Acclaimed author Annie Reed has been called "one of the best writers of her generation" and for good reason. She writes in multiple genres, including urban and contemporary fantasy, mystery and suspense, science fiction, thrillers, and romance, along with the occasional story that doesn't fall into any one specific category.

Annie Reed has won awards in categories as diverse as her writing. She's been honored with appearances in six year's best mystery, suspense, and thriller volumes, including an amazing three years in a row in the BEST MYSTERY STORIES OF THE YEAR (2022, 2023, and 2024) edited by Otto Penzler. She received a Silver Honorable Mention from Writers of the Future and won a Literary Fellowship from the Nevada Arts Council for her speculative fiction story "One Sun, No Waiting." She's been a multiple Derringer finalist, and one of her holiday romance stories was chosen to appear in English language study materials in Japan for students preparing for college entrance exams.

She's a founding member and frequent contributor to the innovative UNCOLLECTED ANTHOLOGY, now beginning its twelfth year of publishing themed urban and contemporary anthologies three times a year. Her short fiction appears regularly in MYSTERY, CRIME & MAYHEM, THRILL RIDE MAGAZINE, and ROMANCE FOR ALL SEASONS, which she co-edits with bestselling writer David H. Hendrickson. She currently writes and edits fulltime.

The Wizard Behind the Curtain and Other Diz & Dee Mysteries by Annie Reed

Fan favorite private investigators Diz and Dee are back in The Wizard Behind the Curtain with their longest—and most twisted—adventure yet!

Dee should know better. Whenever her mom asks for a simple little favor, like tracking down who trashed her craft store and stole her yarn, things inevitably get weird. Of course, when you're an otherwise plain old human with an unreliable touch of precognition, a dog who only looks like a Golden Retriever some of the time, and a long-standing secret crush on your hunky but grumpy elf partner, you measure weird on a sliding scale.

But this time takes the cake!

In a tale that involves dragons in disguise, a pissed off goblin, an annoyed halfling, a remorseful troll, and—oh yeah—a being who calls himself Crimson Death, Diz and Dee find themselves in a battle whose outcome will not only affect the fate of everyone in Moretown Bay, but the entire world!

A must read for Diz and Dee fans everywhere, The Wizard Behind the Curtain weaves a compelling page-turner you won't be able to put down.

Plus in addition to the complete novella The Wizard Behind the Curtain, this collection contains three bonus Diz & Dee mysteries! "Here, Kitty Kitty" takes our intrepid duo to an anime convention. "Gobbler, Gobbler, Who's Got the Gobbler?" finds Diz & Dee tracking down a bird-napped rescue turkey named Simpkins. And in "Maggie's Missing Mojo," the masseuse across the street asks for Diz & Dee's help to find out what happened to the mojo that makes her the absolute best at her job.

CURATOR'S NOTE

I consider Annie Reed one of the best writers I know. She writes in multiple genres and in various series. One of my favorite series is the Diz and Dee Adventures. The book she's given us features goblins, trolls, disguised dragons (!), and a lot of magic. And Annie's added some bonus Diz and Dee stories, just in case you couldn't get enough. – Kristine Kathryn Rusch

 

REVIEWS

  • "Annie Reed is considered by many to be one of the best new writers appearing in fiction."

    – Dean Wesley Smith, Editor, PULPHOUSE FICTION MAGAZINE

  • "One of the best writers I've come across in years. Annie excels at whatever genre of fiction she chooses to write."

    – Kristine Kathryn Rusch, award-winning editor and writer of The Fey series

  • "The appearance of a new Annie Reed story is a treat. Try one and you'll be hooked."

    – David H. Hendrickson, award-winning author of "Death in the Serengeti"

  • "Annie's writing is magic, seriously."

    – Robert J. McCarter, author of A Ghost's Memoir series
 

BOOK PREVIEW

Excerpt from "Here, Kitty Kitty":

I dove behind my desk as my miniature Zen garden went whizzing past me. The garden's stone base slammed into the wall right about where my head had been a split second ago, sand rained down into my hair, and I wondered what else I'd left lying around the front office that the little fairy might decide to throw at me.

My name's Dee, and I'm a private investigator. Clients usually don't show up at my office and launch deadly weapons at me. Along with my partner Diz, I run D & D Investigations. People—and by that I'm loosely referring to elves, leprechauns, Greek gods, and my family—hire us to find loved ones who've gone missing.

We rent office space in a shabby building on the inland side of Moretown Bay. The neighborhood's seen better times, but I like it. A masseuse with a unique flair for marketing and questionable taste in aromatics has a shop across the street, and there's an Asian store next to the office run by a very nice lady who two days ago introduced me to the little fairy currently hovering over my desk and yelling at me in Japanese.

I don't speak Japanese. I think my dog might since his usual Golden Retriever grin was dialed up to a near giggle.

"Want to let me in on the joke?" I asked him as I crouched behind my desk clutching my battered executive chair like it was a shield.

Dog didn't say anything. He only speaks to me in my visions. And yes, that's his name until he tells me otherwise.

We'd been having a nice afternoon at the office, Dog and I, up until the fairy barged through the door. Diz was off doing whatever tall, grumpy, gorgeous elves do—by themselves—after they crack a case with their partner. Dog had been curled up asleep in a small patch of actual sunshine coming through the front windows. I didn't blame him. Clouds, rain, and mist are the norm in Moretown Bay. Rare slices of sunshine should always be celebrated with a good nap. My cat was probably doing the same thing in my upstairs apartment unless she was still pouting. She hasn't quite forgiven me for allowing a dog to invade her life.

Faced with an office full of sleeping animals and no cases to work on, I'd been trying to distract myself from obsessing over my terminally single state, this time with Zen meditation. Diz told me recently that I should learn to live in the moment and enjoy the process instead of focusing so hard on the results. He thinks that might help me control my visions. I'm not an elf or a fairy or any other brand of magical folk. Vanilla human, that's me, only with a seriously unreliable touch of precognition. Since I suck at living in the moment, I thought learning Zen meditation might help, hence the little desk-top sand garden I'd purchased at the Asian market two days ago.

I'd been sitting at my desk raking lines in that stupid little plot of sand for what seemed like hours, trying to stop thinking about my partner's pointy ears and the one time I'd witnessed the tantalizing curve of his towel-covered derriere and just be in the moment, when our latest supposedly happy client flew in the door, picked up the Zen garden, and threw it at my head. I ducked just in time. She's got quite an arm for someone only ten inches tall.

"Okay, okay!" I said from behind the safety of my desk. Which, let's face it, isn't all that safe when the fairy hurling weapons at your head can fly just about anywhere she wants to. "I get that you're angry. Want to let me in on why?"

After all, Diz and I found the ceramic figurine the fairy had hired us to find. We don't normally track down missing objects, but Mrs. Takahashi, the nice lady who owns the Asian store, had asked... well, nicely. Two days after we were hired, we delivered the four-inch tall, white ceramic figurine of a cat to Mrs. Takahashi, who thanked us profusely and assured us she would give it to the fairy right away.

That had been two hours ago. It was pretty safe to say something had gone wrong, I just had no idea what.