The Short Mystery Fiction Society Blog: 2026 Derringer Awards

Showing posts with label 2026 Derringer Awards. Show all posts

Friday, May 1, 2026

SMFS Official Announcement: 2026 Derringer Award Winners

Photo by Art Taylor

The Short Mystery Fiction Society is a community of writers, readers, editors, publishers, and others dedicated to the promotion and celebration of mystery and crime short stories. Since 1998, the SMFS has awarded the annual Derringers to outstanding published stories and people who have greatly advanced or supported the form. The Best Anthology Derringer was presented for the first time in 2025.

The 2026 Derringer Award winners are

Edward D. Hoch Memorial Golden Derringer

David Dean

David Dean is an Army veteran, a retired Chief of Police, and an accomplished novelist, in addition to being one of the most popular and prolific short story writers working in the crime genre today. His stories have appeared regularly in ELLERY QUEEN MYSTERY MAGAZINE, as well as a number of anthologies, including BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY STORIES, since 1990. He has won a Derringer Award and an impressive four EQMM Readers Awards. His stories have also been nominated for the Shamus and Barry Awards and been finalists for an Edgar and multiple Derringer Awards.

Best Flash Story

(Up to 1,000 words)

"The Man Under the Bridge" by Bern Sy Moss (Spillwords, 6/1/2025)

Best Short Story

(1,001 to 4,000 words)

"Blind Pig" by Michael Bracken (Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, September/October 2025)

Best Long Story

(4,001 to 8,000 words)

"Whatever Kills the Pain" by C.W. Blackwell (Whatever Kills the Pain, Rock and a Hard Place Press)

Best Novelette

(8,001 to 20,000 words)

"The Temporary Murder of Thomas Monroe" by Tia Tashiro (Clarkesworld, January 2025) (audio version)

Best Anthology (tie)

Hollywood Kills: An Anthology edited by Adam Meyer & Alan Orloff (Level Best Books - Level Short)

On Fire and Under Water: A Climate Change Crime Fiction Anthology edited by Curtis Ippolito (Rock and a Hard Place Press)

The complete list of 2026 finalists may be found here.

Wednesday, April 1, 2026

SMFS Official Announcement: 2026 Derringer Award Finalists

Image by Bethany Maines

The Short Mystery Fiction Society is a group of writers, readers, editors, publishers, and others dedicated to the promotion and celebration of mystery and crime short stories. Since 1998, the SMFS has awarded the annual Derringers to outstanding published stories and people who've greatly advanced or supported the form. The inaugural Best Anthology Derringer was presented in 2025.

Our volunteer judges evaluated 495 story submissions to determine the finalists. The winners will be determined by member vote in April and announced May 1.

The 2026 Derringer Award finalists are

Best Flash Story

(Up to 1,000 words)

"Bradycardia" by Elizabeth Dearborn (Punk Noir Magazine, 2/4/2025)

"Check Rear Seat" by Carl Tait (Exquisite Death, 5/1/2025)

"It All Comes Out in the Wash" by James Patrick Focarile (Gumshoe Review, 10/31/2025)

"Just Like Old Times" by Shari Held (Yellow Mama, 2/15/2025)

"The Man Under the Bridge" by Bern Sy Moss (Spillwords, 6/1/2025)

Best Short Story

(1,001 to 4,000 words)

"Blind Pig" by Michael Bracken (Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, September/October 2025)

"Chains" by Frank Vatel (All Due Respect, 9/1/25)

"Hollywood Prometheus" by Christa Faust (Crime Ink: Iconic: An Anthology of Crime Fiction Inspired by Queer Icons, Bywater Books)

"The Artist" by Linda Ann Bennett (Midnight Schemers & Daydream Believers: 22 Stories of Mystery & Suspense, Superior Shores Press)

"Wax On, Wax Off" by Nina Mansfield (Donna Andrews Presents Malice Domestic: Mystery Most Humorous, Wildside Press)

Best Long Story

(4,001 to 8,000 words)

"A Sign of the Times" by Tom Milani (Sleuths Just Wanna Have Fun: Private Eyes in the Materialistic Eighties, Down & Out Books)

"Masterpiece" by Mark Thielman (Black Cat Mystery Magazine 16, September 2025)

"Six-Armed Robbery" by Ashley-Ruth M. Bernier (Donna Andrews Presents Malice Domestic: Mystery Most Humorous, Wildside Press)

"Whatever Kills the Pain" by C.W. Blackwell (Whatever Kills the Pain, Rock and a Hard Place Press)

"Zebra Finch" by donalee Moulton (The Most Dangerous Games, Level Best Books - Level Short)

Best Novelette

(8,001 to 20,000 words)

"Aswarby Hall" by David Dean (Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, March/April 2025)

"Loose Change from a Mini Cooper" by Frank Zafiro (Chop Shop Episode 10, Down & Out Books)

"Saint Bullethead" by Nick Kolakowski (Fighting Words: Bruisers, Brawlers, & Bad Intentions, Leonardo Audio)

"The High Priest of Low Men" by C.W. Blackwell (Myopic Duplicity: Do the Ends Ever Justify the Means?, Leonardo Audio)

"The Temporary Murder of Thomas Monroe" by Tia Tashiro (Clarkesworld, January 2025) (audio version)

Best Anthology

(previously announced)

Crimeucopia - The Not So Frail Detective Agency edited by John Connor (Murderous Ink Press)

Gone Fishin': Crime Takes a Holiday, The Eighth Guppy Anthology edited by James M. Jackson (Wolf's Echo Press)

Hollywood Kills: An Anthology edited by Adam Meyer & Alan Orloff (Level Best Books - 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! A Desert Sleuths Anthology edited by Claire A. Murray, Eva Eldridge, Suzanne E. Flaig, Denise Galley, and Sarah Smith (DS Publishing)

The SMFS Official Announcement: 2026 Derringer Award Winners post is available here.

