The Mysterious Bookshop Presents the Best Mystery Stories of the Year 2026

Internationally bestselling author Tess Gerritsen selects and introduces the best short mystery fiction of the past year.

This anthology contains the best crime stories published last year, selected from a pool of over 3,000 by bestselling author of the Rizzoli & Isles series, Tess Gerritsen, under the auspices of New York City’s legendary crime fiction specialty store The Mysterious Bookshop.

Included herein, readers will find tales by giants of the genre Lee Child, Andrew Klavan, Joyce Carol Oates, and Lisa Unger, alongside lesser-known writers equally as deserving of attention. The stories have been pulled from a wide variety of sources, including The Strand Magazine, Black Cat Weekly, Dark Yonder, and Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. The collection is rounded off by a bonus story from the last century by Agatha Christie, sourced from the Mysterious Bookshop’s rare book room.

Includes:
“The Affair of the Grave Undertaking” by Mike Adamson.
“Dead Man’s Mail” by Doug Allyn.
“The Lord God Bird” by Andy Boyle.
“A Better Place” by Lee Child.
“The Luncheon” by Christopher Fowler.
“The Second Act Twist” by Matt Goldman.
“The Twenty-Fourth Canterbury” by Richard Helms.
“No Evidence” by Christina Hoag.
“Average American Housewife” by April Kelly.
“A Long Time Till Morning” by Andrew Klavan.
“The Lost Innocence of Ernesto Guillén” by Tom Larsen.
“The Headache” by Billie Livingston.
“Mill Mountain” by Tom Milani.
“Juror Number Three” by Joel Nedecky.
“The Swiss Army Knife” by Joyce Carol Oates.
“The Dark Side of Bright Angel” by Karen Odden.
“Murder by the Creek” by H. K. Slade.
“The Kill Clause” by Lisa Unger.
“The Violent Season” by Jessica Van Dessel.
“Philomel Cottage” by Agatha Christie.