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This page lists crime fiction anthologies published in the Best American Mystery Stories series. The main series is an annual publication which has a guest editor each year.

Best American Mystery Series:
- annual publication
- one-off publications

The Best American Mystery Stories 1997

Editor: Robert B. Parker

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

1997

"For many years, some of the most vital, creative, and exciting fiction published in America has been in the field of mystery, crime, and suspense. Now Robert B. Parker and Otto Penzler - both Edgar winners - have assembled the best that 1997 had to offer."

• Blind Lemon (Doug Allyn)
• Hot Springs (James Crumley)
• The Weekender (Jeffery Deaver)
• The Dark Snow (Brendan Dubois)
• The Surprise of His Life (Elizabeth George)
• Eyes That Never Meet (Jeremiah Healy)
• Another Tented Evening (Melodie Johnson Howe)
• The Mark (Pat Jordan)
• The Things We Do for Love (Jonathan Kellerman)
• Lou Monahan, County Prosecutor (Andrew Klavan)
• Karen Makes Out (Elmore Leonard)
• Red Clay (Michael Malone)
• Mrs. Feeley Is Quite Mad (Mabel Maney)
• Will You Always Love Me? (Joyce Carol Oates)
• When You're Hungry (George Pelecanos)
• Hoops (S.J. Rozan)
• Doblin's Lecture (Allen Steele)
• Kindred Spirits (Brad Watson)
• There Are Monsterim (John Weisman)
• Unlawful Contact (Monica Wood)

The Best American Mystery Stories 1998

Editor: Sue Grafton

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

1998

"This year's guest editor, Sue Grafton, has put together a wonderfully diverse collection of stories to surprise and satisfy all fans of the genre."

• Child Support (David Ballard)
• Swear not by the Moon (Scott Bartels)
• Keller on the Spot (Lawrence Block)
• The Man Next Door (Mary Higgins Clark)
• This Is a Voice From Your Past (Merrill Joan Gerber)
• The Old Spies Club (Edward D. Hoch)
• Beyond Dog (Pat Jordan)
• Find Miriam (Stuart M. Kaminsky)
• Secrets (Janice Law)
• The Adventure of the Giant Rat of Sumatra (John T. Lescroart)
• Night Crawlers (John Lutz)
• Prayer for Judgment (Margaret Maron)
• Con Doctor (Jay McInerny)
• Black Dog (Walter Mosley)
• Faithless (Joyce Carol Oates)
• The Two Ladies of Rose Cottage (Peter Robinson)
• Twelve Days out of Traction (Dave Shaw)
• The Power of Suggestion (Helen Tucker)
• Take It Away (Donald E. Westlake)
• The Rest of Her Life (Steve Yarbrough)

The Best American Mystery Stories 1999

Editor: Ed McBain

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

1999

"The 1999 volume is a spectacular showcase for the high quality and broad diversity of the year's finest suspense, crime, and mystery writing."

• Keller's Last Refuge (Lawrence Block)
• Safe (Gary A. Braunbeck)
• Fatherhood (Thomas H. Cook)
• Wrong Time, Wrong Place (Jeffery Deaver)
• Netmail (Brendan DuBois)
• Redneck (Loren D. Estleman)
• And Maybe the Horse Will Learn to Sing (Gregory Fallis)
• Poachers (Tom Franklin)
• Hitting Rufus (Victor Gischler)
• Out There in the Darkness (Ed Gorman)
• Survival (Joseph Hansen)
• A Death on the Ho Chi Minh Trail (David K. Harford)
• An Innocent Bystander (Gary Krist)
• The Jailhouse Lawyer (Phillip M. Margolin)
• Secret, Silent (Joyce Carol Oates)
• In Flanders Fields (Peter Robinson)
• Dry Whiskey (David B. Silva)
• Sacrifice (L. L. Thrasher)
• Bech Noir (John Updike)

The Best American Mystery Stories 2000

Editor: Donald E. Westlake

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

2000

"The acclaimed author of The Hook serves as guest editor for this new collection of the finest mystery tales of 1999, in an anthology that incorporates fifty pieces of short fiction by Jeffery Deaver, Shel Silverstein, Dennis Lehane, Tom Franklin, and other notable authors."

