The Readers Have Their Say

Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine has revealed the recipients of its 2022 Readers Awards. These annual prizes are given to stories that appeared in the publication during the preceding year. EQMM readers vote for their favorites.

First-place honors this time around have been claimed by W. Edward Blain, whose story “The Secret Sharer” appeared in the July/August 2022 issue. Second place was captured by Doug Allyn—“a ten-time first-place winner of the award”—for his tale “Blind Baseball” (May/June 2022), while Anna Scotti’s “Schrödinger, Cat” (March/April 2022) ranks third in this competition.

Rounding out 2022’s top-10 finishers are:

4. “Lucky Stars” by Karen Harrington
5. “Book Lovers” by Hollis Seamon
6. “The Wedding Funeral” by David Dean, “Best Served Cold” by Alice Hatcher, and “Something Blue” by G.M. Malliet (tie)
7. “The Death-Camp Angel” by Doug Allyn and “The Kindness of Strangers” by Twist Phelan (tie)
8. “The King’s Ferret” by David Dean, “The Musgrave Ritual” by Terence Faherty, and “Archie Smith: International Spy” by Dave Zeltserman (tie)
9. “Rise” by Ashley-Ruth M. Bernier, “Russian for Beginners” by Dominique Bibeau, “Cardigans” by Wendy Hornsby, “Serving Process” by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, and “We Are All Strangers Here” by Art Taylor (tie)
10. “Sit. Stay. Die.” by Michael Bracken and Sandra Murphy,
“Creative Vice” by Scott William Carter, and “Their Last Bow” by Josh Pachter (tie)

Congratulations to all of this year’s honorees!