Short and Sweet

 Since 1998, the Short Mystery Fiction Society has awarded the annual Derringers—named after the popular pocket pistol—to outstanding published stories. Finalists for the 2025 awards, recognizing outstanding stories published during 2024, were announced today, with results of membership voting scheduled to be posted on May 1, 2025. Congrats to all!

 

FLASH

• Sweet Red Cherries by C.W. Blackwell (Punk Noir Magazine, November 28, 2024)
• Mob Mentality by James Patrick Focarile (Shotgun Honey, June 20, 2024)
• La Petite Mort by Susan Hatters Friedman (Bristol Noir, February 16, 2024)
• Kargin the Necromancer by Mike McHone (Mystery Tribune, December 15, 2024)
• Lockerbie, 1988 by Mary Thorson (Cotton Xenomorph, October 13, 2024)

SHORT STORY 

• "Skeeter's Bar and Grill" by Julie Hastrup (Larceny & Last Chances: 22 Stories of Mystery & Suspense, Superior Shores Press)
• "The Wind Phone" by Josh Pachter (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, September/October 2024)
• "The Heist" by Bill Pronzini (Shamus and Anthony Commit Capers: Ten Tales of Criminals, Crooks, and Culprits, Level Best Books)
• "The Last Chance Coalition" by Judy Penz Sheluk (Larceny & Last Chances: 22 Stories of Mystery & Suspense, Superior Shores Press)
• "The Kratz Gambit" by Mark Thielman (Private Dicks and Disco Balls: Private Eyes in the Dyn-O-Mite Seventies, Down & Out Books)

LONG STORY

• "How Mary’s Garden Grew" by Elizabeth Elwood (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, January/February 2024)
• "Heart of Darkness" by Tammy Euliano (Scattered, Smothered, Covered & Chunked: Crime Fiction Inspired by Waffle House, Down & Out Books)
• "Putting Things Right" by Peter W. J. Hayes (Thrill Ride - The Magazine, December 21, 2024)
• "Motive Factor X" by Joseph Andre Thomas (Howls from the Scene of the Crime: A Crime Horror Anthology, Howl Society Press)
• "Cold Comfort" by Andrew Welsh-Huggins (Private Dicks and Disco Balls: Private Eyes in the Dyn-O-Mite Seventies, Down & Out Books)

NOVELETTE

• "A Band of Scheming Women" by Joslyn Chase (Thrill Ride - The Magazine, March 21, 2024)
• "Christmas Dinner" by Robert Lopresti (Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, November/December 2024)
• "Barracuda Backfire" by Tom Milani (Chop Shop Episode 4, Down & Out Books, April 1, 2024)
• "Her Dangerously Clever Hands" by Karen Odden (Crimeucopia - Through the Past Darkly, Murderous Ink Press)
• "The Cadillac Job" by Stacy Woodson (Chop Shop Episode 1, Down & Out Books, January 1, 2024)

ANTHOLOGY (Previously Announced)

• Devil's Snare: Best New England Crime Stories 2024 Edited by Susan Oleksiw, Ang Pompano, Leslie Wheeler, Crime Spell Books
• Friend of the Devil: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of the Grateful Dead Edited by Josh Pachter, Down & Out Books
• Larceny & Last Chances: 22 Stories of Mystery & Suspense Edited by Judy Penz Sheluk, Superior Shores Press
• Murder, Neat: A SleuthSayers Anthology Edited by Michael Bracken and Barb Goffman, Level Best Books
• New York State of Crime: Murder New York Style 6 Edited by D.M. Barr and Joseph R.G. De Marco, Down & Out Books
• The 13th Letter Edited by Donna Carrick, Carrick Publishing

Author R&R with Ted Mulcahey

 Author Ted Mulcahey’s observations and stories are formed by his stint in the Army, his sales, marketing, and entrepreneurial activities, and his life growing up as one of nine siblings in a typical Irish Catholic family. Starting in New England, he managed to find his way to the Pacific Northwest where he has made his home for over three decades. He now lives on an island with his wife and trusted GSD, Emma, in the middle of Puget Sound. The oddly shaped land mass of picturesque landscapes and small-town charm supplies plenty of fodder for the quirky cast members he brings to life.

In his new novel, Ferry Tales, beneath the tranquil charm of Whidbey Island, a storm of deception and danger brews. When Deputy Sheriff Roger Wilkie stumbles upon a sinister polygamist sect with a violent enforcer, he’s pulled into a relentless game of cat and mouse. The deeper he digs, the more he realizes that beneath the island’s postcard-perfect scenery lurks a deadly undercurrent of corruption, power, and murder. But Wilkie isn’t facing the darkness alone. Armed with his signature dry wit, a rogue’s gallery of eccentric islanders—including an ex-con with a knack for trouble—and two sharp-nosed German Shepherds, he sets out to bring the killers to justice. As the body count rises and the stakes grow higher, Wilkie must outwit an enemy who will stop at nothing to keep their secrets buried.

Ted stops by In Reference to Murder to take some Author R&R about writing and researching the book.

 

Almost all of my novels are the product of the life experiences I’ve enjoyed and the places I’ve lived. From the exploration of Vancouver Island in Bearied Treasure to the encounters with like-minded gamblers in Teed Up for Terror, and the life and times on Whidbey Island in the remaining six novels, there is a smattering of truth in all of them. I guess it’s one of the benefits of spending this much time on planet earth.

Front and center in Ferry Tails is the Washington State Ferry System, which, if you’re an island dweller, is the lifeline connecting our kind to the rest of civilization. My good fortune in having a pal who is a former ferry captain was immeasurably helpful in understanding the complexities of transporting over eighteen million passengers a year. In addition to the ferry-related aspects of the story, my two years spent in Southern Utah provided me with enough material for a dozen novels. The majestic beauty of that part of the country, juxtaposed with the smaller towns and outposts dotted throughout the region, was the inspiration for one of the character’s travels and encounters. A great deal of time was spent researching the history of several religious cults that still call the area home.

Every story I write leads me to places and people —some real and some imagined —that give me a reason to delve into their backgrounds. Writing about Francis’s encounter with the German Shepherd at Best Friends Sanctuary in Kanab was especially fun. Having had the pleasure and good fortune of spending a dozen years with one of these extraordinary creatures has given me new insight into the tremendous loyalty and dedication this breed has to their pack. If you have one, you know what I mean.

I’m often asked who I use as models for the characters in my books, and the answer is nobody in particular, but aspects and quirks of almost everyone I’ve ever met. I suppose I tend to exaggerate both extremes—the good stuff and the bad—but that’s where the fun is. I like to use everyday confrontations and situations as opening scenes and develop the story from there. More often than not, the characters and their personalities take me places I never initially considered, but somehow, when they do, strange things happen.

With the proliferation of search engines and databases now available, research is considerably more straightforward than it was years ago. However, because so much information is available, there are times when I get lost in the possibilities. A simple blurb in a scientific article discussing the future of vanadium flow batteries led me to imagine what it would be like if these giant storage batteries were miniaturized, and what that would do to the world. The result was the backstory for Juiced.

In Lone Lake Road—a real-life road on the island—an isolated curve where the temperature is always four or five degrees cooler than the surrounding areas led me to consider why. As it turned out, it was because a chubby little warlock named Buzz Aldrin lived there, and the story began to unfold.

I’m never quite sure when or where inspiration will strike me, but when it does, I hope I’m aware enough to recognize it, because that will be the foundation for another adventure.

 

You can learn more about Ted Mulcahey via his website or follow him on Goodreads. Ferry Tales is now available via all major booksellers.