You Better You Best

Late yesterday, I took a break and hit the used bookshop up the street. There, propped up on a stand, was an ARC for The Best American Mystery Stories 2005, edited by Joyce Carol Oates. Cool, I thought. I picked it up and skimmed the contents, which include stories by Laura Lippman, Dennis Lehane, George V. Higgins and Scott Wolven, among other wildly talented folk.

Then I flipped to the "Other Distinguished Mystery Stories of 2005" in the back. To my complete surprise, I saw that my Plots With Guns story, "Hilly Palmer's Last Case," was listed, along with three other PWG stories: Pat Lambe's "Union Card," Cortright McMeel's "Istanbul," and Tim Wohlforth's "Jesus Christ is Dead."

This was the first I'd heard of it. Needless to say, it warmed the cockles of my little Polish heart. What a great way to head into B'Con weekend.

So thanks to Neil (yet again) for taking on the story. I've gotten an absurd amount of mileage out of it -- a reprint in Ed Gorman's upcoming Year's Best Crime and Mystery, a Derringer nomination, a StorySouth nomination. Makes me think I should consider expanding it into a novel one of these years.

(Which is funny, because that's how the story began: as the opening to an offbeat private eye novel.)

People need to seriously buy Neil some beer this weekend. Five stories (including the Wolven story) out of 50 in Best American? That's just too damn cool for school.