Otto Penzler

Thirteen festive crime stories set in New York City’s beloved mystery bookstore The oldest mystery specialty bookstore in the world, The Mysterious Bookshop, has for most of its forty-five-year history commissioned an original short story as a holiday gift for its customers. Written exclusively for the store and never published elsewhere, the stories were given as a holiday gift to its customers as a thank you for their business, handed out or mailed between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day.The prompt for the story requires three that it be set at Christmastime, that it involve a crime of some kind, or the suspicion of one, and that it be set at least partially in the bookstore. And from these loose structural guidelines, diverse tales took flight. The thirteen tales included in this volume are among the finest to be produced in this annual tradition, sure to charm any reader looking for a holiday-themed escape.Included herein are the ingenious “Snowflake Time” by Laura Lippman; Lyndsay Faye’s tale of vengeance “A Midnight Clear”; the challenging brainteaser, “A Christmas Puzzle,” by Ragnar Jónasson; “Hester’s Gift,” an impossible crime story by Tom Mead; the suspenseful “The Christmas Party” by Jeffery Deaver; Thomas Perry’s hilarious comedy of errors, “Here We Come A-Wassailing;” and other tales appropriate for the season, collected and introduced by Otto Penzler. The result is, objectively speaking, the finest “stocking stuffer” that a mystery fan could hope to find.

'What treats you have in store!' IAN RANKIN. Sigmund Freud deals with an unwelcome visitor; Columbo confronts a murderous bookseller; a Mexican cartel kingpin with a fatal weakness for rare books; deadly secrets deep in the London Library: who knew literature could be so lethal? Here are 15 short stories to die for from the world's best crime writers. With an introduction from Ian Rankin, DEATH SENTENCES includes original, specially commissioned stories about deadly books from Jeffrey Deaver, Andrew Taylor, Laura Lippman, C.J. Box, Anne Perry, Ken Bruen, Thomas H. Cook, Micky Spillaine & Max Adam Collins, Nelson DeMille and John Connolly.

Each year, for the past seventeen years, Mysterious Bookshop proprietor Otto Penzler has commissioned an original Christmas story by a leading suspense writer. These stories were then produced as pamphlets, just 1,000 copies, and given to customers of the bookstore as a Christmas present. Now, all seventeen tales have been collected in one volume, showcasing the talents of:Charles Ardai • Lisa Atkinson George Baxt • Lawrence Block Mary Higgins Clark • Thomas H. Cook Ron Goulart • Jeremiah Healy Edward D. Hoch • Rupert Holmes Andrew Klavan • Michael Malone Ed McBain • Anne Perry • S. J. Rozan Jonathan Santlofer • Donald E. Westlake Some of these stories are humorous, others suspenseful, and still others are tales of pure detection, but all of them together make up a charming collection and a perfect Christmas gift for all ages.

If you open your dictionary, you will discover that there is no such word as “bibliomystery.” However, most mystery readers know that the word refers to a mystery story that involves the world of books: a bookshop, a rare volume, a library, a collector, or a bookseller. The stories in this unique collection were commissioned by the Mysterious Bookshop. They were written by some of the mystery genre’s most distinguished authors. Tough guys like Ken Bruen, Reed Farrel Coleman, Loren D. Estleman, and Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins. Bestsellers like Nelson DeMille, Anne Perry, and Jeffery Deaver. Edgar winners such as C. J. Box, Thomas H. Cook, and Laura Lippman. Here you will discover Sigmund Freud dealing with an unwelcome visitor; Columbo confronting a murderous bookseller; a Mexican cartel kingpin with a fatal weakness for rare books; and deadly secrets deep in the London Library; plus books with hidden messages, beguiling booksellers, crafty collectors, and a magical library that is guaranteed to enchant you. The stories have been published in seven languages—one has sold more than 250,000 copies as an e-book (“The Book Case” by Nelson DeMille)—and another won the Edgar Allan Poe Award as the Best Short Story of the Year (“The Caxton Lending Library and Book Depository” by John Connolly).   Who knew literature could be so lethal!

