The best noir fiction of 2025: "CrimeReads"

One title on the CrimeReads list of the best noir fiction released in 2025:

The Felons’ Ball, Polly Stewart

In this follow-up to Stewart’s acclaimed debut, The Good Ones, tension boils over at an annual birthday summit where a pair of old friends recount past misdeeds for a raucous and appreciative gathering. In The Felons Ball, Stewart paints a lively portrait of small-town secrets and generational entanglements. Stewart is proving herself a master of suspense.

Read about the other entries on the list.

The Page 69 Test: The Good Ones.

The Page 69 Test: The Felons' Ball.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten thrillers with characters you’ll love to hate

Tanya Grant writes twisty thrillers full of secrets, murder, and gossipy group dynamics. When not conducting highly suspicious web searches (for research!), she also writes romances. Her essays have appeared on HelloGiggles.com and Bust.com, and she's spoken about creativity on various podcasts. When she's not writing, you can find the author listening to the coyotes howl outside her Seattle-area home, drinking cinnamon tea, and chasing her two children.

Grant's new novel is Made You Look.

At CrimeReads she tagged "ten thrillers with characters you’ll love to hate," including:

Lisa Unger, Close Your Eyes and Count to 10

A game of extreme hide and seek hosted by an adventurous reality TV star turns deadly in this atmospheric thriller. Each character has a different reason for traveling to the island where the game is held, and some of the most desperate motives lead to chilling choices.

Read about the other thrillers on Grant's list at CrimeReads.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven top messy divorce novels and memoirs

At Vogue Daisy Jones and Emma Specter tagged seven "messy divorce novels and memoirs to read (or revisit) now," including:

Maggie; or, A Man and a Woman Walk Into a Bar by Katie Yee (2025)

A Chinese-American woman names her newly discovered tumor after her husband’s mistress in this quirky, thoughtful, and genuinely funny exploration of what it means to be left behind by your partner and discover a whole new life in the wake of your relationship’s destruction.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten excellent yet frequently ignored dystopian novels

One title from TopTenz's "list of 10 dystopian novels which are often overshadowed by other champions of the genre but which are nevertheless worthy of some – and in some cases, even equal – praise:"

Where Late The Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm (1976)

Perhaps the most well-known book on this list and winner of Hugo, Nebula and Locus awards, “Where Late The Sweet Birds Sang” is a bit different from other books on this list as it covers both post-apocalyptic and dystopian scenarios. Civilization has collapsed due to large-scale pollution which has devastated the planet’s environment. The population declines at an alarming rate as incurable diseases affect the masses. Meanwhile, a wealthy family builds an isolated community for themselves for survival where they discover that they have become infertile. So, they adhere to the last possible option for their survival, cloning, thinking that they might become fertile after a few generations.

But eventually when the clones grow-up, they prefer the idea of further cloning over natural reproduction, and their actions eliminate any individual thoughts from the society over a passage of time.

But amongst them is a kid named Mark, who is a natural-born human who has abilities to survive on his own, unlike the clones. Mark is portrayed as an arrogant kid who doesn’t think much of his cloned relatives and often makes cruel jokes of them, but he has one quality which the clones lack for other human beings outside of their community – empathy. And as being empathetic and acting like a jerk are some of the special human traits, the book’s core aim is to explore the concept of individuality and what it means to be human.

Read about the other entries on the list.

Where Late The Sweet Birds Sang is among James Davis Nicoll's five extremely pessimistic SF classics.

--Marshal Zeringue

Eight moving and meaningful nonfiction books about pets

Carolina Ciucci is a teacher, writer and reviewer based in the south of Argentina. She hoards books like they’re going out of style. In case of emergency, you can summon her by talking about Ireland, fictional witches, and the Brontë family. At Book Riot she tagged "eight lovely nonfiction books about pets." One title on the list:

Smart Ass by Margaret Winslow

Most of us had our little childhood hearts set on a dog. Not so Winslow: the pet she wanted as a kid was a donkey. When she sees one for sale decades later, this overworked college professor welcomes Caleb the Donkey into her life. But Caleb doesn’t believe in making things easy for her!

