Short Story Wednesday Review: The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2025 --- Editor Don Winslow, Series Editor Steph Cha

The book releases to the public next Tuesday…

 

One of the best things about the annual The Best American Mystery and Suspense series, beyond celebrating numerous authors, their works, and the publications they appeared in, is the tremendous variety of the reads selected for inclusion. There is always complexity of stories, themes, and perspectives. Such is the case with the latest read, The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2025, edited by Don Winslow and series editor, Steph Cha.

 

After introductions by each of the editors, it is on to the twenty reprinted short stories from a variety of sources. Below are some of my personal favorites in order of appearance in the volume as I read the book from front to back.

 

“Neon Women” by Ann Aptker (Private Dicks and Disco Balls) takes readers to the 70’s and Times Square. The junkie is dead in a puddle at the curb as Homicide Lieutenant Sal Barone and private investigator Gussie Diamon survey the scene under the odd neon lighting of the sex shops. She believes the dead guy is Darryl Wickers. She was hired to find him. The cop and the private investigator aren’t going to be able to work together, but Diamond intends to find out what happened and why.

 

All she was supposed to do was drive the car. She has a test in a few more hours. Now Mike is bouncing the guy’s head off the hood in “Grendel” by Craig Francis Coates (Rock and a Hard Place). The hunt to find Pete Turner shows no sign of stopping. Pete Turner owes a debt, actually two separate ones, to the Clancy Gentleman’s Club. Driving for the club means that sometimes you drive around the muscle, Mike. Until he finds him and collects what is owed, they both have to keep working, no matter what.

 

Back in 2001, our narrator wound up in Klamath Falls, Oregon, working for his ex-cousin-in-law. Dale ran the night shift at the Purple Flamingo Casino. He gave him a job, a place to bed down, and more when he showed up in a world of trouble. He very well knows he owes Dale so, of course, he agrees to the small favor Dale requested. In “A Dog’s Year” by Tod Goldberg (The Killing Rain), Dale wants him to drive a certain car sitting in the parking lot to Seattle, give the keys to one specific person, take what is given, spend the night there, and ride the bus back tomorrow. Sounds simple enough.

 

She is well aware that she is not normal. She works very hard to fit in and act like a normal person and it is exhausting and hard. She needs to be at home with her feet up. Instead, she is doing what she has to in “Not A Dinner Party Person” by Stefanie Leder (Eight Very Bad Nights). Despite what she made very clear at work had to happen, folks are not listening. Neither are members of her family who are picking the wrong night to get on her last nerve. Rachel is a sociopath and proud to be one. She is only attending the party for her sister and clearly her sister needs help.

 

Field Training Officer Ladd and his rookie partner, Esteves, are dispatched to the George Jones Museum & Gift Shop. A legendary suit has been stolen in “Outlaw Country” by J. d. O’Brien (Starlight Pulp—unspecified issue). Readers soon learn that Billy Dee stole it as part of a bid for recognition in Nashville. He was trying to distinguish himself as a true outlaw star and not one of the many pretenders that populate the country music scene these days. It is no surprise he didn’t think things through and it is all going wrong in a bad way.

 

Passalong Pete was on the run in Los Angeles and on the streets. Until he wasn’t. The cops think it was a simple hit and run that took him out. It wasn’t in “The Darklight Gizmo Matter” by Gary Phillips (Private Dicks and Disco Balls). That event has also put a target on the back of private investigator Nefra Adams.

 

In the aftermath of her collapsed marriage, Swan is headed to a shipping container at Miracle Wash, twenty miles from Twentynine Palms. Robbie and Karen have a small homestead out there and plan on working on the place at some point. In the meantime, they put a shipping container that is set up to be lived in out on the land. Swan is broke and needed the escape hatch. She has tattoo artist skills and she should be in demand because of the troops at the base as well as the local residents. Things in the high desert are a bit weird from the weird from the start in “Jackrabbit Skin” by Ivy Pochoda (Amazon Originals).

 

Lyman sticks to his routines as routine is important. He is a janitor. He believes that nobody sees him until they want something done. Even that interaction is just a surface one and not with any depth to it in “Dark Thread, Loose Strands” by Art Taylor (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine—unspecified issue). He believes that everyone has invisible strands pulling them this way or that. A puppet master, of sorts. Which makes the reader wonder if he is responsible for his actions or did somebody/something pulls his strings and cause everything to happen?

 

While those eight were my personal favorites, no doubt yours would vary. I tend to go for a darker grittier tale, but there are plenty in the read that are not nearly as dark.

 

Contributors’ notes follow with the brief bios for the twenty authors reprinted here as well as short explanations of the background of their tales. Those additional details regarding aspects of the stories are a nice touch.

 

The book closes with the alphabetical listing of authors, their story titles, for the 30 works selected for the “Other Distinguished Mystery and Suspense of 2024.

 

While it is great to see credit for the prior publication, it is unfortunate that the editors did not include specific issue information when citing magazines and magazine like anthologies that have multiple issues using the same title. While it is helpful to refer to Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine or Starlight Pulp, to use two examples, it would have been far more helpful to additionally specify the month or number of the issue.

 

That criticism aside, overall, the read is highly entertaining and paints a broad picture of the industry. As always in this series, variety is important. That is very well expressed. There is a lot of good reading reprinted here as well as ideas for other reads.

Strongly recommended.

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3JHEboi

 

My digital ARC reading copy came from the publisher, Mariner Books, by way of NetGalley with no expectation of a positive review. 

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2025