A look at the crime novels critics were praising in 2025, via Book Marks.
Fair Play, Louise Hegarty
(Harper)
“Terrific … Cunning … A witty, knowing homage to classic detective fiction, but also a deeply sensitive examination of the loneliness and confusion of grief … Readers will enjoy the Easter eggs hidden in the underbrush … Serve[s] as a bracing meditation on the different ways we perceive death (and fiction).”
–Sarah Lyall, New York Times Book Review
King of Ashes, S.A. Cosby
(Flatiron)
“Propulsive and powerful … A gripping roller coaster ride of escalating danger in cars and crematories, punctuated by pulpy moments of dark glamour in the bedroom and the club, interspersed with elegiac meditations on the art of war. The story overflows with immersive velocity and crackling sensory details.”
–Chanelle Benz, New York Times Book Review
Carved in Blood, Michael Bennett
(Atlantic)
Like the previous novels in this series, Carved in Blood is straightforward in both style and substance. Each plot turn is convincing and each character fully rounded in a setting that Mr. Bennett obviously loves but also sees clearly … The author describ[es] methamphetamine and cocaine trade routes with journalistic precision. Somewhat predictably, this tour of New Zealand’s dark side also includes a detour into the mind of the figure who eventually emerges as the novel’s villain.”
–Anna Mundow, Wall Street Journal
Salt Bones, Jennifer Givhan
(Simon and Schuster)
“Givhan does a wonderful job infusing the early pages with hints and observations from each of the three perspectives … A worthy read … Givhan’s talents as a writer of blunt, strong sentences and remarkable poetic passages regarding the landscape and the sea more than make up for any delay … A triumph. One of the most masterful marriages of horror, mystery, thriller and literary writing that I’ve read in some time.”
–Urban Waite, Los Angeles Times
Florida Palms, Joe Pan
(Simon and Schuster)
A crime novel, if one in fancy dress, and the palms of the book’s title are more than just a threadbare tropical cliché … Perhaps Pan’s finest achievement is the novel’s heavy: a professional killer and all-around dirty-deeds man with the improbable moniker of Gumby … Occasionally struggles with what might be termed ‘first novel problems’: the ambition to be all things to all people, to entertain us to within an inch of our lives, and to gobsmack us with its poetry … Ventures a great deal more than most
–John Wray, New York Times Book Review
The Good Liar, Denise Mina
(Mulholland)
“Adrenaline floods the page … A novel as exciting and rich as any Ms. Mina has written … Both a tightly wound thriller and a sharp portrait of the British upper class … Claudia is complex and convincing … Each murder motive is revealed with impeccable timing … Ms. Mina’s descriptions transfigure the familiar…and powerfully evoke a widow’s sense of the world as ‘a giant, aching vacuum of lost wonders.'”
–Anna Mundow, Wall Street Journal
The House on Buzzards Bay, Dwyer Murphy
(Viking)
“The presence of the uncanny is even more potent in Dwyer Murphy’s new novel, The House on Buzzards Bay. Gothic chill wafts like ocean mist throughout this tale of college friends reuniting at an old house one them has inherited. The house was built by a band of 19th-century Spiritualists and, as the vacation gets underway, the friends are plagued by an uneasy sense that those Spiritualists may not have vacated the premises. Dwyer’s restrained style heightens the ominous atmosphere.”
–Maureen Corrigan, NPR’s Fresh Air
Clown Town, Mick Herron
(Soho)
“The author often comes at his subjects slantwise, with unexpected wordplay, striking imagery and leisurely unfolding back stories … Clown Town may be the best Slow Horses book to date … Mr. Herron’s style is as relaxed and stylish as ever, accommodating both keen one-line descriptions…and more elaborate imagery … Readers are likely to be happy for the opportunity to keep playing in his shabby, shadowy world.”
–Tom Nolan, Wall Street Journal
Crooks, Lou Berney
(William Morrow)
“Entertaining … The book is well-paced and often amusing, and while you’ll inevitably settle on a favorite storyline, I bet you’ll enjoy them all (Crooks is nothing if not divine inspiration for a streaming series … Berney is a gifted storyteller, and in his hands, Crooks and its wayward criminals demand your attention and appreciation — although maybe not your forgiveness.
–Connie Ogle, Star Tribune
Silent Bones, Val McDermid
(Atlantic)
“The author realistically draws together the plots, avoiding coincidences and combining believable clues with solid police insight in Silent Bones. Her storytelling prowess shows characters who continue to sharpen their investigative skills while juggling personal lives … Continues her solid reputation.”
–Oline Cogdill, Sun Sentinel
