Saturday, December 20, 2025
Revue of Reviewers: 12-20-25
Critiquing some of the most interesting recent crime, mystery, and thriller releases. Click on the individual covers to read more.
Eleventh-Hour Endorsements
As December slowly winds down, so does the number of “best books of the year” articles and lists being published. Marilyn Brooks, who writes the Marilyn’s Mystery Reads blog and teaches on the subject of crime fiction in association with the Brandeis Osher Lifelong Learning Institute in Massachusetts, revealed her 2025 favorites just yesterday:
• Havoc, by Christopher Bollen (Harper; first released in hardcover in December 2024, but republished in paperback in November 2025)
• Chain Reaction, by James Byrne (Minotaur)
• Edge, by Tracy Clark (Thomas & Mercer)
• Her Many Faces, by Nicci Cloke (Morrow)
• Too Old for This, by Samantha Downing (Berkley)
• The Queen of Fives, by Alex Hay (Graydon House)
• Nemesis, by Gregg Hurwitz (Minotaur)
• The Deepest Fake, by Daniel Kalla (Simon & Schuster)
• Midnight Burning, by Paul Levine (Amphorae)
• Hang On St. Christopher, by Adrian McKinty (Blackstone)
• Hotel Ukraine, by Martin Cruz Smith (Simon & Schuster)
• The Mailman, by Andrew Welsh-Huggins (Mysterious Press)
Additionally, she applauds the late Ariana Franklin’s Mistress of the Art of Death, even though it came out in 2007. “I had never heard of the author until I serendipitously found it on a shelf in my local library,” explains Brooks, “and I was struck both by the title and the cover art.”
• Havoc, by Christopher Bollen (Harper; first released in hardcover in December 2024, but republished in paperback in November 2025)
• Chain Reaction, by James Byrne (Minotaur)
• Edge, by Tracy Clark (Thomas & Mercer)
• Her Many Faces, by Nicci Cloke (Morrow)
• Too Old for This, by Samantha Downing (Berkley)
• The Queen of Fives, by Alex Hay (Graydon House)
• Nemesis, by Gregg Hurwitz (Minotaur)
• The Deepest Fake, by Daniel Kalla (Simon & Schuster)
• Midnight Burning, by Paul Levine (Amphorae)
• Hang On St. Christopher, by Adrian McKinty (Blackstone)
• Hotel Ukraine, by Martin Cruz Smith (Simon & Schuster)
• The Mailman, by Andrew Welsh-Huggins (Mysterious Press)
Additionally, she applauds the late Ariana Franklin’s Mistress of the Art of Death, even though it came out in 2007. “I had never heard of the author until I serendipitously found it on a shelf in my local library,” explains Brooks, “and I was struck both by the title and the cover art.”
* * *
Two other selections of top-drawer crime fiction are available as well. The first comes from Vicki Weisfeld, a regular contributor to the British blog Crime Fiction Lover, and features her top-five novels from 2025 (including Philip Lazar’s debut political thriller, The Tiger and the Bear). And CrimeReads’ latest in a series of reading recaps focuses on “the year’s best new legal thrillers,” among them Victor Suthammanont’s Hollow Spaces, “a psychological thriller about lawyers, in which the adult children of an acquitted murderer are spurred to reinvestigate the case that once tore their family apart.”
Wednesday, December 17, 2025
Selective and Subjective, but Solid
With Christmas and 2026 nigh upon us, print and electronic publications both have sped up their issuing “best crime and mystery fiction of 2025” lists. BOLO Books’ Kristopher Zgorski says the following 13 works “had the most resonance with me this year.”
Top Reads of 2025:
• Quantum of Menace, by Vaseem Khan (Zaffre UK)
• The Black Wolf, by Louise Penny (Minotaur)
• The Burning Grounds, by Abir Mukherjee (Pegasus Crime)
• Crooks, by Lou Berney (Morrow)
• The Girl in Cell A, by Vaseem Kahn (Hachette Morbius)
• The Girl in the Green Dress, by Mariah Fredericks (Minotaur)
• Head Cases, by John McMahon (Minotaur)
• Home Before Dark, by Eva Björg Ægisdóttir (Orenda)
• The Pastor’s Wife, by LynDee Walker (Bookouture)
• Under the Same Stars, by Libba Bray (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Top Debuts:
• The Betrayal of Thomas True, by A.J. West (Orenda)
• Death on the Island, by Eliza Reid (Poisoned Pen Press)
• Whiskey Business, by Adrian Andover (Chestnut Avenue Press)
Top Reads of 2025:
• Quantum of Menace, by Vaseem Khan (Zaffre UK)
• The Black Wolf, by Louise Penny (Minotaur)
• The Burning Grounds, by Abir Mukherjee (Pegasus Crime)
• Crooks, by Lou Berney (Morrow)
• The Girl in Cell A, by Vaseem Kahn (Hachette Morbius)
• The Girl in the Green Dress, by Mariah Fredericks (Minotaur)
• Head Cases, by John McMahon (Minotaur)
• Home Before Dark, by Eva Björg Ægisdóttir (Orenda)
• The Pastor’s Wife, by LynDee Walker (Bookouture)
• Under the Same Stars, by Libba Bray (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Top Debuts:
• The Betrayal of Thomas True, by A.J. West (Orenda)
• Death on the Island, by Eliza Reid (Poisoned Pen Press)
• Whiskey Business, by Adrian Andover (Chestnut Avenue Press)
* * *
Although I have no intention of trying to catalogue every one of the “best” selections presently rolling out (Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine’s George Easter is already making a good fist of that endeavor), let me also mention that CrimeReads has posted three new lists—“Traditional Mysteries,” “International Crime Novels,” and “Noir Fiction.” In addition, the Spybrary blog is reporting on its readers’ espionage-novel picks of the last year (Mick Herron’s Clown Town and R.N. Morris’ new Cover Story included). And contributors to Britain’s Crime Fiction Lover are revealing their own top-five choices; so far we’ve heard from Sonja van der Westhuizen, Sandra Mangan (aka DeathBecomesHer), and Paul Burke, with more to come.
Saturday, December 13, 2025
Favorite Crime Fiction of 2025,
Part VI: J. Kingston Pierce
(J. Kingston Pierce is the editor of both The Rap Sheet and Killer Covers, and the senior editor of January Magazine.)
At the close of 2024, as I looked back over the lengthy list of books I’d enjoyed that year, I realized two things: (1) I had read far fewer historical non-fiction releases than is my preference; and (2) I had read a disproportionate number of books by men, and considerably fewer by women authors. That latter fact may be attributed in part to my bias toward harder-edged tales, and my lazy presumption that men will satisfy me better in said arena. But it also pointed out that I was being less deliberate about the books I picked up, choosing cavalierly rather than consciously trying to sample a breadth of what was made available in this genre.
Over the decades I have been reading and reviewing crime and mystery fiction, there’s been a significant upsurge in the number of women contributing to the field, and in 2024, I had failed to tailor my choices accordingly.
This isn’t about my trying to be “equitable” or “inclusive”—which have become charged terms during our ridiculous period of machismo’s revival, when the U.S. secretary of defense claims that women in the military have made our armed forces weaker, and Donald Trump openly spews abuse at women (especially female reporters). For me, seeking to read more books by women is a matter of self-education: I want to see what new things are possible within crime fiction, and many of the parameters are best being tested and expanded by women writers.
So in 2025, I made an effort to sift more books by distaff scribblers into my reading diet. This proved to be anything but a hardship; I’ve actually found myself more satisfied with the choices I made over these last 12 months than I was in 2024. In the end, about 50 percent of the books I bought and enjoyed this year were by women. And when it came time to select my favorite crime, mystery, and thriller works … well, what do you know? Eight of my dozen picks are by women! This is the first time since I began publishing “favorites” lists a decade and a half ago, that the balance has favored female wordsmiths.
Without further ado, here are my crime-fiction favorites of this last year, listed simply in the order I read them:
• The Naming of the Birds, by Paraic O’Donnell (Tin House)
• Victorian Psycho, by Virginia Feito (Liveright)
• Murder at Gulls Nest, by Jess Kidd (Atria)
• Marble Hall Murders, by Anthony Horowitz (Harper)
• Hotel Ukraine, by Martin Cruz Smith (Simon & Schuster)
• The Art of a Lie, by Laura Shepherd-Robinson (Atria)
• The Girl in the Green Dress, by Mariah Fredericks (Minotaur)
• The Rush, by Beth Lewis (Pegasus)
• The Dentist, by Tim Sullivan (Atlantic Crime)
• Guilty by Definition, by Susie Dent (Sourcebooks Landmark)
• Smoke in Berlin, by Oriana Ramunno (Hemlock Press UK)
The particularly perspicacious among you will notice right off the bat that most of these novels are of the historical fiction variety. That’s become my penchant; I like to learn about periods foreign to my experience at the same time as I delight in a wickedly knotty mystery or an intensely rendered novel of dastardly doings. O’Donnell’s The Naming of the Birds (his sequel to The House on Vesper Sands) transports us to 1894 London, where the slayings of prominent men may be linked to a dreadful long-ago fire at a Grimm-esque orphanage.
The alternately macabre and hilarious Victorian Psycho introduces a 19th-century English governess who endures indignities visited upon her by society and priggish employers—until she snaps in a final sanguinary spree. Murder at Gulls Nest, easily the coziest of this lot, finds a sassy quondam nun venturing to the English coast in 1954, hoping to solve the disappearance of a novice from her old order. In The Art of a Lie, we get a confectioner bringing the Italian delicacy “iced cream” to mid-18th-century Londoners, while engaging in a battle of wits with a gentleman con artist. The Girl in the Green Dress imagines a headline-hungry New York City reporter teaming with Zelda Fitzgerald, the madcap mate of author F. Scott Fitzgerald, to solve the real-life murder of a bridge-playing playboy. In The Rush, we’re offered a trio of audacious Victorian women chasing down a killer amid Canada’s wild Klondike Gold Rush. And Ramunno’s Smoke in Berlin thrusts us into the bombed-out German capital in 1944, where police detective Hugo Fischer investigates the deaths of an ideologically divided couple and a Reich journalist; it’s the affecting follow-up to Ashes in the Snow.
The remaining three modern stories all benefit from quirky, multidimensional characters and more than a fistful of plotting surprises. Book editor-cum-sleuth Susan Ryeland (Magpie Murders, Moonflower Murders) returns in Marble Hall Murders to tease out the secrets behind the demise, two decades ago, of a famous children’s author. Smith’s 11th and last outing for Arkady Renko, in Hotel Ukraine, pits that dogged Moscow police inspector against national security and paramilitary forces (and his creeping Parkinson’s disease) as he digs for connections between a deputy defense minister’s murder and Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Autistic English police detective George Gross makes his American publishing debut in The Dentist, wherein he strives to link the ostensibly random strangling of a homeless man with a perhaps intentionally bungled 15-year-old homicide case. Finally, in Guilty by Definition, we meet lexicographer Martha Thornhill, who—with help from her eccentric staff of dictionary writers—struggles to make sense of anonymously submitted clues suggesting there’s more to know about why Martha’s sister went missing 10 years ago than has yet been revealed. Bonus: Author Dent peppers her pages with arcane words with which to impress your friends. “Conjobble,” anyone? Or “procaffeinate”?
Finally, let me recommend an exceptional historical true-crime release from earlier this year—also composed by a woman: Story of a Murder: The Wives, the Mistress, and Dr. Crippen (Dutton). In it, Hallie Rubenhold (who previously penned The Five) re-examines the bizarre case of Hawley Harvey Crippen, a mild-mannered homeopathic physician who, in 1910, poisoned his domineering spouse and then buried her partial remains beneath the brickwork floor of their London abode, before fleeing by ship to Canada with his young employee and lover. No matter how many times these incidents are revisited, whether in John Boyne’s Crippen (2004), Erik Larson’s Thunderstruck (2006), Martin Edwards’ Dancing for the Hangman (2008), or Peter Lovesey’s The False Inspector Dew (1982, which uses the Crippen affair as the starting point for an original mystery), I never tire of reading about their peculiarities and ill-starred protagonist.
