The Best American Mystery Stories 2018 Read online

  Contents

  * * *

  Title Page

  Contents

  Copyright

  Foreword

  Introduction

  LOUIS BAYARD: Banana Triangle Six

  ANDREW BOURELLE: Y Is for Yangchuan Lizard

  T. C. BOYLE: The Designee

  MICHAEL BRACKEN: Smoked

  JAMES LEE BURKE: The Wild Side of Life

  LEE CHILD: Too Much Time

  MICHAEL CONNELLY: The Third Panel

  JOHN M. FLOYD: Gun Work

  DAVID EDGERLEY GATES: Cabin Fever

  CHARLAINE HARRIS: Small Signs

  ROB HART: Takeout

  DAVID H. HENDRICKSON: Death in the Serengeti

  ANDREW KLAVAN: All Our Yesterdays

  MARTIN LIMÓN: PX Christmas

  PAUL D. MARKS: Windward

  JOYCE CAROL OATES: Phantomwise: 1972

  ALAN ORLOFF: Rule Number One

  WILLIAM DYLAN POWELL: The Apex Predator

  SCOTT LORING SANDERS: Waiting on Joe

  BRIAN SILVERMAN: Breadfruit

  Contributors’ Notes

  Other Distinguished Mystery Stories of 2017

  Read More from the Best American Series

  About the Editors

  Connect with HMH

  Copyright © 2018 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company

  Introduction copyright © 2018 by Louise Penny

  All rights reserved

  The Best American Series® is a registered trademark of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. The Best American Mystery Stories™ is a trademark of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

  No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system without the proper written permission of the copyright owner unless such copying is expressly permitted by federal copyright law. With the exception of nonprofit transcription in Braille, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is not authorized to grant permission for further uses of copyrighted selections reprinted in this book without the permission of their owners. Permission must be obtained from the individual copyright owners as identified herein. Address requests for permission to make copies of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt material to [email protected] or to Permissions, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 3 Park Avenue, 19th Floor, New York, New York 10016.

  hmhco.com

  ISSN 1094-8384 (print) ISSN 2573-3907 (e-book)

  ISBN 978-0-544-94909-6 (print) ISBN 978-0-544-94922-5 (e-book)

  These stories are works of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the authors’ imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Cover design by Christopher Moisan © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

  Cover photograph © Getty Images

  Penny photograph © Jean-François Bérubé

  “Banana Triangle Six” by Louis Bayard. First published in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. Copyright © 2017 by Louis Bayard. Reprinted by permission of Louis Bayard.

  “Y Is for Yangchuan Lizard” by Andrew Bourelle. First published in D Is for Dinosaur, edited by Rhonda Parrish. Copyright © 2017 by Andrew Bourelle. Reprinted by permission of Andrew Bourelle.

  “The Designee” by T. C. Boyle from The Relive Box and Other Stories by T. C. Boyle. First published in the Iowa Review. Copyright © 2017 by T. C. Boyle. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers.

  “Smoked” by Michael Bracken. First published in Noir at the Salad Bar: Culinary Tales with a Bite, edited by Verena Rose, Harriette Sackler, and Shawn Reilly Simmons. Copyright © 2017 by Michael Bracken. Reprinted by permission of Michael Bracken.

  “The Wild Side of Life” by James Lee Burke. First published in the Southern Review. Copyright © 2017 by James Lee Burke. Reprinted by permission of James Lee Burke.

  “Too Much Time” by Lee Child. First published in No Middle Name. Copyright © 2017 by Lee Child. Reprinted by permission of Lee Child.

  “The Third Panel” by Michael Connelly. First published in Alive in Shape and Color, edited by Lawrence Block. Copyright © 2017 by Hieronymous Inc. Reprinted by permission of Michael Connelly.

  “Gun Work” by John M. Floyd. First published in Coast to Coast: Private Eyes from Sea to Shining Sea, edited by Andrew McAleer and Paul D. Marks. Copyright © 2017 by John M. Floyd. Reprinted by permission of John M. Floyd.

