Mystery Magazine May 2024

At the cutting edge of crime fiction, Mystery Magazine presents original short stories by the world's best-known and emerging mystery writers. The stories we feature in our monthly issues span every imaginable subgenre, including cozy, police procedural, noir, whodunit, supernatural, hardboiled, humor, and historical mysteries. Evocative writing and a compelling story are the only certainty. Get ready to be surprised, challenged, and entertained--whether you enjoy the style of the Golden Age of mystery (e.g., Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle), the glorious pulp digests of the early twentieth century (e.g., Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler), or contemporary masters of mystery. ★ In this issue ★ Our cover feature is "The Mysterious Woman In The Lifeguard Chair" by Bruce W. Most: Weegee, New York City's most famous crime photographer, photographs a mysterious woman one night on a Coney Island beach. When a woman's body turns up on the beach days later, Weegee finds himself investigating a possible murder. "My Son, My Son" by Kathleen Gerard: In this comic mystery story a Southern woman becomes exasperated by her notorious, small-time criminal son, her 'do-good' of a husband, and the stifling nature of her small-town. "Bad Eagle Road" by John M. Floyd: After the disappearance of a team of scientists in search of Bigfoot, a Native American woman stumbles upon an injured and escaped survivor-and discovers that he's still being hunted. "The Pool Boy" by Julie Hastrup: Three rules for running a pool cleaning business: 1) Don't wake the wealthy. 2) Be invisible. 3) Nothing you do will ever be enough. The pool boy is forced to cover up a crime and winds up paying for it-literally. "Villains, Vipers, And Dogs" by A.D. Price: A down-on-his-luck PI breaks into a rival PI's office, intending to steal incriminating photos for a rich, cash-paying client. When he discovers a puppy manning the office, however, what should have been an easy gig, turns weirdly dangerous. "The Asphalt Bungle" by Jon Wesick is a noir parody in which grade school students plan a heist of Mad Magazines. "A Failure To Communicate," a You-Solve-It by John H. Dromey: Some eyewitness accounts are better than others, but can detectives afford to pick and choose? Custom Cover Art By Robin Grenville Evans