J.D. O’Brien’s short story “Outlaw Country” was included “The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2025” anthology.
Reminder Publishing submitted photo
EASTHAMPTON — Author Joe O’Brien said he “fell into” writing crime fiction, appreciating the genre as a conduit for “page turners” with momentum.
Now, the Easthampton resident who writes under the pen name J.D. O’Brien, is experiencing his own momentum.
His short story, “Outlaw Country,” is featured in the prestigious anthology, “The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2025.”
O’Brien’s genre of choice is crime fiction. “I’ve always liked to write about the sort of low life characters. I think crime fiction sort of gives you that.” Crime stories also have broader appeal, he said. The main challenge to writing the genre is that there are “tropes and cliches that have been done to death. It’s really important to keep it fresh,” O’Brien said. To avoid falling into such writing traps, his stories do not rely on shocking twists, but rather on the characters and the setting, making readers want to spend time with them.
While most of O’Brien’s career has involved writing short stories and magazine pieces, he wrote his first novel, “Zig Zag,” in 2023. It was named a 2023 Southwest Book of the Year. The plot follows a couple on the run after a marijuana heist gone wrong and the burnt-out bail bonder trailing them through the American southwest.
“I like people who see themselves as larger than life, but they’re really just regular people,” O’Brien said.
The first of the two main characters in “Outlaw Country” fits that description. The author explained, “He’s a struggling wannabe country singer” who idealizes country stars like Merle Haggard and Johnny Cash, musicians who sing about their hard lives and time spent in prison. He decides the best way to become like his idols is to commit a high profile, but relatively harmless crime. However, O’Brien said, the “plan goes devastatingly wrong.”
The other main character, is similarly deluded in thinking of himself as a hard boiled, tough detective reminiscent of Clint Eastwood’s role in the film “Dirty Harry.” The plot sees these two misguided individuals on opposite sides of the law, but O’Brien said it is often played for humor. “They’re both kind of sad sacks,” he said.
O’Brien wrote “Outlaw Country” for the Bouchercon World Mystery Convention. While it was rejected, he reworked the piece and submitted it to Starlite Pulp, a crime writing journal, then put it out of his mind. As the author tells it, unbeknownst to him, Starlite Pulp editor Brian Townsley regularly sends stories from the journal to Steph Cha, executive editor of “The Best American Mystery and Suspense.”
When O’Brien received an email stating that his work had been included in the anthology, he assumed it was as an honorable mention, but said it was a “big surprise” to have his story be one of the 20 featured in the 2025 edition. O’Brien said he is glad that he did not know it had been submitted, as it would have filled him with anxiety.
This year, the guest editor of “The Best American Mystery and Suspense” was award-winning crime author Don Winslow. Each edition of the anthology features a mix of famous writers and those who are less well known. O’Brien said it affords authors like him the chance to be discovered by readers who are drawn to more well-known names. He wryly remarked, “I’m sure it’ll sell more than my novel did.”
While honored to be featured in “The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2025,” O’Brien already has his sights set on the next story to tell. He has completed the draft of one book and is now tackling a sequel to “Zig Zag.”