Read about the other titles on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Six suspense novels and twisty thrillers set in small towns

Laura Griffin is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more than thirty books and novellas. She is a two-time RITA Award winner, as well as the recipient of the Daphne du Maurier Award.

Her new novel is Innocence Road.

At CrimeReads Griffin tagged six favorite suspense novels and twisty thrillers set in small towns, including:

Tana French, The Searcher

The first in a bestselling trilogy, The Searcher by Tana French introduces us to retired Chicago cop Cal Hooper, who goes to the quaint Irish village of Ardnakelty hoping for a new start and an escape from the violence of his past. But his hopes are thwarted when a teen girl pulls him into her determined search for her missing brother.

Through her skillful use of description and dialect, the author immerses the reader in rural Ireland, just as Cal Hooper finds himself immersed in his new surroundings. As the story progresses, Hooper discovers that Ardnakelty sits atop a graveyard of buried secrets and that his dream of tranquil village life is rapidly eroding.

Read about the other entries on the list at CrimeReads.

--Marshal Zeringue

Fifteen books on why and how to preserve democracy

One title on Tertulia's list of "books that explain how we have arrived at a precarious state of democracy and what is to be done about it:"

Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America
Heather Cox Richardson

Historian and author of the popular newsletter, “Letters From an American,” Heather Cox Richardson’s latest provides a compelling description of how misleading histories and narratives have been weaponized by a small but influential groups of elites to push America away from democracy and towards authoritarianism. Virginia Heffernan of the Washington Post calls it, "The most lucid just-so story for Trump's rise I've ever heard. It's magisterial."

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

The top 20 crime fiction, mysteries, and thrillers: "CrimeReads"

One title on the top twenty list of the best crime novels, mysteries, and thrillers of 2025, according to CrimeReads:

We Are Watching, Alison Gaylin

Alison Gaylin has long been one of my favorite writers, and We Are Watching is the best so far. When an aging rock star goes viral on a streaming platform, he knows the soaring numbers stem not from the song’s popularity, but from a growing conspiracy theory with the song at its center. Gaylin’s heroine, owner of a family-oriented bookstore in a small town in upstate New York, at first dismisses her rockstar father’s warnings—until she finds herself targeted by a terrifying cult, one whose members believe she and her father made a world-ending pact with the devil. Now, they’re after her entire family, convinced they must be murdered on camera in order to prevent a Satanic apocalypse. I stayed up the entire night racing to the conclusion, then lying awake haunted by my own thoughts.

Read about the other entries on the list at CrimeReads.

The Page 69 Test: We Are Watching.

--Marshal Zeringue

Eight historical mystery novels that transport readers

USA Today bestselling author Julie Mulhern is a Kansas City native who grew up on a steady diet of Agatha Christie. She spends her spare time whipping up gourmet meals for her family, working out at the gym, and finding new ways to keep her house spotlessly clean. Truth is, she's an expert at calling for take-out, she grumbles about walking the dog, and the dust bunnies under the bed have grown into dust lions. Action, adventure, mystery, and humor are the things Mulhern loves when she's reading. She loves them even more when she's writing!

Her new novel is Murder in Manhattan.

At CrimeReads Mulhern tagged eight favorite historical mystery novels that transport readers, including:

Tasha Alexander, And Only to Deceive

Tasha Alexander’s And Only to Deceive transports us to Victorian London through the eyes of Lady Emily Ashton, a young woman who discovers her late husband wasn’t the man she thought he was. Emily’s transformation from naive bride to widow to intrepid sleuth made me fall in love with this series.

Alexander captures the claustrophobia of aristocratic Victorian womanhood (the calling cards and social rituals, the art collecting and archaeological pursuits, and the restrictive rules governing a widow’s behavior) while also revealing the era’s intellectual curiosity, particularly around archaeology and classical studies. But it’s Lady Emily’s curiosity that keeps readers coming back.

Read about the other entries on the list at CrimeReads.

