The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2025
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3.0 • 1 Rating
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Publisher Description
“While a single sentence can turn a novel, a single word can turn a short story,” writes guest editor Don Winslow. The pieces featured in this collection hinge on those small, exacting moments that shock, spook, delight, and change a story entirely. A disgraced ex-cop approaches a crossroads with his ex-wife and new neighbor, pistol in hand; an ill-advised acid trip reveals the dark side of a twisted friendship; a hardened hit man struggles with his latest target. Full of dramatic twists, subtle clues, and chilling reveals, The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2025 will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very last shoe drops.
THE BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY AND SUSPENSE 2025 INCLUDES: TOM ANDES • ANN APTAKER • JACQUELINE FREIMOR • TOD GOLDBERG • JAMES D. F. HANNAH • CAROLINE KEPNES • IVY POCHODA • TWIST PHELAN • MEAGAN LUCAS • AND OTHERS
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
City in Ruins author Winslow selects 20 splendid shorts for the latest volume of this long-running anthology series. Many of the most memorable entries reflect contemporary political and social tensions. In Tom Andes's "Never Mind in Two Thousand," a bitter ex-cop gets fired up when his new neighbors temporarily block his driveway. Eventually, neighborly frictions—including the protagonist's sense that the public no longer respects police—escalate to violence. "Eat My Moose" by Erika Krouse tackles assisted suicide, focusing on a protagonist who's helped more than 200 people end their lives. Krouse's lyrical prose enhances the poignant plot; her lead describes a newly dead client as "the stillest thing I had ever known, like outer space must be, like the point between exhale and inhale, like the eternal present moment, like love." Other stories update California noir for the Adderall generation (Tod Goldberg's "A Dog's Year"), trace the details of a murder through a series of grisly tattoos (Ivy Pochoda's "Jackrabbit Skin"), and offer tantalizing twists on the classic PI story (Gary Phillips's "The Darklight Gizmo Matter"). Fans of crime fiction will be thrilled.