• Miracles! Happen! (Doug Allyn)
• Ghosts (David Beaty)
• Spring Right (Tom Berdine)
• Annie's Dream (Bentley Dadmun)
• Motel 66 (Barbara D'Amato)
• Jumping With Jim (Geary Danihy)
• Triangle (Jeffery Deaver)
• The Instruments of Peace (Edward Falco)
• Grit (Tom Franklin)
• Compass Rose (David Edgerley Gates)
• The Defenestration of Aba Sid (Robert Girardi)
• The Island in the River (Chad Holley)
• ICU (Edward Lee)
• Running out of Dog (Dennis Lehane)
• Sheep (Thomas H. McNeely)
• Dead Rock Singer (Martha Moffett)
• Wrong Numbers (Josh Pryor)
• The Guilty Party (Shel Silverstein)
• Forgetting the Girl (Peter Moore Smith)
• Water the Dog (Brad Watson)

The Best American Mystery Stories 2001

Editor: Lawrence Block

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

2001

"The acclaimed author of Hit List serves as guest editor for this new collection of the finest mystery tales of the year, in an anthology that incorporates pieces of short fiction by Joyce Carol Oates, T. Jefferson Parker, Russell Banks, Peter Robinson, and other notable authors."

• Things That Make Your Heart Beat Faster (Jennifer Anderson)
• Lobster Night (Russell Banks)
• Prison Food (Michael Downs)
• In the Zone (Leslie Edgerton)
• The Paperhanger (William Gay)
• A Book of Kells (Jeremiah Healy)
• Erie's Last Day (Steve Hockensmith)
• Under Suspicion (Clark Howard)
• Her Hollywood (Michael Hyde)
• Family (Dan Leone)
• Blood Sport (Thomas Lynch)
• Carnie (David Means)
• Tides (Kent Nelson)
• The Girl With the Blackened Eye (Joyce Carol Oates)
• Easy Street (T. Jefferson Parker)
• The Big Bite (Bill Pronzini)
• Missing in Action (Peter Robinson)
• The Face-Lift (Roxana Robinson)
• Big Ranch (John Salter)
• Push Comes to Shove (Nathan Walpow)

The Best American Mystery Stories 2002

Editor: James Ellroy

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

2002

"The acclaimed author of L.A. Confidential and American Tabloid serves as guest editor for this new collection of the finest mystery tales of the year, in an anthology that incorporates pieces of short fiction by Robert B. Parker, Joyce Carol Oates, Michael Connelly, Stuart Kaminsky, and other notable authors."

• It Is Raining in Bejucal (John Biguenet)
• Two-Bagger (Michael Connelly)
• The Fix (Thomas H. Cook)
• Summa Mathematica (Sean Doolittle)
• Man Kills Wife, Two Dogs (Michael Downs)
• A Family Game (Brendan Dubois)
• The Blue Mirror (David Edgerley Gates)
• Inscrutable (Joe Gores)
• The Championship of Nowhere (James Grady)
• The Cobalt Blues (Clark Howard)
• Sometimes Something Goes Wrong (Stuart M. Kaminsky)
• The Mule Rustlers (Joe R. Lansdale)
• Maniac Loose (Michael Malone)
• Counting (Fred Melton)
• You Don't Know Me (Annette Meyers)
• The High School Sweetheart (Joyce Carol Oates)
• Harlem Nocturne (Robert B. Parker)
• Midnight Emissions (F.X. Toole)
• A Lepidopterist's Tale (Daniel Waterman)
• The Copper Kings (Scott Wolven)

The Best American Mystery Stories 2003

Editor: Michael Connelly

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

2003

"This anthology marks its seventh year by featuring selections from all reaches of the genre. World-renowned mystery scribe Connelly has chosen work by mystery favorites as well as talented up-and-comers for a diverse collection sure to thrill all readers."

