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1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008
A Guide to Classic Mystery and Detection Home Page
Best Detective Short Stories of the Year
The following is a list of good detective short stories, arranged by year. They are all "real detective stories": stories in which a mysterious situation is investigated by a detective. Their tone ranges from hard-boiled to genteel, from serious to comic, and they stretch from realism to the way-out. Everything from novellas to short-shorts are considered to be "short stories" here. These stories are all from recent years, a period in which real detective tales seem to be undervalued by many critics and United States award committees. (Norizuki Rintarô's clever puzzle plot story "An Urban Legend Puzzle" (2001) won an award in Japan.) There should be an award created, given each year, recognizing excellence in true detective stories. Critics and reviewers should also highlight novels and stories that are outstanding real detective works.
1988
J. G. Ballard - Running Wild
C. M. Chan - The Dressing Table Murder
Michael Collins - Crime and Punishment
Paul Halter - The Dead Dance at Night
Edward D. Hoch - The Crime in Heaven
Edward D. Hoch - A Game for Spies
Edward D. Hoch - Leopold and the Cemetery Bandits
Edward D. Hoch - Murder of a Gypsy King
Edward D. Hoch - The Nude Over the Bar
Edward D. Hoch - The Theft of the Faded Flag
Ronald Levitsky - A Sabbath Flame
Marcia Muller & Bill Pronzini - Cache and Carry
Janet O'Daniel - Death of an Alumnus
Sara Paretsky - Dealer's Choice
Bill Pronzini - No Room at the Inn
1989
Marcia Muller - All the Lonely People
James Powell - The Sting of the Hoop Snake
Herbert Resnicow - The Christmas Bear
1990
Isaac Asimov - The Haunted Cabin
Isaac Asimov - Lost In a Space Warp
Isaac Asimov - The Lucky Piece
Isaac Asimov - The Recipe
Isaac Asimov - Yes, But Why?
Paul Halter - The Night of the Wolf
Edward D. Hoch - The Gypsy Delegate
Edward D. Hoch - The Pirate of Death Valley
Edward D. Hoch - The Spy and the Healing Waters
Edward D. Hoch - Too Many Murderers
Marcia Muller - Final Resting Place
Marcia Muller - Somewhere in the City
Bill Pronzini - Stakeout
1991
Isaac Asimov - The Guest's Guest
Jon L. Breen - Tea and 'Biscuit'
Edward D. Hoch - The Theft of Leopold's Badge
Edward D. Hoch - The Theft of the Lucky Cigar
Martin Limón - Pusan Nights
Margaret Maron - Lieutenant Harald and the Impossible Gun
B. K. Stevens - Night Vision
1992
K. K. Beck - A Romance in the Rockies
Jon L. Breen - Throw Out the First Ax
William L. DeAndrea - Killed in Midstream
Edward D. Hoch - Five Days in a Texas Town
Edward D. Hoch - The Problem of the Vanishing Salesman
Edward D. Hoch - The Problem of the Leather Man
Edward D. Hoch - The Spy and the Greek Enigma
Nancy Pickard - Fat Cat
Mark Richard Zubro - Next Year, Kankakee
1993
Paul Halter - The Tunnel of Death
Edward D. Hoch - The Hiding Place
Edward D. Hoch - The Passion of Lizzie B.
Edward D. Hoch - The Problem of the Phantom Parlor
Marcia Muller - The Wall
James Powell - The Blue Bread of Happiness
Bill Pronzini - Burgade's Crossing
1994
Jon L. Breen - Credit the Cat
Edward D. Hoch - A Fondness for Steam
Edward D. Hoch - The Problem of the Missing Roadhouse
Edward D. Hoch - The Puzzle Garden
Edward D. Hoch - The Theft of the Canceled Stamp
Edward D. Hoch - The Theft of Twenty-Nine Minutes
Edward D. Hoch - Waiting for Mrs. Ryder
Brian Hunt - Murder in the Tunnel
Judith Lea Koretsky - A Delicate Balance
Marcia Muller - The Lost Coast
James Powell - The Black Daffodil
Bill Pronzini - Lady One-Eye
Les Roberts - The Pig Man
