El Artista Fugitivo, by Tom Larsen

 "El Artista Fugitivo," by Tom Larsen, in Black Cat Weekly, #227, 2026.

This is the second story by Larsen to make this list, and it stars the same character.  

Wilson Salinas is a private detective in his native Ecuador.  This story takes place not long after he sets up his business after leaving Seattle where he worked as a chef until alcohol got the better of him.  

His U.S. experience helped him get a new client, an American P.I. named Cabrera who  wants him to find a yankee who has disappeared.  Jefferson Bushnell is an eighty-year-old painter.  Why does Cabrera want to find him? Because Bushnell got the detective's twenty-year-old niece pregnant.

If that sounds suspicious Salinas agrees with you.  But he takes the case and, as usual, finds out that it is not nearly as straightforward as it seems.

This is a fun private eye story.  I have to say there is a goof in the storytelling it that someone should have caught. It doesn't affect the  plot but it is certain to annoy alert readers.

 

The Canadian: Death by the Barrel, by J.F. Benedetto

"The Canadian: Death by the Barrel," by J.F. Benedetto, in Black Cat Weekly, #226, 2025. 

This is the second story in this series to make my Best Of pile.

It is a neat historical tale full of, but not overwhelmed by, details of place and people.

It is 1901 and in the wake of the Boxer Rebellion a dozen western powers control Tientsin, China. Our hero is a former Canadian Mounted Police officer, also a veteran of the war.  He happens to be near by when a Dutch sea captain is found drowned i n a barrel of his own beer in his rooms in the British quarter.  

The Englishman investigating the crime is an old enemy who would love to blame it on the Canadian so he has to get to the bottom of things more complicated than the bottom of a beer barrel.  It turns out that the sea captain is anything but an innocent sailor and the story makes some clever twists and turns.

The God You Save May Be Your Own, by Michael Thomas Ford

 "The God You Save May Be Your Own," by Michael Thomas Ford, in Black Cat Weekly, 224, 2025.

Every December brings us a Christmas-themed fantasy mystery or two.  Most of them center on Santa Claus, logically enough.  This one, not so much.

The narrator is the mayor of New Orleans liaison.  Liaison with who, you ask logically enough. But in this case it's more of a what then a who.

Poppy is an Elder God (think Lovecraft's world) who has dwelled in NOLA for over a century.  She manifests as a nine-year-old girl but in her real form is somewhat more tentacle-y.

As the story begins someone has killed and dismembered the mayor.  Someone may be trying to frame Poppy.  Or maybe something even more diabolical is going on.

A very entertaining tale.  The funniest line is the only reference to Lovecraft, which I won't spoil for you.

Hiding in Plain Sight, by Tom Larsen

 "Hiding in Plain Sight," by Tom Larsen, in Black Cat Weekly, 193.

Most of Larsen's stories are set in Ecuador. Some feature a cop but this is from his other series about private eye Wilson Salinas.  

Our hero explains that a big part of his job is hunting down gringos who have come to Ecuador to hide from governments or other agencies.  

All my clients wanted from me was a location where they could find the subject of their search. "We'll take it from here," was the common response when I located someone.  I had a standard disclaimer that I gave all my clients stating that if they were after someone to beat them down or kill them, I wouldn't help. I doubt if any of them even read it. 

Now he's looking for John McIntyre who ran a jazz club in New Orleans that laundered money for the mob.  Finding him is easy; surviving an encounter with the man's bodyguard is harder.  But then it turns out that nothing about the case is as it appears.

A twisty and satisfactory tale.

Fifteen Minutes From Fame, by Mark Thielman

 

"Fifteen Minutes From Fame," by Mark Thielman, in Black Cat Weekly, #183, 2025.

This is the eleventh appearance in this column by fellow SleuthSayer Mark Thielman.

What we have here is a very silly story.  If you read my reviews you know I don't consider that a bad thing.

Johnny is a man with a mission.  He recently discovered that he had been arrested for misdemeanors in almost every state in the union. He figures if he can score all fifty social media fame and fortune must surely follow.

Alas, his plans keep getting foiled by cooperative victims, changing laws, and disinterested employees.

The clerk shook his head.  "I've given my notice. I'm out of this place.  Steal everything in here; I don't care."

But a man with real determination to do the wrong thing has to succeed. Doesn't he?

Very funny stuff.

 

Of Average Intelligence, by O'Neil De Noux

 "Of Average Intelligence," by O'Neil De Noux, in Black Cat Weekly, #85.

This is the second appearance here by my friend and fellow SleuthSayer. De Noux is a retired police officer so it is not surprising that many of his stories feature cops.  As does this.

Let's look at the opening:

"No offense, Office Kintyre.  But I'm smarter than you."

Have you already taken offense?  I certainly have.  Attorney Matt Glick is the speaker and he has recently killed his wife.  The cops have a ton of circumstantial evidence against him and he has a ready explanation for every bit of it.

Blood in the bathtub?  She cut her hand on an X-acto knife.  Hair in the trunk of his car?  She borrowed it and had to change a tire. And so on.  

In fact the only thing Glick doesn't have  a ready work-around for is his own smug superiority, and you know darn well that that is what is going to bring him down.  Which it does. 

You will enjoy the process.