• The Jukebox King (Doug Allyn)
• Aardvark to Aztec (Christopher Chambers)
• The Pickpocket (Christopher Cook)
• After You've Gone (John Peyton Cooke)
• Hostages (James Crumley)
• Death on Denial (O'Neil de Noux)
• The Jeweler (Pete Dexter)
• Thug : signification and the [de] construction of self (Tyler Dilts)
• War Can Be Murder (Mike Doogan)
• Richard's Children (Brendan Dubois)
• When the Women Came out to Dance (Elmore Leonard)
• The Confession (Robert Mckee)
• Lavender (Walter Mosley)
• The Skull (Joyce Carol Oates)
• The Dead Their Eyes Implore Us (George P. Pelecanos)
• Sockdolager (Scott Phillips)
• The Adventure of the Agitated Actress (Daniel Stashower)
• Home Sweet Home (Hannah Tinti)
• Controlled Burn (Scott Wolven)
• That One Autumn (Monica Wood)

The Best American Mystery Stories 2004

Editor: Nelson DeMille

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

2004

"The acclaimed author of The General's Daughter serves as guest editor for this new collection of the finest mystery tales of the year."

• Bet on Red (Jeff Abbott)
• Stonewalls (Jeffrey Robert Bowman)
• Height Advantage (William J. Carroll Jr.)
• Evolution (Benjamin Cavell)
• All Through the House (Christopher Coake)
• Where Beautiful Ladies Dance for You (Patrick Michael Finn)
• How Wendy Tudhope Was Saved From Sure and Certain Death (Rob Kantner)
• Snake Eyes (Jonathon King)
• Harvey's Dream (Stephen King)
• Smash and Grab (Michael Knight)
• Bank of America (Richard Lange)
• Lids (Tom Larsen)
• Low Tide (Dick Lochte)
• The Incident of the Impecunious Chevalier (Richard A. Lupoff)
• Doll: A Romance of the Mississippi (Joyce Carol Oates)
• The Swag From Doc Hawthorne's (Jack O'Connell)
• Best Man Wins (Frederick Waterman)
• Something About Teddy (Timothy Williams)
• El Rey (Scott Wolven)
• Green Heat (Angela Zeman)

The Best American Mystery Stories 2005

Editor: Joyce Carol Oates

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

2005

"This volume brings together the genre's finest from the past year. With stories from mystery veterans and newly discovered talents, this thrilling collection is sure to appeal to crime fiction fans of all tastes."

• The Identity Club (Richard Burgin)
• Disaster Stamps of Pluto (Louise Erdrich)
• Delmonico (Daniel Handler)
• Jack Duggan's Law (George V. Higgins)
• Old Boys, Old Girls (Edward P. Jones)
• The Shooting of John Roy Worth (Stuart M. Kaminsky)
• Until Gwen (Dennis Lehane)
• The Shoeshine Man's Regrets (Laura Lippman)
• When All This Was Bay Ridge (Tim McLoughlin)
• Case Closed (Lou Manfredo)
• Sault Ste. Marie (David Means)
• Public Trouble (Kent Nelson)
• Officers Weep (Daniel Orozco)
• The Last Man I Killed (David Rachel)
• One Mississippi (Joseph Raiche)
• Cruisers (John Sayles)
• Reconstruction (Sam Shaw)
• The Love of a Strong Man (Oz Spies)
• Loyalty (Scott Turow)
• Barracuda (Scott Wolven)

The Best American Mystery Stories 2006

Editor: Scott Turow

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

2006

The contents are:

• Theft (Karen E. Bender)
• Pirates of Yellowstone (C.J. Box)
• Why Bugsy Siegel Was a Friend of Mine (James Lee Burke)
• Born Bad (Jeffery Deaver)
• Edelweiss (Jane Haddam)
• Texas Heat (William Harrison)
• Peacekeeper (Alan Heathcock)
• A.K.A., Moises Rockafella (Emory Holmes II)
• Dust Up (Wendy Hornsby)
• Her Lord and Master (Andrew Klavan)
• Louly and Pretty Boy (Elmore Leonard)
• The Crack Cocaine Diet [Or: How to Lose a Lot of Weight and Change Your Life in Just One Weekend] (Laura Lippman)
• Improvisation (Ed McBain)
• McHenry's Gift (Mike MacLean)
• Karma (Walter Mosley)
• So Help Me God (Joyce Carol Oates)
• A Temporary Crown (Sue Pike)
• Smile (Emily Raboteau)
• Ina Grove (R.T. Smith)
• Ringing the Changes (Jeff Somers)
• Vigilance (Scott Wolven)

The Best American Mystery Stories 2007

Editor: Carl Hiaasen

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

2007

"The acclaimed columnist and author of Nature Girl serves as guest editor for this new collection of the outstanding mystery tales of the year, in an anthology that incorporates pieces of short fiction by Lawrence Block, James Lee Burke, John Dufresne, Louise Erdrich, William Gay, and David Means, among other notable authors."

• Stab (Chris Adrian)
• Solomon's Alley (Robert Andrews)
• Going, Going, Gone (Peter Blauner)
• Keller's Double Dribble (Lawrence Block)
• T-Bird (John Bond)
• A Season of Regret (James Lee Burke)
• The Timing of Unfelt Smiles (John Dufresne)
• Gleason (Louise Erdrich)
• Chellini's Solution (Jim Fusilli)
• Where Will You Go When Your Skin Cannot Contain You? (William Gay)
• Take the Man's Pay (Robert Knightly)
• One True Love (Laura Lippman)
• The Spot (David Means)
• Rodney Valen's Second Life (Kent Meyers)
• Meadowlands (Joyce Carol Oates)
• Jakob Loomis (Jason Ockert)
• Queeny (Ridley Pearson)
• Lucy Had a List (John Sandford)
• The True History (Brent Spencer)
• Pinwheel (Scott Wolven)

The Best American Mystery Stories 2008

Editor: George Pelecanos

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

2008

"As Pelecanos notes in his introduction, the twenty original and unique voices in this collection pay homage to the genre's forebears by taking crime fiction into a thrilling new direction. But make no mistake, he says, we are all standing on the shoulders of writers who came before us and left an indelible mark on literature through craftsmanship, care, and the desire to leave something of worth behind."

• Mist (James Lee Burke)
• Mulholland Dive (Michael Connelly)
• The Hour When the Ship Comes In (Robert Ferrigno)
• One Good One (Chuck Hogan)
• The Monks of the Abbey Victoria (Rupert Holmes)
• Proof of God (Holly Goddard Jones)
• Tunis and Time (Peter Lasalle)
• A Day Meant to do Less (Kyle Minor)
• Child's Play (Alice Munro)
• Win's Girl (Thisbe Nissen)
• The Blind Man's Sighted Daughters (Joyce Carol Oates)
• The Empty House (Nathan Oates)
• Car Trouble (Jas. R. Petrin)
• The Emerson, 1950 (Scott Phillips)
• At the Top of His Game (Stephen Rhodes)
• Hothouse (S.J. Rozan)
• The Invisibles (Hugh Sheehy)
• A Different Road (Elizabeth Strout)
• Given Her History (Melissa Vanbeck)
• St. Gabriel (Scott Wolven)

The Best American Mystery Stories 2009

Editor: Jeffery Deaver

Mariner Books

2009

"Best-selling novelist Jeffery Deaver edits this latest collection of the genre's finest from the past year. Featuring 'gritty tales told with panache,' this is a 'must-read for anybody who cares about crime stories'."