--Marshal Zeringue

Six top twisty police procedurals

Isabelle Popp's first attempt at writing a romance novel came in middle school, when she began a story about a weirdo girl who could photosynthesize. That project was abandoned, but she has plenty of other silly ideas in the hopper. When she isn't reading or writing, she's probably knitting, solving crossword puzzles, or scouring used book stores for vintage Gothic romance paperbacks. Originally from New York, she's as surprised as anyone that she lives in Indiana. Let's Give 'Em Pumpkin to Talk About is her first novel.

At Book Riot Popp tagged six of the best twisty police procedurals. One title on the list:

Cold to the Touch by Kerri Hakoda

This book, set in Alaska, follows Anchorage homicide detective DeHavilland Beans (what a name!) as he investigates the death of a barista he interacted with regularly. As more bodies appear, the detective fears a serial killer is on the loose, and the FBI gets involved. This book is full of subplots and memorable characters.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven titles about very hungry women

Anna Rollins is the author of Famished: On Food, Sex, and Growing Up as a Good Girl. Her groundbreaking debut memoir examines the rhyming scripts of diet culture and evangelical purity culture. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, Slate, Electric Literature, Salon, Joyland, and more, and she has also published scholarly work in composition and writing center studies. An award-winning instructor, she taught English in higher education for nearly 15 years and is a 2025 West Virginia Creative Network Literary Arts Fellow. A lifelong Appalachian, she lives in West Virginia with her husband and their three small children.

At Electric Lit Rollins tagged seven books in which "women are hungry for love, survival, and power" and "food indulgence runs parallel to their other, gnawing appetites." One title on the list:

Beard: A Memoir of a Marriage by Kelly Foster Lundquist

Lundquist’s tender memoir unpacks the trope of “the beard”: a heterosexual woman who unknowingly enters into a relationship with a closeted gay man. Raised in conservative evangelical culture, she and her partner digested rigid narratives about gender roles. To live up to the expectation of being a desirable, traditional woman, many of Lundquist’s scenes include descriptions of hunger and obsessions with weight loss. But mid-narrative, there’s a shift: She begins to indulge. And grow. In one evocative scene, after being told she was “getting too damn skinny,” she shovels fresh pesto straight from the blades of a blender into her mouth, the licorice and pepper taste of basil intermingling with traces of blood from her tongue.

Read about the other books on Rollins's list at Electric Lit.

--Marshal Zeringue

Four novels that give a voice to Massachusetts' blue-collar communities

Emily Ross is the author of the mystery thriller Swallowtail and the International Thriller Writers Thriller Awards finalist, Half In Love With Death. She won the Al Blanchard best story award for her short story, “Let the Chips Fall”, which appeared in Devil’s Snare: Best New England Crime stories 2024. She is a graduate of Grub Street’s Novel Incubator and lives in Quincy, MA, with her husband and Obi-Wan Kenobi, their very playful cat.

[The Page 69 Test: Half In Love With Death; Writers Read: Emily Ross (December 2015); My Book, The Movie: Half In Love With Death]

At CrimeReads Ross tagged four novels that give a voice to blue-collar communities like Quincy, Massachusetts. One title on the list:

Micheal Harvey, Brighton

When I was a teen, I sometimes hung out with my sister and her boyfriend in Oak Square in Brighton MA. He called his colorful friends there “the buzzards.” I was not comfortable around them, but they told good stories about some of the not-so-good things they’d done.

Michael Harvey’s crime thriller, Brighton, unflinchingly captures that same edgy blue-collar world with its daily dose of drunkenness, crime, violence, and racism. But it is also a novel about boyhood and two friends, Kevin Pearce and Bobby Scales, who are united by an act of violence that sends them off in different directions.

Kevin manages to escape Brighton and becomes a successful journalist. Bobby is left behind to accept the consequences. Years later, when Bobby becomes a suspect in a string of local murders, Kevin must return, ostensibly to help his friend, but also to face the past that won’t stay buried.

Brighton opens with Kevin skimming stones across the water. It’s a tranquil scene, but only for an instant. Things quickly turn dark in this novel that is as much about blue-collar neighborhoods like Brighton, places that can drag you under, as it is about the people there who struggle to stay above water.

Read about the other entries on the list at CrimeReads.

--Marshal Zeringue