At the start of July, I hit you with part one of 2025’s Best Mystery, Thrillers, and True Crime selections, and now it’s time for the second half of the list! I still 100% stand behind my first set of picks, so if you forgot them or want to see them for the first time, definitely check those out too.
As for the second part of the list, I am here once again with a few selections picked from Book Riot’s big Best of 2025 list (which also overlaps with my list!) and then more of my personal favorites. At the time of writing this, I’ve read more than 200 books this year, and 61% of them have been in the mystery, thriller, and true crime genres. My favorites this year include a retired elderly serial killer, a woman obsessed with buying a house, an 18-year-old who survives a bomb explosion and learns her past is not what she thought, and more!
From Book Riot’s Best Books of 2025
This Place Kills Me by Mariko Tamaki, Nicole Goux (illustrator)
This sapphic YA graphic novel takes place in the ’80s, but its story of teenage alienation is timeless. Wilberton Academy’s resident It Girl, Elizabeth Woodward, is found dead the morning after she starred in the school’s rendition of Romeo and Juliet. She’s said to have died by suicide, but something about that doesn’t feel right. Outcast Abby Kita is determined to find out what really happened to one of the few girls at Wilberton who was ever nice to her. Turns out, Elizabeth had secrets—secrets that might have gotten her killed. —Erica Ezeifedi
Salt Bones by Jennifer Givhan
A perfectly blended family drama with a past and present missing person’s mystery that sinks readers into a small town by the Salton Sea. I was equally invested in Mal and her family—from her mother blaming her for her sister’s disappearance when they were in high school to Mal keeping the father of her teen daughter’s identity a secret—and finding out what happened to the missing women, then and now. Throw in nightmares about a horse-headed woman, a politician brother aligned with the rich, and a race to find another missing person, and this atmospheric mystery is all-absorbing. Bonus: Victoria Villarreal is an excellent audiobook narrator.
The Scammer by Tiffany D. Jackson
I was still preaching the gospel of The Weight of Blood when I got around to reading The Scammer, and let me tell you, Tiffany D. Jackson does not, cannot miss. I was engrossed from the moment I saw where this story was headed (it’s inspired by the events surrounding the Sarah Lawrence cult, but set on an HBCU campus), and the ending left me in open-mouthed appreciation of a well-executed twist. If you like suspenseful books set on college campuses, explorations of cult dynamics and manipulation, and stories ripped from the headlines, you’re going to want to read this one now. —Vanessa Diaz
More of My Favorite Mystery, Thrillers, & True Crime of 2025
All access members continue below for more of the best mystery, thriller, and true crime books of 2025
Best Offer Wins by Marisa Kashino
I love what I call a “wait-for-it crime novel” with an obsessed woman and excellent writing.
Margo Miyake wants to purchase her dream home and have a baby. The problem? She and her husband have now put offers on more than 10 homes, and they are still living in a tiny apartment. Solution? She’ll befriend the owners of a house about to go on the market and convince them to sell to her before listing. She’s convinced this is a win-win for all. Except the homeowners figure out her plan and “dump” her. Now Margo is not only determined to get the house, but she’s also set on revenge…
Sisters in the Wind by Angeline Boulley
Angeline Boulley is particularly gifted in writing characters that you will follow anywhere.
While this reads as a standalone, it brings in beloved characters from her previous novels, Firekeeper’s Daughter and Warrior Girl Unearthed. With a focus on Ojibwe culture and Native history, you get a coming-of-age novel blended with a crime novel all about the hauntings of the past. Lucy Smith was left in the care of her stepmother after her father died, but that didn’t go well, and she ended up in foster care. Now, she’s eighteen and a bomb has exploded at her work. While recovering from surgery, two strangers, a lawyer and a friend of Lucy’s sister, offer to care for her and fill her in on the family she never knew. But as Lucy starts going through her past, it becomes clear that the present danger she’s in is connected to events she’d rather forget about.
Too Old for This by Samantha Downing
I am always here for an explosive opening scene and Downing’s intensity. Plus, who else can write an elderly serial killer who you’re not rooting for but who you’re not not rooting for?!
With snark, contempt, and a few murders under her belt, Lottie Jones has made it to 75. She plans on living thorugh her retirement quietly, with activities at the local church with some friends. But when the host for an upcoming docu-series knocks on her, door Lottie comes out of retirement.
Empire of Orgasm: Sex, Power, and the Downfall of a Wellness Cult by Ellen Huet
It would have been so easy for this book to have just been salacious, but instead it’s a really well-researched and written account of Nicole Daedone’s life that ultimately peels back the layers of sex to show the use of exploitation, coercion, control, and gaslighting for power, not wellness and liberation.
Ellen Huet had her work cut out for her, diving deep into Nicole Daedone’s life, with a focus on her company OneTaste and her mission to make the manually induced orgasm as popular and practiced as yoga. Huet’s reporting starts in the years before Daedone started OneTaste—which includes her life as a member of a commune (that has also been accused of being a cult), working her way up the ranks. She explores all the iterations OneTaste took, with a focus on behind the scenes, and on the vast difference between Daedone’s actions and the actions of the members, all living together like a horny commune. It’s definitely perfect for a buddy read, so you can send a lot of “!!!!” text messages.
Favorite 2025 Releases In An Already Existing (and Favorite) Series
- A Matter of Murder (A Lizzie and Darcy Mystery #2) by Tirzah Price: An utterly delightful duology that imagines Lizzie and Darcy from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice as sleuthing lawyers, while Lizzie carves a place for herself in a world determined to tell her what to do. Bonus, some smooching included.
- Other People’s Houses (DC Morgan #3) by Clare Mackintosh: An excellent procedural series with detectives working for Cheshire and North Wales that evolves the characters’ personal lives while also delivering on great mysteries and tropes. I am always awaiting the next in the series.
Browse the books recommended in Unusual Suspects’ previous newsletters on this shelf, and see 2025 and 2026 releases! Until next time, come talk books with me on Bluesky, Goodreads, Litsy, and Multitudes Contained.
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