Succinct and Stirring

The Short Mystery Fiction Society has announced its finalists for the 2025 Derringer Awards. That group’s members will vote for their favorites, with the results to be posted on May 1.

Best Flash Story (up to 1,000 words):
• “Sweet Red Cherries,” by C.W. Blackwell
(Punk Noir Magazine, November 28, 2024)
• “Mob Mentality,” by James Patrick Focarile
(Shotgun Honey, June 20, 2024)
• “La Petite Mort,” by Susan Hatters Friedman
(Bristol Noir, February 16, 2024)
• “Kargin the Necromancer,” by Mike McHone
(Mystery Tribune, December 15, 2024)
• “Lockerbie, 1988,” by Mary Thorson
(Cotton Xenomorph, October 13, 2024)

Best Short Story (1,001-4,000 words):
• “Skeeter's Bar and Grill,” by Julie Hastrup (from Larceny & Last Chances: 22 Stories of Mystery & Suspense, edited by Judy Penz Sheluck; Superior Shores Press)
• “The Wind Phone,” by Josh Pachter (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, September/October 2024)
• “The Heist,” by Bill Pronzini (from Shamus and Anthony Commit Capers: Ten Tales of Criminals, Crooks, and Culprits, edited by Gay Toltl Kinman and Andrew McAleer; Level Best)
• “The Last Chance Coalition,” by Judy Penz Sheluk (from Larceny & Last Chances: 22 Stories of Mystery & Suspense)
• “The Kratz Gambit,” by Mark Thielman (from Private Dicks and Disco Balls: Private Eyes in the Dyn-O-Mite Seventies, edited by Michael Bracken; Down & Out)

Best Long Story (4,001-8,000 words):
• “How Mary’s Garden Grew,” by Elizabeth Elwood (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, January/February 2024)
• “Heart of Darkness,” by Tammy Euliano (from Scattered, Smothered, Covered & Chunked: Crime Fiction Inspired by Waffle House, edited by Michael Bracken and Stacy Woodson; Down & Out)
• “Putting Things Right,” by Peter W.J. Hayes (Thrill Ride Magazine, December 21, 2024)
• “Motive Factor X,” by Joseph Andre Thomas (from Howls from the Scene of the Crime: A Crime Horror Anthology, edited by Jessica Peter and Timaeus Bloom; Howl Society Press)
• “Cold Comfort,” by Andrew Welsh-Huggins (from Private Dicks and Disco Balls: Private Eyes in the Dyn-O-Mite Seventies)

Best Novelette (8,001-20,000 words):
• “A Band of Scheming Women,” by Joslyn Chase (Thrill Ride
Magazine, March 21, 2024)
• “Christmas Dinner,” by Robert Lopresti (Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, November/December 2024)
• “Barracuda Backfire,” by Tom Milani (Chop Shop, Episode 4, edited by Michael Bracken; Down & Out, April 1, 2024)
• “Her Dangerously Clever Hands,” by Karen Odden (from Crimeucopia—Through the Past Darkly, Murderous Ink Press)
• “The Cadillac Job,” by Stacy Woodson (Chop Shop, Episode 1, edited by Michael Bracken; Down & Out, January 1, 2024

In addition, there’s a brand-new, fifth category of Derringer Award nominees this year: Best Anthology. The six finalists for that commendation were named in February.