This is a really great resource for librarians, like myself, looking to expand their collection with new and popular titles. I have found many things within these pages to add to my public libraries shelves.

This isn’t what I was expecting, but I enjoyed it anyway. Like many short story collections, there is a wide variety of cases covered, and my interest varied, I think the last two stories, about Francis Glessner Lee and Crime. Con, were the best in the group. Still, very informative and thought provoking, Some big names are included among the authors. Interesting to note that stories were widely different in length, too.

I really enjoyed this collection of true crime stories. There was one story that I didn’t enjoy, but the rest were all winners. I thought all these stories took a deep dive into a specific case or true crime concept and did a great job exploring it. I’m hoping more volumes of this book are produced each year.

read if you like:
📖 non-fiction
🔪 true crime
🤷🏻‍♀️ little known stories

summary:
This is an interesting compilation of little known true crime stories from 2025. They’re presented in a short story format, with enough detail to get hooked but not so much that it keeps long winded. It goes through stories around the world with local journalists reporting, including a story about a homicide in a Toronto massage parlor, a blackmail and murder for hire story from Austin, a weird murder weapon story from Minnesota, and then detail around controversial rehabilitation methods.

While many of these stories were new to me, I loved that the lens focused around the journalists who covered the story, showing their research and viewpoints. I also liked that the stories are told in a way that it can appeal to anyone who wants a short story format but prefers more detail than a podcast or online article can provide. I didn’t feel like many of the stories really “grabbed” me and sucked me in, but I probably would have wanted a whole book about it if one had! Overall, if you’re a fan of true crime and want something a little different, this is a great read.

Thanks to Penzler Publishers and Crime Ink for the advanced copy! If this sounds like your kind of book, check it out when it releases on October 14!

I liked reading this book at times it was hard. I highly recommend it. Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC.

This book by Douglas Preston immediately caught my attention because I like reading true crime stories and enjoy this genre overall. I was not that familiar with the author's work prior to me reading this book, but I enjoyed the introduction he wrote for this book and am interested in reading more of his work in the future. Some of the crime stories in this book were very interesting and the writing was engaging, but some of the stories that were included I could have done without. I think this is a good book for those of us who enjoy reading crime stories and who want to know more about the science that is involved in solving a crime. This book contains a wide range of stories, including one about a murder that happened in a massage parlor in Canada to a murder for hire plot involving people in Texas. The book also delves into issues such as the current treatment/rehabilitation of individuals who have committed sex crimes, which is not often discussed. I would recommend this book to anyone looking to read a wide range of true crime stories with excellent writing.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Good group of stories that happened this year to give you an idea of what happened all in one place. That's about it really.

This was a group of true crime stories that the authors deemed the best of 2025. It reveals some great stories that are well written, and all but one were new to me so I really enjoyed the book. There’s some good true crime reading here, so look into it if you are fan of the genre..

The Best True Crime Stories of the Year 2025 was a solid and engaging read. Douglas Preston did a great job pulling this collection together in a way that felt intentional and easy to follow. I especially appreciated his perspective on why so many people are drawn to true crime. His insights made me reflect on the genre in a new way.

As someone who spent most of my life in Atlanta and now lives in Austin, I found it especially interesting to revisit some of the stories connected to places I know. That added an unexpected personal layer to the reading experience.

Some of the stories didn’t offer much new if you follow true crime closely, but overall, the mix kept me interested. Even the more familiar cases were placed thoughtfully within the broader themes Preston was exploring. The collection has a good pace and variety, and I appreciated how easy it was to move through.

Thanks so much to Douglas Preston, Penzler Publishers, and NetGalley for the chance to read and review this ARC!