The Best American Series® First, Best, and Best-Selling The Best American series is the premier annual showcase for the country’s finest short fiction and nonfiction. Each volume’s series editor selects notable works from hundreds of magazines, journals, and websites. A special guest editor, a leading writer in the field, then chooses the best twenty or so pieces to publish. This unique system has made the Best American series the most respected—and most popular—of its kind. The Best American Mystery Stories 2011 includes Lawrence Block, Brendan DuBois, Loren D. Estleman, Beth Ann Fennelly and Tom Franklin, Ed Gorman, Richard Lange, S. J. Rozan, Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins, and others

“Some people might tell you that crime short stories, unlike the more precious kind, are a kind of fictional ghetto, full of cardboard characters and clichéd situations. Not true. These stories are remarkably free of bullshit—al­though there’s always a little, just to grease the wheels,” writes guest editor John Sandford in his introduction. From an isolated Wyoming ranch to the Detroit boxing underworld, and from kidnapping and adultery in the Hollywood Hills to a serial killer loose in a nursing home, The Best American Mystery Stories 2017 hosts an entertaining abundance of crime, psychological suspense, and bad intentions.The Best American Mystery Stories 2017 includes Puncher's Chance by Doug Allyn The Master of Negwegon by Jim Allyn The Human Variable by Dan Bevacqua Power Wagon by C.J. Box Williamsville by Gerri Brightwell Abandoned Places by S.L. Coney Flight by Trina Corey The Incident of 10 November by Jeffery Deaver The Man From Away by Brendan DuBois GI Jack by Loren D. Estleman Ike, Sharon, and Me by Peter Ferry Lovers and Thieves by Charles John Harper Land of the Blind by Craig Johnson The Painted Smile by William Kent Krueger Dot Rat by K. McGee The Woman in the Window by Joyce Carol Oates The Sweet Warm Earth by Steven Popkes All Things Come Around by William Soldan The Process is a Process All Its Own by Peter Straub Night Run by Wallace Stroby

With the possible exception of the expatriate writers living in Paris in the 1920s, no single group of American literary figures has achieved as much fame or notoriety as the New York sophisticates who met to match wits and attempt to outshine each other as members of what came to be called the Algonquin Round Table. The humorists Robert Benchley and S. J. Perelman, playwrights Marc Connelly and George S. Kaufman, novelists Edna Ferber and Alexander Woollcott, and most famously, Dorothy Parker, were the literary luminaries who made up this group, and each one produced a piece or two of crime fiction at some point, which are collected for the first time in this anthology by acclaimed mystery editor Otto Penzler.

