Mystery Magazine: April 2022

At the cutting edge of crime fiction, Mystery Magazine presents original short stories by the world's best-known and emerging mystery writers.

The stories we feature in our monthly issues span every imaginable subgenre, including cozy, police procedural, noir, whodunit, supernatural, hardboiled, humor, and historical mysteries. Evocative writing and a compelling story are the only certainty.

Get ready to be surprised, challenged, and entertained--whether you enjoy the style of the Golden Age of mystery (e.g., Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle), the glorious pulp digests of the early twentieth century (e.g., Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler), or contemporary masters of mystery.

In this issue:

In our cover feature, "Death In Seventeen Syllables" by Sherryl Clark, somebody is killing old ladies who write haiku. Is it a poetry hater, or someone with a personal grudge? DS Vicky Wright and her sidekick, DC Miller, have to work out the clues in seventeen syllables.

"The Girl Who Was Only Three Quarters Dead" by Craig H. Bowlsby: In the near future, a detective tries to save a girl from death, who is already legally dead.

In "Easy Money" by Jacqueline Freimor, life on the New York City streets is hard for Gus. When he finally gets a chance to make a quick buck, he takes it-only to find that nothing for him is ever easy.

"Miracle At Stonecroft Manor" by Michael Allan Mallory is a locked room mystery where Winston Stonecroft is murdered under impossible circumstances that dictate no one could have done it, yet someone in his house must have.

In "No Escape" by Lida Sideris, a little old lady loses her cool after her caregiver abandons her and takes a joy ride in her vintage Mustang. How far will the elderly woman go to exact revenge?

"Night Brings The Frost" by Razvan-Gabriel Popa, a Grimme-like tale: Each year when the river freezes, the abandoned, bridgeless island fort is linked to the rest of the city, once again. And something lurking within the ruins is free to hunt and sate its hunger.

In "The Last Of Their Line" by Robin Hazard Ray, a dying Bostonian orders his kin dug up and reburied. Cemetery superintendent Sumner Bascomb can't help wondering why.

"Claws" by Edward Lodi: Ignoring warnings that a hurricane is rapidly approaching, two thieves set out in a boat to pull off a heist on a remote island.

In "Death For The Daffodils" by S.B. Watson, a daffodil struggles to understand the nature of love.

John M. Floyd's You-Solve-It, "A Case Of Poetic Justice," has Sheriff Lucy Valentine and her mother at work again solving a fiery murder.

¿ Custom Cover Art by Robin Grenville Evans.