The Best American Mystery Stories 2012 (63 page)

 

Daniel Woodrell
is the author of eight novels and a volume of short stories. He lives in the Missouri Ozarks. He has won a couple of awards and had a couple of movies made from his novels.

• “Returning the River” was begun with the notion that it might become a novel, but it did not, at least for now. As I age, I am more and more aware of things that are disappearing or gone—W. S. Merwin has a line, “Show me what you see vanishing and I will tell you who you are.” I live in the same neighborhood some elements of my family have lived in since before World War I, and I see little flickers of my lost dead ones all around. Some years ago we lost my grandfather's house. It sits only 200 yards away, but I will no longer go past it. I eventually realized that I felt a sort of atavistic, animalistic anger whenever I did pass, and the fact that the present owner is a scumbag who defiles my people's fine imprint on our hallowed old place did not help reduce the hostility. This is pretty common throughout the world, this broken connection to the land and one's own past, and the story was meant to give recognition to these almost presocial feelings that I seem able to access too easily.

B
ILL
, F
RANK

The Old Mechanic.
Crimes in Southern Indiana,
by Frank Bill (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)

 

C
ELIZIC
, J
OE

Scavengers.
Windsor Review,
Fall

C
OUPE
, C
ARLA

The Book of Tobit.
Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine,
no. 6

 

F
ISHER
, E
VE

A Time to Mourn.
Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine,
January/February

F
LOYD
, J
OHN

Turnaround.
Strand Magazine,
no. 35

 

G
EORGE
, K
ATHLEEN

Intruder.
Pittsburgh Noir,
ed. Kathleen George (Akashic)

 

H
ANSTEIN
, W
OODY

Endgame.
Dead Calm: Best New England Crime Stories 2012,
eds. Mark Ammons, Katherine Fast, Barbara Ross, and Leslie Wheeler (Level Best)

H
ASTINGS
, W
ILLIAM

Ten-Year Plan.
Cape Cod Noir,
ed. David L. Ulin (Akashic)

H
EATHCOCK
, A
LAN

The Daughter.
Volt,
by Alan Heathcock (Graywolf)

 

L
ANDERS
, S
COTT

The Age of Heroes.
New England Review
31, no. 2

L
AW
, J
ANICE

Enemies.
Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine,
May

 

M
ARGOLIN
, P
HILLIP, AND
J
ERRY
M
ARGOLIN

The Adventure of the Purloined Paget.
A Study in Scarlet,
ed. Laurie R. King and Leslie S. Klinger (Bantam)

M
ATTSON
, J
OSEPH

Hamm's Toe.
Slake: Los Angeles,
no. 3

 

P
ETRIN
, J
AS
. R.

A New Pair of Pants.
Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine,
November

P
INCUS
, R
OGER

Convenience.
Fifth Wednesday Journal,
Spring

 

R
ASH
, R
ON

The Trusty.
The New Yorker,
May 23

 

S
ANTLOFER
, J
ONATHAN

Lola.
New Jersey Noir,
ed. Joyce Carol Oates (Akashic)

S
IMPSON
, N
ANCY
P
AULINE

The Coffin Factory.
Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine,
November

S
MITH
, G
REGORY
B
LAKE

Punishment.
Prairie Schooner,
Spring

S
TEINHAUER
, O
LEN

Start-Up.
Strand Magazine,
June-September

S
ULLINS
, J
ACOB

12 Rounds.
Georgia Review,
Summer

 

T
AYLOR
, S
ETH

Ritalin.
Notre Dame Review,
Summer/Fall

T
ERWILLIGER
, C
AM

Cherry Town.
The Literary Review,
Spring

T
REMBLAY
, P
AUL

Nineteen Snapshots of Dennisport.
Cape Cod Noir,
ed. David L. Ulin (Akashic)

 

U
RBANSKI
, D
EBBIE

The Move.
New England Review
32, no. 1

 

W
ATERS
, D
ON

Espanola.
Georgia Review,
Fall

W
EINGARDEN
, M
ARK

Agent Halverson Addresses the Space Coast Optimists.
Five Points
14, no. 2

W
EINSTEIN
, J
ACOB
S
AGER

Golden Boy.
Popcorn Fiction,
June

W
OODINGTON
, J
OHN

Camouflage.
The Sewanee Review,
Fall

 

Z
ELTSERMAN
, D
AVE

Emma Sue.
On Dangerous Ground: Stories of Western Noir,
eds. Ed Gorman, Dave Zeltserman, and Martin H. Greenberg (Cemetery Dance)

R
OBERT
C
RAIS
is the 2006 recipient of the Ross Macdonald Literary Award. He is the author of many
New York Times
bestsellers, most recently
The First Rule
and
The Sentry.

 

O
TTO
P
ENZLER
is the founder of the Mysterious Bookshop and Mysterious Press.