Short in Length, Long on Talent

A couple of days after this news started leaking out into corners of the Web, the Short Mystery Fiction Society has officially announced the finalists for its 2019 Derringer Awards. These commendations, explains a news release, “recognize outstanding [short] stories published during 2018.” SMFS members will vote for their favorites in each of four categories, with the winners scheduled to be posted on May 1.

Best Flash Story (up to 1,000 words):
• “The Bicycle Thief,” by James Blakey (The Norwegian American, September 21, 2018)
• “Listen Up,” by Peter DiChellis (Flash Bang Mysteries, Winter 2018)
• “Sonny the Wonder Beast,” by Nick Kolakowski (Out of the Gutter, September 16, 2018)
• “Don’t Text and Drive,” by Robert Petyo (Flash Bang Mysteries, Spring 2018)
• “A Misunderstanding,” by Travis Richardson (Out of the Gutter, May 27, 2018)

Best Short Story (1,001 to 4,000 words):
• “The Belle Hope,” by Peter DiChellis (from Malice Domestic 13: Mystery Most Geographical, edited by Verena Rose, Rita Owen, and Shawn Reilly Simmons; Wildside Press)
• “The Crucial Game,” by Janice Law (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, January-February 2018)
• “Dying in Dokesville,” by Alan Orloff (from Malice Domestic 13: Mystery Most Geographical)
• “If It’s Tuesday, This Must Be Murder,” by Josh Pachter (from Malice Domestic 13: Mystery Most Geographical)
• “The Cabin in the Woods,” by Sylvia Maultash Warsh (from Malice Domestic 13: Mystery Most Geographical)

Best Long Story (4,001 to 8,000 words):
• “With My Eyes,” by Leslie Budewitz (Suspense Magazine, January/February 2018)
• “Mercy Find Me,” by Diana Deverell (from Fiction River: Justice, edited by Kristine Kathryn Rusch; WMG, January 2018)
• “The Case of the Missing Pot Roast,” by Barb Goffman (from Florida Happens, edited by Greg Herren; Three Rooms Press)
• “Till Murder Do Us Part,” by Barb Goffman (from Chesapeake Crimes: Fur, Feathers, and Felonies, edited by Donna Andrews, Barb Goffman, and Marcia Talley; Wildside Press)
• “The Vanishing Volume,” by Janet Raye Stevens (from Shhhh…Murder!: Cozy Crimes in Libraries, edited by Andrew MacRae; Darkhouse)

Best Novelette (8,001 to 20,000 words):
• “The Adventure of the Manhunting Marshal,” by “Peter Basile,” aka Jim Doherty (from Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective, Volume 11; Airship 27, March 2018)
• “Three-Star Sushi,” by Barry Lancet (Down & Out: The Magazine, March 2018)
• “The Cambodian Curse,” by Gigi Pandian (from The Cambodian Curse & Other Stories, by Gigi Pandian; Henery Press)
• “Oil Down,” by Brian Silverman (Mystery Tribune, Winter 2018)
• “I’ve Got to Get Me a Gun,” by Vincent Zandri (from The Black Car Business: Vol. 1, edited by Lawrence Kelter; Down & Out Books)

Congratulations to all of this year’s nominees!

(This post has been updated in order to add the publishing information on each finalist, compiled by SMFS member Gerald So.)