• Winning (Alafair Burke)
• Big Midnight Special (James Lee Burke)
• Beanball (Ron Carlson)
• Father's Day (Michael Connelly)
• Pretty Little Parasite (David Corbett)
• Meantime, Quentin Ghlee (M.M.M. Hayes)
• Two Thousand Volts (Chuck Hogan)
• Manila Burning (Clark Howard)
• Down Home Blues (Rob Kantner)
• My Son (Robert McClure)
• Free Radicals (Alice Munro)
• Dear Husband (Joyce Carol Oates)
• Wanted Man (Nic Pizzolatto)
• Kamila and the King of Kandy (Garry Craig Powell)
• The Man Who Fell in Love With the Stump of a Tree (Randy Rohn)
• G-Men (Kristine Kathryn Rusch)
• Bola De La Fortuna (Jonathan Tel)
• This or Any Deser (Vu Tran)

The Best American Mystery Stories 2010

Editor: Lee Child

Mariner Books

2010

"Featuring twenty of the year's standout crime short stories handpicked by one of the world's best thriller writers, Best American Mystery Stories 2010 showcases not only the very best of the crime genre, but the best of American writing full stop."

• Charlie and the Pirates (Gary Alexander)
• The Emerald Coast (R.A. Allen)
• An Early Christmas (Doug Allyn)
• Maynard (Mary Stewart Atwell)
• Dredge (Matt Bell)
• A Jury of His Peers (Jay Brandon)
• Designer Justice (Phyllis Cohen)
• The Cross-Eyed Bear (John Dufresne)
• The Case of Colonel Warburton's Madness (Lyndsay Faye)
• The First Rule Is (Gar Anthony Haywood)
• Killing Time (Jon Land)
• Animal Rescue (Dennis Lehane)
• Tell Me (Lynda Leidiger)
• The House on Pine Terrace (Phillip Margolin)
• Bias (Chris Muessig)
• Bismarck Rules (Albert Tucher)
• Ed Luby's Key Club (Kurt Vonnegut)
• Custom Sets (Joseph Wallace)
• The Shipbreaker (Mike Wiecek)
• Blood and Dirt (Ryan Zimmerman)

The Best American Mystery Stories 2011

Editor: Harlan Coben

Mariner Books

2011

"Featuring twenty of the year's standout crime short stories handpicked by one of the world's best thriller writers, Best American Mystery Stories 2010 showcases not only the very best of the crime genre, but the best of American writing full stop."

• Audacious (Brock Adams)
• Something Pretty, Something Beautiful (Eric Barnes)
• Clean Slate (Lawrence Block)
• Who Stole My Monkey? (David Corbett and Luis Alberto Urrea)
• Ride-Along (Brendan DuBois)
• Sometimes a Hyena (Loren D. Estleman)
• What His Hands Had Been Waiting for (Beth Ann Fennelly and Tom Franklin)
• A Crime of Opportunity (Ernest J. Finney)
• Flying Solo (Ed Gorman)
• Destiny City (James Grady)
• The Hitter (Chris F. Holm)
• West of Nowhere (Harry Hunsicker)
• Baby Killer (Richard Lange)
• The Stars Are Falling (Joe E. Lansdale)
• The End of the String (Charles McCarry)
• Diamond Alley (Dennis McFadden)
• Last Cottage (Christopher Merkner)
• Heart Like a Balloon (Andrew Riconda)
• Chin Yong-Yun Takes a Case (S.J. Rozan)
• A Long Time Dead (Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins)

The Best American Mystery Stories 2012

Editor: Robert Crais

Mariner Books

2012

The contents are:

• The Hilt (Tom Andes)
• The Bridge Partner (Peter S. Beagle)
• Filament (K. L. Cook)
• The Funeral Bill (Jason DeYoung)
• Fifty Minutes (Joe Donnelly and Harry Shannon)
• Man on the Run (Kathleen Ford)
• The Other Place (Mary Gaitskill)
• Safety (Jesse Goolsby)
• Trafficking (Katherine L. Hester)
• Soul Anatomy (Lou Manfredo)
• The Good Samaritan (Thomas McGuane)
• Looking for Service (Nathan Oates)
• Dog on a Cow (Gina Paoli)
• Vic Primeval (T. Jefferson Parker)
• Hard Truths (Thomas J. Rice)
• Local Knowledge (Kristine Kathryn Rusch)
• Icarus (Lones Seiber)
• Trafalgar (Charles Todd)
• Half-Lives (Tim L. Williams)
• Returning the River (Daniel Woodrell)

