The Best American Mystery And Suspense 2021: The Year's Best Crime Noir and Psychological Thriller Stories

by Alafair Burke (Editor / Introduction), Steph Cha (Editor / Foreword), Jenny Bhatt (Contributor)

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.

Genres: Short Stories, Mystery, Fiction, Anthologies, Crime, Thriller, Suspense

320 pages, Paperback

First published October 12, 2021

About the author

Alafair Burke is the New York Times, Edgar-nominated author of fourteen crime novels, including The Ex, The Wife, The Better Sister, and the forthcoming Find Me. She is also the co-author of several novels with Mary Higgins Clark. A graduate of Stanford Law School and a former Deputy District Attorney in Portland, Oregon, Alafair is now a Professor of Law at Hofstra Law School, where she teaches criminal law and procedure.

Reviews

[Sandysbookaday (taking a step back for a while) · Rating 3 out of 5]

EXCERPT: Taken from Let Her Be by Lisa Unger - We move away, the bell ringing as we exit. Emily is far ahead of me, out in the night. She doesn't hear him say before the door closes: "They say the brother did it. There was always something off about that boy."

I pretend I didn't hear it, don't let it upset me the way it used to. There were endless rumours then - a beautiful young girl dies by accident, and no one wants to accept that. No one wants to accept the randomness of it all.

Believe me, I get it.

ABOUT 'THE BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY AND SUSPENSE 2021': Steph Cha, a rising star who brings a fresh perspective as series editor, takes the helm of the new TheBest American Mystery and Suspense, with best-selling crime novelist Alafair Burke joining her as the first guest editor.

Beginning with the 2021 volume, the annual short story anthology The Best American Mystery Stories will become The Best American Mystery and Suspense. New series editor Steph Cha and best-selling guest editor Alafair Burke select the best short mystery and suspense fiction of the year.

“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.

MY THOUGHTS: There's a very mixed bag of stories in this year's collection. There is a small handful of excellent stories: Neighbours by Nikki Dolsan; Green Eyed Monster by Charis Jones; Slow Burner by Laura Lippman; and Let Her Be by Lisa Unger. But the majority of the stories sat in the 2.5 - 3.5 range for me.

My biggest gripe about most of the stories were that they weren't suspenseful, nor were they a mystery. The ones I have rated highly were either intriguing, or had my heart pounding as I frantically flipped virtual pages.

There were a couple of stories that I thought were totally pointless, and one that seemed to me like a chapter extracted from a book. It seemed that there ought to have been something before it, and definitely something after it. But most were simply average.

Here's a list of the contents and my ratings:
1. Return to India by Jenny Bhatt ⭐⭐
2. Swaj by Christopher Bolton ⭐⭐⭐.5
3. Neighbours by Nikki Dolson ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
4. Mala Suerte by E. Gabriel Flores ⭐⭐⭐
5. Where I Belong by Alison Gaylin ⭐⭐⭐.5
6. With Footnotes and References by Gar Anthony Haywood ⭐⭐⭐.5
7. The Good Thief by Ravi Howard ⭐⭐⭐
8. Everything is Going to be Okay by Gabino Iglesias ⭐⭐⭐
9. Green Eyed Monster by Charis Jones ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
10. Potato Sandwich Days by Preston Lang ⭐⭐
11. Frederick Douglass Elementary by Aya de León ⭐⭐.5
12. Infinity Sky by Kristen Lepionka ⭐⭐.5
13. Slow Burner Laura Lippman ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
14. Mr Forble by Joanna Pearson ⭐⭐
15. The Killer by Delia Pitts ⭐⭐.5
16. Wings Beating by Eliot Schrefer ⭐⭐⭐⭐
17. 90 Miles by Alex Segura ⭐⭐
18. Land of Promise by Brian Silverman ⭐⭐.5
19. One Bullet, One Vote by Faye Snowden ⭐⭐⭐.5
20. Let Her Be by Lisa Unger ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Overall rating - ⭐⭐⭐.25

#TheBestAmericanMysteryandSuspense2021 #NetGalley

#contemporaryfiction #crime #detectivefiction #domesticdrama #familydrama #mystery #historicalfiction #murdermystery #privateinvestigator #shortstories #psychologicalthriller #romanticsuspense

THE AUTHORS: STEPH CHA is the author of the Juniper Song mystery series and Your House Will Pay, which won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Best Mystery/Thriller and has been nominated for a Young Lions Fiction Award, a Macavity Award, a Lefty Award, a Barry Award, and a Dagger Award, as well as long-listed for the Aspen Prize. She’s an editor and critic whose work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, and the Los Angeles Review of Books, where she edited the noir section for almost five years. A native of the San Fernando Valley, she lives in Los Angeles with her family.

Alafair Burke is the New York Times, Edgar-nominated author of fourteen crime novels, including The Ex, The Wife, The Better Sister, and the forthcoming Find Me. She is also the co-author of several novels with Mary Higgins Clark. A graduate of Stanford Law School and a former Deputy District Attorney in Portland, Oregon, Alafair is now a Professor of Law at Hofstra Law School, where she teaches criminal law and procedure.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2021 for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

For an explanation of my rating system please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com

This review is also published on Twitter, Amazon, Instagram and my webpage https://sandysbookaday.wordpress.com/...

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

So honored that my story, “LET HER BE,” was chosen for The Best American Mystery and Suspense, edited by the amazing Steph Cha and Alafair Burke. This collection is filled with stories by stellar writers and I hope you enjoy them!

[Glenn Sumi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve long been a fan of the annual Best American Short Stories volumes, but this is the first time I’ve ever picked up one of the Best American Mystery and Suspense collections. It definitely won’t be the last.

During an especially busy and difficult fall, this book provided much-needed entertainment in small, manageable doses. While I expected escapism and distraction, many of these 20 stories also shed light on big societal issues.

As new series editor Steph Cha writes in her introduction, “crime reveals the cracks in our characters, our relationships, our communities, our countries…”

How true.

Take Gabriel Iglesias’s “Everything Is Going To Be Okay,” for instance. Set in the early days of the pandemic, with everything locked down and so many suddenly out of work, it’s about a fisherman who’s pushed to consider doing something extreme to help get medical care for his wife, who’s suffering from COVID-19.

Alex Segura’s “90 Miles” is a heartbreaking story about poor Cuban migrants trying to make the hazardous trip on a raft to the promise of opportunities in the U.S.

