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| Except one is missing . . . read on |
2025 has been, as Angela said on Monday, a never-ending cycle of hold-my-beer awfulness. Globally, nationally, publicly, and privately. Apart from the books. Thank God for the books (and Britbox, but that's for another day.)
It really has been a year of stellar reading for me and now, at the last gasp of the long slog to Christmas, I'm going to do what I always do and re-create the full list, then pick a book of the month for every month. Thus my top ten becomes twelve and I don't have to choose a favourite from among more than about ten.
And how do I pick? I look back over the list to see which books are still resonating like tuning forks, the books I want to press into others' hands, the books I still want to email the authors to say thanks for. It goes without saying, that's there's never only one of these in each month. Some months are a real challenge to make a decision about. But here goes:
Xmas Hols 24-25
ROMANTIC COMEDY, Curtis Sittenfield
THE DARK WIVES, Ann Cleeves
TIME'S UNDOING, Cheryl Head: you don't need me to tell you ... but Cheryl's heartfelt yet briliantly controlled novel takes a mystery plot and a thriller plot and plays with two timelines - the Klan-ridden 1920s and the days after George's Floyd's murder - to tell a tale of racism in America, shifting without ever changing and grinding without ever ending, but also without ever quite snuffing out the spirit or the fight of people like Robert in 1929 and Meghan in 2019. I loved it. Hated that it had to be written but loved it.
KILLING TIME, Alan Bennett
THE FARMER'S WIFE, Helen Rebanks
MIDNIGHT AT THE CHRISTMAS BOOKSHOP, Jenny Colgan
EVERYONE THIS CHRISTMAS HAS A SECRET, Benjamin Stevenson
THE PARTY, Tessa Hadley
JACOB'S ROOM IS FULL OF BOOKS, Susan Hill
FALLEN, Linda Castillo
January
WE SOLVE MURDERS, Richard Osman
ABSOLUTELY TRULY, Heather Vogel Frederick
THE BOOKSHOP MURDERS (ARC) Jennifer Gladwell
THE CAT WHO SAVED BOOKS, Sosuke Natsukawa
ANN AND HER MOTHER, O Douglas
A GUEST AT THE FEAST, Colm Toibin: I don't read a lot of non-fiction but I'd read Colm Toibin's shopping lists. This volume of essays is one third cancer journey (he's fine, him and his one remaining testicle), one third a trio of "complex and vexing" popes yes popes, and one third pandemic and writers and religion and general Toibinesque marvellousness. If' you're a writer, don't read him on a bad day, but every other day and everyone else - dive in.
February
ALL GOD'S SPARROWS, Leslie Budewitz
HOW WE LEARN TO BE BRAVE, Mariann Edgar Budde
RABBIT HOLE, Kate Brody
FLAUBERT'S PARROT, Julian Barnes
DEAR EVEN HANSEN, Emmich et al.
THE UNTELLING, Tayari Jones
GONE MISSING, Linda Castillo
NOUGHTS AND CROSSES Malorie Blackman
COMMONWEALTH, Ann Patchett
NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH, Robyn Gigl: I mean New Jersey can't really be as marinated in corruption at every level, from governor to dog catcher, as Robyn Gigl would have us believe in the Erin McCabe legal thrillers, right? Right? Ooh, but it's irresistible in a fictional setting where we know that evil-doers will get their come-uppance and virtue will eventually prevail. There's nothing like a courtroom scene written by a practising lawyer either. And you get romance and a family saga thrown into. The quartet of novels that this rounds off has been a proper treat.
March
PET, Catherine Chidgey: Another double timeline. Here it's the recent past and the present day in New Zealand, in a novel that reminded me a bit of Heavenly Creatures, a bit of Miss Jean Brodie (or that episode of Derry Girls with the non-nun English teacher), when a relentlessly inevitable disaster is born out of febrile adolescent relationships and toxic secrets.
BEYOND THE CEMETERY GATES, Valerie Biel
DEATH AT THE SIGN OF THE ROOK, Kate Atkinson
THE HIDDEN ONE, Linda Castillo
UNDER THE STORM, Christoffer Carlsson
THE MAKING OF A MARCHIONNESS, Frances Hodgson Burnett
April
SCORCHED GRACE, Margot Douaihy
SAME DIFFERENCE, E J Copperman
OZARK DOGS, Eli Cranor
AN EVIL HEART, Linda Castillo
ECHO, Tracy Clark: Huh, I didn't notice the echo (no pun intended, or indeed achieved) at the time but Tracy's last but one Harriet Foster mystery (EDGE, the next one is eligible for this year's awards) concerns a wealthy student, an elite college, and an old secret, like last month's pick. Plus one very hard to intimidate with all your fancy malarky Chicago cop. I love her!
THE ROSE AND THE YEW TREE, Agatha Christie (Mary Westmacott)
May
WRITING THE COZY MYSTERY, Phillis Betz
ALL THE QUEEN'S MEN, S J Bennett
STOP ME IF YOU'VE HEARD THIS ONE, Kristen Arnett
BETWEEN A FLOCK AND A HARD PLACE, Donna Andrews
BIG F@!KING DEAL, Lawrence Allan: See what I did? The picture isn't of the book. But I read the book the picture is of in a month where I also read something else amazing, so I've cheated. Go F*$k Yourself, is the current book, eligible for the humorous Lefty at Left Coast Crime in February. And they're all fantastic. Jmmy Cooper is a washed-up former child star in LA, who's trying to become a PI. He's a disaster but his heart is in the right place and the depcition of the city - well, the freeways - is perfect.
