TheBest American Seriesis the premier annual showcase for the country's finest short fiction and nonfiction. Each volume's series editor selects notable works from hundreds of magazines, journals, and websites. A special guest editor, a leading writer in the field, then chooses the best twenty or so pieces to publish. This unique system has made theBest American Seriesthe most respected--and most popular - of its kind.TheBest American Mystery Stories 2011includes Lawrence Block, Brendan DuBois, Loren D. Estleman, Beth Ann Fennelly, Tom Franklin, Ed Gorman, Richard Lange, S. J. Rozan, Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins, and others.The excellent 15th edition of this “Best Of” series, edited by mystery mavenOtto Penzler, contains 20 winning short stories, many by relative unknowns. Among the standouts areBrendan Dubois’s“Ride-Along,” in which a veteran cop and a freelance reporter get involved in a robbery, andBeth Ann FennellyandTom Franklin’s“What His Hands Had Been Waiting For,” in which the struggle for survival in the Mississippi Delta during the terrible 1927 flood takes a strange turn. InEd Gorman’smemorable “Flying Solo,” two old men dying of cancer make the most of their last days. As in previous volumes, it’s hard to find lighter fare, butS.J. Rozan’sclever “Chin Yong-Yun Takes a Case” is a beautifully crafted and satisfying tale of amateur detection. Other contributors include such pros asLawrence Block, Loren D. Estleman,Mickey SpillaneandMax Collins.