Books by Robert Jackson Bennett

Welcome to our running list of the best mystery books of 2025, which we’ll be updating throughout the year. First up is the shortlist of the 2025 Edgar Allan Poe Award for best novel, the most prestigious U.S. mystery book prize. Bear in mind that these are books from the previous year (rather than the very latest) with the advantage that they’re already likely to be in paperback or will be soon.

Popular fiction is popular for a reason: confounding mysteries, devastating love stories, and spectacular visions of speculative worlds offer us an escape hatch from everyday life. Here we offer a handy Five Books round-up of superior genre novels of spring 2024 including unmissable new titles from firm fan favourites. See all our best novels of 2024 recommendations