At the close of 2024, as I looked back over the lengthy list of books I’d enjoyed that year, I realized two things: (1) I had read far fewer historical non-fiction releases than is my preference; and (2) I had read a disproportionate number of books by men, and considerably fewer by women authors. That latter fact may be attributed in part to my bias toward harder-edged tales, and my lazy presumption that men will satisfy me better in said arena. But it also pointed out that I was being less deliberate about the books I picked up, choosing cavalierly rather than consciously trying to sample a breadth of what was made available in this genre.
Over the decades I have been reading and reviewing crime and mystery fiction, there’s been a significant upsurge in the number of women contributing to the field, and in 2024, I had failed to tailor my choices accordingly.This isn’t about my trying to be “equitable” or “inclusive”—which have become charged terms during our ridiculous period of machismo’s revival, when the U.S. secretary of defense claims that women in the military have made our armed forces weaker, and Donald Trump openly spews abuse at women (especially female reporters). For me, seeking to read more books by women is a matter of self-education: I want to see what new things are possible within crime fiction, and many of the parameters are best being tested and expanded by women writers.
So in 2025, I made an effort to sift more books by distaff scribblers into my reading diet. This proved to be anything but a hardship; I’ve actually found myself more satisfied with the choices I made over these last 12 months than I was in 2024. In the end, about 50 percent of the books I bought and enjoyed this year were by women. And when it came time to select my favorite crime, mystery, and thriller works … well, what do you know? Eight of my dozen picks are by women! This is the first time since I began publishing “favorites” lists a decade and a half ago, that the balance has favored female wordsmiths.
Without further ado, here are my crime-fiction favorites of this last year, listed simply in the order I read them:
• The Naming of the Birds, by Paraic O’Donnell (Tin House)
• Victorian Psycho, by Virginia Feito (Liveright)
• Murder at Gulls Nest, by Jess Kidd (Atria)
• Marble Hall Murders, by Anthony Horowitz (Harper)
• Hotel Ukraine, by Martin Cruz Smith (Simon & Schuster)
• The Art of a Lie, by Laura Shepherd-Robinson (Atria)
• The Girl in the Green Dress, by Mariah Fredericks (Minotaur)
• The Rush, by Beth Lewis (Pegasus)
• The Dentist, by Tim Sullivan (Atlantic Crime)
• Guilty by Definition, by Susie Dent (Sourcebooks Landmark)
• Smoke in Berlin, by Oriana Ramunno (Hemlock Press UK)
The particularly perspicacious among you will notice right off the bat that most of these novels are of the historical fiction variety. That’s become my penchant; I like to learn about periods foreign to my experience at the same time as I delight in a wickedly knotty mystery or an intensely rendered novel of dastardly doings. O’Donnell’s The Naming of the Birds (his sequel to The House on Vesper Sands) transports us to 1894 London, where the slayings of prominent men may be linked to a dreadful long-ago fire at a Grimm-esque orphanage.
The alternately macabre and hilarious Victorian Psycho introduces a 19th-century English governess who endures indignities visited upon her by society and priggish employers—until she snaps in a final sanguinary spree. Murder at Gulls Nest, easily the coziest of this lot, finds a sassy quondam nun venturing to the English coast in 1954, hoping to solve the disappearance of a novice from her old order. In The Art of a Lie, we get a confectioner bringing the Italian delicacy “iced cream” to mid-18th-century Londoners, while engaging in a battle of wits with a gentleman con artist. The Girl in the Green Dress imagines a headline-hungry New York City reporter teaming with Zelda Fitzgerald, the madcap mate of author F. Scott Fitzgerald, to solve the real-life murder of a bridge-playing playboy. In The Rush, we’re offered a trio of audacious Victorian women chasing down a killer amid Canada’s wild Klondike Gold Rush. And Ramunno’s Smoke in Berlin thrusts us into the bombed-out German capital in 1944, where police detective Hugo Fischer investigates the deaths of an ideologically divided couple and a Reich journalist; it’s the affecting follow-up to Ashes in the Snow.The remaining three modern stories all benefit from quirky, multidimensional characters and more than a fistful of plotting surprises. Book editor-cum-sleuth Susan Ryeland (Magpie Murders, Moonflower Murders) returns in Marble Hall Murders to tease out the secrets behind the demise, two decades ago, of a famous children’s author. Smith’s 11th and last outing for Arkady Renko, in Hotel Ukraine, pits that dogged Moscow police inspector against national security and paramilitary forces (and his creeping Parkinson’s disease) as he digs for connections between a deputy defense minister’s murder and Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Autistic English police detective George Gross makes his American publishing debut in The Dentist, wherein he strives to link the ostensibly random strangling of a homeless man with a perhaps intentionally bungled 15-year-old homicide case. Finally, in Guilty by Definition, we meet lexicographer Martha Thornhill, who—with help from her eccentric staff of dictionary writers—struggles to make sense of anonymously submitted clues suggesting there’s more to know about why Martha’s sister went missing 10 years ago than has yet been revealed. Bonus: Author Dent peppers her pages with arcane words with which to impress your friends. “Conjobble,” anyone? Or “procaffeinate”?
Finally, let me recommend an exceptional historical true-crime release from earlier this year—also composed by a woman: Story of a Murder: The Wives, the Mistress, and Dr. Crippen (Dutton). In it, Hallie Rubenhold (who previously penned The Five) re-examines the bizarre case of Hawley Harvey Crippen, a mild-mannered homeopathic physician who, in 1910, poisoned his domineering spouse and then buried her partial remains beneath the brickwork floor of their London abode, before fleeing by ship to Canada with his young employee and lover. No matter how many times these incidents are revisited, whether in John Boyne’s Crippen (2004), Erik Larson’s Thunderstruck (2006), Martin Edwards’ Dancing for the Hangman (2008), or Peter Lovesey’s The False Inspector Dew (1982, which uses the Crippen affair as the starting point for an original mystery), I never tire of reading about their peculiarities and ill-starred protagonist.
Taylor, Barnstrom Secure Wolfe Approval
In Reference to Murder reports that Vermont author Sarah Stewart Taylor has won the Nero Award for her 2024 novel, Agony Hill (Minotaur), which introduced series detective Franklin Warren. The Nero is given out annually by the Wolfe Pack, a New York-based literary society, to “the best American mystery written in the tradition of Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe stories.”
Additionally, news comes that “The Troubling Mr. Truelove,” by Pete Barnstrom (to be published in the July 2026 issue of Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine), has picked up this year’s Black Orchid Novella Award, sponsored by the Wolfe Pack and AHMM “to celebrate the novella format popularized by Stout.” Several other short works were given Black Orchid honorable mentions: Paul A. Barra’s “Beauty and Buford,” Craig H. Bowlsby’s “Last Train to Medicine Hat,” Libby Cudmore’s “Piano Man,” Tom Larsen’s “The Sheriff of Alabama Street,” Josh Pachter’s “Melancholia,” and Daniel Peyton’s “A Noir Satyr: Follow That MacGuffin.” Congratulations to them all!
Additionally, news comes that “The Troubling Mr. Truelove,” by Pete Barnstrom (to be published in the July 2026 issue of Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine), has picked up this year’s Black Orchid Novella Award, sponsored by the Wolfe Pack and AHMM “to celebrate the novella format popularized by Stout.” Several other short works were given Black Orchid honorable mentions: Paul A. Barra’s “Beauty and Buford,” Craig H. Bowlsby’s “Last Train to Medicine Hat,” Libby Cudmore’s “Piano Man,” Tom Larsen’s “The Sheriff of Alabama Street,” Josh Pachter’s “Melancholia,” and Daniel Peyton’s “A Noir Satyr: Follow That MacGuffin.” Congratulations to them all!
Friday, December 12, 2025
Favorite Crime Fiction of 2025,
Part V: Ali Karim
(Ali Karim is The Rap Sheet’s longtime British correspondent, a contributing editor of January Magazine, and assistant editor of the e-zine Shots. In addition, he writes for Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine and Mystery Readers International. This last fall, Ali was the Fan Guest of Honor at Bouchercon in New Orleans.)
This was my first full year of retirement, a course correction necessitated by problematic changes in my health but giving me more time to spend with family. Apart from some freelance writing on the subjects of industrial chemistry (my lifelong career) and firefighting, I have sought to keep my mind occupied with reading, reviewing books, and penning literary commentary on both crime and
horror fiction. My rewards, after two years spent worrying about my heart, were (1) to take part in the final CrimeFest in May, and (2) to attend this last September’s Bouchercon “World Mystery Convention” in New Orleans, Louisiana. Planning for that latter excursion was extensive, particularly since I had to find robust medical insurance, but I was helped by my old comrade, Shots editor Mike Stotter, who then accompanied me across the Atlantic. The week we spent attending Bouchercon panel discussions, walking inside and outside the city’s French Quarter, and partaking of various Southern food specialties (though no grits!) was extremely gratifying. Yet most memorable by far were the hours we got to spend with our American friends, especially Rap Sheet editor Jeff Pierce, Deadly Pleasures editor George Easter, and DP associate editor Larry Gandle. It had been a decade since we’d last been in the United States, attending Bouchercon 2016 (also in New Orleans). But when we gathered as friends, it seemed that hardly any time had passed at all.
Of the many new crime, mystery, and thriller novel releases I read in 2025, these are the 10 I relished the most:
• Everybody Wants to Rule the World, by Ace Atkins (Corsair UK/Morrow U.S.)
• 13 Hillcrest Drive, by Gerald Petievich (Rare Bird U.S.)
• Kill Your Darlings, by Peter Swanson (Faber & Faber UK/Morrow U.S.)
• The Whyte Python World Tour, by Travis Kennedy (Penguin UK/Doubleday U.S.)
• Ordinary Bear, by C.B. Bernard (Blackstone U.S., 2024)
• Hero, by Thomas Perry (Mysterious Press U.S., 2024)
• Broken, by Jón Atli Jónasson (Corylus UK)
• Never Flinch, by Stephen King (Hodder and Stoughton UK/
Scribner U.S.)
• The Savage, Noble Death of Babs Dionne, by Ron Currie (Atlantic UK/Putnam U.S.)
• The Oligarch’s Daughter, by Joseph Finder (Head of Zeus UK/
Harper U.S.)
While I enjoyed all of those novels, it’s the first three I revisit most often in my mind. Atkins’ Everybody Wants to Rule the World delivers laughs
aplenty in an otherwise terrifying Cold War thriller about sleeper agents embedded in Atlanta, Georgia, seeking the truth behind the concept of “mutually assured destruction.” Petievich’s 13 Hillcrest Drive is a tough-as-nails police procedural about a cop struggling to overcome a past indiscretion at the same time he investigates a triple homicide case in Hollywood, California. And Swanson’s Kill Your Darlings tells of a poet who determines to kill her English professor husband, not because he’s a drinker with a notoriously wandering eye (and a fondness for young women students), but because he’s begun writing a mystery novel that may reveal a dark secret that has long cemented their union.
Let me also recommend two from the crime non-fiction shelves:
• Reacher: The Stories Behind the Stories, by Lee Child (Bantam UK/Mysterious Press U.S.)
• Murderland: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers, by Caroline Fraser (Fleet UK/Penguin Press U.S.)
