The Best American Mystery Stories 1997

Foreword

The natural form for the traditional mystery is not the novel but the short story. It is not uncommon for a detective story to revolve around a single significant clue — which can be discovered, divulged, and its importance explained in a few pages. The rest is embellishment.

Mystery fiction has changed a great deal in recent years, as have virtually all art forms. The classic tale of a murder being committed, the local police called in and responding with utter bafflement, the gifted amateur offering assistance, discovering new clues, breaking down old alibis, and finally identifying the least likely suspect is largely a thing of the past.

Nowadays, much more is expected of the mystery novel, and even of the short story. We have come to expect the same depth of characterization that we do from general fiction, the same sort of intelligent and/or amusing dialogue, the same door opening to let us into a previously unknown or unexplored world. But we also expect a carefully constructed story line that rewards our close attention with a realistic conclusion that answers all the questions posed along the way. No loose ends in these stories; no unexplained activities.

The mystery is the last literary form where serious writers can demonstrate their gifts to provide a thoughtful profile of an individual in the context of society while still being required to plot meticulously. It is the last place a serious reader can have confidence that a literary exercise will also provide a fun, satisfying experience.

Houghton Mifflin, having published the prestigious series Best American Short Stories, has this year decided to offer serious readers a new volume, The Best American Mystery Stories, which is planned as an annual event.

The methodology for compiling this volume is similar to that used for The Best American Short Stories. As the series editor, it is my responsibility to identify and read all the mystery stories published in the calendar year (for this first collection, in the year 1996). From this large number (approximately 500) the goal was to select the best fifty stories and pass them along to the guest editor, who would then choose the best twenty for publication, the others receiving honorable mention.

The source for these stories is, of course, wherever original fiction is published. The most fruitful sources are the mystery specialty magazines, small literary journals, popular consumer publications, and an unusually bountiful crop from anthologies containing all or some original work.

Many editors of non-mystery magazines claimed they didn’t publish mystery stories until I provided the definition that has served throughout my varied career in the mystery world. I defined a mystery story as any in which a crime, or the threat of a crime, is central to the theme. Crimes against an individual count, naturally; most frequently murder but also kidnapping, rape, robber}, stalking, or whatever other illegal activity violates another human being. Crimes against the state also fall into my definition, including espionage, terrorism, and whatever other acts directed against a government ultimately do damage to its citizens.

Because of this loose (I prefer to think of it as “generously accepting”) definition of a mystery, the stories collected here are enormously diverse. Some are traditional detective stories; others are crime tales, which have become increasingly popular in recent times. Some are as slim and tight as you’d expect from the notion of a short story. Others, like Michael Malone’s “Red Clay,” James Crumley’s “Hot Springs,” and S. J. Rozan’s “Hoops,” are deep enough to be expanded to novels. Two of those have already been optioned for movies. Elmore Leonard liked his female protagonist (and a couple of minor characters) so much that he wrote a novel around them.

As is true of all distinguished literature, some of these stories will linger in the memory for a time, sometimes perhaps even a long time. By the time the last of them fades, it will be time for the 1998 volume of The Best American Mystery Stories.

Editors, publishers, and authors who want to be assured that their stories will be considered for the next volume in this series should send material to Otto Penzler, The Mysterious Bookshop. 129 West 56th Street, New York, NY 10019.

O. P.