Edgar Award Winning Story

We’re proud and pleased that for the second year in a row, an AHMM story has won the Edgar Award for Best Short Story.  Congratulations to Gregory Fallis who was honored for his story “Red Flag.” (Last year, R.T. Lawton won for his story “The Road to Hana.”)

Congratulations, also to the other two authors whose AHMM stories were finalists this year: Charles John Harper for “Backstory” and William Burton McCormic for “Locked-In.” All excellent stories we are delighted to have showcased in AHMM.

In “Red Flag,” Greg addresses one of the more frightening aspects of modern life—random shootings that kill multiple people indiscriminately. The story is beautifully written: The narrative voice is clear and the pacing builds to an unexpected conclusion. But the situation is a terrifying reality in today’s world, and something more and more of us will have to face in the future—if we don’t do something.

In my job, murder is entertainment. It may derive from the careful plotting of the killer or the wily pursuit by a detective, from a character’s mental descent into crime or an innocent’s pursuit of justice at whatever cost. In crime stories, we readers vicariously experience the human instincts for survival, revenge, or acquisition, and we thrill to suspenseful twists or heated encounters.

But in addition to keeping us entertained, fiction can be a catalyst for change, and I hope Greg Fallis’s story, in highlighting this issue, drives us to some workable solutions.

Congratulations to Greg – and thank you.