superwritermom 's review for:

The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2021 by Steph Cha, Alafair Burke

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I wanted to see how other folks were writing their short mysteries, so I checked this book and the one from 2017 out of the library. In the intro, Cha mentions a move toward more diverse entrants. Thank goodness based on some of the stories from the 2017 version.

Anyhoo, my first observation is that modern mystery/suspense looks quite different from some of the older stories I've read. Sometimes I feel there's neither mystery nor suspense, but I've always been an old soul.

Here were some of my favorites:

Male Suerte by E. Gabriel Flores --nice twists and plenty of mystery

The Good Thief by Ravi Howard --reminded me of O.Henry for some reason

Slow Burner by Laura Lipman -- really kept my attention

One Bullet One Vote by Faye Snowden --one of the stories that saddened me because, well, truth, but Willie Mae is one helluva character

Let Her Be by Lisa Unger -- chilling

Some of the stories felt more like horror (Mr. Forble) and others left me shaking my head. No clue if this deep dive will ever help my verbose ass write a successful short story, though.