And since I mentioned my fondness for horror fiction, let me tout a couple of works from that genre that appeared this year:
• Whistle, by Linwood Barclay (HQ UK/ Morrow Paperbacks U.S.)
• The End of the World as We Know It: New Tales of Stephen King’s The Stand, edited by Christopher Golden and Brian Hodge (Hodder & Stoughton UK/Gallery U.S.)
This was my first full year of retirement, a course correction necessitated by problematic changes in my health but giving me more time to spend with family. Apart from some freelance writing on the subjects of industrial chemistry (my lifelong career) and firefighting, I have sought to keep my mind occupied with reading, reviewing books, and penning literary commentary on both crime and
horror fiction. My rewards, after two years spent worrying about my heart, were (1) to take part in the final CrimeFest in May, and (2) to attend this last September’s Bouchercon “World Mystery Convention” in New Orleans, Louisiana. Planning for that latter excursion was extensive, particularly since I had to find robust medical insurance, but I was helped by my old comrade, Shots editor Mike Stotter, who then accompanied me across the Atlantic. The week we spent attending Bouchercon panel discussions, walking inside and outside the city’s French Quarter, and partaking of various Southern food specialties (though no grits!) was extremely gratifying. Yet most memorable by far were the hours we got to spend with our American friends, especially Rap Sheet editor Jeff Pierce, Deadly Pleasures editor George Easter, and DP associate editor Larry Gandle. It had been a decade since we’d last been in the United States, attending Bouchercon 2016 (also in New Orleans). But when we gathered as friends, it seemed that hardly any time had passed at all.Of the many new crime, mystery, and thriller novel releases I read in 2025, these are the 10 I relished the most:
• Everybody Wants to Rule the World, by Ace Atkins (Corsair UK/Morrow U.S.)
• 13 Hillcrest Drive, by Gerald Petievich (Rare Bird U.S.)
• Kill Your Darlings, by Peter Swanson (Faber & Faber UK/Morrow U.S.)
• The Whyte Python World Tour, by Travis Kennedy (Penguin UK/Doubleday U.S.)
• Ordinary Bear, by C.B. Bernard (Blackstone U.S., 2024)
• Hero, by Thomas Perry (Mysterious Press U.S., 2024)
• Broken, by Jón Atli Jónasson (Corylus UK)
• Never Flinch, by Stephen King (Hodder and Stoughton UK/
Scribner U.S.)
• The Savage, Noble Death of Babs Dionne, by Ron Currie (Atlantic UK/Putnam U.S.)
• The Oligarch’s Daughter, by Joseph Finder (Head of Zeus UK/
Harper U.S.)
While I enjoyed all of those novels, it’s the first three I revisit most often in my mind. Atkins’ Everybody Wants to Rule the World delivers laughs
aplenty in an otherwise terrifying Cold War thriller about sleeper agents embedded in Atlanta, Georgia, seeking the truth behind the concept of “mutually assured destruction.” Petievich’s 13 Hillcrest Drive is a tough-as-nails police procedural about a cop struggling to overcome a past indiscretion at the same time he investigates a triple homicide case in Hollywood, California. And Swanson’s Kill Your Darlings tells of a poet who determines to kill her English professor husband, not because he’s a drinker with a notoriously wandering eye (and a fondness for young women students), but because he’s begun writing a mystery novel that may reveal a dark secret that has long cemented their union.Let me also recommend two from the crime non-fiction shelves:
• Reacher: The Stories Behind the Stories, by Lee Child (Bantam UK/Mysterious Press U.S.)
• Murderland: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers, by Caroline Fraser (Fleet UK/Penguin Press U.S.)
And since I mentioned my fondness for horror fiction, let me tout a couple of works from that genre that appeared this year:
• Whistle, by Linwood Barclay (HQ UK/ Morrow Paperbacks U.S.)
• The End of the World as We Know It: New Tales of Stephen King’s The Stand, edited by Christopher Golden and Brian Hodge (Hodder & Stoughton UK/Gallery U.S.)
Finding Fine Crime in All Corners
Every December, I wait eagerly to see which crime, mystery, and thriller novels Wall Street Journal critic Tom Nolan will declare are his favorites of the year. Tom has been a contributor to the Journal for the last 35 years, but I first became acquainted with him when I interviewed him for January Magazine in 1999. He and I seem frequently to share reading preferences, so I like to see if there are any books he chooses that for some reason I missed. Sure enough, in his new article, “The Best Books of 2025: Mystery” (scheduled to appear in tomorrow’s print edition of the Journal, but available online today—behind a paywall), there are a couple of yarns I skipped originally, and will now have to catch up with in the weeks to come.
Here are the 10 crime tales Tom found most rewarding in 2025:
• The Savage, Noble Death of Babs Dionne, by Ron Currie (Putnam)
• Beartooth, by Callan Wink (Spiegel & Grau)
• Murder at Gulls Nest, by Jess Kidd (Atria)
• Kill Your Darlings, by Peter Swanson (Morrow)
• Fair Play, by Louise Hegarty (Harper)
• The Impossible Fortune, by Richard Osman (Pamela Dorman)
• A Case of Mice and Murder, by Sally Smith (Raven)
• The Doorman, by Chris Pavone (MCD)
• The Diary of Lies, by Philip Miller (Soho Crime)
• The Good Liar, by Denise Mina (Mulholland)
• Dead in the Frame, by Stephen Spotswood (Doubleday)
• At Midnight Comes the Cry, by Julia Spencer-Fleming (Minotaur)
• Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man), by Jesse Q.
Sutanto (Berkley)
• Glory Daze, by Danielle Arceneaux (Pegasus Crime)
• Notes on Surviving the Fire, by Christine Murphy (Knopf)
• History Lessons, by Zoe B. Wallbrook (Soho Crime)
• Her One Regret, by Donna Freitas (Soho Crime)
• Death Takes Me, by Cristina Rivera Garza (Hogarth)
• Heartwood, by Amity Gaige (Simon & Schuster)
• Hollow Spaces, by Victor Suthammanont (Counterpoint)
And Sarah Lyall submits her “Best Thrillers of 2025” selections:
• The Doorman, by Chris Pavone (MCD)
• Your Steps on the Stairs, by Antonio Muñoz Molina (Other Press)
• Venetian Vespers, by John Banville (Knopf)
• The Impossible Thing, by Belinda Bauer (Atlantic Monthly Press)
• Dissolution, by Nicholas Binge (Riverhead)
• The Vanishing Place, by Zoë Rankin (Berkley)
• A Beautiful Family, by Jennifer Trevelyan (Doubleday)
• The Good Liar, by Denise Mina (Mulholland)
• The Predicament, by William Boyd (Atlantic Crime)
• The Impossible Fortune, by Richard Osman (Pamela Dorman)
Both of these pieces are scheduled for inclusion in the print version of The New York Times this coming Sunday, December 14.
• Oxford Soju Club, by Jinwoo Park (Dundurn Press)
• Clown Town, by Mick Herron (Soho Crime)
• The Poet’s Game, Paul Vidich (Pegasus Crime)
• Pariah, by Dan Fesperman (Knopf)
• The Oligarch’s Daughter, by Joseph Finder (Harper)
• Mrs. Spy, by M.J. Robotham (Aria/Bloomsbury)
Here are the 10 crime tales Tom found most rewarding in 2025:
• The Savage, Noble Death of Babs Dionne, by Ron Currie (Putnam)
• Beartooth, by Callan Wink (Spiegel & Grau)
• Murder at Gulls Nest, by Jess Kidd (Atria)
• Kill Your Darlings, by Peter Swanson (Morrow)
• Fair Play, by Louise Hegarty (Harper)
• The Impossible Fortune, by Richard Osman (Pamela Dorman)
• A Case of Mice and Murder, by Sally Smith (Raven)
• The Doorman, by Chris Pavone (MCD)
• The Diary of Lies, by Philip Miller (Soho Crime)
• The Good Liar, by Denise Mina (Mulholland)
* * *
In the meantime, The New York Times has sprung forth with two lists of interest to Rap Sheet readers. The first comes from Sarah Weinman, and covers her choices of the “Best Mystery Novels of 2025”:• Dead in the Frame, by Stephen Spotswood (Doubleday)
• At Midnight Comes the Cry, by Julia Spencer-Fleming (Minotaur)
• Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man), by Jesse Q.
Sutanto (Berkley)
• Glory Daze, by Danielle Arceneaux (Pegasus Crime)
• Notes on Surviving the Fire, by Christine Murphy (Knopf)
• History Lessons, by Zoe B. Wallbrook (Soho Crime)
• Her One Regret, by Donna Freitas (Soho Crime)
• Death Takes Me, by Cristina Rivera Garza (Hogarth)
• Heartwood, by Amity Gaige (Simon & Schuster)
• Hollow Spaces, by Victor Suthammanont (Counterpoint)
And Sarah Lyall submits her “Best Thrillers of 2025” selections:
• The Doorman, by Chris Pavone (MCD)
• Your Steps on the Stairs, by Antonio Muñoz Molina (Other Press)
• Venetian Vespers, by John Banville (Knopf)
• The Impossible Thing, by Belinda Bauer (Atlantic Monthly Press)
• Dissolution, by Nicholas Binge (Riverhead)
• The Vanishing Place, by Zoë Rankin (Berkley)
• A Beautiful Family, by Jennifer Trevelyan (Doubleday)
• The Good Liar, by Denise Mina (Mulholland)
• The Predicament, by William Boyd (Atlantic Crime)
• The Impossible Fortune, by Richard Osman (Pamela Dorman)
Both of these pieces are scheduled for inclusion in the print version of The New York Times this coming Sunday, December 14.
* * *
Finally for today, CrimeReads has added its six picks of this year’s best espionage fiction to its previous selections of 2025’s top 20 crime novels and best debut novels:• Oxford Soju Club, by Jinwoo Park (Dundurn Press)
• Clown Town, by Mick Herron (Soho Crime)
• The Poet’s Game, Paul Vidich (Pegasus Crime)
• Pariah, by Dan Fesperman (Knopf)
• The Oligarch’s Daughter, by Joseph Finder (Harper)
• Mrs. Spy, by M.J. Robotham (Aria/Bloomsbury)
Thursday, December 11, 2025
Favorite Crime Fiction of 2025,
Part IV: Jim Thomsen
(Jim Thomsen is a writer and editor who lives in Kingston, Washington. In 2023, he edited The Killing Rain, an anthology of Seattle-centric crime fiction, which saw three stories placed in two prestigious 2025 anthologies, The Best American Mystery and Suspense, and The Best Private Eye Stories of the Year.)
I’ll own it: I haven’t read as much new crime fiction this year as I did in years previous.
Part of the reason for that is that as I get older—and I turned 60 this year—I get crankier. I’m less willing to read novels I suspect I won’t like. In past years, I forced myself to read any novel under the mystery/suspense/thriller umbrella that seemed to have some “buzz,” in order to assure my insecurities that I was staying nominally relevant among the glitterati of the genre, the conference commandos. And while I discovered some good stories along the way, the risk/reward ratio for me was way out of whack, something like 10 duds for every gem. At my age, why waste that kind of time?
To be honest, the gems seemed harder for me to find on 2025 publication lists, especially now that I almost fully forgo series novels and what I believe to be their increasingly reductive pleasures. And I’ve been looking as hard as I ever have.
Another reason for my reading less is that I feel more despair about the direction of crime fiction—and book publishing, in general—as we near the end of this year. Down & Out Books, a home for the genre’s otherwise homeless, shut down in October after 15 years, finding its lane increasingly too narrow to financially squeeze through. And one of my closest author friends—someone with an extensive track record of success who had a Big Five (or is it Four?) contract at the beginning of 2025—now finds himself without an agent or publisher, having had his last three novels rejected because, as he told me, the marketing committees of those publishing houses decided his books couldn’t sell 100,000 copies at a minimum. Evidently that’s become the new standard for acceptance.
