Popularity Contest

The social cataloguing site Goodreads has opened the first round of its competition to choose readers’ favorite books of 2026. There are 15 categories of contestants, including the following 20 books vying to be named as best mystery/thriller of the year:

• The Anniversary, by Alex Finlay (Minotaur)
• The French Illusion, by John Grisham (Doubleday)
• The Unknown, by Riley Sager (Dutton)
• Anatomy of an Alibi, by Ashley Elston (Pamela Dorman)
• Big Little Truths, by Liane Moriarty (Crown)
• Mad Mabel, by Sally Hepworth (St. Martin’s Press)
• Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel, by Lucy Foley (Morrow)
• My Husband’s Wife, by Alice Feeney (Flatiron/Pine & Cedar)
• Best Offers Wins, by Marisa
Kashino (Celadon)
• Dissection of a Murder, by
Jo Murray (Dutton)
• Her Last Breath, by Taylor Adams (Morrow)
• The Secrets We Hide, by Karin Slaughter (Morrow)
• The Witch, by Freida McFadden (Poisoned Pen Press)
• It Could Have Been Her, by Lisa Jewell (Atria)
• Heart of Glass, by Jennifer Hillier (Minotaur)
• It’s Not Her, by Mary Kubica (Park Row)
• The First Time I Saw Him, by Laura Dave (Scribner)
• This Story Might Save Your Life, by Tiffany Crum (Flatiron/
Pine & Cedar)
• Dear Debbie, by Freida McFadden (Poisoned Pen Press)
• Judge Stone, by Viola Davis and James Patterson (Little, Brown)

Round one of this contest runs through Sunday, November 22. Go here to vote for the novel among these 20 that most struck your fancy.

There will be a second round of voting, from November 24 to 29, with all of the winners to be announced on Thursday, December 3.