Nikki Dolson’s “Neighbors” and Aya de León’s “Frederick Douglass Elementary” are both concerned with Black women, class and real estate. And Kristen Lepionka’s “Infinity Sky” and Laura Lippman’s “Slow Burner” both deal, in some respects, with women encountering #MeToo situations.

The great thing about these anthologies is the wide range of styles, voices and topics. Of the 20 stories selected by guest editor Alafair Burke, some were outstanding, most were good or very good, and only two or three left me cold. (Another good thing about these collections? If you don’t like a story, it’ll be over in 15 or 20 pages.)

Here, in no particular order, are my favourites:

• Christopher Bollen’s “SWAJ” is a very clever and moving story about a closeted 18-year-old named Michael who’s working a part-time job in his home-town of Amity the summer of the Great White Shark attacks from the novel JAWS (the story’s title is JAWS spelled backwards). While the closed beaches and shuttered businesses are an allusion to the economic and social effects of the pandemic (so says Bollen in his author’s notes), the joy of the tale comes from seeing this well-known story from a different perspective. It will make you think of all the marginalized narratives left out of classic stories.

• Laura Lippman’s “Slow Burner” is an utterly absorbing story about a woman who discovers her brilliant tech guru husband has a burner phone on which he’s flirting via text with a young worker. Lippman captures the married couple’s stalled relationship beautifully, and in the texts hints at the subtle power dynamics behind many #MeToo situations. What makes this story really special is how she layers in the story of Zeus and Hera to comment on her very modern tale. It’s so well written I’m going to track down one of Lippman’s books.

• Joanna Pearson’s “Mr. Forble,” about an odd adolescent’s disastrous birthday party, gets my vote as the creepiest story in the book. Pearson expertly builds suspense by beginning in medias res, and then filling in details about dangerous websites and alienated youths that make you more and more concerned about the various characters.

• “Land Of Promise,” by Brian Silverman, is impeccably constructed. It begins with bar owner Len Buonfiglio escaping from some sort of disaster in New York City and making it home to the Bronx. Once home, it’s revealed that he’s a hero, having saved many people from the disaster. But soon we’re given a fuller account of his actions, which will make you think twice when you next read stories of heroism and bravery. Len’s story is so emotionally involving I could read a whole novel about him.

• Faye Snowden’s mini masterpiece “One Bullet, One Vote” is set in a small town in Louisiana in 1964. The elderly Black matriarch Willie Mae Brown, whose husband was lynched long ago, wants to become the first Black person to vote in her county. But she faces deadly obstacles.

• In Lisa Unger’s novella-length “Let Her Be,” a failed novelist who’s recovering from a suicide attempt tries to get his life back on track. He pours over his ex-girlfriend’s blog posts for clues to her whereabouts, and a mutual friend helps him out. I had no idea where this story, a master class in intriguing POV, was going.

• E. Gabriel Flores’s entertaining “Mala Suerte” is a noir-ish tale of grifting and murder set in Florida. It focuses on Carmelita, whose family has been cursed with bad luck. Will she escape it?

• In “With Footnotes and References,” Gar Anthony Haywood introduces us to two fascinating characters. Parnell is a clever, wealthy (his father has a net worth of $240 million), entitled student who knows that money can buy anything. So he pays Megan, who’s buried in student debt, to write his college term papers. The twist? Megan, believing she’s got leverage as graduation looms, wants to raise the price for Parnell’s essays, and if he doesn’t cough up the cash she’ll rat him out to the school administration. This wickedly entertaining story would make a fine big screen thriller.

• Eliot Schrefer’s “Wings Beating” has a fantastic premise. After winning a Florida spa trip as a third-place prize, a father takes his sensitive and likely gay 13-year-old son for a bit of bonding. The spa is second-rate (or perhaps third-rate would be more fitting), and what’s worse, on the night of their nice dinner the dining area is closed for a private party for a bunch of bros. But father and son crash the party for a few nibbles of food, and once the bros see the son, they nearly get gay-bashed. Schrefer captures the father’s voice with real affection, concern and authenticity. And the ending? Oh, boy…

• Finally, Kristin Lepionka’s “Infinity Sky” is the anthology’s most drolly amusing tale. Jeramey, a semi-famous singer who had a big hit decades earlier, is playing a wedding in a hotel, but doesn’t get the nice suite she was promised. Eventually, via a pot-smoking bellhop, she makes it up to that suite, only to find the drunken asshole who tried to come onto her in the lobby bar. She and her accomplices lift his wallet and rack up some big charges at the liquor store… only to find out the following day that the room is a crime scene. WTF? Efficient and cleverly plotted, the story is a little short on character, but big on fun.

***

Verdict: I’m sold on this new series, which is perfect for dipping into if your life suddenly becomes too stressful and/or busy. Plus, I’ve discovered a bunch of new authors and publications.

[Barbara Nutting · Rating 2 out of 5]

Short stories - most of them forgettable 👎

[Shannon M (Canada) · Rating 3 out of 5]

In early 2022, two 2021 “best of the year” American mystery anthologies were published: this one, THE BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY AND SUSPENSE: 2021 with Alafair Burke as the guest editor; and “The Mysterious Bookshop Presents the Best Mystery Stories of the Year: 2021” with Lee Child as the guest editor. I read the Mysterious Bookshop group first, and I had to read all the stories within a short timeframe because I borrowed the book from the library. I started reading Alafair Burke’s selection two weeks later, but because I owned a kindle copy, I read it slowly, only one or two stories at a time, as short stories are supposed to be read and savoured.