No longer can editorial tastemakers will a good novel into published reality, it seems. Now, apparently, it’s all about how derivative of past success a work can be. Risk aversion for original approaches and ideas seems to be at an all-time high. I can sniff out those please-the-market-of-the-moment works in the first few pages, and I avoid them at all costs because they don’t feel written out of love for storytelling as much as they feel like business plans in book form.
That said, I did manage to find a handful of new novels this year that met my increasingly cranky standards:
• Crooks, by Lou Berney (Morrow)
• El Dorado Drive, by Megan Abbott (Putnam)
• What About the Bodies, by Ken Jaworowksi (Atlantic Crime)
• Silent Creek, by Tony Wirt (Thomas & Mercer)
• Friends Helping Friends, by Patrick Hoffman (Atlantic Monthly Press)
• You Will Never See Me, by Jake Hinkson (Crooked Lane)
• Heartwood, by Amity Gaige (Simon & Schuster)
• The Length of Days, by Lynn Kostoff (Stark House Press)
• Murderapolis, by Anthony Neil Smith (Urban Pigs Press)
And I’ll add one non-fiction crime book:
Murderland: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers, by Caroline Fraser (Penguin Press)
What do these novels have in common? They all feature Everyman/Everywoman characters in a baseline battle for everyday survival—and right-now survival. (With rare exception, I can’t stand a protagonist with standing; the central character who doesn’t want to be there or has no particular right to be there portends the best kind of compelling conflicts, that of character on top of plot.) They never seem to be uphill reads; they hum with grace and glide, the kind of stories that come from never forcing a phrase or a plot twist. In short, these are novels I can read more than once, novels that never front-load their pleasures, novels that reveal fresh nuance with each reading.
Why read any other kind of novel? Or is that too cranky a mindset?
I’ll own it: I haven’t read as much new crime fiction this year as I did in years previous.Part of the reason for that is that as I get older—and I turned 60 this year—I get crankier. I’m less willing to read novels I suspect I won’t like. In past years, I forced myself to read any novel under the mystery/suspense/thriller umbrella that seemed to have some “buzz,” in order to assure my insecurities that I was staying nominally relevant among the glitterati of the genre, the conference commandos. And while I discovered some good stories along the way, the risk/reward ratio for me was way out of whack, something like 10 duds for every gem. At my age, why waste that kind of time?
To be honest, the gems seemed harder for me to find on 2025 publication lists, especially now that I almost fully forgo series novels and what I believe to be their increasingly reductive pleasures. And I’ve been looking as hard as I ever have.
Another reason for my reading less is that I feel more despair about the direction of crime fiction—and book publishing, in general—as we near the end of this year. Down & Out Books, a home for the genre’s otherwise homeless, shut down in October after 15 years, finding its lane increasingly too narrow to financially squeeze through. And one of my closest author friends—someone with an extensive track record of success who had a Big Five (or is it Four?) contract at the beginning of 2025—now finds himself without an agent or publisher, having had his last three novels rejected because, as he told me, the marketing committees of those publishing houses decided his books couldn’t sell 100,000 copies at a minimum. Evidently that’s become the new standard for acceptance.
No longer can editorial tastemakers will a good novel into published reality, it seems. Now, apparently, it’s all about how derivative of past success a work can be. Risk aversion for original approaches and ideas seems to be at an all-time high. I can sniff out those please-the-market-of-the-moment works in the first few pages, and I avoid them at all costs because they don’t feel written out of love for storytelling as much as they feel like business plans in book form.
That said, I did manage to find a handful of new novels this year that met my increasingly cranky standards:• Crooks, by Lou Berney (Morrow)
• El Dorado Drive, by Megan Abbott (Putnam)
• What About the Bodies, by Ken Jaworowksi (Atlantic Crime)
• Silent Creek, by Tony Wirt (Thomas & Mercer)
• Friends Helping Friends, by Patrick Hoffman (Atlantic Monthly Press)
• You Will Never See Me, by Jake Hinkson (Crooked Lane)
• Heartwood, by Amity Gaige (Simon & Schuster)
• The Length of Days, by Lynn Kostoff (Stark House Press)
• Murderapolis, by Anthony Neil Smith (Urban Pigs Press)
And I’ll add one non-fiction crime book:
Murderland: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers, by Caroline Fraser (Penguin Press)
What do these novels have in common? They all feature Everyman/Everywoman characters in a baseline battle for everyday survival—and right-now survival. (With rare exception, I can’t stand a protagonist with standing; the central character who doesn’t want to be there or has no particular right to be there portends the best kind of compelling conflicts, that of character on top of plot.) They never seem to be uphill reads; they hum with grace and glide, the kind of stories that come from never forcing a phrase or a plot twist. In short, these are novels I can read more than once, novels that never front-load their pleasures, novels that reveal fresh nuance with each reading.
Why read any other kind of novel? Or is that too cranky a mindset?
Wednesday, December 10, 2025
Favorite Crime Fiction of 2025,
Part III: Kevin Burton Smith
(Kevin Burton Smith is the Montreal, Quebec-born founder and editor of that essential resource, The Thrilling Detective Web Site, as well as the Web Monkey for The Private Eye Writers of America and a contributor to Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine. A lost Canadian, he’s currently hiding out in Southern California’s High Desert with his wife, mystery author D.L. Browne [aka Diana Killian and Josh Lanyon], and waiting for the end of the world.)
In a “normal” year, I might have lost myself in crime fiction. Books, short stories, films, television, comic books, and graphic novels. Yet in a year and a nation overstuffed with real-life crime,
fiction often wasn’t enough for this lost Canadian.
Oh, there were books I could almost lose myself in, and Lord knows I tried; but worries political, professional, and personal kept intruding. It has been one hell of a year, and Rap Sheet editor Jeff Pierce is not kidding when he suggests that we’re all—or at least most of us—tired.
Still, I was heartened by memories of my long-gone mother and her reports of how during World War II’s Blitzkrieg, Londoners took refuge in the underground Tube stations, huddled together, reading works by Agatha Christie and other authors, even as Nazi artillery exploded overhead. And so, as more figurative bombs kept falling right and left these last dozen months, I did manage to find solace in these 10 books:
• Untouchable, by Mike Lawson (Atlantic Monthly)
• Never Flinch, by Stephen King (Scribner)
• Murder Takes a Vacation, by Laura Lippman (Morrow)
• Picket Line, by Elmore Leonard (Mariner)
• Nightshade, by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown)
• Boystown, by John Shannon (Unnamed Press)
• Hatchet Girls, by Joe R. Lansdale (Mulholland)
• Galway’s Edge, by Ken Bruen (Mysterious Press)
• North Country, by Matt Bondurant (Blackstone)
• Out of Alcatraz, by Christopher Cantwell and Tyler Crook (Oni Press)
Each of those had a scene, a character, a mood, a spark—something—that let me achieve escape velocity for a blissful hour of so.
Mike Lawson’s Untouchable, featuring Washington, D.C., political fixer Joe DeMarco, wandered all too close to reality on occasion. However, I was heartened by its suggestion that even in the most vile of times, with corruption coming down like a hammer on a drum, maybe, just maybe, some spark of goodness may prevail. Stephen King and Laura Lippman also brought back two of my favorite series eyes, Holly Gibney and Tess Monaghan, respectively, even if the long-missing Tess’ appearance amounted to little more than an extended cameo or two—still, it was great to catch up with both of them. The Leonard novella barely qualifies as a book, and yet it was a delicious reminder of what a gift that author was to crime fiction. Fellow vet Connelly’s Nightshade was a
rousing introduction to a promising new series, featuring a big-city cop trying to bring law and order (or at least some approximation of justice) to the sleepy resort vibe of California’s beloved Santa Catalina Island, mere miles off the coast from big, bad Los Angeles. Back on that mainland, John Shannon’s beaten and battered, post-stroke private eye, Jack Liffey, continued to fight the good fight in the City of Angels and its myriad subcultures (Onward, West Hollywood?), while a few states over, in Texas, Lansdale’s Hap and Leonard go tooth, nail, and assorted weaponry against some well-armed women in a bloody froth of crime, misguided politics, and feminist ire. And across the ocean, in Ireland, the late, great Ken Bruen’s Galway’s Edge was a heart-wrenching adieu from one of the genre’s outstanding stylists and yarn spinners, and marked a swan song for his poetry-spouting, beleaguered but defiant detective, Jack Taylor, one of crime fiction’s most memorable characters. We’ll miss them both.
There were also a couple of unexpected surprises this year that landed hard. North Country was way out of my usual wheelhouse, mixing hard-boiled crime with some surprising WTF? and dark-hearted woo-woo, as dishonorably discharged Tom Kaiser makes his way home to upstate Chazy, New York—a return that turns into a swirl of murder, backstabbing, stolen art, broken families, and drug smuggling that stretches from Vermont all the way to Montreal and back. Oh, plus satellites and shooting stars in the sky and something like death moving under the unforgiving ice of a frozen Lake Champlain. The Out of Alcatraz graphic novel also straddles the Canada/U.S. border, telling a twisted prison break tale based oh-so-loosely on actual events that occurred in 1962, with the escapees (whose bodies, historically, were never recovered) and their accomplices squabbling, dodging the law and assorted betrayals, and fighting their way from the infamous San Francisco federal pen cross country to Canada, and the whispered promise of shelter from the storm.
I know just how they feel.
In a “normal” year, I might have lost myself in crime fiction. Books, short stories, films, television, comic books, and graphic novels. Yet in a year and a nation overstuffed with real-life crime,
fiction often wasn’t enough for this lost Canadian.Oh, there were books I could almost lose myself in, and Lord knows I tried; but worries political, professional, and personal kept intruding. It has been one hell of a year, and Rap Sheet editor Jeff Pierce is not kidding when he suggests that we’re all—or at least most of us—tired.
Still, I was heartened by memories of my long-gone mother and her reports of how during World War II’s Blitzkrieg, Londoners took refuge in the underground Tube stations, huddled together, reading works by Agatha Christie and other authors, even as Nazi artillery exploded overhead. And so, as more figurative bombs kept falling right and left these last dozen months, I did manage to find solace in these 10 books:
• Untouchable, by Mike Lawson (Atlantic Monthly)
• Never Flinch, by Stephen King (Scribner)
• Murder Takes a Vacation, by Laura Lippman (Morrow)
• Picket Line, by Elmore Leonard (Mariner)
• Nightshade, by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown)
• Boystown, by John Shannon (Unnamed Press)
• Hatchet Girls, by Joe R. Lansdale (Mulholland)
• Galway’s Edge, by Ken Bruen (Mysterious Press)
• North Country, by Matt Bondurant (Blackstone)
• Out of Alcatraz, by Christopher Cantwell and Tyler Crook (Oni Press)
Each of those had a scene, a character, a mood, a spark—something—that let me achieve escape velocity for a blissful hour of so.
