Steph Cha, a rising star who brings a fresh perspective as series editor, takes the helm of the new The Best American Mystery and Suspense, with best-selling crime novelist Alafair Burke joining her as the first guest editor. "Crime writers, forgive the pun, are killing it right now creatively," writes guest editor Alafair Burke in her introduction. "It was difficult--painful even--to narrow this year's Best American Mystery and Suspense to only twenty stories." Spanning from a mediocre spa in Florida, to New York's gritty East Village, to death row in Alabama, this collection reveals boundless suspense in small, quiet moments, offering startling twists in the least likely of places. From a powerful response to hateful bullying, to a fight for health care, to a gripping desperation to vote, these stories are equal parts shocking, devastating, and enthralling, revealing the tension pulsing through our everyday lives and affirming that mystery and suspense writing is better than ever before. The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2021includes JENNY BHATT- GAR ANTHONY HAYWOOD- GABINO IGLESIAS- AYA DE LEÓN- LAURA LIPPMAN DELIA C. PITTS- ALEX SEGURA- FAYE SNOWDEN- LISA UNGER and others

A collection of the year’s best mystery and suspense short fiction selected by #1 New York Times bestselling author and guest editor Jess Walter and series editor Steph Cha. New York Times bestselling author and “superb storyteller” (Boston Globe), Jess Walter flexes his genre chops and selects twenty short stories that represent the best examples of the form published the previous year.

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.

Hairstylist Marla Vail flushes out a killer when murder disrupts her mother’s home renovation plans in this stylish cozy mystery. When hairstylist and savvy sleuth, Marla Vail, gets a frantic call from her mother that there’s a dead body in her shower, Marla realizes this wasn’t part of the home renovation plans. The victim turns out to be the project manager, who had an untrustworthy reputation in town. Disgruntled customers, unpaid suppliers, and the design company’s staff are among the suspects. Which one of them wanted the foreman to pipe down about their shady dealings? Meanwhile, the lead investigator sets his sights on Marla’s stepfather, Reed, who’s keeping secrets from his family. Reed has a past connection to the victim and won’t come clean about what he knows. As Marla drills deeper, she’s showered with suspicions, but nobody’s willing to leak any information. She needs to hammer down the prospects, or time will drain away and the murderer will strike again. To flush out the culprit, Marla taps into her pipeline of resources. Can she assemble the clues and demolish the alibis to nail a killer? Or has someone designed the perfect murder? Recipes Included! “Best of 2021” Cozy Mystery by Suspense Magazine Bronze Award Winner in the 2022 Readers’ Favorite International Book Awards Finalist in the 2022 American Fiction Awards Finalist in the Royal Palm Literary Awards “A charmingly funny whodunit!” Woman’s World

Action-Adventure tales to lead you to places you’ve never been — and hope you make it back. Make a wildfire your ally. Tread softly with the French Resistance during WWII. Extract an informant from the dangers of the Babylonian streets. Sail the Atlantic, float down a river, or take a fishing boat far out to sea. And you can always fight the Phoenicians with the least lucky Viking ever born. Join the adventure and you’ll never look back.

This issue, we have original mysteries by Mark Thielman (thanks to Acquiring Editor Michael Bracken) and Joslyn Chase, plus a modern classic by Eve Fisher (thanks to Acquiring Editor Barb Goffman). Our novel is a Golden Age tale by Isabel Ostrander. Of course, there’s also a solve-it-yourself puzzler from Hal Charles. On the more fantastic side of things, we have a dark fantasy from British master Edmund Glasby, plus a classic tale by Allen Kim Lang...who, at age 95, is still with us. (His most recent story appeared in Analog in 2020.) Plus we have a Lancelot Biggs story by Nelson Bond, a classic SF story by Randall Garrett, and a fantasy novel by Manly Wade Wellman. Good stuff! Here’s the complete lineup— Mysteries / Suspense / Adventure: “Dramatis Personae,” by Mark Thielman [Michael Bracken Presents short story] “The Black Bandana Kid Rides Again,” by Hal Blythe Charles [Solve-It-Yourself Mystery] “Sophistication,” by Eve Fisher [Barb Goffman Presents short story] “A Killer View,” by Joslyn Chase [short story] Ashes to Ashes, by Isabel Ostrander [novel] Science Fiction & Fantasy: “Something About Spiders,” by Edmund Glasby [short story] “Lancelot Biggs Cooks a Pirate,” by Nelson S. Bond [short story] “The Price of Eggs,” by Randall Garrett [short story] “I, Gardener,” by Allen Kim Lang [short story] Fearful Rock, by Manly Wade Wellman [novel]