Hi everyone, here are our five suggested reads of the week!
This week we’re turning our reading spotlight on five of the best mysteries of 2025, as found on several of Best Books of 2025 lists; links to the Best Books lists used in researching this post, are found at the end of the post.
Have a great holiday season!
–
Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall
English writer Hall serves up twist after twist in her canny U.S. debut, a story of grief, love, and murder set in the Dorset countryside. The year is 1968 and Beth Johnson, wife of gentle sheep farmer Frank, remains shattered by the death of her nine-year-old son, Bobby, in an accident two years earlier. Her first love, Gabriel, a bestselling novelist who grew up wealthy on a nearby estate, returns with his young son, Leo, after separating from his American wife. Beth reconnects with Gabriel, fantasizing about rewinding her life to a simpler time, and she forges a bond with Leo, who reminds her of Bobby. An unreliable narrator, Beth provides a blinkered view of the action, mentioning early on that a farmer has been murdered and someone close to her is on trial for the crime, but neglecting to reveal the identities of these two characters until more than halfway through the narrative. As a result, readers are kept guessing about the precise consequences of Gabriel’s return and the circumstances behind Bobby’s death. Hall makes Beth a fascinatingly complex lead who vacillates between restlessness and contentment, and the other characters’ motivations prove to be different than they seem at first glance. This sharp morality tale will stay with readers. – Publishers Weekly Review
–
Fair Play by Louise Hegarty
Hegarty’s brilliant debut kicks off with a murder mystery–themed New Year’s Eve party at a posh London Airbnb. The guests of wealthy siblings Abigail and Benjamin include work acquaintance Barbara; Benjamin’s childhood friend, Stephen; bankrupt spoilsport Declan; extravagant couple Cormac and Olivia; and Dorcas, the maid. The morning after the festivities, Benjamin is found dead in his locked bedroom. The doctor who arrives on the scene suspects suicide, but a skeptical Abigail hires famous PI Auguste Bell to investigate. When Benjamin and Abigail’s eccentric aunt arrives to console Abigail, she, too, is unconvinced that Benjamin took his own life, and she partners with Bell to solve the crime. “There are too many clues,” complains a frustrated Bell, who asks absurd questions (“Does this house have gas central heating?”) of each suspect in an attempt to sniff out the murderer. A distraught Abigail turns against each of her friends until Bell finally announces the name of the killer. Or does he? Readers, especially fans of Richard Osman, will happily go along with the plot’s many reversals and take heart in its surprisingly tender conclusion. Hegarty’s wonderfully eccentric characters, expert knowledge of classic whodunits, and ability to balance silly hijinks and serious emotional stakes mark her as a writer worth keeping tabs on. For mystery lovers, this is a joy. – Starred Publishers Weekly Review
–
Holy City by Henry Wise
Winner of the 2025 Edgar Award for Best Novel by an American Author
A heinous crime tests a freshly minted deputy sheriff’s allegiances in Wise’s stylish debut. When Will Seems’s mother died 13 years ago, he fled rural Euphoria County, Va., for the “holy city” of Richmond. Now, he’s returned to take a job with Euphoria County’s police department, and he finds that his old neighborhood remains mired in poverty and crime. Soon after Will dons his badge, his childhood friend, Tom Janders, is murdered in an arson. Zeke Hathom, father of another of Will’s boyhood friends, is spotted running from the burning building, and authorities swiftly place him in custody. Substantial evidence implicates Zeke in Tom’s death, and Will’s boss wants to send Zeke to prison. Will, however, owes a deep adolescent debt to Zeke’s son and sets out to prove the older man’s innocence. When Zeke’s friends and family hire PI Bennico Watts to help exonerate him, she and Will enter into an uneasy alliance and plunge together into Euphoria County’s underworld. Wise propels the plot forward with flashbacks to the violence of Will’s past and the shame that motivates his return. Bold characters and splendid prose further enhance the proceedings. Wise knocks it out of the park his first time up to bat. – Publishers Weekly Review
–
The In Crowd by Charlotte Vassell
Winner of the 2025 Edgar Award for Best Novel
The second in the rompy, contemporary, Agatha Christie-esque Detective Inspector Caius Beau series, following The Other Half, sees Caius Beauchamp’s evening at the theater interrupted when a dead body is discovered. Two cold cases complicate matters further, as do politics and a duke-in-waiting. – Library Review
–
Vantage Point: A Novel by Sarah Slinger