Mike Lawson’s Untouchable, featuring Washington, D.C., political fixer Joe DeMarco, wandered all too close to reality on occasion. However, I was heartened by its suggestion that even in the most vile of times, with corruption coming down like a hammer on a drum, maybe, just maybe, some spark of goodness may prevail. Stephen King and Laura Lippman also brought back two of my favorite series eyes, Holly Gibney and Tess Monaghan, respectively, even if the long-missing Tess’ appearance amounted to little more than an extended cameo or two—still, it was great to catch up with both of them. The Leonard novella barely qualifies as a book, and yet it was a delicious reminder of what a gift that author was to crime fiction. Fellow vet Connelly’s Nightshade was a
rousing introduction to a promising new series, featuring a big-city cop trying to bring law and order (or at least some approximation of justice) to the sleepy resort vibe of California’s beloved Santa Catalina Island, mere miles off the coast from big, bad Los Angeles. Back on that mainland, John Shannon’s beaten and battered, post-stroke private eye, Jack Liffey, continued to fight the good fight in the City of Angels and its myriad subcultures (Onward, West Hollywood?), while a few states over, in Texas, Lansdale’s Hap and Leonard go tooth, nail, and assorted weaponry against some well-armed women in a bloody froth of crime, misguided politics, and feminist ire. And across the ocean, in Ireland, the late, great Ken Bruen’s Galway’s Edge was a heart-wrenching adieu from one of the genre’s outstanding stylists and yarn spinners, and marked a swan song for his poetry-spouting, beleaguered but defiant detective, Jack Taylor, one of crime fiction’s most memorable characters. We’ll miss them both.There were also a couple of unexpected surprises this year that landed hard. North Country was way out of my usual wheelhouse, mixing hard-boiled crime with some surprising WTF? and dark-hearted woo-woo, as dishonorably discharged Tom Kaiser makes his way home to upstate Chazy, New York—a return that turns into a swirl of murder, backstabbing, stolen art, broken families, and drug smuggling that stretches from Vermont all the way to Montreal and back. Oh, plus satellites and shooting stars in the sky and something like death moving under the unforgiving ice of a frozen Lake Champlain. The Out of Alcatraz graphic novel also straddles the Canada/U.S. border, telling a twisted prison break tale based oh-so-loosely on actual events that occurred in 1962, with the escapees (whose bodies, historically, were never recovered) and their accomplices squabbling, dodging the law and assorted betrayals, and fighting their way from the infamous San Francisco federal pen cross country to Canada, and the whispered promise of shelter from the storm.
I know just how they feel.
“Bests” Just Keep Bobbing Up
I’m not going to try to inventory every “best crime and mystery fiction of 2025” list popping out across the media right now (Deadly Pleasures editor George Easter definitely has the edge in that game). But mentioning a few more entries in the field can’t hurt.
Late last week CrimeReads posted its nominations of “20 novels that defined the year for mystery readers.” Now managing editor Molly Odintz has returned with the site’s picks of the 15 “Best Debut Novels of 2025” (at least in the crime, mystery, and thriller arena):
• If the Dead Belong Here, by Carson Faust (Viking)
• The Slip, by Lucas Schaefer (Simon & Schuster)
• The Snares, by Rav Grewal-Kök (Random House)
• We Don’t Talk About Carol, by Kristen L. Berry (Bantam)
• Florida Palms, by Joe Pan (Simon & Schuster)
• Best Offer Wins, by Marisa Kashino (Celadon)
• The Museum Detective, by Maha Khan Phillips (Soho Crime)
• Leverage, by Amran Gowani (Atria)
• Julie Chan Is Dead, by Liann Zhang (Atria)
• The Fact Checker, by Austin Kelley (Atlantic Crime)
• Ruth Run, by Elizabeth Kaufman (Penguin)
• Boom Town, by Nic Stone (Simon & Schuster)
• Hollow Spaces, by Victor Suthammanont (Counterpoint)
• History Lessons, by Zoe B. Wallbrook (Soho Crime)
• Fireweed, by Lauren Haddad (Astra House)
Odintz offers a second new “best of” post, which went up earlier today: “The Best Psychological Thrillers of 2025.”
• Glory Daze, by Danielle Arceneaux (Pegasus Crime)
• A Death in Diamonds, by S.J. Bennett (Crooked Lane)
• Just Another Dead Author, by Katarina Bivald (Poisoned Pen Press)
• I Died for Beauty, by Amanda Flower (Berkley)
• The List of Suspicious Things, by Jennie Godfrey (Sourcebooks/Landmark)
• The Frozen People, by Elly Griffiths (Pamela Dorman)
• Marble Hall Murders, by Anthony Horowitz (Harper)
• Making a Killing, by Cara Hunter (Morrow)
• An Excellent Thing in a Woman, by Allison Montclair (Severn House)
• No Comfort for the Dead, by R.P. O’Donnell (Crooked Lane)
• The Case of the Missing Maid, by Rob Osler (Kensington)
• At Midnight Comes the Cry, by Julia Spencer-Fleming (Minotaur)
• Hunter’s Heart Ridge, by Sarah Stewart Taylor (Minotaur)
• The Botanist’s Assistant, by Peggy Townsend (Berkley)
• No. 10 Doyers Street, by Radha Vatsal (Level Best)
Meanwhile, Agnew has published brief remembrances of “30 great reads” from the last dozen months, including books by both veteran authors and newbies. It’s good to see Mariah Fredericks’ The Girl in the Green Dress, Beth Lewis’ The Rush, and Susie Dent’s Guilty by Definition all mentioned. And look here for a separate post covering top mystery-fiction finds from other Aunt Agatha’s critics.
• Leo, by Deon Meyer (Hodder & Stoughton)
• The White Crow, by Michael Robotham (Sphere)
• Hang On St. Christopher, by Adrian McKinty (Blackstone)
• The Poet’s Game, by Paul Vidich (No Exit Press)
• Mischance Creek, by Garry Disher (Text)
• Unbury the Dead, by Fiona Hardy (Affirm Press)
• Marble Hall Murders, by Anthony Horowitz (Century)
• Gunner, by Alan Parks (Baskerville)
• Softly Calls the Devil, by Chris Blake (Echo)
• The Proving Ground, by Michael Connelly (Allen & Unwin)
• Clown Town, by Mick Herron (Baskerville)
• Dust, by Michael Brissenden (Affirm Press)
• Buried Above Ground, by Mike Ripley (Severn House)
In addition, Popple has produced his own collection of what he confidently says are the “Best Debut Novels of 2025.” Works by Jakob Kerr, Tanya Scott, and Ronni Salt all make the cut.
1. Tiny Wild Things, by Danielle Wong (Storm)
2. Ted Bell’s Monarch, by Ryan Steck (Berkley)
3. Silent Horizons, by Chad Robichaux, with Jack Stewart (Tyndale)
4. Return to Sender, by Craig Johnson (Viking)
5. Tomlinson’s Wake, by Randy Wayne White (Hanover Square Press)
6. Nightshade, by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown)
7. Midnight Black, by Mark Greaney (Berkley)
8. Hotel Ukraine, by Martin Cruz Smith (Simon & Schuster)
9. Dead Line, by Marc Cameron (Kensington)
10. Apostle’s Cove, by William Kent Krueger (Atria)
In his mini-review of Ted Bell’s Monarch, Donoghue employs a splendid term I’m going to have to remember for the future: “necro-fiction,” meaning a story that “keeps an established series character going after that character’s creator dies.” Bell breathed his last in 2023, a dozen books into his spy-thriller series starring Lord Alexander Hawke.
Late last week CrimeReads posted its nominations of “20 novels that defined the year for mystery readers.” Now managing editor Molly Odintz has returned with the site’s picks of the 15 “Best Debut Novels of 2025” (at least in the crime, mystery, and thriller arena):
• If the Dead Belong Here, by Carson Faust (Viking)
• The Slip, by Lucas Schaefer (Simon & Schuster)
• The Snares, by Rav Grewal-Kök (Random House)
• We Don’t Talk About Carol, by Kristen L. Berry (Bantam)
• Florida Palms, by Joe Pan (Simon & Schuster)
• Best Offer Wins, by Marisa Kashino (Celadon)
• The Museum Detective, by Maha Khan Phillips (Soho Crime)
• Leverage, by Amran Gowani (Atria)
• Julie Chan Is Dead, by Liann Zhang (Atria)
• The Fact Checker, by Austin Kelley (Atlantic Crime)
• Ruth Run, by Elizabeth Kaufman (Penguin)
• Boom Town, by Nic Stone (Simon & Schuster)
• Hollow Spaces, by Victor Suthammanont (Counterpoint)
• History Lessons, by Zoe B. Wallbrook (Soho Crime)
• Fireweed, by Lauren Haddad (Astra House)
Odintz offers a second new “best of” post, which went up earlier today: “The Best Psychological Thrillers of 2025.”
* * *
Robin Agnew, who for many years co-owned (with her husband, Jamie) Aunt Agatha’s Bookshop in Ann Arbor, Michigan, still runs a lively crime-fiction blog and contributes reviews to Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine. Her 15 top choices for 2025 are generally, but not exclusively, drawn from this genre’s cozier side:• Glory Daze, by Danielle Arceneaux (Pegasus Crime)
• A Death in Diamonds, by S.J. Bennett (Crooked Lane)
• Just Another Dead Author, by Katarina Bivald (Poisoned Pen Press)
• I Died for Beauty, by Amanda Flower (Berkley)
• The List of Suspicious Things, by Jennie Godfrey (Sourcebooks/Landmark)
• The Frozen People, by Elly Griffiths (Pamela Dorman)
• Marble Hall Murders, by Anthony Horowitz (Harper)
• Making a Killing, by Cara Hunter (Morrow)
• An Excellent Thing in a Woman, by Allison Montclair (Severn House)
• No Comfort for the Dead, by R.P. O’Donnell (Crooked Lane)
• The Case of the Missing Maid, by Rob Osler (Kensington)
• At Midnight Comes the Cry, by Julia Spencer-Fleming (Minotaur)
• Hunter’s Heart Ridge, by Sarah Stewart Taylor (Minotaur)
• The Botanist’s Assistant, by Peggy Townsend (Berkley)
• No. 10 Doyers Street, by Radha Vatsal (Level Best)
Meanwhile, Agnew has published brief remembrances of “30 great reads” from the last dozen months, including books by both veteran authors and newbies. It’s good to see Mariah Fredericks’ The Girl in the Green Dress, Beth Lewis’ The Rush, and Susie Dent’s Guilty by Definition all mentioned. And look here for a separate post covering top mystery-fiction finds from other Aunt Agatha’s critics.
* * *
Down Under crime-fiction critic Jeff Popple, who writes for the Canberra Weekly as well as Deadly Pleasures, has so far posted two different “best” lists. The first covers his 13 favorite works, all of them released in Australia over the course of 2025:• Leo, by Deon Meyer (Hodder & Stoughton)
• The White Crow, by Michael Robotham (Sphere)
• Hang On St. Christopher, by Adrian McKinty (Blackstone)
• The Poet’s Game, by Paul Vidich (No Exit Press)
• Mischance Creek, by Garry Disher (Text)
• Unbury the Dead, by Fiona Hardy (Affirm Press)
• Marble Hall Murders, by Anthony Horowitz (Century)
• Gunner, by Alan Parks (Baskerville)
• Softly Calls the Devil, by Chris Blake (Echo)
• The Proving Ground, by Michael Connelly (Allen & Unwin)
• Clown Town, by Mick Herron (Baskerville)
• Dust, by Michael Brissenden (Affirm Press)
• Buried Above Ground, by Mike Ripley (Severn House)
In addition, Popple has produced his own collection of what he confidently says are the “Best Debut Novels of 2025.” Works by Jakob Kerr, Tanya Scott, and Ronni Salt all make the cut.
* * *
Last but not least, Steve Donoghue, whose literary criticism has appeared in The Christian Science Monitor and The Washington Post, is out with a roster of his own crime- and mystery-fiction recommendations for 2025. He lists them in order of his liking:1. Tiny Wild Things, by Danielle Wong (Storm)
2. Ted Bell’s Monarch, by Ryan Steck (Berkley)
3. Silent Horizons, by Chad Robichaux, with Jack Stewart (Tyndale)
4. Return to Sender, by Craig Johnson (Viking)
5. Tomlinson’s Wake, by Randy Wayne White (Hanover Square Press)
6. Nightshade, by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown)
7. Midnight Black, by Mark Greaney (Berkley)
8. Hotel Ukraine, by Martin Cruz Smith (Simon & Schuster)
9. Dead Line, by Marc Cameron (Kensington)
10. Apostle’s Cove, by William Kent Krueger (Atria)
In his mini-review of Ted Bell’s Monarch, Donoghue employs a splendid term I’m going to have to remember for the future: “necro-fiction,” meaning a story that “keeps an established series character going after that character’s creator dies.” Bell breathed his last in 2023, a dozen books into his spy-thriller series starring Lord Alexander Hawke.
