SMFS Official Announcement: 2025 Derringer Award Finalists

Since 1998, the Short Mystery Fiction Society has awarded the annual Derringers—named after the popular pocket pistol—to outstanding published stories. The awards recognize outstanding stories published during 2024. Results of membership voting are scheduled to be posted on May 1, 2025.

The full listing of our nominees and the markets that published the finalist stories has been compiled and supplied by Derringer Coordinator Paula Messina.

 

FLASH

 

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)

 

SHORT STORY 

 

"Skeeter's Bar and Grill" by Julie Hastrup

(Larceny & Last Chances: 22 Stories of Mystery & Suspense, Superior Shores Press)

 

"The Wind Phone" by Josh Pachter

(Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, September/October 2024)

 

"The Heist" by Bill Pronzini

(Shamus and Anthony Commit Capers: Ten Tales of Criminals, Crooks, and Culprits, Level Best Books)

 

"The Last Chance Coalition" by Judy Penz Sheluk

(Larceny & Last Chances: 22 Stories of Mystery & Suspense, Superior Shores Press)

 

"The Kratz Gambit" by Mark Thielman

(Private Dicks and Disco Balls: Private Eyes in the Dyn-O-Mite Seventies, Down & Out Books)

 

LONG STORY

 

"How Mary’s Garden Grew" by Elizabeth Elwood

(Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, January/February 2024)

 

"Heart of Darkness" by Tammy Euliano

(Scattered, Smothered, Covered & Chunked: Crime Fiction Inspired by Waffle House, Down & Out Books)

 

"Putting Things Right" by Peter W. J. Hayes

(Thrill Ride - The Magazine, December 21, 2024)

 

"Motive Factor X" by Joseph Andre Thomas

(Howls from the Scene of the Crime: A Crime Horror Anthology, Howl Society Press)

 

"Cold Comfort" by Andrew Welsh-Huggins

(Private Dicks and Disco Balls: Private Eyes in the Dyn-O-Mite Seventies, Down & Out Books)

  

NOVELETTE

 

"A Band of Scheming Women" by Joslyn Chase

(Thrill Ride - The 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, Down & Out Books, April 1, 2024)

 

"Her Dangerously Clever Hands" by Karen Odden

(Crimeucopia - Through the Past Darkly, Murderous Ink Press)

 

"The Cadillac Job" by Stacy Woodson

(Chop Shop Episode 1, Down & Out Books, January 1, 2024)

ANTHOLOGY

Devil's Snare: Best New England Crime Stories 2024

Edited by Susan Oleksiw, Ang Pompano, Leslie Wheeler, Crime Spell Books

Friend of the Devil: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of the Grateful Dead

Edited by Josh Pachter, Down & Out Books

Larceny & Last Chances: 22 Stories of Mystery & Suspense

Edited by Judy Penz Sheluk, Superior Shores Press

Murder, Neat: A SleuthSayers Anthology

Edited by Michael Bracken and Barb Goffman, Level Best Books

New York State of Crime: Murder New York Style 6

Edited by D.M. Barr and Joseph R.G. De Marco, Down & Out Books

The 13th Letter

Edited by Donna Carrick, Carrick Publishing

The list of 2025 winners can be found here.

SMFS Official Announcement: 2024 Derringer Award Finalists

Since 1998, the Short Mystery Fiction Society has awarded the annual Derringers—after the popular pocket pistol—to outstanding published stories. The awards recognize outstanding stories published during 2023. Results of membership voting are scheduled to be posted on May 1, 2024.

 

The full listing of our nominees and the markets that published the finalist stories has been compiled and supplied by Derringer Coordinator Joseph S. Walker.

 

FLASH

 

SLEEP ROUGH by Brandon Barrows

(Shotgun Honey, September 19, 2023)

 

THE REFEREE by C. W. Blackwell

(Shotgun Honey, October 12, 2023)

 

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN by Serena Jayne

(Shotgun Honey, January 9, 2023)

 

TEDDY’S FAVORITE THING by Paul Ryan O’Connor

(Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Sept/Oct 2023)

 

SUPPLY CHAINS by Andrew Welsh-Huggins

(Black Cat Weekly #89)

 

 

SHORT STORY 

 

DENIM MINING by Michael Bracken

(Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, May/June 2023)

 

