Collection Contenders

Just this morning, the Short Mystery Fiction Society released its list of nominees for the 2026 Best Anthology Derringer Award:

• Crimeucopia—The Not So Frail Detective Agency, edited by
John Connor (Murderous Ink Press)
• Gone Fishin’: Crime Takes a Holiday, edited by James M. Jackson (Wolf's Echo Press)
• Hollywood Kills: An Anthology, edited by Adam Meyer and
Alan Orloff (Level Short)
• Midnight Schemers & Daydream Believers: 22 Stories of Mystery & Suspense, edited by Judy Penz Sheluk (Superior Shores Press)
• On Fire and Under Water: A Climate Change Crime Fiction Anthology, edited by Curtis Ippolito (Rock and a Hard Place Press)
• SoWest: Danger Awaits! edited by Claire A. Murray, Eva Eldridge, Suzanne E. Flaig, Denise Ganley, and Sarah Smith (DS)

The winner will be determined by a vote of the SMFS membership, and is expected to be announced on Friday, May 1.

There remain four more categories of candidates yet to be declared for this year’s Derringer Awards: Best Flash Story (up to 1,000 words); Best Short Story (1,001 to 4,000 words); Best Long Story (4,001 to 8,000 words); and Best Novelette (8,001 to 20,000 words). All of the 2026 Derringers will be presented during the next Bouchercon, to be held in Calgary, Alberta, this coming October.