• The Best Mystery Books of 2025 - The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
  • The Best Mystery Books of 2025 - The Hunter by Tana French
  • The Best Mystery Books of 2025 - The In Crowd by Charlotte Vassell
  • The Best Mystery Books of 2025 - Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera
  • The Best Mystery Books of 2025 - A Divine Fury
  • The Best Mystery Books of 2025 - I Died at Fallow Hall by Bonnie Burke-Patel

The Best Mystery Books of 2025

Welcome to our running list of the best mystery books of 2025, which we’ll be updating throughout the year. Our definition of mystery is broad, and can include any novel that has a crime at its heart with (ideally) an unexpected plot twist. Throughout the year, we’ll be looking out for new mystery books as they’re published and adding them whenever we think they’re worth reading.

  • Historical Mystery Novels - The Silver Pigs by Lindsey Davis
  • Historical Mystery Novels - Midnight at Malabar House by Vaseem Khan
  • Historical Mystery Novels - Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee by Anonymous & Robert van Gulik (translator)
  • Historical Mystery Novels - The Unseeing by Anna Mazzola
  • Historical Mystery Novels - Mortal Mischief by Frank Tallis

Historical Mystery Novels, recommended by Tuva Kahrs

Do you enjoy being immersed in the detail of a well-observed historical novel, or gripped by the mystery of a detective story? Historical mysteries combine the best of both. From 1st century Rome to Victorian London, from Tang dynasty China to 20th century Bombay, our contributing editor Tuva Kahrs brings you a crop of well-researched mysteries that will transport you to different times and places.

  • The Best Mystery Books - Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith
  • The Best Mystery Books - The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler
  • The Best Mystery Books - In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
  • The Best Mystery Books - The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926) by Agatha Christie
  • The Best Mystery Books - The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle

The Best Mystery Books, recommended by David Baldacci

The best mystery books are completely unputdownable and addictive, the entertainment they provide more portable than watching TV and so much more satisfying than looking at your phone. Bestselling author David Baldacci, one of the masters of the genre and a passionate advocate for literacy and reading, talks us through some of the best mystery books ever written—as well as the contemporary authors he most admires.

  • The Best Agatha Christie Books - Endless Night by Agatha Christie
  • The Best Agatha Christie Books - The ABC Murders (1936) by Agatha Christie
  • The Best Agatha Christie Books - A Murder is Announced by Agatha Christie
  • The Best Agatha Christie Books - Agatha Christie: An English Mystery by Laura Thompson
  • The Best Agatha Christie Books - The Witness for the Prosecution by Agatha Christie

The Best Agatha Christie Books, recommended by Mathew Prichard

Agatha Christie wrote some 80 mysteries and short story collections, nearly all designed to entertain and delight readers with their ingenious plot twists. Here, her only grandson, Mathew Prichard, who oversaw her literary estate for many decades, recommends books that give a good sense of the range of her work, from Miss Marple to Hercule Poirot to mysteries featuring neither, and including her best short story.  

  • The Best Locked-Room or Puzzle Mysteries - The Hollow Man by John Dickson Carr
  • The Best Locked-Room or Puzzle Mysteries - Green for Danger by Christianna Brand
  • The Best Locked-Room or Puzzle Mysteries - Mrs. McGinty's Dead (1952) by Agatha Christie
  • The Best Locked-Room or Puzzle Mysteries - Bloodhounds by Peter Lovesey
  • The Best Locked-Room or Puzzle Mysteries - Snowblind by Ragnar Jónasson

The Best Locked-Room or Puzzle Mysteries, recommended by Tom Mead

In the Golden Age of mystery between the two World Wars, writers loved to devise fiendish plots where seemingly impossible crimes were committed. Tom Mead, author of two ‘locked-room’ mysteries set in the 1930s, introduces us to some of his favourite books in the genre, from the Golden Age itself to books written in more recent decades that pay tribute to its traditions.