TOP TEN CRIME NOVELS AND THRILLERS OF 2025

This year gave us many offbeat novels that broke the crime fiction mold and possibly set molds to come as they examined our crazy world. Here are some of what i thought were the best.

1. 1. SAGAMORE by Jack Sonni - Sadly, this debut novel was a posthumous one as well from musician Jack Sonni. He takes a troubadour approach to this epic crime story triggered by the murder of a corrupt game warden in a nineteen twenties mining town that already has tension between the Italian immigrant miners, the white townsfolk, and the mine owners. Events lead to putting one of the miners and a Black Hand enforcer together in a run for their lives. Vivid in both character and setting, there is a richness to the writing I wish Jack Sonni had more time in life to develop further.

2. REAL BAD, REAL SOON by Eric Beetner - Betner continues his story of Carter McCoy, a man whose terminal diagnosis set him on the path to be a vigilante. He'd like to quit that part for the little time he has left, but the cop he works with won't let him and takes him into an act that will have him confront some hard questions of this life and death. Even deeper and better crafted than THE LAST FEW MILES OF ROAD which was on last year's top ten. Eric's been one of my most reliable writers and is operating at the best I've seen him right now.

3. A SONG FOR KATY SHAYNE by Jim Fusilli- A music critic, the former profession of the author, looks into the recordings of a wanna' be singer-songwriter who apparently committed suicide in the early seventies, uncovering some double dealing connected to some Nashville cats. Fusilli fully develops his sleuth and victim as he gives as fill tour of the music biz's bad and beautiful.

4. CROOKS by Lou Berney - Berney uses a mosaic form of storytelling to trace the decades of the children raised by a criminal mom and dad and their relationship to the business they were raised in. This kick ass novel uses all of Lou's talents as he delivers pathos, humaor, and excitement, delving into many crime fiction subgenres, to draw parallels to our crazy families.

5. GALWAY"S EDGE by Ken Bruen - Right before he passed Ken Bruen put his Galway investigator Jack Taylor to rest for what he promised was his last book in the series. the story at the center has Jack working for a vatican trouble shooter to deal with a priest involved in a local vigilante group. Things escalate and ripple out when members of the group get murdered, creating misadventures that put Jack's life in perspective. A perfect swan song. I just wish Ken was around to sing other songs.

6. KING OF ASHES by S.A. COSBY- Cosby found a way to get even darker than before with this tale of an Atlanta financial advisor who comes back to his hometown, where is family operate the local mortuary,when his father is hospitalized from an attack connected to his brother's debt to a local crime kingpin A violent and bleak meditation on family ties that is not for the faint of heart.

7. YOU WILL NEVER SEE ME by Jake Hinkson - A perfect thriller with the collision of two thrill killers, a cheating wife, and questionable PI who hasa tape to blackmail them all. Hinkson uses inth involving plot to investigate morality in both its bright, but especially, dark corners.

8. WE ARE WATCHING by Alison Gaylin - Gaylin examines conspiracy culture in her story of a daughter and her bookstore owner mother who are harassed by strangers due to a book the mother wrote when she was a teen and other family secrets. Alison creates suspense out of the idea of an antagonist being a belief that can't be confronted like a person of group.

9. EVERYBODY WANTS TO RULE THE WORLD by Ace Atkins- Atkin serves up eighties nostalgia with a fifteen year old convinced his mother is dating a Russian spy. Ace unspools a Richard Donner directed, Chris Columbus written Amblin movie in the reader's mind.

10, BOOM TOWN by Nic Stone - THe manager of a top Atlanta strip club looks into the disappearance of a dancer that could be connected to her missing lover. A great look at the adult entertainment business and the people involved in it.