This is a terrific collection of true crime tales. Readers get variety of reads from these hand-picked gems. Some are heartbreaking, some amusing, some bizarre, and some just poignant. This isn't like a series of whodunnits. There's a fair amount of background, even academic, information, but everything is handled by writers who know how to balance info-dumps with story telling. I was pleased to see the narrative on Frances Glessner Lee, and even an experiential essay on the strangeness of CrimeCon. The "Incel Terrorist" was especially insightful. I also enjoyed Douglas Preston's commentary in the Introduction. Not satisfied with the typical ideas about why people like true crime, he proposed a deeper theory. He clearly thought it out, and it's a great way to plunge into this sophisticated set of dark narratives. I hope this series continues annually. It's bound to get a large audience.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for sharing this upcoming anthology. I’m a big fan of true crime long reads, so this collection was perfect for me. I didn’t agree with inclusion of all the articles, I found a few on the boring side, but overall a good selection of recent writings. Recommend for any true crime fans.

I as excited to get The Best True Crime Stories of the Year 2025 by Douglas Preston. As a true crime lover who wouldn't want to read a book with this title. I found the title misleading due to the cases are older and not from 2025.

This is a collection of true crime stories by other authors. What I found intesting was how each author had their own unique writing style.

Let me first say as a former Police Officer and Retired Air Force Security Forces I take true crime genre seriously. In the end I found this book very underwhelming. It did not keep my attention and found myself wanting to put the book down. I wanted to give it a 2 star but I am bumping it up to 3 because I did like a few of the stories.

~Thank you NetGallery and Penzler Publishers | Crime Ink for the ARC

As a true crime lover I was excited to give this a read! The title is a little misleading as these cases aren't necessarily from 2025. But I did enjoy reading about these cases. I think any true crime lover would love this book!

A collection of true crime stories, but I can truly say I was underwhelmed by them. I was expecting more excitement and intrigue. In the case of this title, it fell short of the mark. One or two of the stories were great, but the rest were so-so. A good intent, the book failed to achieve the goal. So, while some may enjoy this book, I did not and would not recommend it to others.

Thank you to #NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Douglas Preston has collected an array of true crime stories published in 2024 - it spans the tragic, the absurd, and the intriguing. Each author dives into their story with their own unique voice and delivers the information with precises finesse.

3 stars

A group of thirteen stories, all previously published in print or online. I thought I would really like this, but if I’m being honest I found most of the stories underwhelming, even the one about the incel guy. A number of them look back at old crimes, and the one I was most looking forward to, yes, even more than super incel man, about why people like John Ramsey and Gabby Petito’s parents would go to CrimeCons, didn’t dive deep enough. So, it was OK, but I didn’t love it.

Douglas Preston is one of my favorite thriller authors, but he has also distinguished himself with great works of nonfiction, including “The Monster of Florence” and “The Lost City of the Monkey God,” but especially “The Lost Tomb,” a compendium of true life mysteries/events that have influenced fiction writers. In “The Best True Crime Stories of the Year,” Preston writes a brilliant forward about our national obsession with true crime and how it has evolved.

Aided by editor Peter Crooks, this book is a collection of great examples of long form journalism (also a dying art form) collected from prestigious publications such as Slate, Vanity Fair, Texas Monthly, The Atavist (which specializes in long true stories), MacLean’s, Boston Globe, Harper’s, New England Review, and San Francisco Standard. The criteria was that all 12 stories were published in 2024, but the crimes did not need to be recent or solved. Old stories like the Hillside Strangler, new stories like Gabby Petito, lesser known stories like the nudists vs pirates or Frances Glessner Lee are all fascinating thanks to their accomplished individual authors. It’s great that these tales live on beyond a single magazine issue or newspaper special feature. I was fascinated by each one and I’ll probably long remember “The Memoirist and the Lie Detector” by Justin St. Germain, that explores the fact that polygraphs are totally unreliable, dependent of the skill (or non-skill) of the examiner, and the United States is the only country relying on this discredited technology (which our Supreme Court agrees is worthless, but the results are used to hire many of our law enforcement people). 5 stars!

Thank you to Penzler Publishers, Crime Ink, and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy!

This book I could not put down loved it from beginning to end. I would highly recommend!! This isn't like something ie read before.