It’s time for cozy sweaters and chilling ghost stories! Celebrate the spooky season with this 53-hour compilation that spans over 100 years and features beloved authors like H. P. Lovecraft, Edith Wharton, Joyce Carol Oates, and Donald E. Westlake. “There’s enough in this volume to please both dilettantes and devotees among ghost story readers” (Publishers Weekly). The ghost story is perhaps the oldest of all the supernatural literary genres and has captured the imagination of almost every writer to put pen to the page. Here, Edgar Award–winning editor Otto Penzler has followed his keen sense of the supernatural to collect the most chilling and uncanny tales in the canon. These spectral stories span more than a hundred years, from modern-day horrors by Joyce Carol Oates, Chet Williamson, and Andrew Klavan, to pulp yarns from August Derleth, Greye La Spina, and M. L. Humphreys, to the atmospheric Victorian tales of Rudyard Kipling, Edith Wharton, and H. P. Lovecraft, not to mention modern works by the likes of Donald E. Westlake and Isaac Asimov that are already classics. Some of these stories have haunted the canon for a century, while others are making their first ghoulish appearance in book form. Whether you prefer possessive poltergeists, awful apparitions, or friendly phantoms, these stories are guaranteed to thrill you, tingle the spine, or tickle the funny bone, and keep you listening with fearful delight. Including such classics as “The Monkey's Paw” and “The Open Window” and also featuring haunted mansions, midnight frights, lovers from beyond the grave, rapping, tapping, wailing shades, and ghosts, ghouls, and specters galore! Table of Contents BUT I’M NOT DEAD YET Conrad Aiken: Mr. Arcularis William Fryer Harvey AKA {author:W.F. Harvey]: August Heat I’LL LOVE YOU—FOREVER (OR MAYBE NOT) Ellen Glasgow: The Shadowy Third Ellen Glasgow: The Past David Morrell: But At My Back I Always Hear O. Henry: The Furnished Room Paul Ernst: Death’s Warm Fireside Andrew Klavan: The Advent Reunion R. Murray Gilchrist: The Return Rudyard Kipling: The Phantom Rickshaw Ambrose Bierce: The Moonlit Road Lafcadio Hearn: The Story of Ming-Y Lafcadio Hearn: Yuki-Onna THIS OLD HOUSE Amyas Northcote: Brickett Bottom E.F. Benson: How Fear Departed from the Long Gallery G.G. Pendarves: Thing of Darkness Edward Lucas White: The House of the Nightmare Hector Bolitho: The House on Half Moon Street Dick Donovan: A Night of Horror Vincent O’sullivan: The Burned House KIDS WILL BE KIDS Rosemary Timperley: Harry Michael Reaves: Make-Believe A.M. Burrage: Playmates Ramsey Campbell: Just Behind You A.E. Coppard: Adam And Eve and Pinch Me Steve Friedman: The Lost Boy of the Ozarks THERE’S SOMETHING FUNNY AROUND HERE Mark Twain: A Ghost’s Story Donald E. Westlake: In At The Death Nathaniel Hawthorne: The Ghost of Dr. Harris Ingulphus: The Everlasting Club Isaac Asimov and James Maccreigh: Legal Rites Albert E. Cowdrey: Death Must Die Frank Stockton: The Transferred Ghost Oscar Wilde: The Canterville Ghost A NEGATIVE TRAIN OF THOUGHT August Derleth: Pacific 421 Robert Weinberg: The Midnight El STOP—YOU’RE SCARING ME Frederick Cowles: Punch and Judy Henry S. Whitehead: The Fireplace H.F. Arnold: The Night Wire 400 Fritz Leiber: Smoke Ghost 406 Wyatt Blassingame: Song of the Dead I MUST BE DREAMING Wilkie Collins: The Dream Woman 437 Washington Irving: The Adventure of the German Student A SÉANCE, YOU SAY? Joseph Shearing: They Found My Grave Edgar Jepson: Mrs. Morrel’s Last Séance Joyce Carol Oates: Night-Side CLASSICS M.R. James: “Oh, Whistle and I’ll Come To You My Lad” W.W. Jacobs: The Monkey’s Paw W.W. Jacobs: The Toll-House Edith Wharton: Afterward Willa Cather: Consequences Cynthia Asquith: The Follower Cynthia Asquith: The Corner Shop H.P. Lovecraft: The Terrible Old Man Erckmann-Chatrian: The Murderer’s Violin Saki: The Open Window Saki: Laura Fitz-James O’Brien: What Was It? Alexander Woollcott: Full Fathom Five H.R. Wakefield: He Cometh and He Passeth By Perceval Landon: Thurnley Abbey THE FEMALE OF THE SPECIES Algernon Blackwood: The Woman’s Ghost Story Victor Rousseau Emanuel: The Angel of the Marne Olivia Howard Dunbar: The Shell of Sense Marjorie Bowen: The Avenging of Ann Leete BEATEN TO A PULP Greye La Spina: The Dead-Wagon Urann Thayer: A Soul with Two Bodies Arthur J. Burks: The Ghosts of Steamboat Coulee Thorp Mcclusky: The Considerate Hosts Cyril Mand: The Fifth Candle August Derleth and Mark Schorer: The Return of Andrew Bentley M.L. Humphreys: The Floor Above Manly Wade Wellman: School for the Unspeakable A.V. Milyer: Mordecai’s Pipe Julius Long: He Walked by Day Dale Clark: Behind the Screen MODERN MASTERS M. Rickert: Journey into the Kingdom H.R.F. Keating: Mr. Saul Chet Williamson: Coventry Carol

