The Best Mystery Stories of the Year 2025

About the book

#1 bestseller John Grisham selects the best short mystery fiction of the past year.

From over 3,000 considered stories published in the past year, this anthology contains the twenty best, selected by #1 New York Times bestselling author John Grisham under the auspices of New York City’s legendary crime fiction specialty store The Mysterious Bookshop.

Included are tales of suspense, detection, and puzzlement that illuminate the diversity of styles contained under the ‘mystery’ umbrella and highlight some of the greatest practitioners of the short form working today, with a blend of household names and lesser known writers no less worthy of your attention.

There’s something for everyone in this celebrated anthology, now in its fifth year, which continues to dazzle with the breadth of its selection and which draws from sources as disparate as Black Cat Weekly, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, and Conjunctions. Plus, it’s all capped off with an additional ‘bonus story’ from an earlier era, sourced from the bookshop’s rare book room.