The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2026
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“Crime fiction has always been outsider fiction, and this anthology, too, is a safe harbor for misfits and outcasts,” writes guest editor Megan Abbott. Full of wacky, peculiar, and eccentric characters, The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2026 features an enterprising dental hygienist who makes some extra money by collecting corpses for a funeral home, a sixth-grade girl who uses her competitive jump-roping skills to protect herself from looming danger, and a broke young car thief who falls for a married woman who entices him into a criminal act. From traditional and masterfully crafted whodunits to experimental tales, these stories will have chills running down your spine and your heart knocking in your chest.
THE BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY AND SUSPENSE 2026 INCLUDES: D.C. BENNY • CHRISTOPHER BOLLEN • SARA GRAN • CHERYL A. HEAD • DAVID MORRELL • WANDA M. MORRIS • M.E. PROCTOR • ROB D. SMITH • PAUL TREMBLAY • AND OTHERS
Megan Abbott
Megan Abbott is the award-winning author of twelve crime novels, including You Will Know Me, Beware the Woman and the New York Times bestseller The Turnout, winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. She is also a screenwriter and the co-creator Dare Me, the series she adapted from her own novel, now streaming on Netflix. She is currently adapting her latest novel, the national bestseller El Dorado Drive, for television for A24.
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Steph Cha
Steph Cha is the author of the Juniper Song mystery series and Your House Will Pay, which won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Best Mystery/Thriller and the California Book Award, and has been a finalist for a Young Lions Fiction Award, a Macavity Award, a Lefty Award, a Barry Award, and a Dagger Award, as well as longlisted for the Aspen Prize. She is an editor and critic whose work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, and the Los Angeles Review of Books, where she edited the noir section for almost five years. A native of the San Fernando Valley, she lives in Los Angeles with her family.
More by Steph Cha
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