The 25 best Australian books of 2025
Just in time for last-minute gifts: Guardian Australia critics and staff pick out the best books of the year, featuring Helen Garner, Dominic Amerena, Evelyn Araluen and more
Daniel Woodrell obituary
Author of ‘country noir’ novels, such as Winter’s Bone, set in the rural communities of the Ozark mountains
Ms Holmes and Ms Watson – Apt 2B review: mysterious case of the joke-cracking Sherlock
This riff on Arthur Conan Doyle’s detective stories has flashes of promise but its comedy and purpose never land
The best crime and thrillers of 2025
Mick Herron’s Slow Horses, Belinda Bauer’s obsessive world of bird egg collectors, Uketsu’s innovative Japanese detective mystery – and more
The Hiding Place by Kate Mildenhall review – an edge-of-your-seat thriller that skewers the middle class
A group of friends buy an abandoned mining town in this satisfying crime novel with a satirical twist
Murder in the Cathedral by Kerry Greenwood review – an imperfect end to an extraordinary era
The 23rd and final Phryne Fisher mystery will be treasured by fans of the long-running series, but a single fumbled sentence derails this otherwise enjoyable book
Love The Traitors and Only Murders in the Building? Visit The Mousetrap, says bold new director of West End perennial
Ola Ince, who has refreshed Agatha Christie’s record-breaking mystery, suggests ‘we all fancy ourselves as detectives’
Last One Out by Jane Harper review – satisfying thriller lacks the heft of her previous novels
The Australian crime writer’s latest is less about the dead than it is about the living, in a dilapidated town left suffocating in the aftermath of tragedy
Lesley Cookman obituary
Other lives: Author of the Libby Sarjeant ‘cosy crime’ series
Mischa Barton to make UK stage debut in Double Indemnity
The OC star will take the role made famous by Barbara Stanwyck in James M Cain’s classic noir tale of murder and deceit, touring the UK in early 2026
The Lodger review – ingenious penny dreadful take on Hitchcock’s foggy mystery
Puppetry and silent cinema techniques are used to retell Marie Belloc Lowndes’ novel and its film version in a show played for laughs rather than thrills
The best recent crime and thrillers – review roundup
The Predicament by William Boyd; The Killer Question by Janice Hallett; The Impossible Fortune by Richard Osman; 59 Minutes by Holly Seddon; Deadman’s Pool by Kate Rhodes
The Hallmarked Man by Robert Galbraith review – a terrific, tightly plotted romp
With four murder inquiries in play, JK Rowling’s eighth Cormoran Strike novel avoids the page-padding longueurs of previous volumes – but will he finally tell Robin how he feels about her?
‘Visceral, sensual wonders’: why The Talented Mr Ripley is my feelgood movie
The latest in our series of writers detailing their most rewatched comfort films is a reminder of Anthony Minghella’s starry, sad and sinister 1999 thriller
The best recent crime and thrillers – review roundup
A Particularly Nasty Case by Adam Kay; Murder Takes a Vacation by Laura Lippman; The Final Vow by MW Craven; The Dead Husband Cookbook by Danielle Valentine