Compact But Consequential

With today being May 1, the start of National Short Story Month here in the United States, it’s only logical that the Short Mystery Fiction Society should have taken this occasion to announce the winners of its 2019 Derringer Awards. According to the SMFS, these prizes “recognize outstanding [short] stories published during 2018.” Below are this year’s winners, as well as the other shortlisted tales.

Best Flash Story (up to 1,000 words): “The Bicycle Thief,” by James Blakey (The Norwegian American, September 21, 2018)

Also nominated: “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); and “A Misunderstanding,” by Travis Richardson (Out of the Gutter, May 27, 2018)

Best Short Story (1,001 to 4,000 words): “Dying in Dokesville,” by Alan Orloff (from Malice Domestic 13: Mystery Most Geographical)

Also nominated: “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); “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)

Also nominated: “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); and “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 Cambodian Curse,” by Gigi Pandian (from The Cambodian Curse & Other Stories, by Gigi Pandian; Henery Press)

Also nominated: “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); “Oil Down,” by Brian Silverman (Mystery Tribune, Winter 2018); and “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)

In addition, Michigan author Doug Allyn was given the 2019 Edward D. Hoch Memorial Golden Derringer for Lifetime Achievement, presented annually to “an outstanding living writer of short mysteries.”