It’s the last month of 2025 and as you partake in—or avoid—holiday gatherings, publishing has a bunch of brand new mysteries and thrillers to sneak off and read. Whether you’re looking for something to keep you awake at night, warm the blood with thrills, or just entertain with a mystery to solve, there should be something on this list for you.
December’s selections range from a middle grade graphic novel following a police shooting victim’s ghost to a psychological suspense in a secluded cabin. Tropes include missing persons, a threatening note from a dead friend, a bookshop-owning amateur sleuth, a reporter solving a murder mystery, and more!
The House Guests by Amber and Danielle Brown
For fans of remote cabins and psychological thrillers!
Unable to sleep and filled with anxiety since her mother’s death, Iris accepts a trip to a lake house in the Catskills with her boyfriend Eli and his friends. On the first night she swears she sees someone bury something in the backyard, but no one is around but her. She’s sleep deprived and no one believes her—can she trust what she saw?
Ghost Boys: The Graphic Novel by Jewell Parker Rhodes and Setor Fiadzigbey
For fans of middle grade graphic novel adaptations!
This is a middle grade graphic novel adaptation of the award winning middle grade novel of the same name. Jerome’s ghost watches as his family, friends, and community mourn him after he’s killed by a police officer at the age of 12. He’s helped in processing what has happened by the ghost of Emmett Till, as the only living person who can still see him is the daughter of the officer who killed him.
Everyone in the Group Chat Dies by L.M. Chilton
For fans of humorous mysteries, past and present chapters, and the threatening-note-from-a-dead-person trope!
Kirby Cornell lives in a sleepy town known for a mass killing spree 30 years ago and is stuck in a dead-end job when she receives a WhatsApp message with a threat: “Everyone in the group chat will die”. It’s clear the message is from Kirby’s past roommate Esme, but Esme is dead…
Edge (Detective Harriet Foster #4) by Tracy Clark
For fans of Chicago-set procedurals!
Detective Harriet Foster is grieving and only two months out from her most recent case when she is thrown into having to focus on a new danger. A recent party drug called Edge appears to be tainted and it’s already killed five people. If she doesn’t find out who is behind it, there will be more deaths.
If you want to start at the beginning of the series, pick up Hide.
A Grim Reaper’s Guide to Cheating Death (S.C.Y.T.H.E Mystery #2) by Maxie Dara
For fans of series that follow different employees at an organization, road trips, and mixed-genre mysteries!
S.C.Y.T.H.E. (Secure Collection, Yielding, and Transportation of Human Essences) is the organization that handles the work of helping death with retrievals, which is where Nora Bird works. When her new case reveals her twin brother has been marked to die in a car accident, she gets him and his parrot into her car and off they go, hoping to escape death. But this escape will lead them to where their father grew up, presenting more mysteries than they’d imagined.
The books in the series are standalones, but if you’d like to read the first book, pick up A Grim Reaper’s Guide to Catching a Killer!
Murder by Muffin (A Cranberry Creek Word Search Mystery #2) by Rosie A. Point, with Charles Timmerman
For fans of puzzles and cozy mysteries set in a bookshop!
This book combines two different book formats: puzzle search games and a cozy mystery. Abby Jones owns a bookstore in Cranberry Creek and has finally started to settle into life in the quaint town and make friends. She has to put her sleuthing cap on when the local bakery owner is accused of poisoning a critic!
If you’d like to read and solve the puzzles starting at the beginning of the series, pick up Murder Among the Stacks.
Murder in Manhattan by Julie Mulhern
For fans of historical mysteries and reporter leads based on a real person!
As the lifestyle columnist for Gotham Magazine, Freddie Archer spends her nights in speakeasies, attending shows, and rubbing elbows with bootleggers and artists. That’s why Detective Sullivan with the NYPD shows up at Freddie’s job with questions about the woman last seen with bootlegger Jake Haskell, before he was murdered. This won’t be the last murder to cross Freddie’s path, and soon she’s working on a list of suspects which obviously puts her in the danger zone…
Cape Fever by Nadia Davids
For fans of historical gothic stories, novellas, and atmospheric suspense!
Set in South Africa in the 1920s, Soraya Matas accepts the job of Mrs. Hattingh’s personal maid only to discover that there are spirits in the dilapidated home. The more time that passes, the more restrictive Mrs. Hattingh is, but Soraya needs the money so she stays. But things aren’t as they seem.
Browse the books recommended in Unusual Suspects’ previous newsletters on this shelf, and see 2025 and 2026 releases! Until next time, come talk books with me on Bluesky, Goodreads, Litsy, and Multitudes Contained.
If a mystery fan forwarded this newsletter to you or you read it on bookriot.com and you’d like to get it right in your inbox, you can sign up here.
Get access to exclusive content and features with an All Access subscription on Book Riot.Join All Access to read this article
English (US) · 