The Mysterious Bookshop Presents the Best Mystery Stories of the Year 2023

Amor Towles selects the twenty-one best mystery short stories of the year, including tales by Andrew Child, Jeffrey Deaver, and Michael Mallory

Under the auspices of New York City’s legendary mystery fiction specialty bookstore, The Mysterious Bookshop, and aided by Edgar Award-winning anthologist Otto Penzler, New York Times bestseller Amor Towles has selected the twenty-one most puzzling, most thrilling, and most mysterious short stories from the past year, collected now in one entertaining volume. The volume also contains a “bonus story” selected from the bookshop’s rare book room, featuring a look into the history of this illustrious genre.

Includes stories by:

• Doug Allyn
• Derrick Belanger
• T. Coraghessan Boyle
• Joslyn Chase
• Andrew Child
• Aaron Philip Clark
• Jeffery Deaver
• Brendan DuBois
• Kerry Hammond
• Victor Kreuiter
• David Krugler
• Tom Larsen
• Avram Lavinsky
• Jessi Lewis
• Ashley Lister
• Sean McCluskey
• Michael Mallory
• Lou Manfredo
• Annie Reed
• Anna Round
• Joseph S. Walker

Across a dizzying number of subgenres, this collection delights by prizing quality over name recognition. There’s something here for every mystery fan.”
―Publishers Weekly STARRED REVIEW

Top marks once again to Penzler and his chosen authors, and to guest editor Towles for yet another outstanding annual compilation of mystery stories. This one deserves a place in every mystery collection.”
―Booklist STARRED REVIEW

Variety is the keynote for these 21 recent reprints and one century-old bonus story.”
―Kirkus

Amor Towles is the author of New York Times bestsellers Rules of Civility, A Gentleman in Moscow, and The Lincoln Highway. The three novels have collectively sold more than six million copies and have been translated into more than thirty languages. Towles lives in Manhattan with his wife and two children.

Otto Penzler, the creator of American Mystery Classics, is also the founder of the Mysterious Press (1975); Mysterious Press.com (2011), an electronic-book publishing company; and New York City’s Mysterious Bookshop (1979). He has won a Raven, the Ellery Queen Award, two Edgars (for the Encyclopedia of Mystery and Detection, 1977, and The Lineup, 2010), and lifetime achievement awards from Noircon and The Strand Magazine. He has edited more than 70 anthologies and written extensively about mystery fiction.