Each story was reviewed and rated immediately after I read it. Here are these reviews/ratings:

Jenny Byatt, Return to India. Story told as a series of “stream of consciousness” police statements about the death of a man who had immigrated from India. Initially thought the death was a result of racism. Then came the ex-wife’s interview, and realized it was possibly a statement (not very clear) about India’s caste system. Didn’t like the writing style. Couldn’t really figure out what caused the death to occur—racism? an immigrant’s failure to realize dreams? the caste system in India? American gun violence? A more traditional writing style might have made this a good story, but instead we are left hanging. 2.5 stars

Christopher Bollen, Swaj. A teenager’s dream ripoff of the movie “Jaws”. I don’t like rip-offs. Portrayed all the negative aspects of gay culture and no positives. 0.5 stars

Nikki Dolson, Neighbors. The first real story in the book. Two women, one still mourning her failed marriage, the other a villain, a con artist who ruined the other’s marriage and life. I didn’t like the ending, but up to the 90% stage, it was well done. (There we’re too many questions left unanswered by the ending, including why Valerie could be that naïve, and how Anita expected to escape the consequences of her sudden act.) But up to that 90% point, I understood these characters, they were real to me. Although both women were Black, they didn’t need to be for the story to work, but this did add an extra dimension that I (given my background when I lived in the U.S.) could definitely relate to—I did see jealousy between Blacks who had “made it” in 1960s U.S. and those who hadn’t. I guess this is still true today. Maybe what Dolson tried to do with the ending was to say “we’re all in the same boat, those who made it and those who haven’t”, but if so, she failed miserably. 3.75 stars

E. Gabriel Flores, Mala Suerte. A murderer tries to get away, but doesn’t, all because, she believes, her family has bad luck. Humorous look at the many ways bad luck can occur, particularly when the family tradition tends to engage in illicit activities. I enjoyed the rhythmic prose. Not great but definitely satisfactory. 3.75 stars

Alison Gaylin, Where I belong. This author is the only one to have stories in both 2021 anthologies. Different stories. I didn’t find the one among the Mysterious Bookshop set either entertaining or enlightening. This one I liked a bit more, although I didn’t understand or relate to the main protagonist, Kurt. I simply did not understand why he was initially angry with his world. I think this story would have been better had it stopped just a tad sooner—ended at “And anyway, I did kill the guy.” I think the last couple of paragraphs weakens it. 3.5 stars

Gar Anthony Haywood, With Footnotes and References. This is a story about three students attending a prestigious California university. One is poor, and so she writes papers for other students to support herself. (Begin rant, nothing to do with story. Welcome to my world, where about 25% of students will cheat, if possible, in some form or another, even at a mid-level Canadian university. They will copy from some source—plagiarize—or get someone else to write their paper. This means the professor (me) tried to level the field by grading primarily on proctored exams, giving little weight to written papers. Some students will find out from friends who have already taken my course what I tended to stress on exams, so to level the field I provided an outline to everyone showing what was important. By levelling the field, I deprived my students of learning opportunities. They never learned to organize on their own or develop their own creative studies, as I had as an undergraduate in the 1960s. And I taught third and fourth-year students who weren’t likely to fail, but they all wanted A’s so they could get into one of the highly competitive post-graduate programs, and I wasn’t allowed to give everyone an A. There had to be B’s and C’s for some. Sometime in the late 70’s, it seemed that the university ethos changed, and cheating became more readily accepted as students competed for positions in post-graduate programs that would give them a high-paying job, and so professors (me) had to stop teaching them to be more creative. End personal rant.)

In the story, all three of these students could be considered cheaters, in a way. There is a twist that I didn’t expect. From a moral point of view (see rant), I didn’t like the ending, but judging it as a creative piece of work, it was expertly done. 5 stars

Ravi Howard, The Good Thief. Primarily a description of a woman about to bake a cake for a prisoner awaiting execution. Her heart is kind, and she remembers him as a young child, so she is preparing to give him the death he secretly requests to her through his last wish—a death without the circus that surrounds an execution. Good description, but no suspense, no surprise, and the details about baking go on for too long. 3 stars

Gabito Iglesias, Everything Is Going to be Okay. Pablo is poor and he needs money to get his wife to the hospital because she has Covid. He sees an opportunity to get some—all it will take is a quick, easy murder. The piece is well written but I could see the murder coming a mile away, and there was no twist at the end. This was a ‘slice of life’ piece, not a story. It’s redeeming element was the excellent description of Pablo. 3 stars

Charis Jones, Green-Eyed Monster. From the beginning, you know that George has murdered his wife, and he is telling the police why he did it. But then the story gets weirder and weirder. I couldn’t believe this was a real marriage. George is mad. His wife Martina is mad. I didn’t feel anything for either of them. They weren’t real people but imaginary characters dreamed up by the author. 2 stars

Preston Lang, Potato Sandwich Days. Initially I liked this one—a nice story of revenge. And the creep definitely deserved what he got. But after thinking about it, I realized there were holes in the entire setup—some things didn’t make sense. Great as a quick read but not so great once you notice those holes. What made potato sandwiches so great? Better classified as a fantasy than as a “murder and suspense” story. 3.5 stars

Aya De Leon, Frederick Douglass Elementary. The only crime was forging a document but this was a feel-good story. Well-written. 4.5 stars

Kristen Lepionka, Infinity Sky. Trying to be edgy, it’s almost incomprehensible. Crazy antics, but no real point once I finally began to understand it. Targeted strictly to the Millennium generation, which is as bad as targeting strictly to the older generation. 1.5 stars

Laura Lippman, Slow Burner. I read this one earlier in Lippman’s recent collection of short stories, and so I will repost my review from that reading: What appears to be a boring story of a wife eavesdropping on her husband’s secret text messages to another woman flips into a surprise ending. Can’t say anything more without spoiling the plot. 5 stars

Joanna Pearson, Mr. Forble. What started out as a great story about Teddy, a abnormal 13-year-old boy, and the mother who loves him in spite of his strangeness, disintegrates into nothingness. No explanations regarding what happened except that Teddy disappears forever. Was anyone killed? What happened to his mother? We don’t know. It ends was the possibility that Teddy is now part of an internet legend. Is it an attempt to warn about the bizarre world of internet killers? I don’t know. 4 stars for the terrific beginning, 0.5 stars for the rest. Overall 1 star

Delia C. Putts, The Killer. Written like an old-fashioned detective story—rather dated. Two detectives protecting a woman on the run, and their stop at a small town diner. Nothing special. Don’t know why it was included among the “best” crime stories of 2021. 2.75 stars

Eliot Schaefer, Wings Beating. A man attempting to bond with his (most probably) gay son. Not outstanding but not bad either, except for the section where they walk over to the berserk egret. I assume the evert scene appears because it’s supposed to symbolize something in the story but I failed to make the connection. It was just a boring sequence in an otherwise reasonably good tale. I liked the boy far better than his self-absorbed father, but then I believe the writer intended this to be the case. 4 stars

Alex Segura, 90 Miles. Joaquin, his wife Marta, and their son Manila are aboard a leaky raft in 1992, trying to sail from Cuba to the U.S. The raft is overloaded because during Joaquin’s drunken conversation with the “captain” to arrange for the trip, he had lied—said that he and Marta would be the only passengers. Now the overweight “boat” is sinking midst a sea of sharks. ”It had been hope.” An extremely short story but a powerful one. 4.5 stars

Brian Silverman, Land of Promise. A man saves six people trapped by an explosion and is hailed a hero. But he knows he wasn’t acting heroically; he was trying to save the life of his lover, and failed. The crime in this story is adultery. Well written, but not particularly compelling. Just a man cheating on his wife, with the suggestion that he will eventually suffer for it. 3.25 stars

Faye Snowden, One Bullet. One Vote. More of a history lesson than a mystery short story. Set in Louisiana in 1964, in a town where Black people were not allowed to vote. 3 stars.

