American bookseller Barnes & Noble is first out of the gate with its choices of the “best mystery and thriller books” released in the United States over the last 12 months. Among those 32 works you will find a collection of novellas, modern and historical yarns, one true-crime stunner, and half a dozen titles that aren’t yet available.
• All the Secrets, by May Cobb (Sourcebooks Landmark)
• Bad Company, by Sara Paretsky (Minotaur)
• Big Little Truths, by Liane Moriarty (Crown)
• The Ending Writes Itself, by Evelyn Clarke (HarperCollins)
• The Final Problem, by Arturo Perez-
Reverte (Little, Brown)
• The Final Score, by Don Winslow (HarperCollins)
• Five, by Ilona Bannister (Crown)
• The French Illusion, by John Grisham (Doubleday)
• God’s Country, by William Kent Krueger (Atria)
• Heart of Glass, by Jennifer Hillier (Minotaur)
• Heather, by Caitlin Mullen (Celadon)
• Helpless, by Jessica Knoll (Scribner)
• How to Cheat Your Own Death, by Kristen Perrin (Dutton)
• It Could Have Been Her, by Lisa Jewell (Atria)
• The Keeper, by Tana French (Viking)
• London Station, by David McCloskey (Norton)
• Look What the Cat Dragged In, by Jason Rekulak (Flatiron)
• Mad Mabel, by Sally Hepworth (St. Martin’s Press)
• Miss Wolcott’s Ghost, by Louise Penny (Minotaur)
• Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel, by Lucy Foley (Morrow)
• The Murder at World’s End, by Ross Montgomery (HarperCollins)
• My Husband’s Wife, by Alice Feeney (Flatiron)
• Revenge Plot, by Stephanie Wrobel (Berkley)
• The Secret Dinner, by Raphael Montes (Celadon)
• This Changes Everything, by Lisa Scottoline (Grand Central)
• The Unknown, by Riley Sager (Dutton)
• Valley of the Moms, by Hannah Selinger (Little, Brown)
• A Violent Masterpiece, by Jordan Harper (Little, Brown)
• We Chase Shadows, by Richard Osman (Pamela Dorman)• Wolf Point, by Lisa Howells
(Grand Central)
• You’ll Be Sorry, by Lisa Gardner
(Grand Central)
• London Falling, by Patrick Radden
Keefe (Doubleday)
I’ve read only a few of these titles. There aren’t many surprise picks, which is no doubt due to the fact that Barnes & Noble is in the business of selling books, especially those from major publishers with substantial promotional budgets. Still, the works here that I have read stand a real shot at making my own list of 2026 favorites.
(Hat tip to Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine.)
