Still Quiet on the Endorsements Front

Although we’ve spotted a few “best crime fiction of 2025” lists around, including those from Jake Kerridge of The Daily Telegraph and American chain retailer Barnes & Noble, this year’s influx of such inventories has so far been more trickle than torrent.

However, Elle Magazine did recently publish its “Best Mysteries and Thrillers of 2025” tally. Twenty-nine is a bit too many for me to feature here, but these are its top 10 choices:

• Needy Little Things, by Channelle Desamours (Wednesday)
• All the Other Mothers Hate Me, by Sarah Harman (Putnam)
• The Maid’s Secret, by Nita Prose (Ballantine)
• Fair Play, by Louise Hegarty (Harper)
• Julie Chan Is Dead, by Liann Zhang (Atria)
• Riddle of the Jeweled Cipher, by L.J. Alson (Sager Group)
• Marble Hall Murders, by Anthony Horowitz (Harper)
• The Dark Maestro, by Brendan Slocumb (Doubleday)
• The Doorman, by Chris Pavone (MCD)
• The Last Ferry Out, by Andrea Bartz (Ballantine)

(Hat tip to Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine.)

* * *

Greg Barlin, author of the six-year-old review site Barlin’s Books, doesn’t break down his ongoing annual “best books” roll by genre, but we can. From the 69 general favorites he’s highlighted so far in 2025, here are his 10 top-ranking crime, mystery, and thriller reads:

• King of Ashes, by S.A. Cosby (Flatiron)
• Dead Money, by Jakob Kerr (Bantam)
• The Ghostwriter, by Julie Clark (Sourcebooks Landmark)
• What Kind of Paradise, by Janelle Brown (Random House)
• Death at the White Hart, by Chris Chibnall (Pamela Dorman)
• Not Quite Dead Yet, by Holly Jackson (Bantam)
• Kills Well with Others, by Deanna Raybourn (Berkley)
• Proof, by Jon Cowan (Gallery)
• Murder at Gulls Nest, by Jess Kidd (Atria)
• Society of Lies, by Lauren Ling Brown (Bantam)

We will keep watch to see if any other books displace one or two of these before New Year’s Day, 2026.