Tuesday, December 09, 2025
Favorite Crime Fiction of 2025,
Part II: Steven Nester
(Steven Nester is the longtime host of Poets of the Tabloid Murder, a weekly Internet radio program heard on the Public Radio Exchange (PRX). In addition, he is a New York-based freelance writer whose work has appeared in The Rap Sheet, January Magazine, Shotgun Honey, Yellow Mama, Mystery Scene, and Firsts Magazine.)
The books I’ve read and reviewed this year for my crime-novel podcast, Poets of the Tabloid Murder, have been many and varied. Although I prefer capers, hard-boiled yarns, and tales of the riff-raff living down to their (and my) expectations, this year I rounded things out. I peppered my reading list with a few locked-room mysteries,
police procedurals, tea cozies, rom coms with gun-in-hand, and others. Yet however hard I tried to mix things up, my preferences prevailed. Below are the books from this genre that really made an impression on me, and which I would recommend to anyone.
• Everybody Wants to Rule the World, by Ace Atkins (Morrow)
• Crooks, by Lou Berney (Morrow)
• Karma Doll, by Jonathan Ames (Mullholland)
• The Get Off, by Christa Faust (Hard Case Crime)
• Pro Bono, by Thomas Perry (Mysterious Press)
These books present much to be admired (as did those that didn’t quite make my final cut), yet each possesses an aspect that stands prominently above their other attributes. The late Thomas Perry’s ability, for instance, to create a complicated plot, yet keep it accessible and still filled with surprises. Christa Faust brings the genuine down-low to life not just because she has lived it, but because during her wild-child youth she also honed her craft as a writer, able to make the transgressive tenable. Jonathan Ames keeps private-eye fiction very much alive, with a breath of fresh cordite and an inventive plot, plus a protagonist, in Hank “Happy” Doll, who refuses to say “uncle!” From the humid swamps of Louisiana to Washington, D.C., Ace Atkins dips his toes in international waters in a homegrown thriller that makes you laugh as well as hang onto your seat; his attention to the details of living in the troubled 21st century is complete and humorous. Finally, Lou Berney channels James Michener to expand his narrative style in a crime family saga that boasts of perfectly presented characterizations and a believable happy ending that won’t have anyone reaching for a Kleenex.
The books I’ve read and reviewed this year for my crime-novel podcast, Poets of the Tabloid Murder, have been many and varied. Although I prefer capers, hard-boiled yarns, and tales of the riff-raff living down to their (and my) expectations, this year I rounded things out. I peppered my reading list with a few locked-room mysteries,
police procedurals, tea cozies, rom coms with gun-in-hand, and others. Yet however hard I tried to mix things up, my preferences prevailed. Below are the books from this genre that really made an impression on me, and which I would recommend to anyone.• Everybody Wants to Rule the World, by Ace Atkins (Morrow)
• Crooks, by Lou Berney (Morrow)
• Karma Doll, by Jonathan Ames (Mullholland)
• The Get Off, by Christa Faust (Hard Case Crime)
• Pro Bono, by Thomas Perry (Mysterious Press)
These books present much to be admired (as did those that didn’t quite make my final cut), yet each possesses an aspect that stands prominently above their other attributes. The late Thomas Perry’s ability, for instance, to create a complicated plot, yet keep it accessible and still filled with surprises. Christa Faust brings the genuine down-low to life not just because she has lived it, but because during her wild-child youth she also honed her craft as a writer, able to make the transgressive tenable. Jonathan Ames keeps private-eye fiction very much alive, with a breath of fresh cordite and an inventive plot, plus a protagonist, in Hank “Happy” Doll, who refuses to say “uncle!” From the humid swamps of Louisiana to Washington, D.C., Ace Atkins dips his toes in international waters in a homegrown thriller that makes you laugh as well as hang onto your seat; his attention to the details of living in the troubled 21st century is complete and humorous. Finally, Lou Berney channels James Michener to expand his narrative style in a crime family saga that boasts of perfectly presented characterizations and a believable happy ending that won’t have anyone reaching for a Kleenex.
Monday, December 08, 2025
Favorite Crime Fiction of 2025,
Part I: Peter Handel
(Peter Handel has reviewed and written about crime fiction for the San Francisco Chronicle, the Portland Oregonian, Pages Magazine, Crimespree Magazine, and CrimeReads. He now produces the Substack newsletter Carnivorous: A Steady Diet of Crime Fiction.)
Because much, though not all, of my reading time is focused on what books I will be writing about, my list is largely, though not exclusively, titles I read for “work.” I’ve enjoyed many terrific books this year—but then, there are always plenty of enticing
titles every year. Finding time enough to read them is the issue!
In no particular order, here are my 2025 crime and mystery favorites:
• The Wasp Trap, by Mark Edwards (Atria)
• Pro Bono, by Thomas Perry
(Mysterious Press)
• Pariah, by Dan Fesperman (Knopf)
• Venetian Vespers, by John Banville (Knopf)
• Kill Your Darlings, by Peter Swanson (Morrow)
• Fair Play, by Louise Hegarty (Harper)
• Killer Potential, by Hannah Deitch (Morrow)
• The Mailman, by Andrew Welsh-Huggins (Mysterious Press)
It was a bittersweet year for me regarding books and authors. Two people I worked with are no longer on the planet: Ken Bruen and Tom Perry. Both were wonderful, generous interviewees, and while I’m grateful for the opportunity to have worked with them, it’s rotten that they have died.
Three titles struck me as genuine “sleepers” this year: The Wasp Trap, Killer Potential, and Fair Play. All of those, in their own ways, subverted genre expectations and were stronger for it.
Because much, though not all, of my reading time is focused on what books I will be writing about, my list is largely, though not exclusively, titles I read for “work.” I’ve enjoyed many terrific books this year—but then, there are always plenty of enticing
titles every year. Finding time enough to read them is the issue!In no particular order, here are my 2025 crime and mystery favorites:
• The Wasp Trap, by Mark Edwards (Atria)
• Pro Bono, by Thomas Perry
(Mysterious Press)
• Pariah, by Dan Fesperman (Knopf)
• Venetian Vespers, by John Banville (Knopf)
• Kill Your Darlings, by Peter Swanson (Morrow)
• Fair Play, by Louise Hegarty (Harper)
• Killer Potential, by Hannah Deitch (Morrow)
• The Mailman, by Andrew Welsh-Huggins (Mysterious Press)
It was a bittersweet year for me regarding books and authors. Two people I worked with are no longer on the planet: Ken Bruen and Tom Perry. Both were wonderful, generous interviewees, and while I’m grateful for the opportunity to have worked with them, it’s rotten that they have died.
Three titles struck me as genuine “sleepers” this year: The Wasp Trap, Killer Potential, and Fair Play. All of those, in their own ways, subverted genre expectations and were stronger for it.
Earning Our Esteem in 2025
Amazing! This marks the 10th time in a row that The Rap Sheet has showcased its contributors’ favorite crime, mystery, and thriller releases of the year. And the job never gets easier! Choosing favorites means revisiting everything we’ve read over the last 12 months, accepting the fact that there are other (usually many other) books we should have tackled but never quite got around to, and picking those works that struck us as the most well-plotted, most character-rich, and most memorably written that we enjoyed between January and December. We call these our “favorites,” rather than the “best of the year,” because we make no pretense of having read everything. Even if we had, these lists would still just express our opinions.
For many of us Americans at least, 2025 was a year we would prefer to forget. It brought with it inflated food, energy, and housing costs; crimes committed in our names (dehumanizing round-ups of immigrants, the murders of alleged drug smugglers in the Caribbean Sea); political incompetence and corruption in the nation’s capital; the undermining of U.S. democracy and the concentration of greater authority in the presidency; right-wing attacks on affordable health care coverage; and a short-sighted effort to distance the United States from its historic and cooperative involvement in world affairs. To name just a few things that bode ill for the future.
We don’t want to start thinking about all of the challenges facing the book industry: skyrocketing printing costs, publishing company consolidations, the negative affects artificial intelligence might have on the quality of literature to come and the ability of authors to make a decent income from their writing, and declines in the media’s coverage of books—which seem destined only to make it harder for customers to learn about new and noteworthy titles.
After weathering so much bad news in so short a time, we’re tired. Which made it hard to summon energies enough to champion books we loved in 2025. Yet there were numerous new works issued in this genre deserving of our applause—even if we can only mention them, without the thoughtful commentary we’ve offered in the past.
Some of those books will be highlighted in a series of posts from veteran Rap Sheet critics, set to roll out over the course of this week. (Expect the first to appear on this page at 1 p.m. today!) If you’ve read any of them, we hope our endorsement will confirm your outstanding taste. From among those with which you are less familiar, we hope you’ll find ideas for yourself or for gift giving this holiday season. Let us know what you think about our picks, and feel free to suggest other 2025 crime and thriller yarns you think also merit acclamation.
Saturday, December 06, 2025
Did You Read These in 2025?
Adding to the recent deluge of “best crime fiction” lists, CrimeReads has named its 20 favorite novels released over the last 12 months:
• We Are Watching, by Alison Gaylin (Morrow)
• King of Ashes, by S.A. Cosby (Flatiron/Pine & Cedar)
• The Search Committee, by José Skinner (Arte Publico)
• El Dorado Drive, by Megan Abbott (Putnam)
• Ruth Run, by Elizabeth Kaufman (Penguin)
• Kill Your Darlings, by Peter Swanson (Morrow)
• Best Offer Wins, by Marisa Kashino (Celadon)
• The Slip, by Lucas Schaefer (Simon and Schuster)
• Leverage, by Amran Gowani (Atria)
• Crooks, by Lou Berney (Morrow)
• With a Vengeance, by Riley Sager (Dutton)
• Friends Helping Friends, by Patrick Hoffman (Atlantic Monthly Press)
• Don’t Let Him In, by Lisa Jewell (Atria)
• The House on Buzzards Bay, by Dwyer Murphy (Viking)
• The Dark Maestro, by Brendan Slocumb (Doubleday)
• Murder Takes a Vacation, by Laura Lippman (Morrow)
• Darkenbloom, by Eva Menasse (Scribe)
• Mississippi Blue 42, by Eli Cranor (Soho Crime)
• Don’t Forget Me, Little Bessie, by James Lee Burke (Atlantic
Monthly Press)
• The Favorites, by Layne Fargo (Random House)
And if you think that 20 isn’t narrowing the options well enough, consider that the site’s “Notable Selections” roster runs to more than 50 titles! Something for everyone, I guess.
