Snakeberry: Best New England Crime Stories 2025

Join us for a discussion with the editors of Snakeberry: Best New England Crime Stories. This anthology is filled with talented mystery and thriller writers. Editors Christine Bagley, Susan Oleksiw, and Leslie Wheeler will be here to discuss the stories selected and answer your questions.

In these crazy times, the honest and clever have the edge in this collection of short crime fiction. Women use new technology to outwit an unfaithful partner or support a special needs child, and older technology outwits garden-variety stalkers. World War II is the setting for three women to exhibit their independence and determination-in an air raid warden, a teenager whose brothers are soon to give up baseball for the military, and a war bride searching for her injured husband. Two stories walk us through literary history, leaving us with a suitably quirky vision. When the world tilts, those walking the line between right and wrong find plenty to explore.Every year the anthology brings welcome surprises and satisfactions, and this year is no different. Welcome to crime in 2025.

The authors selected in the fifth edition of the anthology for their outstanding stories are: Brenda Buchanan, Judith Carlough, Bruce Coffin, Kat Fast, Laurel Hanson, Sean Harding, Beth Hogan, Nikki Knight, Chris Knopf, Cheryl Malone, Paula Messina, Moe Moeller, Susan Oleksiw, Dale Phillips, Christine Bagley, Stephen D. Rogers, Sarah Smith, Bonnar Spring, Gabriela Stiteler, Leslie Wheeler, and Ang Pompano.

Christine Bagley is the author of The Madness of Ida Mae and other stories of love, M**der, & misfits, a short story collection published by Level Best Books. Her work appears in mystery anthologies and literary journals. A fiction contributor to the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, she also attended The Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill writing workshop. With a Master’s Degree in Creative Writing from Lesley University, she taught writing and presentation skills to Harvard Medical School foreign national scientists and physicians. She was a finalist for the Al Blanchard Award for Short Crime Fiction, and is currently co-editor and co-publisher of Crime Spell Books. Other publications include: Briar Cliff Review, Bryant Literary Review, Untoward Magazine, and numerous stories in Best New England Crime Stories.

Susan Oleksiw set her first mysteries, the Mellingham series featuring Chief of Police Joe Silva, along the New England coast. Another series follows Felicity O’Brien, farmer and healer, set in rural Central Massachusetts. More recently she has focused on writing the Anita Ray series, featuring a young Indian American photographer living in her aunt’s tourist hotel in South India. Several Anita Ray short stories have appeared in AHMM and other journals and anthologies. At present she’s working on the sixth Anita Ray. A co-founder of Level Best Books and now of Crime Spell Books, Susan has taught writing, editing, publishing skills, and various courses in literature at area colleges and universities. She co-founded The Larcom Review, which published a wide range of literature in all genres. Her work in photography has paralleled her writing on India, leading to several exhibits of life in Kerala, South India.

Leslie Wheeler is the award-winning author of two mystery series: the Berkshire Hilltown Mysteries and the Miranda Lewis Living History Mysteries. Her short crime fiction has appeared in numerous anthologies including the Best New England Crime Stories anthologies, published by Level Best Books, where she was a co-editor/publisher for six years, and now by Crime Spell Books, where she holds the same position. A member of Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime, she serves as Speakers Bureau Coordinator for the New England Chapter, and as a co-founder of the New England Crime Bake Conference, she coordinates the Crime Bake sponsored Al Blanchard Award Contest. She divides her time between Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the Berkshires, where she writes in a house overlooking a pond.

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