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.

* * *

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).