  “Cabin Fever” by David Edgerley Gates. First published in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine. Copyright © 2017 by David Edgerley Gates. Reprinted by permission of David Edgerley Gates.

  “Small Signs” by Charlaine Harris. First published in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. Copyright © 2017 by Charlaine Harris. Reprinted by permission of Charlaine Harris.

  “Takeout” by Rob Hart. First published in Mystery Tribune. Copyright © 2017 by Rob Hart. Reprinted by permission of Rob Hart.

  “Death in the Serengeti” by David H. Hendrickson. First published in Fiction River, edited by Kevin J. Anderson. Copyright © 2017 by David H. Hendrickson. Reprinted by permission of David H. Hendrickson.

  “All Our Yesterdays” by Andrew Klavan. First published in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. Copyright © 2017 by Amalgamated Metaphor. Reprinted by permission of Andrew Klavan.

  “PX Christmas” by Martin Limón. First published in The Usual Santas, edited by Peter Lovesey. Copyright © 2017 by Martin Limón. Reprinted by permission of Martin Limón.

  “Windward” by Paul D. Marks. First published in Coast to Coast: Private Eyes from Sea to Shining Sea, edited by Andrew McAleer and Paul D. Marks. Copyright © 2017 by Paul D. Marks. Reprinted by permission of Paul D. Marks.

  “Phantomwise: 1972” by Joyce Carol Oates. First published in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. Copyright © 2017 by The Ontario Review Inc. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “Rule Number One” by Alan Orloff. First published in Snowbound, edited by Verena Rose, Harriette Sackler, and Shawn Reilly Simmons. Copyright © 2017 by Alan Orloff. Reprinted by permission of Alan Orloff.

  “The Apex Predator” by William Dylan Powell. First published in Switchblade. Copyright © 2017 by William Dylan Powell. Reprinted by permission of William Dylan Powell.

  “Waiting on Joe” by Scott Loring Sanders. First published in Shooting Creek and Other Stories. Copyright © 2017 by Scott Loring Sanders. Reprinted by permission of Scott Loring Sanders.

  “Breadfruit” by Brian Silverman. First published in Mystery Tribune. Copyright © 2017 by Brian Silverman. Reprinted by permission of Brian Silverman.

  v1.0918

  Foreword

  It is enormously gratifying and comforting to be reminded that readers continue to have affection for mystery fiction, a field in which I have found profound pleasure in both my personal and professional lives.

  One recent bestseller list in the New York Times (generally regarded as the most important one, however flawed and suspect its methodology may be) placed eleven mystery/crime/suspense/thriller fiction titles in the top fifteen. For more than a quarter of a century, this distinguished genre has comprised at least half the titles on virtually every one of those lists.

  We all became so used to seeing the most widely read mystery writers on the list that we would have been shocked or baffled to see a year pass without finding certain names in their customary spot at or near the top. The books by James Patterson, Sue Grafton, Dick Francis, Robert B. Parker, Harlan Coben, Mary Higgins Clark, Elizabeth George, P. D. James, John le Carré, Elmore Leonard, Lee Child, Jeffery Deaver, N
elson DeMille, Michael Connelly, John Grisham, Scott Turow, and many others continued to find a wide readership year after year, to the delight of their legions of fans.

  What has recently surfaced as a surprise to me has been the evident resurrection of the mystery short story. It has been axiomatic in the publishing world that books of short stories, whether a collection (all stories written by one author) or an anthology (featuring stories by multiple authors), simply don’t sell. These words of wisdom and warning were imparted to me at the very beginning of my career as a publisher.

  Not being wise enough to heed the advice of professionals who knew what they were doing—which I quickly concede I did not—I started my own publishing company, the Mysterious Press, by publishing collections of short stories. Ross Macdonald, Cornell Woolrich, Donald E. Westlake, Patricia Highsmith, and Stanley Ellin were among the authors who allowed me to publish their stories. Those collections had some success and the Mysterious Press went on to publish novels by some of those outstanding authors, and that imprint remains happily alive today as part of Grove Atlantic.

