From traditional mystery stories with devious doings and a plot full of clues to terse thrillers with edge-of-the-seat climaxes to the nail-biting tale of psychological suspense, no field of popular fiction can match contemporary crime writing in diversity, excitement, cunning, or satisfaction. In this stunning collection of the year's best offerings in the genre, armchair detectives, suspense addicts, and crime solvers alike can thrill to new stories by Edward D. Hoch, Carolyn Wheat, Jeffrey Deaver, Stuart Kaminsky, Val McDermid, Laura Lippman, Joyce Carol Oates, and Max Allen Collins, in the unique way only mystery fiction can provide.
Ed Gorman is an award winning American author best known for his crime and mystery fiction. He wrote The Poker Club which is now a film of the same name directed by Tim McCann.
He has written under many pseudonyms including "E. J. Gorman" and "Daniel Ransom." He won a Spur Award for Best Short Fiction for his short story "The Face" in 1992. His fiction collection Cages was nominated for the 1995 Bram Stoker Award for Best Fiction Collection. His collection The Dark Fantastic was nominated for the same award in 2001.
He has contributed to many magazines and other publications including Xero, Black Lizard, Cemetery Dance, the anthology Tales of Zorro, and many more.
Visit his blog at newimprovedgorman.blogspot.com





