READ “The Listener” IN ELLERY QUEEN!

My short story, “The Listener,” is now available in the September/October 2026, 85th anniversary issue of Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. You can buy a copy of the issue here, and it’s free for Kindle Unlimited readers.

Founded in 1941, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine is one of the most celebrated publications in mystery and crime fiction. Over the past 85 years, its pages have featured an extraordinary list of writers, including Agatha Christie, Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, Patricia Highsmith, William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, Jorge Luis Borges, Stephen King, Joyce Carol Oates, Ian Rankin, Ruth Rendell, and Jeffery Deaver. More than 40 Nobel, Pulitzer, and National Book Award winners have appeared in the magazine.

I can’t believe my little story gets to join the archive with those greats.

“The Listener” follows Quinny, a 911 operator with a knack for hearing things other people miss. When she takes a call about a famous novelist found dead in an apparently locked room, the police see no reason to suspect foul play. But something about the caller’s voice doesn’t sound right to Quinny, and she becomes obsessed with finding out what really happened.

In a review for the Short Mystery Fiction Society, Ed Ridgley called it “an intriguing walk through an obsessive mind hellbent on finding out the truth even though everyone else dismisses her.”

I would love to know what you thought of the story!