Sunday, February 1, 2026

Derringer Award Announcement: 2026 Best Anthology Finalists

Image by Bethany Maines

Society members were allowed two submissions. The anthologies that received the most submissions are the finalists. The winning anthology will be determined via member vote in April and announced May 1. Derringer Award medals will be presented in October at Bouchercon in Calgary, Alberta.

The finalists for the 2026 Best Anthology Derringer Award are

Crimeucopia - The Not So Frail Detective Agency

Edited by John Connor

Murderous Ink Press

Historically, it would be tricky to define exactly when the concept of the Female Private Investigator first appeared in fiction. But The Female Detective and Revelations of a Lady Detective —both published in 1864, independent of each other—proves that it was a genre whose time had come. And while Miss Gladden may be the first by all of 5 months, it’s Mrs. Paschal who is more the not-so-frail ground breaker —and it should be noted that Conan Doyle was only 5 when these ladies hit the streets.

So what better way to present the modern female investigator than by gathering 15 top class authors and letting them tell you all about the exploits of their creations.

Gone Fishin': Crime Takes a Holiday, The Eighth Guppy Anthology

Edited by James M. Jackson

Wolf's Echo Press

Prepare for twists, reversals, and surprises in Gone Fishin’: Crime Takes a Holiday, The Eighth Guppy Anthology from the 1,100-member Guppy Chapter of Sisters in Crime. The fun starts with the play-on-words subtitle. “Crime Takes a Holiday.” Crime doesn’t enjoy a bit of time off from skulduggery. Oh no. In these twenty-three stories, Crime Steals, Disrupts, Upends, Wrecks, Destroys and/or Shatters a Holiday.

Join the characters as they travel to pristine northern waters and festering southern bayous, rent a creepy house in Maine, take a Galapagos cruise, enjoy sandy beaches and mountain wildernesses, visit exotic locales across the world, or staycation. The stories feature a wide variety of crime fiction, including murder mysteries, psychological thrillers, and cozy capers.

Hollywood Kills: An Anthology

Edited by Adam Meyer & Alan Orloff

Level Best Books - Level Short

Hollywood is a place full of dreamers—from the wide-eyed actor hoping to land the role of a lifetime to the hard-working writer trying to sell that breakout script. The lowly production assistant eager to finance their first movie to the craft services worker aspiring to be the next Spielberg.

Whoever they are, these people have one thing in common—they are desperate to bring their dreams to fruition, hustling for opportunity, and willing to do anything to get to the next rung on the ladder. Legal or not.

In Hollywood Kills, you'll find shocking short fiction about the dark underbelly of show business—written by those who know it firsthand.

They’ll take you deep inside their cutthroat world, with sixteen stories featuring a producer, sitcom writer, character actor, entertainment lawyer, sound mixer, background actor, aspiring actor, stuntman, casting director, soap opera star, true crime writer, editor, director, production assistant, set caterer, and screenwriting team.

It's a close-up look at the dark side of ambition with an all-star cast of schemers, dreamers, killers, and con artists…and their stories will stick with you long after the credits roll.

Midnight Schemers & Daydream Believers: 22 Stories of Mystery & Suspense: A Superior Shores Anthology

Edited by Judy Penz Sheluk

Superior Shores Press

Desire or desperation, revenge or retribution—how far would you go to realize a dream? The twenty-two authors in this collection explore the possibilities, with predictably unpredictable results.

On Fire and Under Water: A Climate Change Crime Fiction Anthology

Edited by Curtis Ippolito

Rock and a Hard Place Press

Our world is changing dramatically before our eyes.

Increased average global temperatures have wreaked havoc on ecosystems, economies, and people’s lives. Fires rage. Flood waters rise. Storms and heat waves are occurring out-of-season and are becoming increasingly more dangerous and more frequent.

Neighborhoods are being destroyed. People are losing their lives and livelihoods. Still, some politicians, some pundits, and some corporate oligarchs continue to deny reality and refuse to take responsibility and necessary action to mitigate this existential crisis.

Those who did the least to cause this crisis will suffer the most from its consequences.

In On Fire and Under Water, the new crime fiction anthology from Rock and a Hard Place Press, we explore the intersection of climate change and crime, through the lens of fifteen short stories from some of today’s best crime fiction writers. Edited by Anthony Award-winning author Curtis Ippolito and the editorial team at RHP Press, the stories contained within this anthology peel back the curtain on the ways in which climate change impacts real people in their most desperate hour.

Some say the world will end in fire. Some say flood. In On Fire and Under Water, you get both.

SoWest: Danger Awaits! A Desert Sleuths Anthology

Edited by Claire A. Murray, Eva Eldridge, Suzanne E. Flaig, Denise Ganley, and Sarah Smith

DS Publishing

Fight or Flight ... what choices will these characters make? Contract killer, serial killer, killer for hire ... or are they everyday people in bad circumstances? Is the ghost in the house out to harm me ... or am I supposed to help them resolve their death?

These 25 stories are filled with everyday people, private investigators, police personnel, husbands and wives, and others who solve crimes and mysteries their own way. A blend of historical, contemporary, paranormal, serious, and humorous, where each story features an Arizona setting.

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Also, our volunteer judges are currently evaluating 495 story submissions to determine the finalists in four categories. Finalist will be announced April 1. The winners will be determined via member vote in April and announced May 1. Derringer Award medals will be presented in October at Bouchercon in Calgary, Alberta.

The story categories are

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)
Best Novelette (8,001 to 20,000 words)