Short Mystery Stories and Classic Mystery Books from Busted Flush Press

Collections of short mystery stories are one of the types of books that Busted Flush Press publishes. Jim and I bought two books last year, Damn Near Dead and Hell of a Woman from this small but quickly growing press. Owner David Thompson, is also assistant manager at Murder By The Book ... which is an independent mystery book store located in Houston, Texas.

Jim and I have visited the store many times over the last several years. This has always been Jim's favorite mystery book store ... actually it's his favorite book store.

We value the opinions of the store manager, McKenna and David, whenever we go there to visit. They read both read suspense and mystery books voraciously and have many famous and new authors visiting the store all the time. There are always signed copies of collectible books in the store.

Here are selected excerpts for the article:

... (David) Thompson started Busted Flush Press in 2005 to revive out-of-print mysteries and introduce them to a new generation of readers.

"It bothers me, because all of these books came out in the '80s and '90s, but publishers decide they're not making enough money, so they stop printing them," Thompson said. "Then when they pick up a book that's No. 3 in the series, they forget that people still want to read the first and second books."

Last month, the Mystery Writers of America nominated Busted Flush's Uncle, a short story in an anthology called A Hell of a Woman:An Anthology of Female Noir by Daniel Woodrell, for an Edgar....

... it's the second time Busted Flush has seen one of its stories nominated for this national award. The first time, Bill Crider's short story, Cranked appeared in another of the press' anthologies, called Damn Near Dead: An Anthology of Geezer Noir.

(How David Finds Material for and Publishes Books and collections of short mystery stories)

Thompson gets material for his books by inviting writers to create stories for the anthologies. With the reprints, he searches for some of his favorite authors who have done series, and if the earliest books are out of print, he goes after the reprint rights.

Named for the houseboat in a John D. Macdonald mystery, Busted Flush Press doesn't print its books. Those are subcontracted to a printer in Michigan. But it does provide cover art, which Thompson contracts out, and marketing and advertising. Shipping services are done through a book wholesaler.

For their involvement, authors are paid a fee upfront, toward a percentage of the book's sales. The rest of the book's price goes to the publisher, printer and book wholesaler. "A good rule of thumb in this business is that it should cost you about a seventh of the price of the book to print it," Thompson said.