Taking top honors in the Mystery and Thriller division is Not Quite Dead Yet, by Holly Jackson (Bantam). It triumphed over 19 other nominees: We Are All Guilty Here, by Karin Slaughter (Morrow); Don’t Let Him In, by Lisa Jewell (Atria); The Secret of Secrets, by Dan Brown (Doubleday); The Ghostwriter, by Julie Clark (Sourcebooks Landmark); King of Ashes, by S.A. Cosby (Flatiron/Pine & Cedar); The Intruder, by Freida McFadden (Poisoned Pen Press); Gone Before Goodbye, by Reese Witherspoon and Harlan Coben (Grand Central); The Tenant, by Freida McFadden (Poisoned Pen Press); Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man), by Jesse Q. Sutanto (Berkley); Heartwood, by Amity Gaige (Simon & Schuster); The Crash, by Freida McFadden (Poisoned Pen Press); The Impossible Fortune, by Richard Osman (Pamela Dorman); The Missing Half, by Ashley Flowers (Bantam); Forget Me Not, by Stacy Willingham (Minotaur); You Killed Me First, by John Marrs (Thomas & Mercer); Famous Last Words, by Gilliam McAllister (Morrow); The Perfect Divorce, by Jeneva Rose (Blackstone); The Widow, by John Grisham (Doubleday); and Beautiful Ugly, by Alice Feeney (Flatiron).
To find the full array of 2025 Choice Award recipients, go here.
• Kings of Ashes, by S.A. Cosby (Headline)
• Quantum of Menace, by Vaseem Khan (Bonnier)
• The Midnight King, by Tariq Ashkanani (Profile)
• Clown Town, by Mick Herron (Baskerville)
• The Darkest Winter, by Carlo Lucarelli (Orenda)
• Midnight Streets, by Phil Lecomber (Titan)
• The Proving Ground, by Michael Connelly (Orion)
• Murder Takes a Vacation, by Laura Lippman (Faber & Faber)
• The Good Liar, by Denise Mina (Harvill Secker)
• Strange Pictures, by Uketsu (Pushkin Vertigo)
• Moscow Underground, by Catherine Merridale (HarperCollins)
• The Art of a Lie, by Laura Shepherd Robinson (Pan Macmillan)
Beyond those, she names four Honourable Mentions:
• Hang on St. Christopher, by Adrian McKinty (Blackstone)
• Murder at Worlds End, by Ross Montgomery (Viking)
• The Good Nazi, by Samir Marchado de Machado (Pushkin Press)
• The Burning Ground, by Abir Mukherjee (Vintage)
• We Are Watching, by Alison Gaylin (Morrow)
• King of Ashes, by S.A. Cosby (Flatiron/Pine & Cedar)
• The Search Committee, by José Skinner (Arte Publico)
• El Dorado Drive, by Megan Abbott (Putnam)
• Ruth Run, by Elizabeth Kaufman (Penguin)
• Kill Your Darlings, by Peter Swanson (Morrow)
• Best Offer Wins, by Marisa Kashino (Celadon)
• The Slip, by Lucas Schaefer (Simon and Schuster)
• Leverage, by Amran Gowani (Atria)
• Crooks, by Lou Berney (Morrow)
• With a Vengeance, by Riley Sager (Dutton)
• Friends Helping Friends, by Patrick Hoffman (Atlantic Monthly Press)
• Don’t Let Him In, by Lisa Jewell (Atria)
• The House on Buzzards Bay, by Dwyer Murphy (Viking)
• The Dark Maestro, by Brendan Slocumb (Doubleday)
• Murder Takes a Vacation, by Laura Lippman (Morrow)
• Darkenbloom, by Eva Menasse (Scribe)
• Mississippi Blue 42, by Eli Cranor (Soho Crime)
• Don’t Forget Me, Little Bessie, by James Lee Burke (Atlantic
Monthly Press)
• The Favorites, by Layne Fargo (Random House)
And if you think that 20 isn’t narrowing the options well enough, consider that the site’s “Notable Selections” roster runs to more than 50 titles! Something for everyone, I guess.
* * *
The social cataloguing site Goodreads has revealed the winners of its 2025 Goodreads Choice Awards, in 15 categories.Taking top honors in the Mystery and Thriller division is Not Quite Dead Yet, by Holly Jackson (Bantam). It triumphed over 19 other nominees: We Are All Guilty Here, by Karin Slaughter (Morrow); Don’t Let Him In, by Lisa Jewell (Atria); The Secret of Secrets, by Dan Brown (Doubleday); The Ghostwriter, by Julie Clark (Sourcebooks Landmark); King of Ashes, by S.A. Cosby (Flatiron/Pine & Cedar); The Intruder, by Freida McFadden (Poisoned Pen Press); Gone Before Goodbye, by Reese Witherspoon and Harlan Coben (Grand Central); The Tenant, by Freida McFadden (Poisoned Pen Press); Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man), by Jesse Q. Sutanto (Berkley); Heartwood, by Amity Gaige (Simon & Schuster); The Crash, by Freida McFadden (Poisoned Pen Press); The Impossible Fortune, by Richard Osman (Pamela Dorman); The Missing Half, by Ashley Flowers (Bantam); Forget Me Not, by Stacy Willingham (Minotaur); You Killed Me First, by John Marrs (Thomas & Mercer); Famous Last Words, by Gilliam McAllister (Morrow); The Perfect Divorce, by Jeneva Rose (Blackstone); The Widow, by John Grisham (Doubleday); and Beautiful Ugly, by Alice Feeney (Flatiron).
To find the full array of 2025 Choice Award recipients, go here.
* * *
Not to be outshone, Ayo Onatade of the British blog Shotmag Confidential has compiled her dozen favorites from this last year:• Kings of Ashes, by S.A. Cosby (Headline)
• Quantum of Menace, by Vaseem Khan (Bonnier)
• The Midnight King, by Tariq Ashkanani (Profile)
• Clown Town, by Mick Herron (Baskerville)
• The Darkest Winter, by Carlo Lucarelli (Orenda)
• Midnight Streets, by Phil Lecomber (Titan)
• The Proving Ground, by Michael Connelly (Orion)
• Murder Takes a Vacation, by Laura Lippman (Faber & Faber)
• The Good Liar, by Denise Mina (Harvill Secker)
• Strange Pictures, by Uketsu (Pushkin Vertigo)
• Moscow Underground, by Catherine Merridale (HarperCollins)
• The Art of a Lie, by Laura Shepherd Robinson (Pan Macmillan)
Beyond those, she names four Honourable Mentions:
• Hang on St. Christopher, by Adrian McKinty (Blackstone)
• Murder at Worlds End, by Ross Montgomery (Viking)
• The Good Nazi, by Samir Marchado de Machado (Pushkin Press)
• The Burning Ground, by Abir Mukherjee (Vintage)
Friday, December 05, 2025
The P.I. Sam That G.I. Joes Missed
During World War II, roughly 122 million lightweight paperback books were distributed to members of the U.S. military in an “audacious and revolutionary” campaign to bring entertainment and knowledge to U.S. soldiers stationed abroad. The publication of those compact, horizontally formatted Armed Services Editions of more than 1,200 works—fiction and non-fiction, biographies, poetry, and more—“became one of the Army’s best morale boosters,” Literary Hub recalled a couple of years back, “offering a bit of light during those dark days. It also helped shepherd in an era of paperback supremacy and create millions of voracious readers in the process.”
The books’ size made it handy for soldiers to “tuck them away somewhere and hopefully finish a book at a later time,” says Book Riot. “Books were shared amongst soldiers, and they were so popular that many men began requesting specific titles and genres.”
Authors well represented in the ASE collection included Robert Benchley, Joseph Conrad, William Faulkner, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Zane Grey, Jack London, H.P. Lovecraft, John O’Hara, W. Somerset Maugham, Edgar Allan Poe, Luke Short, George R. Stewart, Bram Stoker, John Steinbeck, Mark Twain, and H.G. Wells. Also made available were mysteries by Erle Stanley Gardner, Frances and Richard Lockridge, John P. Marquand, Ngaio Marsh, Craig Rice, and others.
(Above) Field Notes’ edition of Hammett’s classic detective yarn.
One talented fictionist who did not make the cut, despite the popularity of his short stories and novels, was Dashiell Hammett. Could the volunteer advisory panel charged with selecting the works for servicemen have been squeamish about Hammett’s membership in the Communist Party? Whatever the reason, his was a notable exclusion.
But that wrong is finally being righted by American notebook maker Field Notes, which has lately brought to market an ASE-style edition of Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon, featuring “the original text … as serialized in Black Mask magazine” in 1929. It even carries the promise on its front cover so familiar from the wartime releases: “This Is the Complete Book—Not a Digest.” Modern writer Kevin Guilfoile contributes an introduction to this edition. As the company’s Web site explains, “It’s the first new ASE since the program was ended in 1947.”
Field Notes is currently selling its pocket-size Maltese Falcon separately, for $18.95 (plus shipping), or as a bonus atop its newest three-pack seasonal offering of notebooks. Click here to order.
Between the issuance of Max Allan Collins’ Return of the Maltese Falcon and Poltroon Press’ handsome hardcover version of Hammett’s single Sam Spade novel—both coming out in early January—plus this new Armed Services Edition of Falcon, the occasion of Hammett’s best-known private eye tale falling into the public domain on January 1, 2026, is certainly being well celebrated!
The books’ size made it handy for soldiers to “tuck them away somewhere and hopefully finish a book at a later time,” says Book Riot. “Books were shared amongst soldiers, and they were so popular that many men began requesting specific titles and genres.”
Authors well represented in the ASE collection included Robert Benchley, Joseph Conrad, William Faulkner, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Zane Grey, Jack London, H.P. Lovecraft, John O’Hara, W. Somerset Maugham, Edgar Allan Poe, Luke Short, George R. Stewart, Bram Stoker, John Steinbeck, Mark Twain, and H.G. Wells. Also made available were mysteries by Erle Stanley Gardner, Frances and Richard Lockridge, John P. Marquand, Ngaio Marsh, Craig Rice, and others.
(Above) Field Notes’ edition of Hammett’s classic detective yarn.
One talented fictionist who did not make the cut, despite the popularity of his short stories and novels, was Dashiell Hammett. Could the volunteer advisory panel charged with selecting the works for servicemen have been squeamish about Hammett’s membership in the Communist Party? Whatever the reason, his was a notable exclusion.
But that wrong is finally being righted by American notebook maker Field Notes, which has lately brought to market an ASE-style edition of Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon, featuring “the original text … as serialized in Black Mask magazine” in 1929. It even carries the promise on its front cover so familiar from the wartime releases: “This Is the Complete Book—Not a Digest.” Modern writer Kevin Guilfoile contributes an introduction to this edition. As the company’s Web site explains, “It’s the first new ASE since the program was ended in 1947.”
Field Notes is currently selling its pocket-size Maltese Falcon separately, for $18.95 (plus shipping), or as a bonus atop its newest three-pack seasonal offering of notebooks. Click here to order.
Between the issuance of Max Allan Collins’ Return of the Maltese Falcon and Poltroon Press’ handsome hardcover version of Hammett’s single Sam Spade novel—both coming out in early January—plus this new Armed Services Edition of Falcon, the occasion of Hammett’s best-known private eye tale falling into the public domain on January 1, 2026, is certainly being well celebrated!
Wednesday, December 03, 2025
Wilson and She Reads Take Their Stands
Author and Guardian book Laura Wilson has released her own choices of the 10 “best” crime and thriller works released in 2025:
• Clown Town, by Mick Herron (Baskerville)
• The Good Liar, by Denise Mina (Harvill Secker)
• The Confessions, by Paul Bradley Carr (Faber & Faber)
• The Winter Warriors, by Olivier Norek (Open Borders)
• The Ghosts of Rome, by Joseph O’Connor (Harvill Secker)
• The Bureau, by Eoin McNamee (Riverrun)
• The Death of Us, by Abigail Dean (Hemlock Press)
• The Impossible Thing, by Belinda Bauer (Bantam)
• Fair Play, by Louise Hegarty (Picador)
• Strange Pictures, by Uketsu (Pushkin Vertigo)
Also nominated in that same division were Beautiful Ugly, by Alice Feeney (Flatiron); Count My Lies, by Sophie Stava (Gallery/Scout Press); Culpability, by Bruce Holsinger (Spiegel & Grau); Fog and Fury, by Rachel Howzell Hall (Thomas & Mercer); Heartwood, by Amity Gaige (Simon & Schuster); Not Quite Dead Yet, by Holly Jackson (Bantam); The Compound, by Aisling Rawle (Random House); and We Are All Guilty Here, by Karin Slaughter (Morrow).