The acclaimed authors in this anthology are collectively responsible for dozens of "New York Times" bestsellers. Legendary editor Otto Penzler owns the Mysterious Bookshop in New York and is founder of the Mysterious Press and Otto Penzler books.

The most complete collection of Yuletide whodunits ever assembled • The Edgar Award-winning editor collects sixty of his all-time favorite holiday crime stories—from Arthur Conan Doyle and Thomas Hardy to Sara Paretsky and Ed McBain. “Anyone who cares about the best mystery writing of the past century and beyond would be lucky to receive this thick volume during the holidays." — The Washington Post This collection touches on all aspects of the holiday season, and all types of mysteries. They are suspenseful, funny, frightening, and poignant. Included are puzzles by Mary Higgins Clark, Isaac Asimov, and Ngaio Marsh; uncanny tales in the tradition of A Christmas Carol by Peter Lovesey and Max Allan Collins; O. Henry-like stories by Stanley Ellin and Joseph Shearing, stories by pulp icons John D. MacDonald and Damon Runyon; comic gems from Donald E. Westlake and John Mortimer; and many, many more. Almost any kind of mystery you’re in the mood for--suspense, pure detection, humor, cozy, private eye, or police procedural—can be found in these pages.   • Unscrupulous Santas • Crimes of Christmases Past and Present • Festive felonies • Deadly puddings • Misdemeanors under the mistletoe • Christmas cases for classic characters including Sherlock Holmes, Brother Cadfael, Miss Marple, Hercule Poirot, Ellery Queen, Rumpole of the Bailey, Inspector Morse, Inspector Ghote, A.J. Raffles, and Nero Wolfe.

