SMFS Official Announcement: 2025 The Silver Derringer For Editorial Excellence

The Short Mystery Fiction Society is pleased to announce the 2025 recipient of

THE SILVER DERRINGER FOR EDITORIAL EXCELLENCE

Janet Hutchings

On rare occasions, the SMFS Awards Committee presents a special lifetime award: The Silver Derringer for Editorial Excellence.  The award was most recently presented to Cathleen Jordan in 2002.  This year, the committee is delighted to present the award once more, to Janet Hutchings.  From 1991 until her retirement at the end of 2024, Janet served as just the third editor-in-chief of Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, indisputably the most important publication in our genre.  To mention just a few of her accomplishments during this remarkable thirty-three year run, Janet introduced readers to a huge number of the best authors in the business, including Ian Rankin, Ann Cleeves, Jeffrey Deaver, Val McDermid, Marcia Muller, and many more; created the “Passport to Crime” department, which has presented the work of hundreds of international authors; and guided Queen into the twenty-first century with its first blog, podcasts, and digital editions.  It is safe to say that no living person has done as much for short mystery fiction, and we are honored to recognize Janet’s overwhelming contributions and influence.

Photo by Melodie Campbell

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)

The Derringer Awards 2021 Finalists

The finalists for the 2021 Derringer Awards have been announced. Congratulations to all these authors!  Corrected 4/3/2021 4:24 PM CDT time.

  

FLASH 

Blackwell, C.W. “Memories of Fire.” Pulp Modern 

Blakey, James. “Outsourcing.” Shotgun Honey 

Mangeot, Robert. “Over Before It Started.” Murder Mondays 

Mathews, Bobby. “Quitman County Ambush.” Bristol Noir 

Richardson, Travis. “War Words.” Punk Noir 

 

SHORT 

Elwood, Elizabeth. “The Homicidal Understudy.” Ellen Hart Presents Malice Domestic: Mystery Most Theatrical 

Freimor, Jacqueline. “That Which is True.” EQMM: July/August 2020 

Jones, Eleanor Cawood. “The Great Bedbug Incident and the Invitation of Doom." Chesapeake Crimes: Invitation to Murder.  

Keeline, Kim. “The Crossing.” Crossing Borders

Woodson, Stacy. “River.” The Beat of Black Wings: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Joni Mitchell 

 

LONG

Chen, Sarah M. “Hotelin’.” Shotgun Honey: Volume #4: Recoil 

Mangeot, Robert. “Lord, Spare the Bottom Feeders.” AHMM: March/April: 2020 

Walker, Joseph S. “Chasing Diamonds.” EQMM: September/October 2020 

Walker, Joseph S. “Etta at the End of the World.” AHMM: May/June 2020 

Woodson, Stacy. “Mary Poppins Didn’t Have Tattoos.” EQMM: July/August 2020 

 

NOVELETTE 

Cohen, Jeff.  “The Question of the Befuddled Judge.” AHMM: May/June: 2020 

Malliet, G.M. “A Murder at Morehead Mews.” EQMM: July/August 2020 

Taylor, Art. “The Boy Detective and the Summer of ’74.” AHMM: January/February 2020 

Thornton, Brian.  “Suicide Blonde.” Suicide Blonde:Three Novellas 

Wilson, Matthew. “The Wretched Strangers.” EQMM: January/February 2020

SMFS Official Announcement: 2020 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 2019. Results of membership voting are scheduled to be posted on May 1, 202020.

