Good Fences, by Terena Elizabeth Bell

"Good Fences," by Terena Elizabeth Bell in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, July/August 2026. 

If you are going to use one of the classic tropes of the genre (spouse planning to kill spouse, criminal forced to commit One Last Job, etc.) you had better find some way to make your story stand out from the mob.

As I have said before, one of the characteristics that makes a tale stand out for me is heightened language.  That is, the words are doing more than carrying the reader from the title to THE END.  In effect, they are expressing a view of the world.

This classic trope here is feuding neighbors.  Harlan and Leon are both lawn-proud and when moles invade their property each is determined to send the beasties to the other side.  

As for heightened language, this is what happens after one of our boys is dissatisfied with "his wife's third cousin once removed" who he hired to reseed the lawn:

So Harlan said to H on the boy then told his wife to get their money back, but Ethyl said, Now Harlan, and he calmed down just enough to let the matter go. 

This is more than informal writing, this feels like someone is telling you the story orally.  Imagine how different it would be if  the tale was written in the more standard style: When the grass grew back spotty Harlan said "To hell with that boy. You need to get the money back." All the flavor would go out of it.

This story is a lot of fun.