Presenting Edgar Award-winning editor Otto Penzler's latest anthology, The Big Book of Sherlock Holmes Stories, the largest collection of Sherlockian tales ever assembled—now in a deluxe hardcover edition, perfect for the collector and gift markets.Arguably no other character in history has been so enduringly popular as Sherlock Holmes. From his first appearance, in Arthur Conan Doyle's 1887 novella A Study in Scarlet,readers have loved reading about him—and writers have loved writing about him. Here, Otto Penzler collects 83 wonderful stories about Holmes and Dr. John Watson, the majority of which will be new to readers. Among these pages are tales by acclaimed Sherlockians Leslie S. Klinger, Laurie R. King, Lyndsay Faye and Daniel Stashower; pastiches by literary luminaries both classic (Kenneth Millar, P. G. Wodehouse, Dorothy B. Hughes) and current (Anne Perry, Stephen King, Neil Gaiman); and parodies by Conan Doyle's contemporaries James M. Barrie, O. Henry, and August Derleth. CONTENTS Introduction by Otto Penzler THE MASTER Arthur Conan Doyle, “The Field Bazaar” Arthur Conan Doyle, “How Watson Learned the Trick” FAMILIAR AS THE ROSE IN SPRING Vincent Starrett, “The Unique Hamlet” Bret Harte, “The Stolen Cigar-Case” Arthur Whitaker, “The Case of the Man Who Was Wanted” James M. Barrie, “The Adventure of the Two Collaborators” O. Henry, “The Sleuths” A. B. Cox, “Holmes and the Dasher” Stephen Leacock, “An Irreducible Detective Story” Stephen King, “The Doctor’s Case” THE LITERATURE OF CRIME Davis Grubb, “The Brown Recluse” Kingsley Amis, “The Darkwater Hall Mystery” J.C. Masterman, “The Case of the Gifted Amateur” James M. Barrie, “The Late Sherlock Holmes” Edmund Pearson, “Sherlock Holmes and the Drood Mystery” A.A. Milne, “The Rape of the Sherlock” P. G. Wodehouse, “From a Detective’s Note-Book” Hugh Kingsmill, “The Ruby of Khitmandu” August Derleth, “The Adventure of the Remarkable Worm” H. F. Heard, “The Enchanted Garden” Ring Lardner, “A Study in Handwriting” Neil Gaiman, “The Case of Death and Honey” Anthony Burgess, “Murder to Music” IN THE BEGINNING James M. Barrie, “An Evening with Sherlock Holmes” Robert Barr, “Detective Stories Gone Wrong: The Adventures of Sherlaw Kombs” Anonymous, “Sherlock Holmes vs. Conan Doyle” R. C. Lehmann, “The Duke’s Feather” Roy L. McCardell, “The Sign of the ‘400’” HOLMESLESS Christopher Morley, “Codeine (7 Per Cent)” Laurie R. King, “Mrs. Hudson’s Case” Bliss Austin, “The Final Problem” NOT OF THIS PLACE Anthony Boucher, “The Adventure of the Bogle-Wolf” Poul Anderson, “The Martian Crown Jewels” Anonymous, “Sherlock Among the Spirits” Logan Clendening, “The Case of the Missing Patriarchs” Loren D. Estleman, “The Devil and Sherlock Holmes” KEEPING THE MEMORY GREEN S. C. Roberts, “The Strange Case of the Megatherium Thefts” Peter Cannon, “The Adventure of the Noble Husband” William O. Fuller, “A Night with Sherlock Holmes” Leslie S. Klinger, “The Adventure of the Wooden Box” Donald Thomas, “The Case of the Unseen Hand” Sam Benady, “The Abandoned Brigantine” Barry Day, “The Adventure of the Curious Canary” Frederic Dorr Steele, “The Adventure of the Murdered Art Editor” David Stuart Davies, “The Darlington Substitution Scandal” James C. Iraldi, “The Problem of the Purple Maculas” YOU THINK THAT’S FUNNY? Robert Barr, “The Adventure of the Second Swag” Stanley Rubinstein, “Sheer Luck Again” John Kendrick Bangs, “A Pragmatic Enigma” Anonymous, “Herlock Sholmes at It Again” Anthony Armstrong, “The Reigate Road Murder” William B. Kahn, “The Succored Beauty” Gregory Breitman, “The Marriage of Sherlock Holmes” E. F. Benson and Eustace H. Miles, “The Return of Sherlock Holmes” Arthur Chapman, “The Unmasking of Sherlock Holmes” George F. Forrest, “The Adventure of the Diamond Necklace” Robert L. Fish, “The Adventure of the Ascot Tie” CONTEMPORARY VICTORIANS Colin Dexter, “A Case of Mis-Identity” Thomas Perry, “Startling Events in the Electrified City” Lyndsay Faye, “The Case of Colonel Warburton’s Madness” John Lutz, “The Infernal Machine” Peter Tremayne, “The Specter of Tullyfane Abbey” Daniel Stashower, “The Adventure of the Agitated Actress” Michael Moorcock, “The Adventure of the Dorset Street Lodger” Bill Crider, “The Adventure of the Venomous Lizard” June Thomson, “The Case of the Friesland Outrage” Carol Buggé, “The Strange Case of the Tongue-Tied Tenor” Tanith Lee, “The Human Mystery” Anne Perry, “Hostage to Fortune” Jon Koons, “The Adventure of the Missing Countess” Rick Boyer, “The Adventure of Zolnay, The Aerialist” John Lescroart, “The Adventure of the Giant Rat of Sumatra” THE FOOTSTEPS OF A GIGANTIC AUTHOR Julian Symons, “Did Sherlock Holmes Meet Hercule…?” H. R. F. Keating, “A Trifling Affair” Barry Perowne, “Raffles: The Enigma of the Admiral’s Hat” Barry Perowne, “Raffles on the Trail of the Hound” Edward D. Hoch, “The Cipher in the Sand” Kenneth Millar, “The South Sea Soup Co.” Carolyn Wells, “The Adventure of the Clothes-Line” Dorothy B. Hughes, “Sherlock Holmes and the Muffin” Stuart M. Kaminsky, “The Man from Capetown” Manly Wade Wellman, “But Our Hero Was Not Dead” Stuart Palmer, “The Adventure of the Marked Man”