DOGS OF WAR by Michael Bracken & Stacy Woodson

(Mickey Finn: 21^st Century Noir Volume Four, Down & Out Books)

 

LAST DAY AT THE JACKRABBIT by John Floyd

(The Strand, May 2023)

 

I DON’T LIKE MONDAYS by Josh Pachter

(Mystery Magazine, July 2023)

 

JUDGE NOT by Twist Phelan

(Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, May/June 2023)

 

A TAIL OF JUSTICE by Shannon Taft

(Black Cat Weekly #114)

LONG STORY

 

HARD RAIN ON BEACH STREET by C. W. Blackwell

(Killin’ Time in San Diego, Down & Out Books)

 

REVERSION by Marcelle Dubé

(Mystery Magazine, April 2023)

 

BACK TO HELL HOUSE by Nick Kolakowski

(Vautrin, Fall 2023)

 

TROUBLED WATER by donalee Moulton

(Black Cat Weekly #75)

 

IT’S NOT EVEN PAST by Anna Scotti

(Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Sept/Oct 2023)

 

GOOD DEED FOR THE DAY by Bonnar Spring

(Wolfsbane: Best New England Crime Stories, Crime Spell Books)

 

IGNATIUS RUM-AND-COLA by Andrew Welsh-Huggins

(Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, Jan/Feb 2023)

 

 

NOVELETTE

 

VENGEANCE WEAPON by James R. Benn

(The Refusal Camp: Stories by James R. Benn, Soho Press)

 

MRS. HYDE by David Dean

(Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, March/April 2023)

 

THE CASE OF THE BOGUS CINDERELLAS by Jacqueline Freimor

(Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, July/Aug 2023)

 

MADAM TOMAHAWK by Nick Kolakowski

(A Grifter’s Song, Down & Out Books, 2023)

 

CATHERINE THE GREAT by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

(WMG 2023 Holiday Spectacular Calendar of Stories)

The list of winning stories can be found here.

SMFS Official Announcement: 2023 Derringer Award Finalists

Since 1998, the Short Mystery Fiction Society has awarded the annual Derringers—after the popular pocket pistol—to outstanding published stories. The awards recognize outstanding stories published during 2022. Results of membership voting are scheduled to be posted on May 1, 2023.

The full listing of our nominees and the markets that published the finalist stories has been compiled and supplied by Assistant Derringer Coordinator Joseph S. Walker.

Flash

“Catch and Release” by April Kelly (Mystery Magazine, May 2022)

“Acknowledgments” by Karen Harrington (Guilty Crime Story Magazine online flash fiction, April 2022)

“Easter Spam” by John Weagly (Shotgun Honey online flash fiction)

“The Final Chapter” by James Blakey (Yellow Mama, October 2022)

“Where Palms Sway and the Surf Pounds” by Curtis Ippolito (Shotgun Honey online flash fiction)

Short

“Double Trouble” by M.E. Proctor (Bristol Noir online, March 2022)

“Hiding Out in Cedar Key” by Sharon Marchisello (White Cat Publications online, April 2022)

“The Shape of Australia” by Christine Poulson (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, July/August 2022)

“My Two-Legs” by Melissa Yi  (Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, September/October 2022)

“Digging In” by Andrew Welsh-Huggins (Black Cat Weekly #40)

Long

“The Vigil” by Toni Goodyear (Carolina Crimes: Rock, Roll and Ruin anthology)

“Tethered” by Marcelle Dubé (Crime Wave: Women of a Certain Age anthology)

“The White Calf and the Wind” by Mike Adamson (Black Cat Mystery Magazine #11)

“The Donovan Gang” by John M. Floyd (Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, Sept/Oct 2022)

“Negative Tilt” by Bobby Mathews (Rock and a Hard Place issue 7)

“Something Blue” by G.M. Malliet (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, November/December 2022)

Novelette

“The Wraith of Bunker Hill” by Paul D. Marks (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Sept/Oct 2022)

“Two Shrimp Tacos and a .22 Ruger” by Adam Meyer (Guns & Tacos, Down & Out Books)

“Dead Men Tell No Tales” by Liz Filleul (The People’s Friend Special, issue 225)

“The Refusal Camp” by James Benn (Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, Sept/Oct 2022)

“Ripen” by Ashley-Ruth M. Bernier (Black Cat Weekly #48)