To be a member of one of the country’s wealthiest, most prestigious families means, well, wealth and prestige. But what if your family’s cursed and you’re a woman on the internet—are you ever truly safe? Sara Sligar’s Vantage Point blends family drama, generational trauma and the destructive forces of cutting-edge technology in a disturbing suspense story told from two compelling female perspectives. For the Wieland family, April is a historically tragic month: 14 Aprils ago, a teenage Clara Wieland witnessed both her parents’ brutal demise. A whirlwind of chaotic world travel, heavy substance use and eating disorder clinic stays later, Clara returns to Vantage Point, the family estate on a remote Maine island. Also living at Vantage Point are Clara’s brother, Teddy, now running for the U.S. Senate, and Clara’s childhood best friend, Jess, now married to Teddy. At the beginning of April, an intimate, graphic video of Clara surfaces online and immediately goes viral, but Clara has no memory of the video’s events. Is it real, or an extremely advanced deepfake? As Teddy’s political campaign is threatened and Jess struggles to hold the family together, Clara experiences disturbing hallucinations she insists are also engineered. Has Clara descended into madness, or are the three surviving Wielands in serious danger? Author and academic Sligar expertly crafts the history of her fictional dynasty through fictional Wikipedia entries describing the tragic outcomes of the Wieland curse, from wine cellar explosions to rogue horse tramplings. Jess grew up impoverished and became enmeshed with the Wielands at an early age, and Clara is still grappling with the tremendous loss in her adolescence. Close confidantes and now in-laws, they each provide a unique perspective on the family’s collective trauma, and they share common ground as women vulnerable to a society intent on ruining them. The “future” of believable deepfakes is already here, and Sligar’s novel serves as an entertaining literary companion to shows like Succession, but also a warning to women everywhere: Your moment of deepfake reckoning may be just around the corner. – Starred BookPage Review
–
References
Best Books. (2025).New York Public Library. https://www.nypl.org/books-more/recommendations/best-books/adults?year=2025&f%5B0%5D=terms%3ACrime%2C%20Mysteries%20%26%20Thrillers. Retrieved December 17, 2025, from https://www.nypl.org/books-more/recommendations/best-books/adults?year=2025&f%5B0%5D=terms%3ACrime%2C%20Mysteries%20%26%20Thrillers
Gaffney, A. (2025, October 31). The best mysteries and thrillers of 2025. ELLE. https://www.elle.com/culture/books/g69127582/best-mystery-thriller-books-2025/
Mwa. (2025, May 2). 2025 Edgar Award Winners announced. Mystery Writers of America. https://mysterywriters.org/mystery-writers-of-america-announces-the-2025-edgar-award-winners/
Schumer, L. (2025, December 6). PEOPLE picks the 15 best books of 2025. People.com. https://people.com/peoples-best-books-of-2025-11862936
–
–
–
Happy reading!
Linda Reimer, SSCL
–
Note: Book summaries are from the respective publishers unless otherwise specified.
–
Weekly Suggested Reading Five postings are usually published on Wednesdays, unless Monday is a holiday and then they are published later in the week.
–
Information on the four library catalogs
The Digital Catalog aka Libby: https://stls.overdrive.com/
The Digital Catalog, is an online catalog containing eBooks, eAudiobooks, and digital magazines. You can use your library card and checkout content on a PC; you can also use the companion app, Libby, to access titles on your mobile devices; so you can enjoy eBooks and eAudiobooks on the go!
All card holders of all Southern Tier Library System member libraries can check out items from the Digital Catalog.
–
Hoopla Catalog: https://www.hoopladigital.com/
The Hoopla Catalog features on demand checkouts of eBooks, eAudiobooks, comic books, albums, movies and TV shows. Patron check out limit is 10 items per month.
Hoopla is a Southeast Steuben County Library service available to all Southeast Steuben County Library card holders.
The Hoopla companion app, also called Hoopla is available for mobile devices, smart TVs & media streaming players.
–
Kanopy Catalog: https://www.kanopy.com/en
The Kanopy Catalog features thousands of streaming videos available on demand.
The Kanopy Catalog is available for all Southern Tier Library System member library card holders, including all Southeast Steuben County Library card holders!
You can access the Kanopy Catalog through a web browser, or download the app to your phone, tablet or media streaming player (i.e. Roku, Google or Fire TV).
–
StarCat: The catalog of physical/traditional library materials: https://starcat.stls.org
Card holders of all Southern Tier Library System member libraries can access StarCat to search for and request materials available at libraries through out the Southern Tier Library System.
–
Have questions about how to access Internet based content (i.e. eBooks, eAudios)? Feel free to drop by the Reference Desk or call the library and we will assist you! The library’s telephone number is: 607-936-3713.
–
Tech & Book Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.
Tech & Book Talk at SSCL 