Lisa Unger, Let Her Be. Unger is a skilled writer. Each word, each sentence, is a polished gem. Even her limited dialogue interactions are crisp and solid. Unfortunately, the underlying narrative structure of “Let Her Be” is flawed. This is an unreliable narrator story. As generally I avoid that overused trope, my rating may be biased. But this unreliable narrator has memory problems, and I am an expert in memory. The specific type of memory problems that the protagonist exhibits nearly always occur only when there is some form of physical neurological damage, and there is no evidence that the protagonist has ever suffered from neurological damage. A few psychiatric reports suggest that these types of memory problems may also exist in a limited number of patients with severe mental disorders; it is difficult to conduct experiments on such patients to determine if this is actually the case. But Unger’s unreliable narrator spent six weeks in a psychiatric hospital and any competent psychiatrist would have diagnosed this type of memory disorder as a symptom of a severe mental disorder such as schizophrenia, yet this was not done. Consequently, the story relies on a faulty understanding of memory disorders. Plus, frankly, the story is drawn out for too long; it is a dragged out novella length narrative. So beautiful writing based on a faulty underpinning. I was torn between a 2.5 and a 3.0 rating, but because I dislike unreliable narrator stories, I’m giving it 2.5 stars.

……..

As you can see, I felt that most of these stories were “average”—neither outstanding nor awful. A few fell into the very poor range and a few were very impressive. I can’t believe that this collection represents the “best” American mystery stories published in 2021. But then the Mysterious Bookshop collection had several boring “average” stories also. Perhaps there aren’t just enough outstanding mystery short stories published in a given year to warrant a book (let alone two books).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My review for the Mysterious Bookshop Mystery Stories: 2021
 The Mysterious Bookshop Presents The Best Mystery Stories of the Year: 2021
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

CONTENTS


◼️Foreward - Steph Cha


◼️Introduction - Alafair Burke


◼️Fiction:

▪️"Return to India" - Jenny Bhatt
▪️"SWAJ" - Christopher Bollen
▪️"Neighbors" - Nikki Dolson
▪️"Mala Suerte" - E. Gabriel Flores
▪️"Where I Belong" - Alison Gaylin
▪️"With Footnotes and References" - Gar Anthony Haywood
▪️"The Good Thief" - Ravi Howard
▪️"Everything Is Going to Be Okay" - Gabino Iglesias
▪️"Green-Eyed Monster" - Charis Jones
▪️"Potato Sandwich Days" - Preston Lang
▪️"Frederick Douglass Elementary" - Aya de León
▪️"Infinity Sky" - Kristen Lepionka
▪️"Slow Burner" - Laura Lippman
▪️"Mr. Forble" - Joanna Pearson
▪️"The Killer" - Delia C. Pitts
▪️"Wings Beating" - Eliot Schrefer
▪️"90 Miles" - Alex Segura
▪️"Land of Promise" - Brian Silverman
▪️"One Bullet. One Vote." - Faye Snowden
▪️"Let Her Be" - Lisa Unger


◼️Contributors' Notes


◼️Other Distinguished Mystery and Suspense of 2020


This is the twenty-fifth volume in what was formerly "The Best American Mystery Stories" series and beginning with this book is now "The Best American Mystery and Suspense" series. All mystery and suspense stories "originally written in English (or translated by the original authors) by writers born or permanently residing in America" are eligible for inclusion. The stories "need to be independent stories (not excerpts) published in [the calendar year] in American publications, either print or online." (Previously Canadian authors and publications were considered acceptable.) The series editor winnows these down and passes those stories on to an annual "guest editor," who chooses the twenty stories to be included in the book. The guest editor is an author renowned in the mystery field. A list of another thirty outstanding stories appears at the back of the book, designated as "Other Distinguished Mystery and Suspense" of that year.

For all the earlier entries in this series, the series editor was Otto Penzler. With this volume, there is a new series editor, Steph Cha. Cha states, "When it comes to mystery and suspense, I tend to like stories that use crime - acts of transgression and violence that both occur under and create extreme circumstances - to highlight character as well as social and, yes, political realities." She also adds, "You might see more stories by women and writers of color (both categories I happen to belong to) in this series going forward."

This year the guest editor is Alafair Burke. Burke is an attorney and a professor of law at Hofstra University. She is also "the internationally best-selling author of the Samantha Kincaid and Ellie Hatcher series, as well as several stand-alone novels." In the "Introduction" to this book, Burke refers to eight rules compiled by author Kurt Vonnegut for "what makes a good story" and tells some of the ways those rules relate to the stories collected here.

As usual, the stories come from a wide variety of sources, including periodicals and anthologies. There is only one story this year that first appeared in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine and none from Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine. However, four stories from each of those two magazines are included on the list of "Other Distinguished Mystery and Suspense."

The "Contributors' Notes" in the back of the book are always fascinating. They include information about each author and comments by the authors about their stories.

I need to add a confession. I mistakenly assumed that a new very similar series under the series editor Otto Penzler had replaced this "Best American" series and had reviewed the first volume in that series erroneously believing that was what had occurred.

I think that this is not as good as the previous volume in the series, although admittedly that one was truly excellent. The only story here that I actually dislike is Joanna Pearson's flat-out horror story "Mr. Forble," although my dislike is due largely to my general distaste for horror fiction. There are mysteries here and suspense as well, but this is basically a horror tale. A boy being raised by a single mother requests to have a large party in a park for his thirteenth birthday. He is an odd child, angry and unpopular. His guest list includes many of his contemporaries and one very special guest. (One of the other stories in this collection has a surprising horror movie-style ending, but I do not want to reveal which story that is.)