B. K. Stevens - Death in Small Doses
1995
Ed Gorman - Last Tango in Tokyo
Edward D. Hoch - A Craving for Chinese
Edward D. Hoch - The Hudson Chain
Edward D. Hoch - A Parcel of Deerstalkers
Edward D. Hoch - The Problem of the Crowded Cemetery
Patrick Irelan - High Water
1996
Edward D. Hoch - The Things That Are Caesar's
Marcia Muller - The Holes in the System
1997
Jon L. Breen - Immortality
Jon L. Breen - Longevity Has Its Place
Janet Evanovich - The Last Peep
Edward D. Hoch - The Old Spies Club
Edward D. Hoch - One Bag of Coconuts
Edward D. Hoch - A Shower of Daggers
Stuart M. Kaminsky - Find Miriam
Bill Pronzini - The Horseshoe Nail
1998
Paul Halter - The Call of the Lorelei
Paul Halter - The Flower Girl
Maxine O'Callaghan - Somewhere South of Melrose
Bill Pronzini - Medium Rare
Eric Wright - One of a Kind
1999
K. K. Beck - Hollywood Homicide
Lloyd Biggle, Jr. - The Case of the Headless Witness
Jon L. Breen - The Cat and the Kinetophone
Mat Coward - Tomorrow's Villain
Mary Daheim - Just So Much Garbage
Carol Gorman - The Death Cat of Hester Street
Edward D. Hoch - The Christmas Tree Killer
Edward D. Hoch - The Circle of Ink
Edward D. Hoch - The War That Never Was
Michael Kahn - The Bread of Affliction
Rob Kantner - Something Simple
O'Neil De Noux - Murder Most Sweet
Nancy Pickard - Out of Africa
James Lincoln Warren - Black Spartacus
2000
Alan Gordon - The Jester and the Mathematician
Lois H. Gresh and Robert Weinberg - Death Rides the Elevator
Paul Halter - The Cleaver
Edward D. Hoch - The Haggard Society
Edward D. Hoch - The Fading Woman
Edward D. Hoch - The Sword of Colonel Ledyard
Edward D. Hoch - A Wall Too High
Michael Kurland - The Stolen Saint Simon
Richard A. Lupoff - The Second Drug
Phil Mann - Touch of a Vanish'd Hand
Edward Marston - Blind Eyes
James Powell - The Flower Diet
Marilyn Todd - Stag Night
Yokoyama Hideo - Motive
2001
K. K. Beck - The Tell-Tale Tattoo
Jon L. Breen - The Male and Female Hogan
Jon L. Breen - Sharing
Edward D. Hoch - St. John and the Dragon
Edward D. Hoch - The Theft of the Sandwich Board
Clark Howard - The California Contact
Norizuki Rintarô - An Urban Legend Puzzle
Benjamin M. Schutz - Open and Shut
Dan A. Sproul - Oh, Mona
2002
Charles Ardai - The Last Story
Terence Faherty - The Second Coming
Elizabeth Gunn - Too Many Santas
Paul Halter - The Abominable Snowman
Paul Halter - The Robber's Grave
Edward D. Hoch - Gunfighter's Honeymoon
Edward D. Hoch - The Theft of the Wedding Doves
Edward D. Hoch - The Vampire Theme
James Powell - The Jewels of Atlantis
Eric Wright - Caves of Ice
James Yaffe - Mom Lights a Candle
2003
Jon L. Breen - Insider Trading
Janet Dawson - Slayer Statute
John H. Dirckx - Ah, Rash Deceiver!
John H. Dirckx - A Thing of the Past
Ruth Dwyer - Bird of Paradise
Kathy Lynn Emerson - Death by Devil's Turnips
Kathy Lynn Emerson - Lady Appleton and the Cripplegate Chrisoms
Gregory S. Fallis - Dem Bones, Dem Bones
Susan Fry - Peat
Carolyn G. Hart - Mothers Must Do
Steven F. Havill - Red or Green?
Edward D. Hoch - Cuba Libro
Edward D. Hoch - The Hand of God
Edward D. Hoch - The Mountain of Jade
Edward D. Hoch - The Theft of the Blue-Ribbon Bass
Edward D. Hoch - The War in Wonderland
Steve Hockensmith - Dear Mr. Holmes
Clark Howard - The Leper Colony
Toni L. P. Kelner - Old Dog Days
John Lantigua - The Rafter
Richard A. Lupoff - The Incident of the Impecunious Chevalier
Charles McConnell - Deadly Copy
O'Neil De Noux - The Body in Crooked Bayou
Arthur Porges - Stately Homes and the Invisible Giant
Malcolm Shuman - The Woman in the Woods
Marilyn Todd - Cupid's Arrow
Eric Wright - The Lady of Shalott
2004
Doug Allyn - What Child Is This?
