"Christmas Eve at the Exit," by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, January 2015. This is Rusch...

"Juba Good" by Vicki Delany, Rapid Reads, Orca Book Publishing, 2014. A terrific novella about the thankless task of policing...

"The Crossing," by Brendan DuBois, in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, January-February, 2015. So a trio of mobsters d...

"The Really Big Ka-Boom," by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, January/February, 2015. Apolo...

"The Hit-Man," by Roger Angle, in Murder At The Beach: The Bouchercon Anthology, edited by Dana Cameron, Down & Out Books, ...

And for an alternative point of view, at SleuthSayers I provide my list of the best stories of the year.

"The Ice Cream Snatcher," by Bryan Paul Rouleau, in Thuglit, issue 13, 2014. Thuglit has upped its game since the last time I...

"The Killing of General Patton," by William E. Chambers, in Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine, issue 12, 2014.   Burton Wells i...

"Their Little Secret," by Anita Page, in  Murder New York Style: Family Secrets, edited by Anita Page, Glenmere Press, 2014. ...

"A Stoning Before Breakfast," by Azardokht Bahrami, in Tehran Noir, edited by Salar Abdoh, Akashic Books, 2014. If I were pic...