The title of Christopher Bollen's story "SWAJ" is simply "JAWS" spelled backward. This story is a variation on Peter Benchley's famous novel Jaws, set in the town of Amity at a time of economic disaster due to the repeated attacks of a Great White Shark, severely limiting tourism. The story is told from the viewpoint of a young, mostly inexperienced gay man, who has a brief affair with Matt Hooper, the ichthyologist played in the first Jaws film by Richard Dreyfuss. The young man finds out that he is not Hooper's only lover in Amity and makes a horrible decision. This is a very clever story, but I strongly dislike the portrayal of the young man.

In "The Good Thief" by Ravi Howard, a woman who has run a restaurant for many years is requested to make the last meal for a prisoner awaiting execution. The prisoner had asked for a particular cake that he had eaten in the restaurant once as a child. The food can not come in from outside the prison so the woman goes there to make the cake. This is a rather sweet story, but I strongly suspect that things might not go as the woman expects. Once the authorities find that the prisoner died from cyanide poisoning after eating the cake, surely that woman would be the obvious suspect.

"Neighbors" by Nikki Dolson is a tale narrated by a Black woman whose former husband was White. While they had been living in a very nice neighborhood, a Black couple had moved in and been warmly welcomed. The newcomers prove not to be good neighbors in a number of ways. There are also multiple reasons why I greatly dislike the end of this story, so much that it ruins an otherwise good story for me.

The first sentence of Charis Jones's story "Green-Eyed Monster" reveals that the narrator killed his wife. The rest of the story tells why. The wife was a renowned physicist; the husband is a decidedly unrenowned neurobiologist. The wife is - or, rather, was - extremely controlling.

Is there such a thing as bad luck running in families? Unfortunate things have happened to generations of the family of one of the female characters in "Mala Suerte" by E. Gabriel Flores. However, she has made a good life with a male friend, a life based on equal parts of glassblowing and dealing in illegal substances . Then another woman enters the picture. That woman believes one makes one's own luck. She is not entirely correct.

Fast-food restaurants sometimes offer special dishes for limited periods. The Fat Lad chain offers a potato sandwich. In Preston Lang's "Potato Sandwich Days," one particular location has run out of these, and a customer gets upset - very upset. That customer's actions shape the rest of the life of both the man working at the restaurant counter and, eventually, of the customer himself.

"Return to India" by Jenny Bhatt is told in a series of interviews conducted by the police investigating a shooting death in a bar. Most of the people questioned were coworkers of the man who was killed. He was a divorced man, living alone. He was originally from India, now long a resident of the United States, working as a lead design engineer for his company. In her notes about the story, Bhatt compares the multiple viewpoint structure of the story with that of the film Rashomon; everyone has an individual outlook, each just one part of a complicated whole.

Delia C. Pitts is the only author in this book represented by an entry in a series. "The Killer" is a tale of private investigator SJ Rook, who narrates the story, and Sabrina Ross, his boss in a Harlem detective agency. They are traveling south with two other people, a woman who was the "leader of a mob murder squad" and her two year old daughter, fleeing from other gangsters, heading to Florida. They stop at a small-town diner near the border of Virginia and North Carolina. Rook states that there is "no way to predict how the locals would feel about...three Black adult strangers and a brown-skinned baby girl." The people working in the diner are a Black cook and a White counterman. At a time when Rook is the only customer in the diner, a man comes there looking for the fugitives. This is, I think, the only happy story in this book.

The only comic tale in the book is "Infinity Sky" by Kristen Lepionka. A formerly-famous female singer, Jeramey Jones, has been hired to perform at a wedding in the Midwest. She had been promised the penthouse suite in the hotel in which the wedding is being held, but that has been given to "very high profile guests" instead. Even after that, things do not go well. She gives what she thinks is a poor performance and then has problems discouraging the advances of a drunk in the bar. With the help of her boyfriend and a remarkably cooperative - and stoned - bellman, she gets access to the penthouse just to see the allegedly spectacular view. She finds the guy from the bar passed out in the room. Later she finds out that a crime was committed in that same room, one in which she fears that she may be implicated.

Several of the stories deal with issues that are not only personal but also societal. Aya de León has one of the few stories in the book in which murder plays no part. It says something about conditions in this country (or perhaps just about me) that I thought it was most likely that a story titled "Frederick Douglass Elementary" would deal with a school shooting. However, the "crime" in the story is totally non-violent. A Black single mother has a young son in a school in a town north of Berkeley, California. The student population was nearly all Black or Latino, the teachers predominantly White. Children are bullied and teachers hit children. The mother knows that Berkeley was the first district in the United States to voluntarily desegregate and that schools there have much better academic standards. She breaks some rules to try to get her son admitted to a school in Berkeley.

Another Black woman is the central character in "One Bullet. One Vote." by Faye Snowde0n. This is set in 1964 in Louisiana. A much-respected older woman decides to vote in an election, knowing that no Black person in that locality had ever been allowed to do so. She is told that if she does go to the polling place, members of her family may be in immediate peril.

"90 Miles" by Alex Segura is also set in the past. In 1992, a man, his wife, and their young son pay a man to help them go from Cuba to the United States. They are traveling in a leaky raft. If they are caught by Cuban authorities, they could be subject to punishment that might include death. Moreover, they know that they may face sharks and the United States Coast Guard. They do this in hope of achieving freedom.

Poverty and illness combine to threaten lives during the Covid pandemic in "Everything Is Going to Be Okay" by Gabino Iglesias. The wife of a poor fisherman is very sick; he believes that she should be on a ventilator, but they have no health insurance. One of the people on the fishing boat, a new man, mentions that he has $42,000 hidden in his car. (He has been leaving it there because all of the banks he has seen have been closed - not very likely.)

Eliot Schrefer's story "Wings Beating" deals with homophobia and a father's uncritical love. The narrator is a man from Maryland who won a third prize in a quiz show, a trip to a Florida spa. He brings his thirteen year old son with him; the man and his one-time wife now apparently have shared custody of their son. The father believes that the son, whom he loves without reservation, might be gay. While they are staying in the run-down hotel to which they have come, the man and his son crash a private party, because that is the only place in the hotel serving food. Some of the party guests object to them being there and the son is taunted with homophobic slurs. They leave, but later the man takes action against his son's tormentors. I am not certain exactly what impact that action will have, or even if the reader is supposed to know that.

