Twenty of America's best mystery short stories from 2011, selected by a #1 New York Times–bestselling author.
The Best American series is 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....

"Suburban New Jersey Detective Napoleon "Nap" Dumas hasn't been the same since senior year of high school, when his twin brother Leo and Leo's girlfriend Diana were found dead on the railroad tracks -- and Maura, the girl Nap considered the love of his life, broke up with him and disappeared without explanation. For fifteen years, Nap has been searching, both for Maura and for the real reason behind his brother's death. And now, it looks as though...

"Over twenty years ago, the heiress Patricia Lockwood was abducted during a robbery of her family's estate, then locked inside an isolated cabin for months. Patricia escaped, but so did her captors -- and the items stolen from her family were never recovered. Until now. On the Upper West Side, a recluse is found murdered in his penthouse apartment, alongside two objects of note: a stolen Vermeer painting and a leather suitcase bearing the initials...

"Mickey Bolitar and his friends continue to investigate the Abeona Shelter, while Mickey searches for answers about his father's tragic death"--

The boy was born and raised on the tony Main Line. But he vanished on Philadelphia's mean streets. For Myron Bolitar, his client, golf superstar Linda Coldren, comes first--and that means unraveling the mystery of her son's kidnapping. But when Myron goes after the missing boy, he crashes through a crowd of lowlifes, blue bloods, and liars on both sides of the social divide. And as Linda's golf-pro husband suddenly makes a run at the U.S. Open championship,...

For sports agent Myron Bolitar, the disappearance of a man he'd once competed against was bringing back memories--of the sport he and Greg Downing had both played and the woman they both loved. Now, among the stars, the wanna-bes, the gamblers and groupies, Myron is unraveling the strange, violent life of a sports hero gone wrong, and coming face-to-face with a past he can't relive, and a present he may not survive.

"...it all begins when Myron's ex tells him he's a father . . . of a dying thirteen-year-old boy. A surprise visit from an ex-girlfriend is unsettling enough. But Emily Downing's news brings Myron to his knees. Her son Jeremy is dying and needs a bone marrow transplant from a donor who has vanished without a trace. Then comes the real shocker: Jeremy is Myron's son, conceived the night before Emily's wedding to another man. Myron is determined to...

Megan is a suburban soccer mom who once upon a time walked on the wild side. Now she's got two kids, a perfect husband, a picket fence, and a growing sense of dissatisfaction. Ray used to be a talented documentary photographer, but at the age of forty he finds himself in a dead-end job posing as a paparazzo, pandering to celebrity-obsessed rich kids. Broome is a detective who can't let go of a cold case. Three people living lives they never wanted,...

Six years have passed since Jake Sanders watched Natalie, the love of his life, marry another man. Six years of hiding a broken heart by throwing himself into his career as a college professor. Six years of keeping his promise to leave Natalie alone, and six years of tortured dreams of her life with her new husband, Todd. But six years haven't come close to extinguishing his feelings, and when Jake comes across Todd's obituary, he can't keep himself...

Hardball negotiating is paying off for Myron Bolitar. His newest client, Christian Steele, is about to become The Giants' new superstar. But when Christian's girlfriend disappears and her nude photo surfaces in a porno magazine, Myron gets entangled with a group of sleazy players--and a killer.