"T he Right to Lose," by Wil Medearis, in  Tennis Noir,  edited by John Shepphird, Level Best Books, 2026. It's unusual when m...

 "The Summer Tournament," by Jason Starr, in Tennis Noir, edited by John Shepphird, Level Best Books, 2026. Ah, the first antholo...

 "El Artista Fugitivo," by Tom Larsen, in Black Cat Weekly, #227, 2026. This is the second story by Larsen to make this list, and...

  I forgot to mention that last week I put up my best stories of the year list at SleuthSayers.   This is year #17, and 18 tales made the l...

   "Counting Windows," by V.S. Kemanis, in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, November/December 2025.  This is the second story...

  "Squirrel Day Afternoon," by Gregory Fallis, in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, November/December 2025. This is the fi...

 "The Roosevelt Affair," by Adam Meyer, in Crimecopia: The Not So Frail Detective Agency, Murderous Ink Press, 2026. A nice straig...

"The Canadian: Death by the Barrel," by J.F. Benedetto, in Black Cat Weekly, #226, 2025.   This is the second story in this seri...

 "Level Up," by Shawn Reilly Simmons in The Most Dangerous Games, edited by Deborah Lacy, Level Short, 2025.  I have a story in t...

 "The God You Save May Be Your Own," by Michael Thomas Ford, in Black Cat Weekly, 224, 2025. Every December brings us a Christmas...