The Best American Mystery Stories 2013

Editor: Lisa Scottoline

Mariner Books

2013

"A best-selling novelist and Edgar Award winner, Lisa Scottoline brings her mastery of the thriller genre as well as her wit and heart to this collection of the must-reads in mysteries."

• Smothered and Covered (Tom Barlow)
• A Fine Mist of Blood (Michael Connelly)
• Misprision of Felony (O'Neil de Noux)
• The Sailor in the Picture (Eileen Dreyer)
• The Devil to Pay (David Edgerley Gates)
• The Street Ends at the Cemetery (Clark Howard)
• Crossing (Andre Kocsis)
• Remora, IL (Kevin Leahy)
• Thy Shiny Car in the Night (Nick Mamatas)
• Drifter (Emily St. John Mandel)
• The Ring of Kerry (Dennis McFadden)
• Quarry (Micah Nathan)
• So Near Any Time Always (Joyce Carol Oates)
• Light Bulb (Nancy Pickard)
• Gunpowder Alley (Bill Pronzini)
• The Indian (Randall Silvis)
• When They Are Done With Us (Patricia Smith)
• The Don's Cinnamon (Ben Stroud)
• Bullet Number Two (Hannah Tinti)
• Bound (Maurine Dallas Watkins)

The Best American Mystery Stories 2014

Editor: Laura Lippman

Mariner Books

2014

The contents are:

• My Heart Is Either Broken (Megan Abbott)
• Collectors (Daniel Alarcon)
• Princess Anne (Jim Allyn)
• Snuff (Jodi Angel)
• Former Marine (Russell Banks)
• Going Across Jordan (James Lee Burke)
• Aida (Patricia Engel)
• The Wrecker (Ernest Finney)
• I Will Follow You (Roxane Gay)
• Bush-Hammer Finish (Michelle Butler Hallett)
• Small Kingdoms (Charlaine Harris)
• Almost Like Christmas (Joseph Heller)
• The Covering Storm (David H. Ingram)
• A Good Marriage (Ed Kurtz)
• Gauley Season (Matthew Neill Null)
• Rough Deeds (Annie Proulx)
• Pleasant Grove (Scott Loring Sanders)
• Festered Wounds (Nancy Pauline Simpson)
• Satan's Kingtom (Dennis Tafoya)
• Antarctica (Laura Van Den Berg)

The Best American Mystery Stories 2015

Editor: James Patterson

Mariner Books

2015

"In his introduction, guest editor James Patterson observes: I often hear people lamenting the state of Hollywood . . . If that's the case, I've got one thing to say: read these short stories. You can thank me later."

• Snow Angel - Doug Allyn
• Cowboy Justice - Andrew Bourelle
• Rosalee Carrasco - Tomiko Breland
• Wet With Rain Lee Child
• Red Eye: Patrick Kenzie vs. Harry Bosch: An Original Short Story - Michael Connelly and Dennis Lehane
• Harm and Hammer - Joseph D'Agnese
• The Adventures of the Laughing Fisherman - Jeffery Deaver
• Crush Depth - Brendan DuBois
• Molly's Plan - John M Floyd
• A Bottle of Scotch and a Sharp Buck Knife - Scott Grand
• Shared Room on Union - Steven Heighton
• Afterlife of a Stolen Child - Janette Turner Hospital
• Apocrypha - Richard Lange
• Staircase to the Moon - Teresa Lehr
• A Man Looking for Trouble - Lee Martin
• Many Dogs Have Died Here - James Matthews
• Motherlode - Thomas McGuane
• A Kidnapping in Koulev-Ville - Kyle Minor
• The Home at Craigmillnar - Joyce Carol Oates
• The Shot - Eric Rutter

The Best American Mystery Stories 2016

Editor: Elizabeth George

Mariner Books

2016

"What you'll find in this volume are stories that demonstrate a mastery of plotting; stories that compel you to keep turning the pages because of plot and because of setting; stories that wield suspense like a sword; stories of people getting their comeuppance; stories that utilize superb point of view; stories that plumb one particular and unfortunate attribute of a character."

