O n this list, we also include books that have been nominated for prestigious awards, like the Edgars in the US and the Dagger Awards in the UK. The shortlist for the Edgars  was announced back in January, the Dagger shortlist  in May. Bear in mind that these are the best books of the previous year, rather than the very latestâwith the advantage that theyâre already likely to be in paperback.
đ Winner of the 2025 CWA KAA Gold Dagger
The Book of Secrets by Anna Mazzola, an accomplished writer of historical crime novels, is based on a real bout of poisonings that took place in Rome in the mid-17th century. The so-called 'Aqua Tofana' could not be detected and was used by women to get rid of abusive husbands. Mazzola tells the story well and you'll find yourself rooting for the poisoners.
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â Shortlisted for the 2025 Edgar Allan Poe Awards
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore falls very firmly into the 'domestic noir' or psychological thriller category. The plot revolves around the disappearance of two siblings, and a lot does happen in the book, but you won't enjoy it unless you enjoy getting inside the head of the different protagonists. It's set at a fancy summer camp in the Adirondack mountains in upstate New York, although a lot of the action also takes place in a nearby mansion, the summer home of the rich New York family that owns the camp and its surrounding woods. As well as being shortlisted for the 2025 Edgar Allan Poe Awards, The God of the Woods by Liz Moore also garnered good reviews in a number of eminent publications, including the New Yorker and the New York Times.
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â Shortlisted for the 2025 CWA KAA Gold Dagger
Guide Me Home is the final book in Attica Locke's trilogy featuring Darren Mathews, a Texas Ranger who happens to be Black. (You don't need to read the first two books in the trilogyâthe award-winning Bluebird, Bluebird and Heaven, My Home â
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â Shortlisted for the 2025 CWA KAA Gold Dagger
The Hunter by Tana French is the second book featuring Cal Hooper, a Chicago cop who has retired to the Irish countryside (the first book was The Searcher The Hunter revolves around an Englishman who comes to the village, apparently on a quest for gold he heard about from an elderly relation.
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âAmong my favourite crime novels this year was The Hunter by Tana French, a sequel to her book The Searcher (which itâs probably best to read first). The main protagonist, Cal Hooper, is a retired Chicago police detective who ends up living in the Irish countrysideâ Read more...
The Best Crime Novels of 2024
Sophie Roell ,
Journalist
â Shortlisted for the 2025 CWA KAA Gold Dagger
The Bell Tower by R.J. Ellory is about what it's like to work at a prison with a high-security section and prisoners on death row. Set in Florida, the bell tower is the chamber where prisoners are executed. The book tells the story of Garrett Nelson, an ex-sheriff who ends up working at the prison, and what that makes him think and feel. The book starts slowly and gets increasingly gripping.
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đ Winner of the 2025 Edgar Allan Poe Awards
The In Crowd by Charlotte Vassell is the second book set in high society London and featuring Detective Inspector Caius Beauchamp. The Other Half The In Crowd , a lot of the book's energy comes from the characters. These include a beautiful milliner, Calliope Foster, as the love interest.
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âListen for the Lie by Amy TinteraâŚrevolves around a main character who does not know whether or not she committed the crime of murdering her best friend. Everyone else, however, thinks she did it. Five years later, a true crime podcaster gets involved and all is revealed. The main character is strong with a wry sense of humour, and you find yourself wanting to be as blunt as she is.â Read more...
The Best Crime Novels of 2024
Sophie Roell ,
Journalist
â Shortlisted for the 2025 KAA CWA Gold Dagger
A Divine Fury by D.V. Bishop is the fourth book in a historical mystery series featuring Aldo Cesare, a policeman in Renaissance Florence. In A Divine Fury, he's been demoted to constable and is mainly on duty at night, enforcing Florence's curfew rules, when a series of killings kicks off. As with many historical mysteries, the book combines an interesting and informative backdrop (this is the Florence of Cosimo I de' Medici, who features in the book) with a distinctly 21st-century sensibility on the part of the main characters.
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â Shortlisted for the 2025 CWA KAA Gold Dagger
I Died at Fallow Hall by Bonnie Burke-Patel takes place in a typical English country mystery setting, with a cottage, a cute local village, and a big house where the local lord lives. In tone, however, the book is not light, but quite melancholicâlots of the characters are lonelyâor at least reflective. It's a dual timeline story with the action taking place both in the present and in 1967.
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â Shortlisted for the 2025 Edgar Allan Poe Awards
My Favorite Scar is by Argentinian author NicolĂĄs Ferraro and was translated from Spanish by Mallory Craig-Kuhn. It's been described as a noir coming-of-age story. The main character is a 15-year-old girl who is being brought up by her incorrigible criminal father. She dresses his bullet wounds and has her own shotgunâbut what she really wants is to stay in one place and lead a normal life.
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â Shortlisted for the 2025 Edgar Allan Poe Awards
Rough Trade by Katrina Carrasco is a tale of banditry set in Washington state in the late 19th century, with the members of a successful, women-run smuggling gang as the heroes of the story. This is a time when opium from China was being legally processed in factories in Victoria, British Columbia and transported by steamboat down to Tacoma, where the book is set. For an interesting article on the research behind this historical novel, read this .
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â Shortlisted for the 2025 Edgar Allan Poe Awards
The Tainted Cup is a murder mystery set in a fantastical, dystopian world, where everyone lives in fear of being crushed by sea creatures currently kept out by a wall.
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âDetective fiction is given a magical twist in Robert Jackson Bennettâs The Tainted Cup. The Edgar-winning author combines intricate world-building with a Sherlockian murder investigation to create a fantastical, richly imagined story, the first in a planned trilogy.â Read more...
Popular Fiction Highlights of Spring 2024
Cal Flyn ,
Five Books Editor
â Shortlisted for the 2025 Edgar Allan Poe Awards
Things Don't Break on Their Own is a debut novel by Sarah Easter Collins and, like many books on this year's Edgars shortlist, takes place in the UK. It's about a woman whose sister disappeared 25 years ago, and what happened to her. It's very much focused on the relationships of the various characters and their memories of the past, including the grim shadow of a controlling and unpredictable father.
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