A Wall Street Journal holiday 2021 pick A Suspense Magazine Best Book of the Year Lee Child selects the twenty best mystery short stories of the year, including tales by Stephen King, Sara Paretsky, and many more. Under the auspices of New York City's legendary mystery fiction specialty bookstore, The Mysterious Bookshop, and aided by Edgar Award-winning anthologist Otto Penzler, international bestseller Lee Child has selected the twenty most suspenseful, most confounding, and most mysterious short stories from the past year, collected now in one entertaining volume. Includes stories by: Alison Gaylin David Morrell James Lee Burke Joyce Carol Oates Martin Edwards Sara Paretsky Stephen King Sue Grafton (with a new, posthumously-published work!) And many more!

The greatest detectives of the Golden Age investigate the most puzzling crimes of the era Sometimes, the police aren’t the best suited to solve a crime. Depending on the case, you may find that a retired magician, a schoolteacher, a Broadway producer, or a nun have the necessary skills to suss out a killer. Or, in other cases, a blind veteran, or a publisher, or a hard-drinking attorney, or a mostly-sober attorney… or, indeed, any sort of detective you could think of might be able to best the professionals when it comes to comprehending strange and puzzling murders. At least, that’s what the authors from the Golden Age of American mystery fiction would have you think. For decades in the middle of the twentieth century, the country’s best-selling authors produced delightful tales in which all types of eccentrics used rarified knowledge to interpret confounding clues. And for even longer, in the decades that have followed, these characters have continued to entertain new audiences with every new generation that discovers them. Edgar Award-winning anthologist Otto Penzler selects some of the greatest American short stories from era. With authors including Ellery Queen, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Cornell Woolrich, Erle Stanley Gardner, and Anthony Boucher, this collection is a treat for those who know and love this celebrated period in literary history, and a great introduction to its best writers for the uninitiated. Includes discussion guide questions for use in book clubs.

An anthology of the best mystery short stories published in 2017 selected by best-selling author Louise Penny.

The New York Times–bestselling author presents a thrilling anthology of devious crimes with stories by C. J. Box, Peter Straub, Joyce Carol Oates and more. “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,” writes guest editor John Sandford in his introduction to this action-packed volume of mystery fiction. From an isolated Wyoming ranch to the Detroit boxing underworld, and from kidnapping and adultery in the Hollywood Hills to a serial killer loose in a nursing home, The Best American Mystery Stories 2017 hosts an entertaining abundance of crime, psychological suspense, and bad intentions. The Best American Mystery Stories 2017 includes entries by C.J. Box, Gerri Brightwell, Jeffery Deaver, Brendan DuBois, Trina Corey, Craig Johnson, Joyce Carol Oates, Peter Straub, and others.

A must for all crime aficionados, The Best American Mystery Stories 2006 spotlights the very best the genre has to offer. Notable for their dark tone, frequent plot twists, and, above all, their outright entertainment value, here are twenty of 2006's stand-out short stories by bestselling authors and newcomers alike. The veterans show us they still have new tricks up their sleeves, while the (as yet) unknowns clearly mark themselves as talents to watch.Sellected by bestselling author Scott Turrow, 2006's collection includes stories by: James Lee Burke, Jeffery Deaver, Andrew Klavan, Elmore Leonard, Ed McBain, Laura Lippman, Walter Mosely, and Joyce Carol Oates.

A unique collection of brand-new spy stories from world-class writers. An instant classic for thrill addicts everywhere. Features a brand new short story from Lee Child From a secretive soldier on the eve of the Normandy landings to a golf-playing gun fanatic in a suburb of modern Britain, everybody has something to hide in this brilliant collection of original spy fiction that brings together the distinctive voices of the genre for the very first time. In Lee Child's 'Section 7', a Top Secret operational meeting is given a sly twist, while David Morrell's tale of an interrogator's techniques in a world where the tables might turn at any moment is dark, sinister and frighteningly real. In a business where one country's traitor is another country's hero, how far would you go to get to the truth? With an introduction from Otto Penzler, these thrilling tales of intrigue and deception, heroism and betrayal, courage and cowardice will push your adrenaline to dangerous new levels. With contributions from: Charles McCarry, Lee Child, James Grady, Joseph Finder, John Lawton, John Weisman, Stephen Hunter, Gayle Lynds, David Morrell, Andrew Klavan, Robert Wilson, Dan Fesperman, Stella Rimington, Olen Steinhauer.

Sara Paretsky selects the twenty best mystery short stories of the year, including tales by Michael Connelly, Jo Nesbo, Joyce Carol Oates, Colson Whitehead, and more! Under the auspices of New York City's legendary mystery fiction specialty bookstore, The Mysterious Bookshop, and aided by Edgar Award-winning anthologist Otto Penzler, international bestseller and MWA Grandmaster Sara Paretsky has selected the twenty most puzzling, most thrilling, and most mysterious short stories from the past year, collected now in one entertaining volume.

"Under the auspices of New York City's legendary mystery fiction specialty bookstore, The Mysterious Bookshop, and aided by Edgar Award-winning anthologist Otto Penzler, international bestseller Lee Child has selected the twenty most suspenseful, most confounding, and most mysterious short stories from the past year, collected now in one entertaining volume. Includes stories by: Alison Gaylin, David Morrell, James Lee Burke, Joyce Carol Oates, Martin Edwards, Sara Paretsky, Stephen King, Sue Grafton (with a new, posthumously-published work!) And many more!"--

Sara Paretsky selects the twenty best mystery short stories of the year, including tales by Michael Connelly, Jo Nesbo, Joyce Carol Oates, Colson Whitehead, and more! Under the auspices of New York City's legendary mystery fiction specialty bookstore, The Mysterious Bookshop, and aided by Edgar Award-winning anthologist Otto Penzler, international bestseller and MWA Grandmaster Sara Paretsky has selected the twenty most puzzling, most thrilling, and most mysterious short stories from the past year, collected now in one entertaining volume. Includes stories by: Doug Allyn Colin Barrett Jerome Charyn Michael Connelly Susan Frith Tom Larsen Sean Marciniak Stefon Mears Kieth Lee Morris Gwen Mullins Jo Nesbo Joyce Carol Oates Annie Reed Kristen Kathryn Rusch Anna Scotti Ginny Swart Ellen Tremiti Joseph S. Walker Colson Whitehead Michael Wiley Plus a bonus vintage story from the annals of mystery fiction, written over a century in the past.