Follow The Clues! "Great Day To Be Alive" is our cover story by Brigitte N. McCray: A NYC corpse actress is taken hostage with her old boyfriend and taps in to her roots to save herself and find she can play the role of perpetrator. "Murder, My Suite" by John H. Dromey: When a post-depression era private investigator takes on a hush-hush job in a high-rise hotel, he has to deal with misdeeds on the upper floors. Do those count as high crimes? In "Pythagoras The Dog Is Missing" by Jess Faraday, at first, the break-in at Dr. Kulkarni's veterinary clinic looks like another salvo in Dr. K's war with local pet snatchers. But the missing dog is a celebrity, and the kidnappers' identity and motivations are not what anyone would think. In Stanton McCaffery's "True Garbage," Richard is living in denial as a fraud, making a living as a motivational speaker and professional coach. He has inherited his dead father's house and the secrets that come with it. Though he tries to hide it, the truth gets dug up, literally. In "The First Apartment" by Sherry Roberts, newlyweds encounter an unexpected and terribly annoying neighbor that requires some creative handling. In "To The Castle Borne" by J.R. Parsons, a gig driver delivers a surprising solution to a home invasion robbery displaying her talents for deduction. In Ricky Sprague's "Backstory," a Slip-and-Fall Guy tries his grift in the wrong family-themed restaurant, and becomes a very unwitting pawn in a battle between gangsters and feds. "Burglar's Bungle" is A You-Solve-It By Guy Belleranti that tests your deductive skills: Sheriff Melch's aunt has been burglarized. He and Deputy Sprott are on the job to solve the whodunnit. Custom Cover Art by Robin Grenville Evans ★★★★ At the cutting edge of crime fiction, Mystery Magazine presents original short stories by the world's best-known and emerging mystery writers. The stories we feature in our monthly issues span every imaginable subgenre, including cozy, police procedural, noir, whodunit, supernatural, hardboiled, humor, and historical mysteries. Evocative writing and a compelling story are the only certainty. Get ready to be surprised, challenged, and entertained--whether you enjoy the style of the Golden Age of mystery (e.g., Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle), the glorious pulp digests of the early twentieth century (e.g., Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler), or contemporary masters of mystery.