The best-selling author Carl Hiaasen takes the reins for the eleventh edition of this series, featuring twenty of the past year’s most distinguished tales of mystery, crime, and suspense.

Laura Lippman introduces us to a suburban soccer mom who moonlights as a call girl and who has a fateful encounter with a former client at her son’s soccer game. Ridley Pearson traces a famous author of horror tales who becomes trapped in a real one after his wife vanishes while jogging. Joyce Carol Oates travels to a New Jersey racetrack where the animals that break down are of the two-legged type. Lawrence Block tells the story of Keller, a hitman for hire who happens to live in Greenwich Village, loves spicy food, and collects stamps as a hobby. And Scott Wolven plunges us into the world of an ex-con who takes a job at a private and very illegal Nevada racetrack where each day millions are won and lost. Mostly lost.

As Carl Hiaasen notes in his introduction, “The stories in this collection would do honor to any anthology of short literature. More than transcending the genre of crime, they blow away its nebulous boundaries.” The Best American Mystery Stories 2007 is a powerful collection certain to delight mystery aficionados and all lovers of great fiction.

"The 11th volume in this consistently high-quality series features such household names as Joyce Carol Oates and Lawrence Block, but for the most part it's the lesser lights who shine brightest with superb short crime stories that evoke human passions and bring characters to life with a few well-chosen phrases or images. As series editor Otto Penzler again cautions in his foreword, few of the stories revolve on 'whodunit,' the 'why' having become more important in contemporary crime fiction. One of the best of the 20 selections is Chris Adrian's 'Stab,' a chilling tale of childish cruelty, as witnessed by an autistic child. Block himself weighs in with the masterful 'Keller's Double Dribble,' a story of double crosses, white-collar crime and basketball. Another standout is Brent Spencer's 'The True History,' a gripping account of brutality and revenge set during the Texas War of Independence. Cozy and Agatha Christie fans won't find much to suit their particular tastes, but lovers of good writing should be delighted." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Bestselling novelist Hiaasen edits 2007s collection of the finest mystery writing from the past year. Contributors include Lawrence Block, James Lee Burke, John Dufresne, Louise Erdrich, William Gay, and David Means.

Foreword • ix Introduction by Carl Hiaasen • xiii

Chris Adrian Stab • 1

Robert Andrews Solomon’s Alley • 22

Peter Blauner Going, Going, Gone • 33

Lawrence Block Keller’s Double Dribble • 41

John Bond T-Bird • 69

James Lee Burke A Season of Regret • 88

John Dufresne The Timing of Unfelt Smiles • 106

Louise Erdrich Gleason • 121

Jim Fusilli Chellini’s Solution • 135

William Gay Where Will You Go When Your SkinCannot Contain You? • 148

Robert Knightly Take the Man’s Pay • 162

Laura Lippman One True Love • 173

David Means The Spot • 189

Kent Meyers Rodney Valen’s Second Life • 200

Joyce Carol Oates Meadowlands • 218

Jason Ockert Jakob Loomis • 241

Ridley Pearson Queeny • 257

John Sandford Lucy Had a List • 264

Brent Spencer The True History • 287

Scott Wolven Pinwheel • 304

Contributors’ Notes • 313 Other Distinguished Mystery Stories of 2006 • 324