"Land of Promise" by Brian Silverman is an unusual choice for this book. I don't think that there is a definite crime committed or contemplated in this story. There is an explosion in a New York subway, but unless I missed it, I don't think that is ever said to have been deliberately set. As the story begins, the central character, a bar owner, is trying to travel miles, making his way home in an almost paralyzed city. He is soon acclaimed as a hero for saving lives in the explosion. However, his wife is puzzled why he was in that location at all. This is a good but quite bleak story.

Alison Gaylin was the author of my favorite story in the other "best of 2020" anthology. I also think that her story in this collection, "Where I Belong," is fine. The young male narrator is on the run, having viciously beaten his stepfather - which, unfortunately for the young man, was recorded; the video has been shown to the world. A man offers to help him, in return for a peculiar favor. This is borderline noir fiction, with an almost cheerful ending.

The remaining stories all have some plot elements in common. Lisa Unger's "Let Her Be," the longest story in this collection, also has a young male narrator, a would-be author who attempted suicide after breaking up with his girlfriend. Some time later, he gets together with a female friend of his former girlfriend. She tells him that that woman and her new boyfriend seem to have disappeared; no one ever hears from her, not her friends or her family. The narrator and the young woman conjecture that the current boyfriend of his former girlfriend may be forcing her to remain incommunicado. But where could they be?

Three college students are the principal characters in "With Footnotes and References" by Gar Anthony Haywood, and that is as close to "principles" as any of them gets. A very bright and very wealthy male student pays a female student well for term papers. She thinks that she should get more for each paper and tries to raise her rates. This is not a successful plan, and it is resented by both that male student and by his thuggish - possibly homicidal - buddy. This is cynical, entertaining, and surprising.

Those same adjectives also apply to "Slow Burner" by Laura Lippman. A woman discovers that her husband, a highly successful venture capitalist, has resumed a flirtation with one of his female colleagues. She knows this because she has found, and read the messages on, a new burner phone he has purchased. The wife is a high school English teacher, trying to answer questions about Greek mythology to her students:

"Why does Hera put up with [Zeus]?"

"There aren't a lot of choices for gods when it comes to marriage."

But humans are not gods, and they do have choices.

This is my favorite story in this anthology.


In her Introduction to the book, Alafair Burke discusses the one point made by Kurt Vonnegut with which she disagrees. Vonnegut wrote:

To hell with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.

Burke replies:

To hell with suspense? With all due respect, that's a real quick no from me... The ending should feel completely surprising and yet utterly inevitable. I won't spoil the many satisfying twists contained in these pages, but trust me - there are some doozies.

Yes, there are. If a reader says that he or she correctly anticipated the developments of every story here, then, I believe, that reader is lying.


Now that there are two "best of the year" annual mystery anthologies, both using essentially the same format (a series editor, an annual guest editor, twenty new stories arranged alphabetically by author, notes both by and about each author, an appended list of other recommended mystery stories), comparison between the two volumes would be inevitable. The other series is titled The Mysterious Bookshop Presents The Best Mystery Stories of the Year. The series editor is Otto Penzler; the guest editor for the 2021 volume was Lee Child.

My first observation is that I think it is incredible that not a single story was chosen for both books. In fact, none of the stories in either book were even picked for the "other recommended" stories in the other book. (One story did appear on both appended lists, "The Wretched Strangers" by Matthew Wilson.)

I liked much of each book. They each had some selections that I did not like, but that would apply to almost any anthology. I would have to give the edge to the Penzler/Child book, though. There are at least four stories in that collection that I prefer to almost anything in the Cha/Burke anthology: "Harbor Lights" by James Lee Burke, "The Gift" by Alison Gaylin, "Etta at the End of the World" by Joseph S. Walker, and "The Path I Took" by Andrew Welsh-Huggins. Also, I think that the physical appearance and ease of reading is better in the Penzler/Child volume.

I will almost certainly continue to read - and enjoy - any new entries in both series.

[Suz Jay · Rating 5 out of 5]

“People had a way of making a ghost out of your walking, talking body when you lived past their expectations.” —excerpt from “One Bullet. One Vote.” By Faye Snowden*

I really enjoyed the variety of the stories. The contributors notes provide a cool insight into each tale and the list of other distinguished stories help me add to my to-be-read list. Steph Cha’s forward and Alafair Burke’s introduction nicely sets the tone for the anthology. I am super excited for the direction of this series with Steph Cha as Series Editor.

The standout stories for me are as follows:

“Neighbors” by Nikki Dolson involves a newbie neighborhood couple whose nefarious actions have long-lasting effects on their community. The story does a great job of showing how the newcomers affect the neighborhood dynamic.

In “Mala Suerte” by E. Gabriel Flores, Carmelita knows a thing or thirty about the perils of bad luck. Her refusal to let a minor setback takes her on a road trip, but achieving her happy ever after relies on the ever fickle luck factor. I enjoyed hearing her history with luck with nods to Pandora and Eve and the various story twists.

“Everything Is Going to Be Okay” by Gabino Iglesias, which is get during the early days of lockdown, follows a fisherman who figures out a way to score the money needed to get his dear wife treated for COVID-19. The story nicely captures the chaos of lockdown and the toll medical expenses take on those without healthcare insurance.

“Green-Eyed Monster” by Charis Jones examines the reasons a biologist decides to murder his super successful, control freak, physicist wife. The husband’s reasoning and the way he looks at his wife with the eye of a biologist make the story a devilish delight.

Preston Lang’s contribution, “Potato Sandwich Days,” focuses on fast food limited time specialties and how some customers go crazy for them. The story displays the dynamics between customer and employee as well as how a bout of bad luck can destroy those who are barely getting by. The descriptions of the potato sandwich were awesome.

Kristen Lepionka’s “Infinity Sky” involves a violent crime that occurs at a hotel after a wedding. The various players include a washed up rock star, her boyfriend, a bellhop, a self-help guru, and a businessman. I liked how the alternating points of viewed parsed out clues.

Laura Lippman’s “Slow Burner” references the relationship between Hera and Zeus in Greek mythology as a wife finds a burner phone her husband uses to correspond with a woman he wishes to bed. The story is a slow burner itself with an ending that’s worth the wait.

In “90 Miles” by Alex Segura, a family tries to escape Cuba for a new life in Miami, but rough waters are only the start of their troubles. The desperate hope is heartbreaking.

Faye Snowden’s “One Bullet. One Vote.” packs one heck of a punch. Willie Mae is determined to pave the way for Black voters in Byrd’s Landing, Louisiana in the 1960’s. She smart and fierce, but the dirtbag sheriff vows to make her pay in blood.

