Dan Pope in Person

Anthony Horowitz selects and introduces the best mystery stories from the past year, under the auspices of the world’s oldest mystery fiction specialty bookshop.

From a pool of over 3,000 considered stories published last year—anything that touched on crime, mystery, and suspense, from venues as disparate as The Strand Magazine, Dark Yonder, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, The Bellevue Literary Review, and more—these are the very best, selected by series editor Otto Penzler and guest editor Anthony Horowitz.

The tales included cover a range of styles, highlighting the diversity of subjects and forms comprising the genre we call mystery fiction. Featuring a mixture of household names, masters of the short form, and newcomers to the field, the collection offers a variety that promises something for every reader. And it’s all capped off by a vintage story from the first half of the previous century, sourced directly from the rare book room at the Mysterious Bookshop, the oldest mystery fiction specialty store in the world.

Dan Pope is a 2002 graduate of the Iowa Writers Workshop. He has published two novels, IN THE CHERRY TREE (Picador, 2003) and HOUSEBREAKING (Simon & Schuster, 2015). His short stories have appeared in numerous print journals, including The Gettysburg Review, McSweeneys, Iowa Review, The Bellevue Review, The Bennington Review, Shenandoah, Harvard Review, Witness, Post Road, Crazyhorse, The Greensboro Review, as well as many anthologies, including Best New American Voices 2007 (Harcourt) and the Pushcart Prize Anthology (2020), the Best Mystery Stories of the Year 2024.

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