The acclaimed short story that inspired the award-winning novel, The Enemy Within.

February, 1964: Two men die in a squalid alley in a bad neighborhood. New York Homicide Detective Seamus O’Reilly receives the shock of his life when he looks at the men’s identification: J. Edgar Hoover, the famous, tyrannical director of the FBI, and his number one assistant, Clyde Tolson.

O’Reilly teams up with FBI agent Frank Bryce to solve the high-level assassination before the murders unleash even greater consequences.

In our world, Hoover kept his secrets until long after his death. In Seamus O’Reilly’s world, Hoover’s secrets get him killed.

Two different best of the year collections, including the prestigious Best American Mystery Stories, chose “G-Men” as one of the best stories of 2008. Nominated for the Sidewise Award for Best Alternate History.

New York Times bestselling author Jeffery Deaver says of “G-Men,” “If you liked E.L. Doctorow’s Ragtime or the writing of Caleb Carr (The Alienist), you’ll enjoy this. Part police procedural, part political thriller, this clever tale features real life characters interacting with fictional ones.”

“G-Men,” by New York Times bestselling author Kristine Kathryn Rusch, is free on this website for one week only. The story’s also available as an ebook through various online retailers here and is included in the collection Crimes Collide, Vol. 2, which is available in ebook, trade paperback, and hardcover here.

G-Men

Kristine Kathryn Rusch

“There’s something addicting about a secret.”
—J. Edgar Hoover

The free story will be available for one week only. If you missed this one, click on the links above. There’s another free story lurking somewhere around the site. Track the story down, read, and enjoy!