Lawrence Block: The Best American Mystery Stories 1999

After I’d introduced Keller in “Answers to Soldier,” I never thought I’d write further about him. A couple of years later I wrote two more stories about him and realized I was writing a novel on the installment plan. “Keller’s Last Refuge” was the ninth often such installments, and its source may be found in his initial appearance. Keller’s father was a soldier, after all, and how could the wistful hit man, the urban lonely guy of assassins, fail to heed his country’s call?

Gary A. Braunbeckwas born in the Year of the Rat and has been apologizing for it ever since. He grew up in Newark, Ohio, the inspiration for his Cedar Hill stories, and wrote his first short story at the age of seven. He has published nearly 150 short stories. His first book, Things Left Behind, had unanimously excellent reviews.

“Safe” took fifteen years to get onto paper, because it hit close to home. I had worked with a janitorial company that cleaned up the aftermath of a murder-suicide. The boss had to find volunteers, not only because it involved the washing away of blood and other sad human remains, but because the man who’d done the killing had taken three other people with him — two of them children.

I wound up cleaning the children’s room and will never forget the chill silence nor the overwhelming grief I felt for them as I washed away the last traces of their existence.

Thomas H. Cookwas born and reared in Fort Payne, Alabama. He holds graduate degrees from Hunter College and Columbia University, where he was a President’s Fellow. He is a four-time nominee for the Edgar Allan Poe Award. His novel The Chatham School Affair won the Edgar for Best Novel in 1996. He lives in New York City and on Cape Cod. He is husband to Susan and father to Justine.

“Fatherhood” is my first mystery short story and my first of any kind I have written in over twenty years. But it was a chance to write with the kind of concision that only the short story form provides, to deliver a tale’s deepest irony or most unexpected twist with maximum impact. The reader may truly be held in the fist of the story until the writer, not the reader, lets go. For the writer there is no more demanding literary form; for the reader, no more concentrated literary experience.

Jeffery Deaveris an internationally best-selling author of thirteen suspense novels. He’s been nominated for three Edgar Awards and is a two-time recipient of the Ellery Queen Reader’s Award for Best Short Story of the Year. A Maiden’s Grave was an HBO movie starring James Garner and Marlee Matlin, and The Bone Collector, from Universal, starred Denzel Washington. His latest books are The Coffin Dancer and The Devil’s Teardrop . He lives in Virginia and California.

I rarely put messages into my work For me the point of a story is to surprise, thrill, and entertain, not to enlighten or instruct; there are writers more talented than I who can make brilliant political, personal, and social observations. Last year, though, I was asked to write a story to commemorate a fiftieth anniversary and some of the implications of reaching that milestone. “Wrong Place, Wrong Time” looks at the timeless question of age versus youth. What better way to examine heady philosophical issues than in a story filled with murder, kidnapping, gunplay, and deceit?

Brendan DuBoisis a lifelong resident of New Hampshire, where he received his B.A. in English from the University of New Hampshire. He has been writing fiction for nearly fifteen years and lives with his wife, Mona. He is the author of the Lewis Cole mystery series — Dead Sand, Black Tide, and Shattered Shell — and his fourth novel, Resurrection Day , was published in June. He has had nearly forty stories published in Playboy, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, and others. In 1995 he received the Shamus Award from the Private Eye Writers of America for Best Short Story and has three nominations for Edgars for his short fiction.

In “Netmail,” a computer expert tries to blackmail a man with older, more “hands-on” skills. The computer expert is sure in his expertise and his arrogance that he will emerge the victor. After all, hasn’t his generation proven the superiority of computers, the truth that those with computer skills will live and thrive in the years to come? But my older character is not ready to give up. He has ideas of his own. Some of them quite explosive.

Loren D. Estlemanhas been called “the absolute best in the hard-boiled business” ( Philadelphia Inquirer ). Since his first novel, in 1976, Estleman has published forty-two books, including the Amos Walker mysteries. He has been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and the Edgar Award. He won fourteen national writing awards, including three Shamuses from the Private Eye Writers of America.

I conceived of Amos Walker as a hero-for-hire, quite independent of the practical business of private detecting in the nine-to-five world. In “Redneck” (first published as “Double Whammy”), Walker delivers the results he was hired for but falls short of his ideal.

Gregory Fallishas been a counselor in the psychiatric/security unit of a prison for women, a private investigator specializing in criminal defense work, and a criminology professor. He is the author of one novel and three nonfiction works, all of which deal with crime and detection. He lives on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, where he earns a meager living as a writer.

I’ve always managed to cobble out a living doing things that intrigued me. It wasn’t always pleasant, but it seemed better than regular employment. It wasn’t until I started writing that I realized I’d spent my life gathering material.

“And Maybe the Horse Will Learn to Sing” is loosely based on actual cases. It’s what real PI work is about.. crisis, confusion, and the hope that somehow things will turn out right.

Tom Franklin grew up in Dickinson, Alabama, and received his M.F.A. from the University of Arkansas in 1997. His work has appeared in the Nebraska Review, Quarterly West, Smoke, and elsewhere. His first collection, Poachers, was published in June; his novel, Hell at the Breech, will appear in 2000. He is married to the poet Beth Ann Fennelly.

I rewrote “Poachers” several times, trying to make it work. Among other problems, I couldn’t figure out how to kill the third brother. Then one day my wife (fiancée then) said, “Why does the last brother have to die? You don’t need to murder everybody, you know. Maybe the game warden just hurts him.”

“Or blinds him,” I said.

That evening, celebrating at a restaurant with a deck overlooking Lake Tahoe, I was wondering aloud what would happen if you dripped snake venom in someone’s eyes when the couple at the next table exchanged a look, paid quickly, and hurried away.

Victor Gischlerreceived his M.A. in English from the University of West Florida. While he still resides in Florida with his wife, Jackie, he’s currently serving a two- to three-year stretch in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, where he’s attempting to earn his Ph.D. at the University of Southern Mississippi.

“Hitting Rufus” was a breakthrough for me. I’ve knocked around the last few years, trying to find a voice and a genre with which I feel comfortable. These elements clicked finally, and I’ve gained confidence in my writing. “Headless Rollo,” forthcoming in Plots with Guns, is another Charlie the Hook story. I’m halfway through a novel with Charlie as the hit man turned hard-boiled hero. I’ve also written hard-boiled poetry. So far, nobody wants it.