| Foreword
Otto Penzler | p. ix |
| Introduction
Tony Hillerman | p. xiv |
| A Retrieved Reformation (1903)
O. Henry | p. 1 |
| Paul's Case (1905)
Willa Cather | p. 8 |
| The Problem of Cell 13 (1905)
Jacques Futrelle | p. 26 |
| Blind Man's Buff (1914)
Frederick Irving Anderson | p. 58 |
| Naboth's Vineyard (1916)
Melville Davisson Post | p. 73 |
| A Jury of Her Peers (1917)
Susan Glaspell | p. 85 |
| The Gutting of Couffignal (1925)
Dashiell Hammett | p. 105 |
| Haircut (1925)
Ring Lardner | p. 133 |
| Blue Murder (1925)
Wilbur Daniel Steele | p. 144 |
| The Perfect Crime (1928)
Ben Ray Redman | p. 162 |
| The Baby in the Icebox (1933)
James M. Cain | p. 178 |
| The Murder (1933)
John Steinbeck | p. 193 |
| Sense of Humor (1934)
Damon Runyan | p. 204 |
| Ransom (1938)
Pearl S. Buck | p. 212 |
| Red Wind (1938)
Raymond Chandler | p. 235 |
| The Catbird Seat (1942)
James Thurber | p. 279 |
| Rear Window (1942)
Cornell Woolrich | p. 288 |
| An Error in Chemistry (1946)
William Faulkner | p. 318 |
| The Nine Mile Walk (1947)
Harry Kemelman | p. 335 |
| The Adventure of the President's Half Disme (1947)
Ellery Queen | p. 344 |
| The Homesick Buick (1950)
John D. MacDonald | p. 363 |
| Gone Girl (1953)
Ross Macdonald | p. 375 |
| The Moment of Decision (1955)
Stanley Ellin | p. 405 |
| First Offense (1955)
Evan Hunter | p. 426 |
| The Couple Next Door (1957)
Margaret Millar | p. 443 |
| The Day of the Execution (1957)
Henry Slesar | p. 458 |
| The Terrapin (1962)
Patricia Highsmith | p. 466 |
| The Possibility of Evil (1965)
Shirley Jackson | p. 479 |
| The Comforts of Home (1965)
Flannery O'Connor | p. 489 |
| Good Man, Bad Man (1967)
Jerome Weidman | p. 508 |
| Goodbye, Pops (1969)
Joe Gores | p. 523 |
| The Whimper of Whipped Dogs (1973)
Harlan Ellison | p. 530 |
| The Wager (1973)
Robert L. Fish | p. 547 |
| Do with Me What You Will (1973)
Joyce Carol Oates | p. 556 |
| Quitters, Inc. (1978)
Stephen King | p. 568 |
| The Absence of Emily (1981)
Jack Ritchie | p. 587 |
| By the Dawn's Early Light (1984)
Lawrence Block | p. 597 |
| Iris (1984)
Stephen Greenleaf | p. 615 |
| Three-Dot Po (1984)
Sara Paretsky | p. 635 |
| The Parker Shotgun (1986)
Sue Grafton | p. 649 |
| Too Many Crooks (1989)
Donald E. Westlake | p. 665 |
| Hot Springs (1996)
James Crumley | p. 678 |
| The Dark Snow (1996)
Brendan DuBois | p. 694 |
| Red Clay (1996)
Michael Malone | p. 713 |
| Poachers (1998)
Tom Franklin | p. 729 |
| Running Out of Dog (1999)
Dennis Lehane | p. 770 |
| Biographical Notes | p. 801 |