The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2025

A collection of the year’s best mystery and suspense short fiction selected by the award-winning, New York Times bestselling author of City in Ruins, Don Winslow, and series editor Steph Cha. The Best American series, launched in 1915, is the premier annual showcase for the country’s finest short fiction and nonfiction, and it is the most respected—and most popular—of its kind. Don Winslow, the Raymond Chandler Award-winning author of City in Ruins, picks the best twenty mystery and suspense stories from the previous year.