Kirkus Best Books of the Year - Mysteries and Thrillers (Awarded by Kirkus)

Awards List

2025

The Dentist
(*)
Tim Sullivan

The Dark Maestro
(*)
Brendan Slocumb

Detective Aunty
(*)
Uzma Jalaluddin

Marguerite by the Lake
(*)
Mary Dixie Carter

Murder Takes a Vacation
(*)
Laura Lippman

King of Ashes
(*)
S.A. Cosby

Fog and Fury
(*)
Rachel Howzell Hall

The Man Who Died Seven Times
(*)
YASUHIKO NISHIZAWA

Buried Above Ground
(*)
Mike Ripley

Clown Town
(*)
Mick Herron

The Librarians
(*)
Sherry Thomas

2024

Cahokia Jazz
(*)
Francis Spufford

Hero
(*)
Thomas Perry

Who to Believe
(*)
Edwin Hill

Under the Storm
(*)
Christoffer Carlsson

Close to Death
(*)
Anthony Horowitz

All the Colors of the Dark
(*)
Chris Whitaker

The Unwedding
(*)
Ally Condie

The God of the Woods
(*)
Liz Moore

It's Elementary
(*)
Elise Bryant

Joe Hustle
(*)
Richard Lange

Guide Me Home
(*)
Attica Locke

Two Times Murder
(*)
Adam Oyebanji

2023

Green for Danger
(*)
Christianna Brand

Blaze Me a Sun
(*)
Christoffer Carlsson

Every Man a King
(*)
Walter Mosley

The Lost Americans
(*)
Christopher Bollen

A Line in the Sand
(*)
Kevin Powers

Code of the Hills
(*)
Chris Offutt

Night Will Find You
(*)
Julia Heaberlin

Crook Manifesto
(*)
Colson Whitehead

The Stolen Coast
(*)
Dwyer Murphy

Reykjavik
(*)
Ragnar Jonasson

Bright Young Women
(*)
Jessica Knoll

One Last Kill
(*)
Robert Dugoni

2022

The 6:20 Man
(*)
David Baldacci

The Maid
(*)
Nita Prose

The Christie Affair
(*)
Nina De Gramont

Diablo Mesa
(*)
Douglas Preston; Lincoln Child

The Berlin Exchange
(*)
Joseph Kanon

Secret Identity
(*)
Alex Segura

What Happened to the Bennetts
(*)
Lisa Scottoline

Two Nights in Lisbon
(*)
Chris Pavone

The Bullet That Missed
(*)
Richard Osman

Killers of a Certain Age
(*)
Deanna Raybourn

2021

Untraceable
(*)
Sergei Lebedev

Infinite
(*)
Brian Freeman

Lady Joker, Volume 1
(*)
Kaoru Takamura

Northern Spy
(*)
Flynn Berry

A Lonely Man
(*)
Chris Power

The Other Black Girl
(*)
Zakiya Dalila Harris

False Witness
(*)
Karin Slaughter

Razorblade Tears
(*)
S.A. Cosby

Billy Summers
(*)
Stephen King

Unthinkable
(*)
Brad Parks

Harlem Shuffle
(*)
Colson Whitehead

The Corpse Flower
(*)
Anne Mette Hancock

The Man Who Died Twice
(*)
Richard Osman

2020

Eight Perfect Murders
(*)
Peter Swanson

Precious You
(*)
Helen Monks Takhar

Dead Land
(*)
Sara Paretsky

A Shadow Intelligence
(*)
Oliver Harris

Take Me Apart
(*)
Sara Sligar

Fair Warning
(*)
Michael Connelly

The Golden Cage
(*)
Camilla Lackberg

The Bourne Evolution
(*)
Brian Freeman

All the Devils Are Here
(*)
Louise Penny

One by One
(*)
Ruth Ware

The Kingdom
(*)
Jo Nesbo

Award Categories

Affirming Picture Books

Bedtime Books

Beginning Readers

Board Books

Book Club Fiction

Books for Beginning Readers

Debut Fiction

Dystopian Fiction

Empowering Picture Books

Environmental Fiction

Fiction

Fiction in Translation

Fictional Families

Fictional Voices

Funniest Picture Books

Historical Fiction

Informational Picture Books

Joyous Picture Books

Middle Grade Exploring Social Themes

Middle-Grade About Speaking Up

Middle-Grade Activist

Middle-Grade Adventures

Middle-Grade Family Stories

Middle-Grade Fantasy and SF

Middle-Grade Fiction

Award Years

2025

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019