• The Little Men (Megan Abbott)
• Okay, Now Do You Surrender? (Steve Almond)
• Toward The Company Of Others (Matt Bell)
• Fool Proof (Bruce Robert Coffin)
• Safety (Lydia Fitzpatrick)
• Christians (Tom Franklin)
• A Death (Stephen King)
• For Something To Do (Elmore Leonard)
• The Continental Opposite (Evan Lewis)
• Street Of The Dead House (Robert Lopresti)
• Lafferty's Ghost (Dennis McFadden)
• The Tank Yard (Michael Noll)
• Trash (Todd Robinson)
• Christmas Eve At The Exit (Kristine Kathryn Rusch)
• The Mountain Top (Georgia Ruth)
• Mailman (Jonathan Stone)
• Rearview Mirror (Art Taylor)
• Border Crossing (Susan Thornton)
• Entwined (Brian Tobin)
• God's Plan For Dr. Gaynor And Hastings Chiume (Sara Waldorf)

The Best American Mystery Stories 2017

Editor: John Sandford

Mariner Books

2017

"Some people might tell you that crime short stories, unlike the more precious kind, are a kind of fictional ghetto, full of cardboard characters and clichéd situations. Not true. These stories are remarkably free of bullshit - although there's always a little, just to grease the wheels."

• Puncher's Chance (Doug Allyn)
• Master Of Negwegon (Jim Allyn)
• Human Variable (Dan Bevacqua)
• Power Wagon (C.J. Box)
• Williamsville (Gerri Brightwell)
• Flight (Trina Corey)
• Incident Of 10 November (Jeffery Deaver)
• Man From Away (Brendan Dubois)
• GI Jack (Loren D. Estleman)
• Ike, Sharon, And Me (Peter Ferry)
• Lovers And Thieves (Charles John Harper)
• Land Of The Blind (Craig Johnson)
• Painted Smile (William Kent Krueger)
• Dot Rat (K. McGee)
• Woman In The Window (Joyce Carol Oates)
• Sweet Warm Earth (Steven Popkes)
• All Things Come Around (William Soldan)
• Process Is A Process All It's Own (Peter Straub)
• Night Run (Wallace Stroby)

The Best American Mystery Stories 2018

Editor: Louise Penny

Mariner Books

2018

"Louise Penny brings her 'nerve and skill - as well as heart' to selecting the best short mystery and crime fiction of the year."

The Best American Mystery Stories of the Century

Editor: Tony Hillerman

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

2000

"In this essential distillation of American suspense, 100 years worth of peerless tales are collected into a volume where giants of the genre abound."

