“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