The best American mystery stories 2006 / edited and with an introduction by Scott Turow ; Otto Penzler, series editor

Foreword -- Introduction / Scott Turow -- Theft / Karen E. Bender -- Pirates of Yellowstone / C.J. Box -- Why Bugsy Siegel was a friend of mine / James Lee Burke -- Born bad / Jeffery Deaver -- Edelweiss / Jane Haddam -- Texas heat / William Harrison -- Peacekeeper / Alan Heathcock -- A.k.a., Moises Rockafella / Emory Holmes II -- Dust up / Wendy Hornsby -- Her lord and master / Andrew Klavan -- Louly and Pretty Boy / Elmore Leonard -- The crack cocaine diet (Or: how to lose a lot of weight and change your life in just one weekend) / Laura Lippman -- Improvisation / Ed McBain -- McHenry's gift / Mike MacLean -- Karma / Walter Mosley -- So help me God / Joyce Carol Oates -- A temporary crown / Sue Pike -- Smile / Emily Raboteau -- Ina Grove / R.T. Smith -- Ringing the changes / Jeff Somers -- Vigilance / Scott Wolven.

"[Most of] these stories are portraits, in styles ranging from sly to harrowing, of how crimes occurred ... If you like all your characters living at the end of a story, this may not be the book for you." -- from the introduction by Scott Turow. Scott Turow takes the helm for the tenth edition of this annual, featuring twenty-one of the past year's most distinguished tales of mystery, crime, and suspense. Elmore Leonard tells the tale of a young woman who's fled home with a convicted bank robber. Walter Mosley describes an over-the-hill private detective and his new client, a woman named Karma. C. J. Box explores the fate of two Czech immigrants stranded by the side of the road in Yellowstone Park. Ed McBain begins his story on role-playing with the line "'Why don't we kill somebody?' she suggested." Wendy Hornsby tells of a wild motorcycle chase through the canyons outside Las Vegas. Laura Lippman describes the "Crack Cocaine Diet." And James Lee Burke writes of a young boy who may have been a close friend of Bugsy Siegel. As Scott Turow notes in his introduction, these stories are "about crime -- its commission, its aftermath, its anxieties, its effect on character."