Print

Lawrence Block, "Almost Perfect" in Enough Rope: Collected Stories.
A pitcher's perfect game is interrupted by murder.

Fredric Brown, "Blue Murder" in Carnival of Crime.
A cop investigates the death of a man named Blue who was found covered in blue paint.

Jan Burke, "Unharmed" in Eighteen. Paperback Mystery
The suspected killer of a blind woman tells his side of the story.

John Dickson Carr, "The Shadow of the Goat" in Murderous Schemes. Mystery under 'Murderous'
Two investigators try to solve the disappearance of a man from a locked room with no other exits.

Raymond Chandler, "I'll Be Waiting" in The Simple Art of Murder.
A lonely hotel detective helps a beautiful guest but at great personal cost.

G.K. Chesterton, "The Blue Cross" in The Father Brown Omnibus.
A villain disguises himself as a priest in an attempt to steal a valuable cross from Father Brown.

Agatha Christie, "The Witness for the Prosecution" in Masterpieces of Mystery and the Unknown.
A wife testifies as a witness for the prosecution in the trial of her husband who is accused of murdering a woman who left him her money.

Richard Connell, "The Most Dangerous Game" in Great Tales of Terror and the Supernatural. 808.83872 Gre
A hunter from New York is washed ashore on a remote island and meets a general who makes him a player in a dangerous game.

Freeman Wills Crofts, "The Mystery of the Sleeping–Car Express" in The Mammoth Book of Great Detective Stories. Mystery under 'Mammoth'
A murderer escapes from a moving train while his victims and an innocent bystander are locked in their compartment.

Jeffery Deaver, "Triangle" in Twisted. Fiction
A man plans to commit a perfect murder.

Arthur Conan Doyle, "The Speckled Band" in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
A lady turns to Holmes for help when her stepfather asks her to sleep in the same room where his twin sister died mysteriously.

Richard Fliegel, "A Final Midrash" in Mystery Midrash. Mystery under 'Mystery'
Four rabbis use their training in interpretation to help a detective solve a murder that one of them has committed.

Frederick Forsyth, "The Art of the Matter" in The Veteran. Fiction
In a London art gallery, an impoverished actor is swindled out of a fortune until an eccentric appraiser hatches a scheme for revenge.

Dick Francis, "Dead on Red," in Field of Thirteen.
A jockey hires an assassin to kill a rival but things don't go as planned.

Antonia Fraser, "The Case of the Parr Children" in Jemima Shore's First Case and Other Stories.
A woman asks a private investigator to determine whether two children who are supposedly the ones she lost in a custody battle are really hers.

Jacques Futrelle, "The Problem of Cell 13" in Crime Classics. Mystery under 'Crime'
A man who says he can escape from a prison cell by using his wits is imprisoned to test his claim.

Susan Glaspell, "A Jury of Her Peers" in The Best American Mystery Stories of the Century. Mystery under 'Best'
While their husbands seek evidence in a case of murder, the wives discover the truth.

James Grippando, "Operation Northwoods" in Thriller: Stories to Keep You up All Night. Fiction under 'Thriller'
A lawyer's client crashes a plane filled with napalm into Guantanamo Bay.

Dashiell Hammett, "The Big Knockover" in The Big Knockover.
An elaborately planned bank robbery goes awry.

Patricia Highsmith, "The Heroine" in Eleven.
A troubled woman takes a job as a nanny for a wealthy family and becomes obsessed with caring for her charges.

Washington Irving, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" in The Complete Tales of Washington Irving. Fiction
A schoolmaster courting a lady is driven away by terror of the ghost of the Headless Horseman.

W. W. Jacobs, "The Monkey's Paw" in The Oxford Book of English Ghost Stories.
823.0872 Oxf
A monkey's paw grants the person who possesses it three wishes, but at a horrible cost.

M. R. James, "Number 13" in Count Magnus and Other Ghost Stories. Fiction
A traveler discovers a mysterious room that is not listed in the hotel directory.

P. D. James, "Great-Aunt Allie's Flypapers" in Verdict of Thirteen. Mystery under 'Verdict'
A man asks Adam Dalgliesh to determine whether the fortune he inherited from his great-aunt was acquired through the murder of her husband.

Faye Kellerman, "Discards" in The Garden of Eden and Other Criminal Delights.
A Los Angeles private eye investigates murder and mayhem among California's 'beautiful people.'

Harry Kemelman, "The Nine Mile Walk" in The Nine Mile Walk: The Nicky Welt Stories.
A college professor solves a crime based on an overheard remark about a nine-mile walk.

Stephen King, "Children of the Corn" in Night Shift. Fiction
A couple driving through Nebraska encounter a strange community of children who worship an evil being that lives in the cornfields.

Dennis Lehane, "Running out of Dog" in Coronado: Stories. Fiction
Two Vietnam vets return to their hometown and become tragically entangled with the wife of a man whose rich family kept him out of the war.

Elmore Leonard, "Fire in the Hole" in When the Women Come out to Dance. Fiction
A U.S. marshal is sent to hunt down a white supremacist plotting domestic terrorism.

Peter Lovesey, "The Crime of Miss Oyster Brown" in Master's Choice. Mystery under 'Master's'
A woman acts suspiciously and refuses to answer questions when her sister goes missing.

Ed McBain, "On the Sidewalk, Bleeding" in Learning to Kill.
Passersby refuse to stop to help a stabbing victim who is wearing a gang jacket.

Perri O'Shaughnessy, "Success without College" in Sinister Shorts. Fiction
An investigator becomes curious about an alleged drive-by shooting at a convenience store.

Ellery Queen, "The Glass-Domed Clock" in The Best of Ellery Queen.
A smashed clock and an amethyst provide the clues to the murder of an antique dealer.

Edgar Allan Poe, "The Tell-Tale Heart" in The Complete Stories of Edgar Allan Poe. Fiction
A murderer buries his victim under the floor.

Ian Rankin, "Being Frank" in A Good Hanging.
A homeless man gives Inspector Rebus the information he needs to break up a scam.

Ruth Rendell, "The Strawberry Tree" in Blood Lines: Long and Short Stories.
A British family in Majorca suffers a tragedy that remains unresolved for many years.

S.J. Rozan, "Hoops" in Best American Mystery Stories 1997. Mystery under 'Best'
A P.I. investigates the apparent murder-suicide of a high school basketball player and his girlfriend.

Dorothy Sayers, "The Fascinating Problem of Uncle Meleager's Will" in Lord Peter.
Lord Peter Wimsey helps find a hidden will using clues found in a crossword puzzle.

Steven Saylor, "King Bee and Honey" in House of the Vestals.
Beekeeping provides a clue to a death investigated by Roman detective Gordianus the Finder.

Rex Stout, "Die Like a Dog" in Three Witnesses.
Nero Wolfe looks into the death of a man whose dog followed his assistant Archie home.

Donald Westlake, "Too Many Crooks" in Thieves' Dozen.
Dortmunder and his gang tunnel into a bank vault and find it packed with hostages from an armed robbery already in progress.

Cornell Woolrich, "Rear Window" in Rear Window and Other Stories.
A man with a broken leg watches his neighbors from his window and witnesses a murder.