THERE'S NO MURDER LIKE SHOW MURDER, M S Greene
June
STORYBOOK ENDING, Moira Macdonald
THE CONJURE-MAN DIES, Rudolph Fisher
THE TREES, Percival Everett
THE STOLEN HOURS, Allen Eskens
EXPOSURE, Ramona Emerson
SHUTTER, Ramona Emerson: I'm cheating so hard now. But I read Ramona Emerson's debut and follow-up back to back and they're both just fab. Rita Todacheene is a forensic photographer with the Albuquerque PD who lives part time with her grandnother on a Navajo reservation, where she - Rita - is a portal between the spirits of the dead and the living world. And man these are some high-engagement ghosts! Eager to have their murders solved (which is understandable) they hound Rita day and night. I'm making it sound humorous and I shouldn't be. The first case is a hit and run, the seocnd a serial killer and the toll taken on Rita is a heavy one.
LITTLE WHITE LIES, Phillipa East
July
STILL SEE YOU EVERYWHERE, Lisa Gardner
BEFORE SHE DISAPPEARED, Lisa Gardner
ONE STEP TOO FAR, Lisa Gardner
THE FAMILY BIZ, Alan Orloff
THE SEARCHER, Tana French
TRULY, DEEPLY, Heather Vogel Frederick
THE MYSTERY OF HENRI PICK, David Foenkinos: This month and next is mostly Lisa Gardner and Linda Castillo. I binged. I enjoyed it at the time but now I can't actually remember which terrific book is which. I'll reread them all in order one day. For now, the July pick is a translation of a satire about the publishing industry, set in provinical France. A little bit AJ Fikry, a wee tiny bit Yellowface, but as Mr Carson said in Downton Abbey once "They're very French, the French." They sure are. This little book is a gem, a one-off. Go on! You know you want to.
August
CRIME INK: ICONIC Copenhaver and West, eds
DOWN A DARK ROAD, Linda Castillo
GO F@!K YOURSELF, Lawrence Allan
KISS HER GOODBYE, Lisa Gardner
AMONG THE WICKED, Linda Castillo
TO DIE FOR, Lisa Grey
THE DEAD WILL TELL, Linda Castillo
WE'LL PRESCRIBE YOU A CAT, Syou Ishida: I'm all in on the recent run of shortish, urban-set Japanese novels. Some of them edge into too cute for me; the best of them are closer to the slightly odd and unsettling tone of The Memory Police or Where the Wild Ladies Are. Is it science fiction? Is it a ghost story? Is it an anthology or a novel? Who cares. It's a delicious literary bento box and I've read the sequel too. Highly recomnend.
OUTSIDER, Linda Castillo
HER LAST BREATH, Linda Castillo
THE RAILWAY CHILDREN, E. Nesbitt
September
COOKING WITH FERNET BRANCA, James Hamilton-Paterson
THE HAUNTING OF HERO'S BAY, Amanda Block (June 2026)
RIGHT BEHIND YOU, Lisa Gardner
DARK RIDE, Lou Berney: Buckle up. This short novel about an aimless young man who takes on the problems of a pair of abused - or at least negelcted - children he happens to meet one day might break you, but you'll be happy to be broken. There's another background theme of found family running through, and I'm a sucker for a found family, even one as dysfunctional as this. And you know how you buckled up? Add another buckle for the ending.
A GATHERING OF SECRETS, Linda Castillo
ECHOES OF THE LOST, Cindy Brown (May 2026)
October
THE FIRE NEXT TIME, James Baldwin
OTHER PEOPLE'S SECRETS, Meredith Hambrock
AS THE WICKED WATCH, Tamron Hall
SIRENS OF MEMORY, Puja Guha: Sorry about the picture. My copy of Puja's wonderful novel is trapped behind the cleared-away lamps and other stuff that have had to make room for the Christmas lights and Christmas stuff. I couldn't face mining all the way back for it. It's my third dual timeline novel on the list. One story takes place in a refugee camp after the invasion of Kuwait, the other amongst the resettled refufgees in present-day Texas. As the twenty-fifth anniversay of the war comes around, Kuwaitis gather to mark it at the embassy in DC, bringing all their secrets with them . . . Wowser! This is a tense read with a very rewarding ending.
WHILE WE WERE DATING, Jasmine Guillory
AFTER THE STORM, Linda Castillo
November
HOKULOA ROAD, Elizabeth Hand
THE KILLER QUESTION, Janice Hallett
FRANKLY, Nicola Sturgeon: the former first minister of Scotland is basically me, if I wasn't such a flake and a bubble-head. She's from the same background but so focussed and serious; no swerves and false starts for Oor Nic. It's the first politcal memoir I've ever read, although Kamala Harris's is on my TBR file. I'll let you know.
DEAR COMMITTEE MEMBERS, Julie Schumacher
THE IRISH GOODBYE, Heather Aimee O'Neill
WE'LL PRESCRIBE YOU ANOTHER CAT, Syou Ishida
WATCH WHERE THEY HIDE, Tamron Hall
December
BROKEN LIGHT, Joanne Harris: It's a bit early to call it, but I wouldn't be surprised if this ends up being book of the month. It's the story of a woman who had Carrie-esque powers before puberty but lost them. Now she's menopausal and they've come roaring back. As much fun as it sounds. Punch the air good!
PERFECT LITTLE CHILDREN, Sophie Hannah
And that's that. Another year of crime fiction, general fiction, a light smattering of other books and absolutely no guilty pleasures. Guilt? About pleasure? Shehhh, right.
Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah with extra hugs, have a Killer Kwanza and here's hoping for a Cool Yule,
Cx
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