Lisa Unger’s protagonist Will in “Let Her Be” longs for his ex-girlfriend who’s fled from her old life. He starts of wonder if her social media is all an act and she is in jeopardy. Will’s voice is engaging, and while the story is rather long, it’s quite a page turner.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thanks to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company and NetGalley for providing an Advance Reader Copy.

*Please note that my review is based on uncorrected text.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alafair Burke is the Guest Editor of the Best American Mystery and Suspense 2021, an anthology of short stories. There are numerous crime authors, many of whom were first time reads, but the notes on the contributors is helpful and provides some insights. The twenty stories provide a variety of topics including bullying, voting and health care. Their settings vary from a spa in Florida, East Village New York and Alabama death row. In judging the “best” stories to include, Alafair uses eight criteria for mystery/suspense writers as stated in her Introduction. Finally, there is a list of 2020 distinguished mystery and suspense books for further reading. The collection offers an insight into America today through the various tales and so an enjoyable variety of short stories with an overall three-and-a-half-star rating. With thanks to Mariner Books and the author, for an uncorrected proof copy for review purposes.

[Michael Burke · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2021", edited by Steph Cha and Alafair Burke, is an exceptional group of short stories. Sometimes collections can be a hard read, having to shift gears just after getting used to the voice and tempo of the previous tale. Here there are many highlights and not a bad detour can be taken. One or two may have seemed like partials, the beginning of a fuller story, but the quality was universally high.

A few of my very favorites: "Everything is Going to Be Okay" by Gabino Iglesias poses an age-old dilemma: is there anything you would not do to save the life of one you loved? In this case it is in the age of COVID-19 and a murder to afford medical treatment. "90 Miles" by Alex Segura shows the life and death risk a desperate immigrant father takes to save his family. "Slow Burner" by Laura Lippman is a clever plot to give a cheating husband his comeuppance. "One Bullet, One Vote" by Faye Snowden takes us back to 1964 and breathes life into the struggle people had to make way back in the days when some would deny people the right to vote just based on the color of their skin. (Yes... way back when it was conceivable that people were capable of such a thing)

5 stars as a collection. Even with my backlog of books I will be rereading these stories soon. Thank you to Steph Cha, Alafair Burke, Mariner Books, and NetGalley for providing the Advance Reader Copy in exchange for an honest review. #TheBestAmericanMysteryandSuspense2021 #NetGalley

"The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2021" is to be published on October 12, 2021 and this review will be posted on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, BookBub, Facebook and Twitter on that day.

[Armand Rosamilia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my first time reading this ongoing series of the best of the best in mystery and suspense for the year. There was only one story I didn't like (which I will not name) but the rest varied from good to very good, and I've found a couple of new authors to chase down and read more from. Which is always a good sign for me.

[Jim Thomsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first volume of THE BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY & SUSPENSE anthology of crime fiction under new editor Steph Cha, with anew mandate to keep the long-running series fresh and timely, is a success.

Cha and her guest editor, Alafair Burke, picked a lineup with lots of winners and no outright losers from a wide range of legacy publications and online upstarts, despite the collection having an overly clubby feel —a problem that, ironically, plagues the rival "best" anthology, Otto Penzler's literally lily-white BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY STORIES OF THE YEAR 2021, to a much greater degree.

But that's a small quibble, considering that the need to recognize and present more diverse and transgressive fiction from a greater palette of styles and voices than Penzler and his guest editors could or would was criminally overdue. But, as Cha makes plain in a clarion call-to-arms introduction, there's no "sacrificing quality for diversity" here. Every single entry, even the flawed handful, has something to edify and entertain almost any crime-fiction fan regardless of their preferences.

My personal picks for the top of the crop include Jenny Bhatt's "Return to India"; E. Gabriel Flores' "Mala Suerte"; Gar Anthony Haywood's "With Footnotes and References,"; Charis Jones' "Green Eyed Monster"; Preston Lang's "Potato Sandwich Days"; and Eliot Schrefer's "Wings Beating," That's in addition to two tales that just wrecked me in the best possible way: Faye Snowden's "One Bullet, One Vote" and Laura Lippman's "Slow Burner."

In all, an impressive debut presentation by Steph Cha, and Alafair Burke. I'm eagerly looking forward to the 2022 edition of THE BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY & SUSPENSE, knowing that the series in great hands.

(I'll soon be positing a much longer version of this review on social media via my website blog.)

[Elaine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2021.

I love mystery and suspense novels, but these types of compilations are always a mixed bag.

I was excited for the opportunity to read the ARC but I approach these collections with much trepidation, like stupidly going to investigate a strange noise coming from behind a locked door.

My biggest caveat with these anthologies is that most of them aren't suspenseful or mysterious.

I understand these are short stories so character development will be brief, if any, and the plot will be just as fast.

But, most of the stories lacked suspense or any element that might characterize it as a mystery.

The only story I enjoyed was by Laura Lippman. The final story in the collection was just a drag and boring.

All the stories were well written but like a box of chocolates, I only liked one or two of them.

[Christopher · Rating 2 out of 5]

Compilations are always uneven. But that reality doesn't forgive this potholed effort.

I think most of the blame falls on new series editor Steph Cha. If this was the "best" of the pile she handed to guest editor Alafair Burke, I fear for the series.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Best American Mystery and Suspense is a striking anthology of short stories, not developed around a theme, but pulled from the pages of literary magazines and other anthologies to reflect the best of the year. Steph Cha along with guest editor, Alafair Burke, certainly hit the mark with their first effort in the series. The stories selected show America at a critical time, when discussions of race, ethnicity, gender, orientation, and COVID are at the forefront of the mind, and the writers represented in these pages are able to deftly address these issues.

Gabino Iglesias’ “Everything is Going to Be Okay” hits close to the bone of the current climate, pitting those in the clutches of a failing health care system against the deadly coronavirus, showing what desperate people will do when backed into a corner. “Slow Burner” by Laura Lippman is deliciously suspenseful, building to a perfect crescendo, which seems next to impossible to do in short form. Alex Segura and Alison Gaylin will break your heart in a thousand different places with their offerings “90 Miles,” which navigates the expanse from Cuba to Key West, and “Where I belong,” addressing homelessness and mental health. Save Kristen Lepionka’s “Infinity Sky” for last if you’re hoping to end on a more humorously suspenseful note. Lepionka threads the needle between suspense and slap stick, highlighting one fateful night in the life of a former rock star.

