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

By: John Grisham - editor, Otto Penzler - series editor

Narrated by: Jamie Renell, Marnye Young

#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.

©2025 Penzler Publications, LLC (P)2025 Highbridge Audio

Good listening!

I enjoy the short storys. Each was good in it’s own way. Look forward to next year’s.

some really good stories

short stories are interesting to me! they're leave you hanging often. but I love the challenge. the authors worked hard!

Nice variety.

I enjoyed the various authors. Some delivered classic detective fare and others had different styles. All were excellent.

What a collection!

I love short stories and have listened to a couple of these compilations before. I’ve never had so many varied and interesting stories before me before. I could not stop playing them (I listen to my audiobooks in the car). I also did not want a miss a sentence, which means that, with my attention on the traffic, I made maximum use of the rewind feature of Audible. Congratulations to each and every author. I am now your fan! I now know how I am going to spend my Audible credits: searching our works by each of you and enjoying my time in the car even more.

I’ve already recommended this audiobook to several people

I enjoyed every story. After I post this review I am going to look for the prior years’ compilations.