Crime Fiction in 2025
Are these predictions going to be accurate? Can I bet on them?
Ha ha no, predictions are terrible and rarely pan out and if I was right about mine, the Dolphins would be in line for a Superbowl this year, rather than the future subject of documentaries about the horrors of CTE.
Um.
Anyway, these aren’t predictions, but THOUGHTS I have about the industry and our genre for 2025. Regular readers of Crime Fiction Works know that this is something I’ve done in my last newsletter for years now, starting way back in 2024.
Let’s get to it!
Are we going to hear more about AI and are writers going to keep being such babies about it?
Yes, on both counts.
Early worries about AI didn’t quite come to fruition - books by human replaced by books by robots - although they tried! It’s going to happen, and I think it’ll be sooner than later. And, if not sooner, then within ten-fifteen years or so. Keep in mind - this will be a generational acceptance, and the younger generation doesn’t see it in terms of the artistic compromise we do.
And, more importantly, AI hasn’t been rejected by publishers for any reasons relating to artistic merit. It’s all business, all the time, and their only concerns are related to copyright.
Now, there are editors in publishing houses who love books as much as writers do, and understand the beauty of humans expressing themselves artistically, and realize there’s no place for ChatGPT in that process. But those people belong to a business, and leaders of businesses are WAY better at making money than they are at morality. They have no morality, none, zilch, don’t even understand the word. And when you explain the concept to them, they find it laughable. So when Dr. Roxane Gay posts this:
And yes, she’s 100% right, publishers should, but they’re running toward AI like toddlers with outstretched arms running toward a flame. I’ve talked to people at publishing houses who are being directed to use AI in every aspect of their work. We’re going to keep seeing it in publishing until we have no choice but to accept it.
But, at the very least, a few of us will never, ever accept it to assist our writing.
Will there be a Bouchercon controversy in 2025?
It’s an annual tradition! Hallmark should make cards.
These controversies are growing pains and, like any pain, they’re the a result of some sort of change. We’re in the midst of a fight for identity, and we’ve witnessed the pushback, politically, on a global level. I think we’re getting there, and this is a good place to be - better than the alternative, when there was no hope for change, or for the allowance of other voices into the fray.
So, yeah, there’s going to be dissension and debate as we find our way forward. But I’d rather be moving forward than standing still, complacent as inequity flourishes.
So, short answer, yes, there will be another controversy.
With shrinking attention spans and technology favoring shortened text, will 2025 be the year that short fiction finally finds readers and…
No.
But short stories are small little works of art and they could appeal to readers if…
No.
What’s going to be the big book of 2025?
I don’t know what the BIG BOOK will be but, here, look, I do have some books I’m excited about. BUCKLE UP.
S.A. Cosby’s The King of Ashes will be out in June and, three books running, he’s written one of the best books of the year. Alex Finley blew up with Every Last Fear and has been on a hot streak ever since, and that trend will likely continue with Parents Weekend. I’ve been a fan of Alafair Burke’s work for years, and The Note seems like it will echo her best suspense. I had the chance to panel with Deanna Raybourn at the Virginia Book Fest, and her novel about four older women, who are also assassins, sounded so good that she’s on my TBR list, along with her next book, Kills Well With Others. Rob Hart’s The Medusa Protocol, the sequel to his USA Today-bestselling Assassin’s Anonymous, is scheduled to come out next year. The tireless, NYT-bestselling Andi Bartz has her next novel scheduled for next summer as well, The Last Ferry Out. A debut I’m looking forward to reading is Zoe B. Wallbrook’s History Lessons, because we need more humor in crime fiction, and this hearkens back to the best. Cynthia Pelayo has done fantastic work in poetry and horror (nabbing a Stoker along the way) and her crime fiction is just as good - Vanishing Daughters looks like a perfect blend of both. Mia P. Manansala made a name for herself with her Tita Rosie’s Kitchen Mysteries, and now she has a fantastic-sounding YA thriller coming out in May - Death in the Cards (I’m so jealous of writers who can do more than one thing). And speaking of writers who are utterly versatile, I’ve been a fan of Alison Gaylin for years and I’m so happy that I only have to wait a month for next book, We Are Watching. Jess Lourey is an astonishingly good writer, whether it’s comedy or dark drama, and she’s in the third book of her well-received Steinbeck and Reed series, The Laughing Dead. I am completely intrigued by Yasmin Angoe, who has successfully turned from writing badass assassins to celebrated psychological suspense with Not What She Seems, and her next book in the subgenre comes later in the year (title also to come, stay tuned). The cover alone for William Boyle’s Saint of Narrows Street, with its callback to A Clockwork Orange, would be enough to make me pick up a copy, but knowing that one of crime fiction’s best wrote it seals the deal. And Marcie Rendon, who won the Pinckley Prize for Crime Fiction for the first novel in her Cash Blackbear mystery series, returns with another that sounds utterly mesmerizing, Broken Fields.
