I'm a member of the Short Mystery Fiction Society, an informal association of writers, publishers, and fans that has kept mystery & crime short stories in the public eye since 1996. The SMFS's 2020 Derringer Awards voting ends April 29 and winners will be announced in May. In the meantime, I've invited the finalists for interviews.
Well-traveled writer Peter W.J. Hayes' "Pretty Dreams", from Level Best Books' 2019 Best New England Crime anthology Seascape, is up for Best Long Story.
Describe your story in up to 20 words.
Harry—hitman and flower shop owner—wants out of the murder racket. Can he close the deal that frees him?
What were the most difficult and most enjoyable parts of writing your story?
From the start, I liked the idea of a hit man who owns a flower shop, and the premise that he would come to value the shop more than his murders. I also enjoyed placing the story in the area just north of Boston, where I lived briefly in the late 1970s. Perhaps the most difficult problem was inventing the realistic-seeming methods Harry used to avoided arrest for twenty years.
How does it feel to be a Derringer finalist?
In a word, gobsmacking. Over the years, I have read and admired the stories of a number of the finalists, and to have my own name among them is exciting and humbling at the same time. Reading everyone's stories was a real treat, it’s a pity we don’t anthologize them every year.
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| Peter W.J. Hayes |
Describe your story in up to 20 words.
Harry—hitman and flower shop owner—wants out of the murder racket. Can he close the deal that frees him?
What were the most difficult and most enjoyable parts of writing your story?
From the start, I liked the idea of a hit man who owns a flower shop, and the premise that he would come to value the shop more than his murders. I also enjoyed placing the story in the area just north of Boston, where I lived briefly in the late 1970s. Perhaps the most difficult problem was inventing the realistic-seeming methods Harry used to avoided arrest for twenty years.
How does it feel to be a Derringer finalist?
In a word, gobsmacking. Over the years, I have read and admired the stories of a number of the finalists, and to have my own name among them is exciting and humbling at the same time. Reading everyone's stories was a real treat, it’s a pity we don’t anthologize them every year.
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