The Short Mystery Fiction Society is celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2026—and to commemorate the occasion, editor Josh Pachter has selected stories by the Society's Derringer Award winners for the new anthology Hot Shots:
Here's the official promotional copy:
The Short Mystery Fiction Society was founded in 1996 as an online forum for the exchange of thoughts and opinions about short-form crime fiction. Membership is free and is open to writers, editors, publishers, and readers—to anyone with an interest in the subject.
Since 1998, the SMFS has been giving out Derringer Awards in a variety of categories; after ten years of experimentation, those categories settled down in 2008 into four: Best Flash Story (up to 1000 words), Best Short Story (1001-4000 words), Best Long Story (4001-8000 words), and Best Novelette (8001-20,000 words).
To celebrate the Society’s pearl anniversary, this volume collects twenty-eight pearls, one Derringer-winning story from each year the awards have been presented. Included in these pages you’ll find fiction by such masters of the genre as Doug Allyn, Michael Bracken, Bill Crider, John Floyd, BV Lawson, Henry Slesar, Cathi Stoler, Art Taylor, Melissa Yi, and many more.
Whether you like your crime fiction hardboiled or cozy, lighthearted or dark, you’re sure to find lots here to keep you riveted to your chair … and eagerly looking forward to the next crop of Derringer winners.
And if you’d like to have a hand in picking the winners, just Google “join Short Mystery Fiction Society” and sign yourself up. Remember, it’s free!
And here's the full list of included stories and authors:
1998: “L.A. Justice,” by Kris Neri (Best Short Story)
1999: “Pretty Kitty,” by Joyce Holland (Best Flash Story)
2000: “Just a Man on the Sidewalk,” by Carol Kilgore (Best Flash Story)
2001: “The Cabin Killer,” by Henry Slesar (Best Puzzle Story)
2002: “All the Fine Actors,” by Earl Staggs (Best Short Story)
2003: “Closure,” by Dave White (Best Short Story)
2004: “Notions of the Real World,” by Dorothy Rellas (Best Mid-Length Short Story)
2005: “Viscery,” by Sandy Balzo (Best Mid-Length Short Story)
2006: “Secondhand Shoe,” by Patricia Harrington (Best Flash Story)
2007: “Cranked,” by Bill Crider (Best Mid-Length Story)
2008: “The Gospel According to Gordon Black,” by Richard Helms (Best Long Story)
2009: “No Flowers for Stacey,” by Ruth McCarty (Best Flash Story)
2010: “Famous Last Words,” by Doug Allyn (Best Long Story)
2011: “Pewter Badge,” by Michael J. Solender (Best Short Story)
2012: “The Touch of Death,” by BV Lawson (Best Short Story)
2013: “When Duty Calls,” by Art Taylor (Best Long Story)
2014: “Luck Is What You Make,” by Stephen D. Rogers (Best Flash Story)
2015: “The Kaluki Kings of Queens,” by Cathi Stoler (Best Short Story)
2016: “Twilight Ladies,” by Meg Opperman (Best Short Story)
2017: “The Phone Call,” by Herschel Cozine (Best Flash Story)
2018: “The Cop Who Liked Gilbert and Sullivan,” by Robert Lopresti (Best Short Story)
2019: “Dying in Dokesville,” by Alan Orloff (Best Short Story)
2020: “On the Road with Mary Jo,” by John M. Floyd (Best Short Story)
2021: “The Great Bedbug Incident and the Invitation of Doom,” by Eleanor Cawood Jones (Best Short Story)
2022: “The Downeaster ‘Alexa,’” by Michael Bracken (Best Long Story)
2023: “My Two-Legs,” by Melissa Yi (Best Short Story)
2024: “The Referee,” by C.W. Blackwell (Best Flash Story)
2025: “The Wind Phone,” by Josh Pachter (Best Short Story)