As graphically posted late last night to our list by 2020 Derringer Awards Coordinator Tony Rudzki, these are the official 202020 Derringer Award Finalists:

Flash	Author
Lucky	Trey Dowell
The Two-Body Problem	Josh Pachter
2 Percent	Lissa Marie Redmond
Birdbrain	C J Verburg
The Six-Year-Old Serial Killer	Chris Chan
Short
Grist For The Mill	Kaye George
Love, or Something Like It	Michael Bracken
A Sure Thing	C.C. Guthrie
On the Road with Mary Jo	John Floyd
Pig Lickin’ Good	Debra H. Goldstein
Long
Miss Starr’s Good-bye	Leslie Budewitz
None Shall Sleep	Sylvia Maultash Warsh
Pretty Dreams	Peter W. J. Hayes
See Humble and Die	Rick Helms
Lucy's Tree	Sandra Murphy
Novelette
Her Sister's Secrets	Brendan DuBois
The Cripplegate Apprehension	Rick Helms
The Concrete Smile	Frank Zafiro
The Dutchy	Doug Allyn
I Called to Say You're Dead	Stephen Greco

A vote of the SMFS membership will determine the winner in each category. Results will be announced in May 2020.

Kevin R. Tipple 
President-SMFS

SMFS Official Announcement: 2019 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 2018. Results of membership voting are scheduled to be posted on May 1, 2019.

As posted by 2019 Derringer Awards Coordinator Tony Rudzki to Shortmystery earlier this week, these are the official 2019 Derringer Award Finalists:

For Best Flash Story (ranges up to 1,000 words)

• "The Bicycle Thief" by James Blakey, The Norwegian American, Sept. 21, 2018
• "Listen Up" by Peter DiChellis, Flash Bang Mysteries, (Winter 2018)
• "Sonny the Wonder Beast" by Nick Kolakowski, The Flash Fiction Offensive, Sept. 16, 2018
• "Don't Text and Drive" by Robert Petyo, Flash Bang Mysteries, (Spring 2018)
• "A Misunderstanding" by Travis Richardson, The Flash Fiction Offensive, May 27, 2018

For Best Short Story (ranges from 1,001 to 4,000 words)

• "The Belle Hope" by Peter DiChellis, Malice Domestic 13: Mystery Most Geographical, Wildside Press, April 2018
• "The Crucial Game" by Janice Law, Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine (January-February 2018)
• "Dying in Dokesville" by Alan Orloff, Malice Domestic 13: Mystery Most Geographical, Wildside Press, April 2018
• "If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Murder" by Josh Pachter, Malice Domestic 13: Mystery Most Geographical, Wildside Press, April 2018
• "The Cabin in the Woods" by Sylvia Maultash Warsh, Malice Domestic 13: Mystery Most Geographical, Wildside Press, April 2018

For Best Long Story (ranges from 4,001 to 8,000 words)

• "With My Eyes" by Leslie Budewitz, Suspense Magazine, January/February 2018
• "Mercy Find Me" by Diana Deverell, Fiction River: Justice ed. Kristine Kathryn Rusch, WMG Publishing Inc., January 2018
• "The Case of the Missing Pot Roast" by Barb Goffman, Florida Happens ed. Greg Herren, Three Rooms Press, September 2018
• "Till Murder Do Us Part" by Barb Goffman, Chesapeake Crimes: Fur, Feathers, and Felonies ed. Donna Andrews, Barb Goffman, and Marcia Talley, Wildside Press, March 2018
• "The Vanishing Volume" by Janet Raye Stevens, Shhhh...Murder! Cozy Crimes in Libraries, ed. Andrew MacRae, Darkhouse Books, September 2018

For Best Novelette (ranges from 8,001 to 20,000 words)

• "The Adventure of the Manhunting Marshal" by Peter Basile (pseud. of Jim Doherty), Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective, Volume 11, Airship 27, March 2018
• "Three-Star Sushi" by Barry Lancet, Down & Out The Magazine, Vol. 3, Issue 3, Down & Out Books, March 2018
• "The Cambodian Curse" by Gigi Pandian, Henery Press, October 2018
• "Oil Down" by Brian Silverman, Mystery Tribune (Winter 2018)
• "I’ve Got to Get Me a Gun" by Vincent Zandri, The Black Car Business: Vol. 1 ed. Lawrence Kelter, Down & Out Books, January 2018

A vote of the SMFS membership will determine the winner in each category. Results will be announced in May 2019.

4/5/19--- A big thank you to Gerald So who added the publishing info on each finalist.