Cogdill Chimes In

Continuing the rollout of this year’s critics’ picks, Oline H. Cogdill of the South Florida Sun Sentinel today delivers her “Best Mystery Novels of 2025” list. Novels, short story compilations, and even one biography are included—22 works in all.

Novels:
• El Dorado Drive, by Megan Abbott (Putnam)
• The Proving Ground, by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown)
• Crooks, by Lou Berney (Morrow)
• Too Old for This, by Samantha Downing (Berkley)
• The Bone Thief, by Vanessa Lillie (Berkley)
• King of Ashes, by S.A. Cosby (Flatiron/Pine & Cedar)
• The Trouble Up North, by Travis Mulhauser (Grand Central)
• The Girl in the Green Dress, by Mariah Fredericks (Minotaur)
• The Oligarch’s Daughter, by Joseph Finder (Harper)
• The Note, by Alafair Burke (Knopf)
• Low April Sun, by Constance E. Squires (University of
Oklahoma Press)
• Mississippi Blue 42, by Eli Cranor (Soho Crime)
• Head Cases, by John McMahon (Minotaur)

Best Debuts:
• We Don’t Talk About Carol, by Kristen L. Berry (Bantam)
• Florida Palms, by Joe Pan (Simon & Schuster)
• The Vanishing Place, by Zoë Rankin (Berkley)

Short Story Anthologies:
• Crime Ink: Iconic, edited by John Copenhaver and Salem West (Bywater)
• Double Crossing Van Dine, edited by Donna Andrews, Greg Herren, and Art Taylor (Crippen & Landru)
• Every Day a Little Death, edited by Josh Pachter (Level Best)
• Hollywood Kills: An Anthology, edited by Andrew Meyer and Alan Orloff (Level Best)
• Best of The Strand Magazine, edited by Andrew F. Gulli and Lamia J. Gulli (Blackstone)

Non-fiction:
Cooler Than Cool: The Life and Work of Elmore Leonard, by C.M. Kushins (Mariner)

Oline is an incisive, award-winning reviewer who has been at this game longer than I have, and whose taste I very much respect. So her reading recommendations have a greater impact on me than some others might. I’ve tackled a number of the works listed here, though not all. I’m pleased to see The Girl in the Green Dress make the cut, as Oline and I discussed its merits during our appearance on a panel together at this year’s Bouchercon. And I could kick myself for not yet having cracked open either Crooks or The Trouble Up North. I’ll definitely have to get to those before year’s end.