To review the results in all 17 categories, click here.
• Clown Town, by Mick Herron (Baskerville)
• The Good Liar, by Denise Mina (Harvill Secker)
• The Confessions, by Paul Bradley Carr (Faber & Faber)
• The Winter Warriors, by Olivier Norek (Open Borders)
• The Ghosts of Rome, by Joseph O’Connor (Harvill Secker)
• The Bureau, by Eoin McNamee (Riverrun)
• The Death of Us, by Abigail Dean (Hemlock Press)
• The Impossible Thing, by Belinda Bauer (Bantam)
• Fair Play, by Louise Hegarty (Picador)
• Strange Pictures, by Uketsu (Pushkin Vertigo)
* * *
Concurrently, the Web site and digital magazine She Reads has announced the winners of its best books of 2025 awards, chosen by readers. There are 17 categories of recipients, but the most important of those (at least for Rap Sheet readers) might be Mystery, Thriller & Suspense. Top honors there go to King of Ashes, by S.A. Cosby (Flatiron/Pine & Cedar).Also nominated in that same division were Beautiful Ugly, by Alice Feeney (Flatiron); Count My Lies, by Sophie Stava (Gallery/Scout Press); Culpability, by Bruce Holsinger (Spiegel & Grau); Fog and Fury, by Rachel Howzell Hall (Thomas & Mercer); Heartwood, by Amity Gaige (Simon & Schuster); Not Quite Dead Yet, by Holly Jackson (Bantam); The Compound, by Aisling Rawle (Random House); and We Are All Guilty Here, by Karin Slaughter (Morrow).
To review the results in all 17 categories, click here.
Monday, December 01, 2025
My, How It’s Grown!
I’ve been compiling seasonal inventories of forthcoming crime, mystery, and thriller novels for many years now, but until recently, I hadn’t kept track of the number of additions I made to those lists after their initial publication in The Rap Sheet.
When I posted my fall-winter 2025 rundown in mid-September, for instance, I touted it as featuring “more than 425 works.” Another eight found their way onto the rolls by the end of that same month, books I did not know were coming when I produced my guide originally. In October, I bumped the count up by 34. And by the close of November, the tally had gained 62 more titles bound for store and home shelves on both sides of the Atlantic—everything from Eric Heisserer’s Simultaneous, Corey Lynn Fayman’s The Deadly Stingaree, Marisa Kashino’s Best Offer Wins, and Mia P. Manansala’s Death and Dinuguan to Donna Freitas’ Her One Regret, Mark Edwards’ The Christmas Magpie, Terry Shames’ The Curious Poisoning of Jewel Barnes, Christoffer Carlsson’s The Living and the Dead, and Only Way Out, by Tod Goldberg. So now, the number of fresh releases mentioned in that fall-winter catalogue exceeds 550!
That would be an awful lot of books for any single person to digest in three months, and it doesn’t include all of those I thought weren’t worth mentioning or that have somehow still eluded my radar.
Surely, there’s something among those picks for every crime-fiction fan on your holiday gift list. Explore the possibilities here.
When I posted my fall-winter 2025 rundown in mid-September, for instance, I touted it as featuring “more than 425 works.” Another eight found their way onto the rolls by the end of that same month, books I did not know were coming when I produced my guide originally. In October, I bumped the count up by 34. And by the close of November, the tally had gained 62 more titles bound for store and home shelves on both sides of the Atlantic—everything from Eric Heisserer’s Simultaneous, Corey Lynn Fayman’s The Deadly Stingaree, Marisa Kashino’s Best Offer Wins, and Mia P. Manansala’s Death and Dinuguan to Donna Freitas’ Her One Regret, Mark Edwards’ The Christmas Magpie, Terry Shames’ The Curious Poisoning of Jewel Barnes, Christoffer Carlsson’s The Living and the Dead, and Only Way Out, by Tod Goldberg. So now, the number of fresh releases mentioned in that fall-winter catalogue exceeds 550!
That would be an awful lot of books for any single person to digest in three months, and it doesn’t include all of those I thought weren’t worth mentioning or that have somehow still eluded my radar.
Surely, there’s something among those picks for every crime-fiction fan on your holiday gift list. Explore the possibilities here.
Saturday, November 29, 2025
Verdicts Without Agreement
Now we have The Times of London making its opinions known as to what the “best books of 2025” might be. Among the categories included is Crime Fiction. Critics Joan Smith and Mark Sanderson do the choosing there—four titles each, with Smith’s picks listed first here:
• Red Water, by Jurica Pavičić, translated by Matt Robinson
(Bitter Lemon)
• The Dead Husband Cookbook, by Danielle Valentine (Viper)
• The Token, by Sharon Bolton (Orion)
• The Day of the Roaring, by Nina Bhadreshwar (Hemlock Press)
• Murder Mindfully, by Karsten Dusse, translated by Florian
Duijsens (Faber & Faber)
• A Voice in the Night, by Simon Mason (Riverrun)
• Paperboy, by Callum McSorley (Pushkin Vertigo)
• A Schooling in Murder, by Andrew Taylor (Hemlock Press)
Meanwhile, reviewers James Owen and John Dugdale put together the Times’ selections from this year’s Thrillers. Owen’s top three are mentioned first, followed by Dugdale’s favorites:
• Clown Town, by Mick Herron (John Murray)
• Red Star Down, by D.B. John (Harvill Secker)
• The Seventh Floor, by David McCloskey (Swift Press)
• Not Quite Dead Yet, by Holly Jackson (Michael Joseph)
• The Death of Us, by Abigail Dean (Hemlock Press)
• Presumed Guilty, by Scott Turow (Swift Press)
For Rap Sheet readers, it should be noted too that Story of a Murder: The Wives, the Mistress and Doctor Crippen (Doubleday), Hallie Rubenhold’s excellent account of Dr. Hawley Harvey Crippen’s 1910 slaying of his music-hall-performer wife, found a place on the Times’ top-20 roster of History releases.
• Don’t Let Him In, by Lisa Jewell (Penguin)
• The New Neighbours, by Claire Douglas (Penguin)
• Marble Hall Murders, by Anthony Horowitz (Penguin)
• The Impossible Fortune, by Richard Osman (Viking)
• She Didn’t See It Coming, by Shari Lapena (Bantam)
• Exit Strategy, by Lee Child and Andrew Child (Bantam)
• It Should Have Been You, by Andrew Mara (Bantam)
• Nobody’s Fool, by Harlan Coben (Century)
• Nemesis, by Gregg Hurwitz (Michael Joseph)
• Death at the White Hart, by Chris Chibnall (Michael Joseph)
• The Summer Guests, by Tess Gerritsen (Bantam)
• The Cleaner, by Mary Watson (Bantam)
• The Inheritance, by Trisha Sakhlecha (Penguin)
• Famous Last Words, by Gillian McAllister (Michael Joseph)
• Murder for Busy People, by Tony Parsons (Century)
• A Schooling in Murder, by Andrew Taylor (Hemlock Press)
• Detective Aunty, by Uzma Jalaluddin (HarperCollins)
• Karla’s Choice, by Nick Harkaway (Penguin Canada)
• King of Ashes, by S.A. Cosby (Flatiron/Pine & Cedar)
• Leo, by Deon Meyer (Atlantic Crime)
• Nightshade, by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown)
• The Arizona Triangle, by Sydney Graves (Harper Paperbacks)
• The Black Wolf, by Louise Penny (Minotaur)
• The Doorman, by Chris Pavone (MCD)
• The Drowned, by John Banville (Hanover Square Press)
• The Hitchhikers, by Chevy Stevens (St. Martin’s Press)
The Globe and Mail’s full “100 best books of 2025” roll can be found here, but it’s tucked behind a paywall.
READ MORE: “Daily Mail’s Best Crime Fiction 2025,” by George Easter (Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine).
• Red Water, by Jurica Pavičić, translated by Matt Robinson
(Bitter Lemon)
• The Dead Husband Cookbook, by Danielle Valentine (Viper)
• The Token, by Sharon Bolton (Orion)
• The Day of the Roaring, by Nina Bhadreshwar (Hemlock Press)
• Murder Mindfully, by Karsten Dusse, translated by Florian
Duijsens (Faber & Faber)
• A Voice in the Night, by Simon Mason (Riverrun)
• Paperboy, by Callum McSorley (Pushkin Vertigo)
• A Schooling in Murder, by Andrew Taylor (Hemlock Press)
Meanwhile, reviewers James Owen and John Dugdale put together the Times’ selections from this year’s Thrillers. Owen’s top three are mentioned first, followed by Dugdale’s favorites:
• Clown Town, by Mick Herron (John Murray)
• Red Star Down, by D.B. John (Harvill Secker)
• The Seventh Floor, by David McCloskey (Swift Press)
• Not Quite Dead Yet, by Holly Jackson (Michael Joseph)
• The Death of Us, by Abigail Dean (Hemlock Press)
• Presumed Guilty, by Scott Turow (Swift Press)
For Rap Sheet readers, it should be noted too that Story of a Murder: The Wives, the Mistress and Doctor Crippen (Doubleday), Hallie Rubenhold’s excellent account of Dr. Hawley Harvey Crippen’s 1910 slaying of his music-hall-performer wife, found a place on the Times’ top-20 roster of History releases.
* * *
For their part, Katie Russell and Joanne Finney, from the crime-fiction Web site Dead Good, recommend “15 of the best crime books” published in Great Britain over the last 12 months:• Don’t Let Him In, by Lisa Jewell (Penguin)
• The New Neighbours, by Claire Douglas (Penguin)
• Marble Hall Murders, by Anthony Horowitz (Penguin)
• The Impossible Fortune, by Richard Osman (Viking)
• She Didn’t See It Coming, by Shari Lapena (Bantam)
• Exit Strategy, by Lee Child and Andrew Child (Bantam)
• It Should Have Been You, by Andrew Mara (Bantam)
• Nobody’s Fool, by Harlan Coben (Century)
• Nemesis, by Gregg Hurwitz (Michael Joseph)
• Death at the White Hart, by Chris Chibnall (Michael Joseph)
• The Summer Guests, by Tess Gerritsen (Bantam)
• The Cleaner, by Mary Watson (Bantam)
• The Inheritance, by Trisha Sakhlecha (Penguin)
• Famous Last Words, by Gillian McAllister (Michael Joseph)
• Murder for Busy People, by Tony Parsons (Century)
* * *
And Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine editor George Easter brings us the “best thrillers” picks from Canada’s Globe and Mail newspaper:• A Schooling in Murder, by Andrew Taylor (Hemlock Press)
• Detective Aunty, by Uzma Jalaluddin (HarperCollins)
• Karla’s Choice, by Nick Harkaway (Penguin Canada)
• King of Ashes, by S.A. Cosby (Flatiron/Pine & Cedar)
• Leo, by Deon Meyer (Atlantic Crime)
• Nightshade, by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown)
• The Arizona Triangle, by Sydney Graves (Harper Paperbacks)
• The Black Wolf, by Louise Penny (Minotaur)
• The Doorman, by Chris Pavone (MCD)
• The Drowned, by John Banville (Hanover Square Press)
• The Hitchhikers, by Chevy Stevens (St. Martin’s Press)
The Globe and Mail’s full “100 best books of 2025” roll can be found here, but it’s tucked behind a paywall.
READ MORE: “Daily Mail’s Best Crime Fiction 2025,” by George Easter (Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine).
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