Submission Guidelines (December 2023)
In the tradition of The Best American Mystery and Suspense and The Best Mystery Stories of the Year, The Best Private Eye Stories of the Year will honor—what else—the best private eye short stories published in 2024.
The inaugural edition will honor the best PI stories published in 2024. Series editor Michael Bracken welcomes Matt Coyle as guest editor for the first volume and notes that Kevin Burton Smith will contribute “The Year in Review,” an essay looking at the year’s significant events in private eye fiction.
For the purposes of this project, we use the Private Eye Writers of America’s definition of private eye: “a private citizen (not a member of the military, federal agency, or civic or state police force) who is paid to investigate crimes. A Private Investigator can be a traditional private eye, a TV or newspaper reporter, an insurance investigator, an employee of an investigative service or agency (think Pinkertons), or similar character.”
To be considered for inclusion, a story must have first been published in English during calendar year 2024. Translations previously published in another language, regardless of when originally published, will be considered ifthe English-language version was first published in 2024.
Stories must be complete in and of themselves and not an excerpt from a longer work.
Editors are encouraged to submit on behalf of their writers. Writers are encouraged to submit their own work. Readers are encouraged to suggest stories they enjoyed. It is far better for the anthology editors to receive multiple copies of a story than to receive no copies. What we don’t see we can’t select.
Submissions
Send a PDF of the published story (including the copyright page) or a URL if the story appeared online to BestPI@CrimeFictionWriter.com. In the subject line, write: Best PI Submission.
In the cover letter, include the author’s name, the title of the story, the publication, the publisher, and the publication’s editor. Example: Michael Bracken, “Death in Camelot,” Groovy Gumshoes: Private Eyes in the Psychedelic Sixties (Down & Out Books), edited by Michael Bracken. Also include contact information for the writer.
If unable to provide a PDF, write to the series editor at the above email address to request a mailing address.
Deadline
December 31, 2024. This is a hard deadline. Absolutely no stories received after this date will be considered.
Payment
$100. No royalties. Paid via PayPal (preferred) or check.
Publication date
Fall 2025.
About the series editor
- Michael Bracken https://www.CrimeFictionWriter.com
About the guest editor
- Matt Coyle https://mattcoylebooks.com/
About the “Year” in Review author
- Kevin Burton Smith https://thrillingdetective.com/ygrb
About the publisher
- Level Short, an imprint of Level Best Books https://www.levelbestbooks.us/
