The Best American Mystery Stories 2000

“Miracles! Happen!” by Doug Allyn. First published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, December 1, 1999. Copyright © 1999 by Doug Allyn. Reprinted by permission of the author and his agent, James Allen.

“Ghosts” by David Beaty. First published in Mystery in the Sunshine Slate, edited by Stuart Kaminsky, Pineapple Press. Copyright © 1999 by David Beaty. Reprinted by permission of the author.

“Spring Rite” by Tom Berdine. First published in Alfred Hitchock’s Mystery Magazine, December 1, 1999. Copyright © 1999 by Tom Berdine. Reprinted by permission of the author.

“Annie’s Dream” by Bentley Dadmun. First published in Alfred Hitchock’s Mystery Magazine, December 1, 1999. Copyright © 1999 by Bentley Dadmun. Reprinted by permission of the author.

“Motel 66” by Barbara D’Amato. First published in Murder on Route 66, edited by Carolyn Wheat, Prime Crime. Copyright © 1999 by Barbara D’Amato. Reprinted by permission of the author.

“Jumping with Jim” by Geary Danihy. First published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, November 1, 1999. Copyright © 1999 by Geary Danihy. Reprinted by permission of the author.

“Triangle” by Jeffery Deaver. First published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, March 1, 1999. Copyright © 1999 by Jeffery W. Deaver. Reprinted by permission of the author.

“The Instruments of Peace” by Edward Falco. First published in Playboy, July 1, 1999. Copyright © 1999 by Edward Falco. Reprinted by permission of the author.

“Grit” by Tom Franklin. First published in Poachers: Stones, by Tom Franklin, Morrow. Copyright © 1999 by Tom Franklin. Reprinted by permission of the author.

“Compass Rose” by David Edgerley Gates, First published in Alfred Hitchock’s Mystery Magazine, September 1, 1999. Copyright © 1999 by David Edgerley Gates. Reprinted by permission of the author.

“The Defenestration of Aba Sid” by Robert Girardi. First published in A Vaudeville of Devils, by Robert Girardi, Delacorte. Copyright © 1999 by Robert Girardi. Reprinted by permission of the author.

“The Island in the River” by Chad Holley. First published in The Greensboro Review, Fall 1999. Copyright © 1999 by Chad Holley. Reprinted by permission of the author.

“ICU” by Edward Lee. First published in 999, edited by Al Sarrantonio, Avon. Copyright © 1999 by Edward Lee. Reprinted by permission of the author.

“Running Out of Dog” by Dennis Lehane. First published in Murder and Obsession, edited by Otto Penzler, Dell. Copyright © 1999 by Dennis Lehane. Reprinted by permission of Ann Rittenberg Literary Agency, Inc.

“Sheep” by Thomas H. McNeely. First published in The Atlantic Monthly, June 1, 1999. Copyright © 1999 by Thomas H. McNeely. Reprinted by permission of the author.

“Dead Rock Singer” by Martha Moffett. First published in The Chattahoochee Review, Winter 1999. Copyright © 1999 by Georgia Perimter College. Reprinted by permission of Lawrence Hetrick, editor.

“Wrong Numbers” by Josh Pryor. First published in Zoetrope, Spring 1999. Copyright © 1999 by Josh Pryor. Reprinted by permission of the author.

“The Guilty Party” by Shel Silverstein. First published in Murder and Obsession, edited by Otto Penzler, Dell. Copyright © 1999 by Shel Silverstein. Reprinted by permission of the Estate of Shel Silverstein.

“Forgetting the Girl” by Peter Moore Smith. First published in The MacGuffin, Spring 1999. Copyright © 1999 by Peter Moore Smith. Reprinted by permission of the author.

“Water Dog God” by Brad Watson. First published in The Oxford American, September/October 1999. Copyright © 1999 by Brad Watson. Reprinted by permission of the author.