• Retrieved Reformation (O. Henry)
• Paul's Case (Willa Cather)
• Problem Of Cell 13 (Jacques Futrelle)
• Blind Man's Buff (Frederick Irving Anderson)
• Naboth's Vineyard (Melville Davisson Post)
• Jury Of Her Peers (Susan Glaspell)
• Gutting Of Couffignal (Dashiell Hammett)
• Haircut (Ring Lardner)
• Blue Murder (Wilbur Daniel Steele)
• Perfect Crime (Ben Ray Redman)
• Baby In The Icebox (James M. Cain)
• Murder (John Steinbeck)
• Sense Of Humor (Damon Runyan)
• Ransom (Pearl S. Buck)
• Red Wind (Raymond Chandler)
• Catbird Seat (James Thurber)
• Rear Window (Cornell Woolrich)
• Error In Chemistry (William Faulkner)
• Nine Mile Walk (Harry Kemelman)
• Adventure Of The President's Half Dime (Ellery Queen)
• Homesick Buick (John D. Macdonald)
• Gone Girl (Ross Macdonald)
• Moment Of Decision (Stanley Ellin)
• First Offense (Evan Hunter)
• Couple Next Door (Margaret Millar)
• Day Of The Execution (Henry Slesar)
• Terrapin (Patricia Highsmith)
• Possibility Of Evil (Shirley Jackson)
• Comforts Of Home (Flannery O'Connor)
• Good Man, Bad Man (Jerome Weidman)
• Goodbye, Pops (Joe Gores)
• Whimper Of Whipped Dogs (Harlan Ellison)
• Wager (Robert L. Fish)
• Do With Me What You Will (Joyce Carol Oates)
• Quitters, Inc. (Stephen King)
• Absence Of Emily (Jack Ritchie)
• By The Dawn's Early Light (Lawrence Block)
• Iris (Stephen Greenleaf)
• Three-Dot Po (Sara Paretsky)
• Parker Shotgun (Sue Grafton)
• Too Many Crooks (Donald E. Westlake)
• Hot Springs (James Crumley)
• Dark Snow (Brendan DuBois)
• Red Clay (Michael Malone)
• Poachers (Tom Franklin)
• Running Out Of Dog (Dennis Lehane)

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The Best American Mystery Stories of the Nineteenth Century

Editor: Otto Penzler

2014

"The Best American Mystery Stories of the Nineteenth Century is an essential anthology of American letters. It's a unique blend of beloved writers who contributed to the genre and forgotten names that pioneered the form, such as Anna Katharine Green, the godmother of mystery fiction, and the African-American writer Charles W. Chesnutt. Of course, Penzler includes The Murders in the Rue Morgue, recognized as the first detective story, and with thirty-three stories spanning the years 1824-1899, nowhere else can readers find such a surprising, comprehensive take on the evolution of the American mystery story."

• The Story Of The Young Robber (Washington Irving)
• The Rifle (William Leggett)
• Mr. Higginbotham's Catastrophe (Nathaniel Hawthorne)
• The Murders In The Rue Morgue (Edgar Allan Poe)
• The Purloined Letter (Edgar Allan Poe)
• Remarkable Case Of Arrest For Murder (Abraham Lincoln)
• The Fatal Secret (Daniel Webster)
• The Danseuse (Thomas Bailey Aldrich)
• A Double Tragedy: An Actor's Story (Louisa May Alcott)
• The Two Sisters; Or, The Avenger (Allan Pinkerton)
• The Lady, Or The Tiger? And The Discourager Of Hesitancy (Frank Stockton)
• A Thumb-Print And What Came Of It (Mark Twain)
• My Favorite Murder (Ambrose Bierce)
• The Sheriff's Children (Charles W. Chesnutt)
• Gallegher (Richard Harding Davis)
• 'Round The Opium Lamp (William Norr)
• Lingo Dan (Percival Pollard)
• The Nameless Man And The Montezuma Emerald (Rodrigues Ottolengui)
• The Doctor, His Wife, And The Clock (Anna Katharine Green)
• A Very Strange Case (William M. Hinkley)
• The Long Arm (Mary E. Wilkins)
• The Mysterious Card And The Mysterious Card Unveiled (Cleveland Moffett)
• Tom Sawyer, Detective (Mark Twain)
• The Corpus Delicti (Melville Davisson Post)
• The Suicide Of Kiaros (L. Frank Baum)
• The Purple Emperor (Robert W. Chambers)
• At Pinney's Ranch (Edward Bellamy)
• The Blue Hotel (Stephen Crane)
• A Cup Of Cold Water (Edith Wharton)
• The Detective's Pretty Neighbor (Nicholas Carter)
• A Point In Morals (Ellen Glasgow)
• A Thousand Deaths (Jack London))