A great recurring character in a series you love becomes an old friend. You learn about their strange quirks and their haunted pasts and root for them every time they face danger. But where do some of the most fascinating sleuths in the mystery and thriller world really come from?What was the real-life location that inspired Michael Connelly to make Harry Bosch a Vietnam vet tunnel rat? Why is Jack Reacher a drifter? How did a brief encounter in Botswana inspire Alexander McCall Smith to create Precious Ramotswe? In THE LINEUP, some of the top mystery writers in the world tell about the genesis of their most beloved characters--or, in some cases, let their creations do the talking.

Edgar Award-winning editor Otto Penzler's new anthology brings together the most cunning, ruthless, and brilliant criminals in mystery fiction, for the biggest compendium of bad guys (and girls) ever assembled. The best mysteries--whether detective, historical, police procedural, cozy, or comedy--have one thing in common: a memorable perpetrator. For every Sherlock Holmes or Sam Spade in noble pursuit, there's a Count Dracula, a Lester Leith, or a Jimmy Valentine. These are the rogues and villains who haunt our imaginations--and who often have more in common with their heroic counterparts than we might expect. Now, for the first time ever, Otto Penzler gathers the iconic traitors, thieves, con men, sociopaths, and killers who have crept through the mystery canon over the past 150 years, captivating and horrifying readers in equal measure. The 72 handpicked stories in this collection introduce us to the most depraved of psyches, from iconic antiheroes like Maurice Leblanc's Arsene Lupin and Sax Rohmer's Dr. Fu Manchu to contemporary delinquents like Lawrence Block's Ehrengraf and Donald Westlake's Dortmunder, and include unforgettable tales by Robert Louis Stevenson, Bram Stoker, Washington Irving, Jack London, H.G. Wells, Sinclair Lewis, O. Henry, Edgar Wallace, Leslie Charteris, Erle Stanley Gardner, Edward D. Hoch, Max Allan Collins, Loren D. Estleman, and many more.

Edgar Award–winning editor Otto Penzler's latest anthology takes its inspiration from the historical enigma whose name has become synonymous with Jack the Ripper.   Of the real-life serial killers whose gruesome acts have been splashed across headlines, none has reached the mythical status of Jack the Ripper. In the Ripper's wake, terror swept through the streets of London’s East End in the fall of 1888. As quickly as his nightmarish reign came, Saucy Jack vanished without a trace—leaving future generations to speculate upon his identity and whereabouts. He was diabolical in a way never seen before—a killer who taunted the police, came up with his own legendary monikers, and, ultimately, got away with his heinous crimes. More than a century later, the man “from hell” continues to live on in the imaginations of readers everywhere—and in some of the most spec­tacularly unnerving stories, both fiction and nonfiction, ever written. The Big Book of Jack the Ripper immerses you in the utterly chilling world of Red Jack’s London, where his unprecedented evil still lurks.   · Legendary stories by Marie Belloc Lowndes, Robert Bloch, and Ellery Queen · Captivating essays from George Bernard Shaw, Stephen Hunter, and Peter Underwood · Riveting new stories by contemporary masters Jeffrey Deaver, Loren D. Estleman, Lyndsay Faye, and many more · Astonishing theories from the world’s foremost Ripperologists   From the Ripper · Demonic letters from Jack himself · Gruesome postmortem exams documenting all the bits and pieces of the cases · Harrowing witness statements taken on those hellish nights · Breaking newspaper accounts of the East End hysteria