  Furthermore, as poorly as short story collections sell, I was assured that anthologies perform even worse. As an unrepentant lover of the short form, I need to point out that I have never had any difficulty in finding enough books to sate my appetite. An entire wall in my library, with a ceiling so high that I need a rolling ladder to reach the top shelves, is devoted exclusively to anthologies, and author collections number in excess of a thousand volumes. A large section of my bookshop is devoted to anthologies (not counting the shamelessly egotistical shelves devoted to those I edited).

  How can all this publishing knowledge pertain when so many anthologies continue to be published? This series, The Best American Mystery Stories, is now twenty-two years old. Random House, under its Vintage imprint, has been publishing my series of Big books (The Big Book of Christmas Mysteries, The Big Book of Sherlock Holmes Stories, The Big Book of Female Detectives, etc.) annually for more than a decade. Is this just a display of generosity, of downright charity, on the part of publishing houses? Is the corporate mindset one that indicates it doesn’t mind losing money on these publications because it is in the public interest to issue these profit-draining volumes?

  This situation is being raised because I noticed this year that an astonishing number of anthologies have been published. Inevitably, a few have come from major houses, but a large number have come from small, even out-and-out tiny, publishers. Many are regional, where it seems that groups of mystery writers, almost certainly all known to each other in writing groups or other coteries, contribute stories to books, almost always in trade paperback form. These anthologies often have themes, sometimes outré, that elicit occasionally clever, creative stories that might not otherwise have found a home.

  In 2017 more than forty such anthologies were published, at least half of which came from publishing houses that have never issued any other books. Whether they are one-and-done or the beginning of a lasting contribution to the mystery field remains to be seen. The literary genre described as “mystery” is large and inclusive. I define it liberally, to mean any work of fiction in which a crime, or the threat of a crime, is integral to the theme or plot, and you will find a great range of styles and subgenres in the present volume of BAMS.

  A contributing factor to this cornucopia of crime is the ease with which individuals or groups can produce their own printed volumes at reasonable cost. It appears likely that the proliferation of independently produced books is a factor in the reduction of electronic magazines, which were growing in number as recently as a half-dozen years ago. Many of the best have fallen by the wayside, notably Thuglit, which had numerous stories selected among the fifty best of the year.

  The person who reads all these e-zines and anthologies is my associate, Michele Slung, without whose extraordinary good taste and speed-reading skills these annual volumes would take three years to produce. Reading or at least partially reading more than three thousand stories a year, she passes along likely candidates for me to read, from which I cull the fifty best, which are then read by the guest editor, who selects the twenty that go into the book. All this dedication to the written word places me further in her debt, as has been the case for all twenty-two editions of this series.

  Speaking of being in debt, words would be difficult to adequately describe my gratitude to Louise Penny, the guest editor for BAMS 2018. Best-selling writers are besieged relentlessly by demands on their time. Touring to promote a book—and not only in America—give a speech or a talk, read a manuscript in order to give it a blurb for the dust jacket, participate in a charitable event, write a story or article—the requests go on and on. And since authors are people too, dealing with their personal lives—cooking, shopping, doing laundry, paying bills, having time for family and friends—uses up still more of those precious twenty-four hours of the day. But Louise Penny agreed to be the guest editor as soon as I asked her.

  As the author of thirteen novels in thirteen years, Louise Penny has enjoyed tremendous and well-deserved success with her series about Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, head of the homicide department of the Sureté de Quebec, a character heavily based on her husband of more than twenty years before his death in September 2016. She has been a bestseller for a decade and has won or been nominated for every major award in the mystery world, often many times. Set in her native Canada, her beautifully written books are among the rare few works reminiscent of the golden age of the British detective novel.