Frankie Y. Bailey - Since You Went Away
David Braly - A Trail on the Desert
Joseph Commings - The Whispering Gallery
Mat Coward - The Hope of the World
John H. Dirckx - In a Pool of His Own Blood
Kathy Lynn Emerson - The Body in the Dovecote
Kathy Lynn Emerson - Confusions Most Monstrous
Kathy Lynn Emerson - The Curse of the Figure Flinger
Terence Faherty - A Sunday in Ordinary Time
Gregory S. Fallis - Dog on Fire
Bruce Graham - The Charge Not Filed
Robert Greer - A Matter of Policy
William Hallstead - Pledge Night
Edward D. Hoch - The Problem of the Black Cloister
Edward D. Hoch - The Problem of the Candidate's Cabin
Edward D. Hoch - Leopold in the Vineyard
Edward D. Hoch - Midsummer Night's Scheme
Edward D. Hoch - Money on the Red
Edward D. Hoch - The Theft of the Double Elephant
H. R. F. Keating - Brave New Murder
Lee E. Meadows - A Small Matter
O'Neil De Noux - General Order No. 28
Nancy Pickard - Truth Serum
Mark Terry - Murder at the Heartbreak Hotel
Marilyn Todd - Thoroughly Modern Millinery
Anne Weston - By the Monkey-Ladder Vine
2005
Susan Witting Albert - The Collage to Kill For
James H. Cobb - The Sound of Justice
Loren D. Estleman - Shooting Big Ed
Terence Faherty - Where Is He Now?
Edward D. Hoch - Paris Masque
Edward D. Hoch - The Cactus Killer
Edward D. Hoch - The Theft of the Empty Paint Can
Edward D. Hoch - The Theft of the Rumpled Road Map
Steve Hockensmith - The Big Road
Martin Limón - Dragon's Teeth
Tim Myers - Waxing Moon
O'Neil De Noux - A Killer's Killer
O'Neil De Noux - Pinning the Rap
James Powell - The Caravan of Wonders Lady
Bill Pronzini - Quincannon in Paradise
Mithran Somasundrum - On Soi Arab
B. K. Stevens - True Blue
Steven Torres - UFO
James Lincoln Warren - The Apollo Progression
Mike Wiecek - A Death in Ueno
2006
Jon L. Breen - The Adventure of the Librarian's Ghost
Rex Burns - Shadow People
Rex Burns - In a Civilized Manner
James H. Cobb - Framed
John H. Dirckx - The Dog in the Daytime
Lois H. Gresh and Robert Weinberg - Murder in Monkeyland
G. Miki Hayden - A Murder on 123rd Street
Edward D. Hoch - The Nameless Poison
Edward D. Hoch - The Problem of the Devil's Orchard
Edward D. Hoch - The Sugar Train
Clark Howard - Dead Even
Rob Kantner - The Other Woman
David Knadler - Karaoke Night
Richard A. Lupoff - Benning's School for Boys
Margaret Maron - El Tramegra
Amy Myers - That's the Way He Did It
O'Neil De Noux - 21 Steps
Bill Pronzini - Devil's Brew
Harriet Rzetelny - Proud Mary
Steven Torres - The Valley of Angustias
Ann Woodward - Dai the Potter
Ann Woodward - A Lesson from Purple
2007
Dale C. Andrews and Kurt Sercu - The Book Case
Jon L. Breen - The Missing Elevator Puzzle
Jon L. Breen - A Run Through the Calendar
Rex Burns - Homestead
James H. Cobb - Over the Edge
John H. Dirckx - Not Your Everyday Poison
Loren D. Estleman - The Profane Angel
Terence Faherty - Garbo's Knees
Jim Fusilli - The Guardians
Bruce Graham - Either Way
Jodi Tamara Harrison - The Royals of San Marco High
Edward D. Hoch - A Bird in the Sand
Edward D. Hoch - First Blood
Edward D. Hoch - The Girl Next-Door
Edward D. Hoch - Leopold Undercover
Edward D. Hoch - The Problem of Suicide Cottage
Edward D. Hoch - The Theft of the Ostracized Ostrich
Martha B. G. Lufkin - The Yam Pots the Art World Wanted
Catherine Mambretti - Dead of Winter
O'Neil De Noux - Down on the Pontchartrain
Percy Spurlark Parker - Death at My Door
James Powell - A Cozy for the Jack-o'-lanterns
Marilyn Todd - Death at Delphi
Marilyn Todd - Room for Improvement
James Lincoln Warren - Mother Brimstone
Mike Wiecek - The End of the Train
2008
W. Edward Blain - Other People's Litter
Barbara Cleverly - A Black-Tie Affair
James H. Cobb - Body and Fender
Meredith S. Cole - Exercise Is Murder
John H. Dirckx - First Cousin, Twice Removed
John H. Dirckx - Numskullduggery
Terence Faherty - Forget Me Never
Edward D. Hoch - Baja
Edward D. Hoch - Madam Sing's Gold
Martin Limón - The Opposite of O
Robert Lopresti - The Hard Case
Amy Myers - Tom Wasp and the Dollyshop
O'Neil De Noux - The Bonnie and Clyde Caper
Marianne Wilski Strong - Case Capped
Marianne Wilski Strong - A Private Battle