MURDER, NEAT
Twenty-four writers walk into a bar…
Actually, that number is alarmingly low, but let’s go with it. This is a collection of 24 short stories by some of the best practitioners of short mystery fiction working today. And every one of the stories revolves around a bar, a tasting room, a winery, a cocktail…you get the idea.
If you’re in the mood for crime with a cocktail on the side, this is your read.
The contributors—myself among them—are all past and present members of the SleuthSayers mystery blog.
The writers in this excellent anthology include the following.
(Click a name to read more about their story.)
Michael Bracken
Melodie Campbell
Joseph D’Agnese
David Dean
O’Neil De Noux
Eve Fisher
John M. Floyd
David Edgerley Gates
Barb Goffman
Kristin Kisska
Janice Law
R.T. Lawton
Steve Liskow
Robert Lopresti
Leigh Lundin
Lawrence Maddox
Bob Mangeot
Travis Richardson
Stephen Ross
Art Taylor
Mark Thielman
Brian Thornton
Jim Winter
Elizabeth Zelvin
Best American Mystery Stories 2015
In 2015 one of my short stories was chosen by mega-bestselling author James Patterson to appear in the prestigious annual anthology, Best American Mystery Stories, published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
The story was "Harm & Hammer," which first appeared appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine in October 2014.
If you haven't read one of these anthologies over the years, you really ought to try one. They're excellent. Believe me—it was a huge honor to have my work featured alongside such writers as Lee Child, Michael Connelly, Jeffery Deaver, Dennis Lehane, and Joyce Carol Oates!
The book is out of print. Hardcovers and paperbacks occasionally turn up on line, in new or used condition. If you find one, grab it. Just know that the ebook version lives forever!