  A debt of gratitude is also due to the previous guest editors, without whose generosity this series would not have had the success it happily enjoys, so sincere thanks to Robert B. Parker and Sue Grafton, who were followed by Ed McBain, Donald E. Westlake, Lawrence Block, James Ellroy, Michael Connelly, Nelson DeMille, Joyce Carol Oates, Scott Turow, Carl Hiaasen, George Pelecanos, Jeffery Deaver, Lee Child, Harlan Coben, Robert Crais, Lisa Scottoline, Laura Lippman, James Patterson, Elizabeth George, and John Sandford.

  I would like to take a brief moment to mention the passing late last year of the mystery community’s sweetheart, Sue Grafton, the author of the universally loved “alphabet series” featuring her series character Kinsey Millhone, and the guest editor for the second book in the BAMS series in 1998.

  The hunt for stories for next year’s edition has already begun. While Michele Slung and I engage in a relentless quest to locate and read every mystery/crime/suspense story published during the course of the year, I live in terror that I will miss a worthy story, so if you are an author, editor, or publisher, or care about one, please feel free to send a book, magazine, or tearsheet to me c/o The Mysterious Bookshop, 58 Warren Street, New York, NY 10007. If a story first appeared electronically, you must submit a hard copy. It is vital to include the author’s contact information. No unpublished material will be considered, for what should be obvious reasons. No material will be returned. If you distrust the postal service, enclose a self-addressed, stamped postcard, on which I will happily acknowledge receipt of your story.

  To be eligible, a story must have been written by an American or Canadian and first published in an American or Canadian publication in the calendar year 2018. The earlier in the year I receive the story, the more it is likely to warm my heart. For reasons known only to the dunderheads who wait until Christmas week to submit a story published the previous spring, this happens every year, causing severe irritability as I read a stack of stories while everyone else I know is busy celebrating the holiday season. It had better be a damned good story if you do this, because I already hate you. Due to the very tight production schedule for this book, the absolute firm deadline is December 31. If the story arrives two days later, it will not be read. Sorry.

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  Introduction

  I cannot write short stories, any more than I can write poetry. I’ve tried, and the result, for both, is piles of something soft and smelly.

  But oh, how I love to read them.

/>   And how I admire both poets and those who can craft short stories. I think they come from the same taproot. A great short story is like a great poem. Crystalline in clarity. Each word with purpose. Lean, muscular, graceful.

  Nothing wasted. A brilliant marriage of intellect, rational thought, and creativity.

  I am in awe of those who can write short stories.

  So when Otto Penzler asked me to be guest editor for this volume, I could not agree fast enough. To be honest, it’s just possible he did not ask me but rather was (quite sensibly) asking me to suggest others who might be better placed to judge.

  But I didn’t care. I wanted to do it.

  My love of the form started, as yours might have too, in infancy. With the stories read and reread at bedtime. While I was curled up, snug and warm and safe in bed, my mother would read, conjuring cowboys and princesses and untamed horses and wary piglets. Bringing whole worlds magically into the bedroom.

  My first literary crush (I know I can trust you not to tell anyone) was Dr. Watson in the Sherlock Holmes stories. Not Holmes but Watson. I have tried not to spend too much time analyzing that.

  Did you know that Arthur Conan Doyle first planned to call John Watson “Ormond Sacker”?

  I have to wonder if I’d have fallen quite so hard for Ormond Sacker.

  I devoured all the Conan Doyle stories, and was quite upset when Watson married Mary Morstan and sincerely tried to feel bad for his “own sad bereavement.” But failed.

  At university I spent a semester wearing a deerstalker. I began to question that fashion choice when I saw quite an attractive transvestite walking toward me, only to realize it was me in a mirror. After spending the semester date-free, I retired the deerstalker. But my love of all things Holmes (and Watson) remains to this day.

  About that time I also met, figuratively speaking, Edgar Allan Poe, and while I did not develop a literary crush (nor did I repeat the deerstalker role-playing and have myself entombed prematurely—also bad for the love life), I have been haunted ever since by the horror of the telltale heart, the vivid images of the murders in the Rue Morgue, the house of Usher split apart by otherworldly forces. Poe’s short stories are romantic, oddly sensual, deeply disturbing, and unforgettable.