These are just a few of the highlights that wait in the pages of The Best American Mystery and Suspense. Big thank you to the editors, the authors, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and #NetGalley for an advance copy in exchange for my review.

[Pamela Small · Rating 2 out of 5]

Anthologies offer a collection of similar topics, in this case mysteries or stories of suspense. However, I didn’t find this particular collection very mysterious or suspenseful. Some of the stories built some suspense only to fall flat by the ending. Others never built tension at all nor was there a mystery. The only story I enjoyed was by Laura Lippmann.

There are better anthologies of mystery and suspense. I am surprised - and disappointed- that this editor considered these twenty stories “the best” for 2021.

My thanks to NetGalley for an ARC of this book.

[Cindy B. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not suspenseful or mysterious. Just a bunch of new age opinions guised as a book! Want my money back—NOW!! Trash — mostly political. If they’d listed it as immoral or wasted time (political), I’d have saved my time and money. Deserves one less star. Take it from the intro — it’s all ‘her’ opinions — and go to the library.

[Grace · Rating 1 out of 5]

HORRIBLE! Before this book I had never wanted to return to a book store just to return a book and ask my time back. People who gave good reviews - are you the editor’s bffs or did you write one of the stories?

[Jennifer Chow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like most collections, there were some stories that I liked better than others. All the authors were skilled at creating a tight narrative, although a few had conclusions that still left me wondering. Loved the different perspectives, vibes, and even time periods of the various short stories.

[Barbara Ciccanti · Rating 1 out of 5]

I can not tell you how disappointed I was with this book. I could not finish it as I thought the stories were sooo boring. Alafair Burke picked them out, wow!

[Fiona · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't think short story collections are for me. While there were some stories I really enjoyed ("The Neighbors" and "Let Her Be" come to mind), I was bored by a few. Not a favorite.

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally posted on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2021 is a well curated annual collection of new short mystery & suspense fiction edited by Alafair Burke & Steph Cha. Released 12th Oct 2021 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt on their Mariner imprint, it's 320 pages and is available in paperback, audio, and ebook formats.

There are 20 stories by my count and they're from authors both familiar and new to me. The stories are varied, there were (as always) some which didn't grab me personally, but all were well written and competently plotted. They were mostly in the 4 star range(ish) with a a fair smattering of really standout stories. This is a well done anthology of stories in the 3-5 star range.

One reason I like collections and anthologies is that short fiction is really challenging. It's spare and the author doesn't have a wealth of wordage to develop characters or the plotting. Well written short fiction is a delight. I also love collections because if one story doesn't really grab me, there's another story just a few pages away.

Four stars on average. It's a diverting read.

[Karen A. Haunert · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is well-written but depressing as hell

If you're expecting tightly wound whodunnits leading to the good guys catching the bad guys, you are reading the wrong book. The bad guy wins in almost every one of these stories, and when he or she doesn't, the good guy doesn't exactly triumph. Most of the stories are told from the criminal's point of view; in some stories, everybody is terrible to some degree. So it's hard to feel satisfied when you're finished. You feel a little grubby instead. But all the stories are well written, just depressing.

[Tri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read for the Read Harder 2022 prompt: 26. Read a “Best _ Writing of the year” book for a topic and year of your choice. Could also fill the prompt: Read an anthology featuring diverse voices, but I have another book picked for that one.

I guess that this was a fine anthology. There were stories that were great and stories that were not. But my main gripe with this is that very few of them were actually mysteries. Sure, it’s mystery and suspense, but the suspense stories weren’t all that suspenseful either. A lot of them read just as contemporary fiction. So pretty disappointed.

[Nicole Laverty · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish I could give this book a higher rating, as it was one I was really looking forward to reading. But out of the 20 short stories, I only really enjoyed a small handful of them. I think short stories are a challenging method of story-telling because unless they really captivate you, there isn’t enough time to tell a story well.🤷‍♀️

[Colleen Shirley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice short stories when you don't want to get too involved or you only have brief amounts of time to read. Not quite what I was expecting, but still a good read.

[Desi Kennedy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the short story format and have found many authors that I love after first reading a short story. This particular collection was a little darker than I normally read.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read Harder Challenge 2022: Read a “Best _ Writing of the year” book for a topic and year of your choice.

[Rica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding. Often, in an anthology, I dislike one or more of the pieces. This time, I genuinely considered each one truly excellent. Good job, editors!

[Chuck Segall · Rating 2 out of 5]

Normally, I love these anthologies. New authors to read? Check. Shorts from authors I already read? Check. Mysteries/suspense/thrillers (my overall favorite genre)? Check. This particular one edited by one of my must-read authors? Check.

Sadly, this one failed. The vast majority of these mystery/suspense shorts left me feeling the only mystery was why it was included in a collection of mystery shorts. A few of the stories were really well done, with a nice dose of suspense or a surprise ending. Too bad most of the 20 had no mystery and/or no suspense. If these weren't included in this particular book, and had been part of an anthology of just short -stories- they would have been fine.

Sadly, I do not recommend this book.

[Cindy (leavemetomybooks) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This wasn’t my favorite Best American Mystery collection ever, but there were some great stories that I really enjoyed. My faves were Slow Burner by Laura Lippman, Infinity Sky by Kristen Lepionka (she’s a fave-fave always), Mala Suerte by E. Gabriel Flores, and Let Her Be by Lisa Unger.

I love these anthologies because reading short stories by authors I already know and love is super fun, and I always find new authors to read.

My favorite line in the whole book was from Mala Suerte:

“It doesn’t get much worse than being killed and made into a windbreaker.”

Correct. Also, hilarious.

Two other faves:

• From Slow Burner by Laura Lippman:

“She also knows the old saying that cautions men to remember, whenever they meet a beautiful woman, that somewhere, someone is tired of her.”


• From Infinity Sky by Kristen Lepionka:

“Now the Speed Dragons were heading her way. Jeramey didn’t need to meet them in order to distill this band down into their essence: there would be a Brad among them, and a Wesley or a Corbin, a weekday-afternoon radio DJ, and an ad agency project manager. The quiet-looking one in the fedora would be the only real musician of the group but he would avoid any kind of direct attention, terrified that someone would discover his terrible secret — bald at age twenty-eight.”

* thanks to Mariner Books for the NetGalley ARC. This is out now!