The Mysterious Bookshop Presents the Best Mystery Stories of the Year 2025

#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.

The stories cover a satisfying range of styles and themes, embellished with notes from their authors. . . . A must-read for short story aficionados.”
—Booklist starred review for Best Mystery Stories of the Year 2024

Wide-ranging . . . Because the stories vary so much, it’s a great bet for gifting to mystery and crime fiction readers.”
—NY Journal of Books on Best Mystery Stories of the Year 2024

Mystery fans will rejoice in this collection featuring a wide array of authors and fun tales.”
—Library Journal

This year’s volume fulfills its promise of originality while honoring the time-tested formula for good mysteries: It shows readers characters they feel they know and care about doing things they couldn’t possibly have anticipated. Hits the spot.”
—Kirkus

Impressive.”
—Wall Street Journal

John Grisham is the author of fifty consecutive #1 bestsellers, which have been translated into nearly fifty languages. His recent books include Camino Ghosts, The Exchange: After the Firm, and his third Jake Brigance novel, A Time for Mercy, which is being developed by HBO as a limited series. Grisham is a two-time winner of the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction and was honored with the Library of Congress Creative Achievement Award for Fiction. When he’s not writing, Grisham serves on the board of directors of the Innocence Project and of Centurion Ministries, two national organizations dedicated to exonerating those who have been wrongfully convicted. Much of his fiction explores deep-seated problems in our criminal justice system. John lives on a farm in central Virginia.