JULY/AUGUST 2026
Welcome to Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine! Discover original, spine-tingling stories by top-notch authors and new writers from all corners of the mystery genre, plus news, reviews, and more… to make your blood run cold!
See our 2025 Edgar® Short Story Award nomination here!
EXCERPTS:
Icehouse
David Hagerty
BOOK REVIEWS:
Booked & Printed
Laurel Flores Fantauzzo
EDITOR’S NOTES:
Life and Death Bets
Linda Landrigan
MYSTERIOUS PHOTOGRAPH:
The Story That Won
In 250 words or less…
Murder, Mayhem, Whodunit.
AHMM’s award-winning stories delivered directly to your door!
Start Reading
Available for your tablet, Reader, Smart
Phone, PC, and Mac!
FEATURED STORY
Linda Niehoff – Looking for Caitlin
Out in a field somewhere. Edie didn’t know where. Down some winding road that narrowed so hard the trees touched overhead and then it just opened up into forever. Some farmer’s back field. It was all blurry how they got there. And someone else was driving. She was in the back seat, windows down. Summer air coming in. They were way out of town. Off the highway. Off the back roads even. Away from any cell towers. The kind of road that was rutted. That you’d get stuck in if it rained. The kind of road she’d never find again,…
Keep readingMore stories from the latest issue:
- Linda Niehoff – Looking for CaitlinOut in a field somewhere. Edie didn’t know where. Down some winding road that narrowed so hard the trees touched overhead and then it just opened up into forever. Some farmer’s back field. It was all blurry how they got there. And someone else was driving. She was in the back seat, windows… Read more: Linda Niehoff – Looking for Caitlin
- Avram Lavinsky – The Tell-Tale PulseLEXY True, I’ve been nervous since the murder, wicked nervous, especially in school. But I wish the shrinks and the guidance counselors would just leave me alone, find somebody who actually wants to waste time with them. Soon a wrecking ball’ll put an end to this place and bury all the dark memories… Read more: Avram Lavinsky – The Tell-Tale Pulse
- Kate Hohl – Advance ObituaryIn the fall of 1931, when the Great Depression still gripped the country by the throat, I was on the verge of being fired from my job in the typing pool at the New Orleans Item. The hatchet-faced supervisor found out I couldn’t type sixty words per minute and relegated me to the clippings… Read more: Kate Hohl – Advance Obituary
- Nick Guthrie – The Silent PartnerDC Charlie Tunstall’s phone nearly killed him, He was in his battered old Ford Fiesta, heading back to his new digs in the small Suffolk village of Chilbourne, when the phone blew a raspberry—the ringtone had been changed a couple of weeks ago by one of the uniforms back at County HQ, and… Read more: Nick Guthrie – The Silent Partner
- Jim Fusilli – Louie the MailmanIn his gray-blue uniform, side-striped from hip to heel, Louie Fava rolled his mail satchel past St. Patrick’s just as the body of Dante Caracalla exited the brick church. Closest to the silver casket was Nicolò “Nico” Caracalla, Dante’s bull-like brother and now capo of the crew. Directly behind him was Dante’s widow… Read more: Jim Fusilli – Louie the Mailman
SNEAK PEEK
Coming Next Issue . . .
“The Silent Partner,” by Nick Guthrie
“The Man Who Loved Halloween” by Janice Law
“The Dog Dazer” by Jeff Soloway
“We, the Aging” by Gabriela Stiteler
AWARDS
OVER 60 YEARS OF AWARDS
157 Nominations from the full breadth of mystery genres
37 Award-winning stories
Edgar, Agatha, Barry, Arthur Ellis, Robert L. Fish, Macavity, Shamus, Thriller, Anthony
INVESTIGATE AHMM
Great stories of any genre are rooted in characters — well-drawn, individual, and credibly motivated…
Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine is one of the oldest and most influential magazines of short mystery and crime fiction in the world. Launched over 60 years ago, today AHMM maintains a tradition of featuring both promising aspiring writers and talented authors, spanning the full spectrum of sub-genres from dark noir to graphic works.
Meet the Who’s Who of Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine authors! View The Lineup of contributors in the current issue, see what motivates our writers, and much more.
To commit a crime is to roll the dice: Will it go as planned or will chance intervene? Can you trust your partners or will you be betrayed? The most carefully plotted murder can unravel faster than a spontaneous crime of passion. This issue is full of stories about characters who are hoping for the favor of Lady Luck, whether ferreting out corporate espionage or raiding a bathroom vanity for unused meds, weighing the odds that they will be a serial killer’s next victim or transporting a dangerous armed robber to a hospital. The turn of a card, the flip of a coin—any situation or choice subject to sudden reversal or surprise can propel a good mystery plot. We’ve doubled down on our bet that you’ll find these stories worthwhile.
“Skeletons in the Closet”… Get the latest news, check out Editor Linda Landrigan’s blog, enjoy lively podcasts, test your mystery puzzling mettle, see if you have what it takes to be a mystery writer. It’s all here.
More From Must Read Magazines!
AN INSIDE LOOK
by David Hagerty
“Ice, ice, ice,” people shouted at the mayor of New York each time he appeared in public. The price had doubled over a year’s time, and voters were angry. They relied on ice to keep their food fresh in summer and to cool their fevers in winter. And beer. The ice kept the beer chilled and flavorful even when temperatures outside rose. In a generation, New Yorkers had come to expect a steady flow of ice from the rivers and lakes upstate. READ MORE
by Will Ferguson
In murmuring voices, they discuss my murder. And every time they do, Maria comes closer and closer to capitulating. “I can’t,” she whispers. I can hear the swallowed sob in her voice. I can’t. “You must,” they whisper back. You must. READ MORE
