallowing the fence line and muting the world beyond. Something was wrong here, though whether in the field or in himself, Lucas couldn’t yet say.

"I rushed between the stalls, pushing people aside as I hurried toward her. She saw me and started shouting, 'Someone took my baby!' My heart was already pounding in my ears, my eyes moving fast around the crowd. 'Your child! What was she wearing?' She reached out and grabbed my coat sleeve. 'I only turned a second and she was gone.'"

A consumptive flower seller, a dead baron, and an embroidered handkerchief hold the key to a chilling conspiracy. Can Máté Nádasdy unravel the truth before innocent blood is spilled?

When a precious artifact is stolen from an aging baron, Máté Nádasdy, a coffeehouse owner in 19th century Budapest, is hired to find it despite his past military failures; but when he discovers the relic may carry a curse, he must commit to finding the object before the baron dies.

When Máté and Róbert make an innocent bet to see who can first observe a crime, it only takes moments for Máté to observe a suspicious exchange at the coffeehouse across the avenue. But when chaos erupts, Máté can't help but involve himself—and a reluctant Róbert—in bringing justice to the moment, even though the mastermind might well go free.

Published in Mystery Magazine, February 2023.

Awarded second place in the 2022 Tennessee Williams Short Fiction Contest.

After a mysterious woman offers him a private tailoring job, disgruntled seamster Jósef agrees to make a custom suit for a dying man in New York, hoping to reclaim his lost artistry; but as he confronts the man’s tragic circumstances, Jósef must learn to rediscover beauty in the world and reconcile his painful past before his final creation becomes a symbol of both life and death.

Shortlisted for the 2021 Thomas Wolfe Prize for short fiction.

After his estranged father’s funeral, Jon Keating raises a bitter toast to the man he resented, unable to join the others in celebrating his father’s life; but when an unexpected revelation from his dad’s past surfaces, Jon must come to terms with the complicated legacy of a man who was far from perfect yet quietly proud of his son.