But the book I’m selfishly most excited about is I Did Warn Her by Sian Gilbert, my PitchWars mentee of yesteryear, and a lovely person and wonderful writer. Sian is writing books that readers obsess over, as I did when I read the rough draft of She Started It. Read her books now and you’ll have that lovely experience of seeing a talented writer - who already impresses you - get impossibly better and better.
Keep in mind, this list is in no way exhaustive, and I probably forgot to include a book (and I’m going to hate myself for forgetting it, right after I send this out). But, but but but, I’ll still cover those books in Crime Fiction Works next year. Got one I missed? LMK!
Wow, that was A LOT. Got any more predictions?
There’s still an outside chance for the Dolphins to make the Superbowl. In fact, if they…
No.
EA
Just a reminder that (along with Lauren Francis-Sharma and Alice McDermott), I’m part of DC Reads in 2025. The three of us will be part of virtual book clubs, a group panel, and we’ll each give individual presentations, all in February and March of 2025. I’ll be giving a talk about the history of crime fiction in the DC/MD/VA triangle, joined by jazz singer Sara Jones, singing songs from the periods I discuss.
You can read more about the program here, and dates and locations are below (registration to open soon):
Wed., Feb. 12 - Virtual book for When She Left (I’m far too scared to attend this)
Thurs, Feb. 20 - The History of Crime Fiction in the DMV, with Sara Jones. Held at Southwest Library in DC.
Thurs, Mar. 20 - Panel with Lauren Francis-Sharma and Alice McDermott. Held at MLK Library in DC.
I’m pretty sure I’ve discussed how much I like Catriona McPherson’s writing before, but she’s just as funny and engaging and witty in person. Even though she lives on the left coast, she made a trip out to DC recently and I finally had the chance to spend QT with her in person.
Anyway, I’m not the only who’s wildly impressed by her. She’s the former president of Sisters in Crime (one of the most important writers’ associations ever), and her fiction has won the Agatha, Lefty, Anthony, and been nominated for the Edgar. Oh, and she has a doctorate. Oh, and she’s Scottish. Well, that last thing isn’t an achievement, but it’s kind of neat.
Thanks, Catriona, for playing Kiss, Marry, Kill with your new book, Scotzilla!
This is a high stakes version. I know it as “Snog, Marry, Avoid”. But okay.
Which character in SCOTZILLA would I kiss? (Assuming they consented enthusiastically; none of that other malarky here, please.) The consent is vanishingly unlikely but it’s got to be Roger. Dr Roger Kroger, consultant in paediatric HDU, a gorgeous hunk of saves babies in PowerPuff scrubs. Sigh. But he’s married. To Todd. So also, you know, gay. Which might be another blow to my chances.
I wouldn’t marry him, (she lied). I suppose I better say I would marry Taylor Aaronovitch, since he is the guy my heroine Lexy Campbell is marrying in this book, and I am reliably informed that Lexy = me. I did once say I thought otherwise and one of my friends cackled and told me that reading these Last Ditch Motel novels is just like having me sit in her kitchen and tell her funny stories. So Taylor it is.
Who would I kill? I’m not so much for summary justice, I have to say. Can I kill them with icy British disdain? Thanks. Right then, I would kill – by murmuring “How interesting”, which means “God almighty, you’re dull” in UK-speak – the actual victim of the murder. Sister Sunshine the wedding celebrant, with her culturally-appropriated hand hennas and her endless kombucha and her “curated collection”, which like all “curated collections” is wee shop full of overpriced crap. (I’ve lived in California for fifteen years, but it has yet to take.)
Thanks, Catriona! Learn more about her and her latest book here.
It's giveaway time! The winner of a copy of Scotzilla is:
__kendal__@______.com
Congrats, and I'll send you an email soon!
Thanks to everyone for reading Crime Fiction Works this year, and all its past years and iterations. I’m looking forward to 2025, and everything it has to offer…in a large part because of all of you, and your responses to these newsletters. It means a lot, and this is why CFW remains one of my favorite things to write.
See you in 2025!
EA