Crime fiction makes us examine who we are and how we, as a society, deal with life’s challenges.

2025 was another outstanding year with standard favorites and debuting authors offering their stories. 2025 also saw an unusual number of short story collections based on various themes.

These were the works that stayed with me throughout the year. Once again, narrowing my favorites was difficult, but it’s a wonderful problem to have.

Money — or rather the lack of it — motivates three sisters in “El Dorado Drive,” an intelligent, character-driven thriller that spins on the suspense that infiltrates family dynamics. Raised in the affluent town of Grosse Pointe, Michigan, the sisters were used to the privilege that wealth brings. Until the money dwindled from a series of situations, first because of their father, then their husbands, making them ripe for scams. Abbott succinctly looks at how the heedless pursuit of money and appearances can be soul-numbing, while also exploring the paralyzing effects of regret.

In “The Proving Ground,” the eighth Mickey Haller novel, the Lincoln Lawyer files a negligence suit against a technology company on behalf of a mother whose daughter was murdered. The company is accused of devising a chatbot companion that may target teenagers, especially teenage boys. Mickey is no longer the Lincoln Lawyer – he now drives a Bolt. And he’s given up lucrative criminal law in favor of civil law, which can be profitable but the payoff is slower. Mickey must prove to his clients and to himself that he can manage his new career path. Connelly strongly weaves in current issues, making even the most complicated subjects understandable. In 2025, Connelly also published a second outstanding procedural, “Nightshade,” which launched a new series about L.A. County Sheriff Detective Stilwell stationed in Santa Catalina Island. “Nightshade” turns a light on the greed, corruption and exploitation of the working class that flows through the island.

Several crooks inhabit the outstanding “Crooks.” Most of them are members of the Mercurio family, including the parents and their five children. Spanning more than 50 years, “Crooks” works as both an epic crime tale and an intimate family story as Berney concentrates on his characters. Spare writing, akin to the late Elmore Leonard, quickly gets to the heart and soul of each character. A legacy of criminal tendencies filters through each Mercurio, even those who insist they are law-abiding.

Downing balances dark humor with a hard-boiled approach in “Too Old for This,” impressively keeping the reader on the side of Lottie Jones, a 75-year-old grandmother who used to be a serial killer. Lottie believes she’s retired. She changed her name, moved to a new area, lives quietly, has friends and attends church twice weekly, mainly for the bingo. Then a young producer shows up wanting to do a documentary series. Goodbye, retirement. But Lottie finds new challenges with electronics pinging locations, social media posts, DNA technology. And she often needs a nap.

Lillie delves deep into the treatment of Native American communities and the preservation of their remains in “The Bone Thief,” a second formidable novel about Cherokee archaeologist Syd Walker with the Rhode Island Bureau of Indian Affairs. A detailed look at Native American history and culture never overrides the gripping plot. The discovery of the 300-year-old remains of an infant at an exclusive summer camp and plans for a state-of-the-art museum bring out dark secrets about a group whose wealthy, powerful members claim ancestral rights over contested land, revisiting the tensions between the Native Americans and European colonists.

In “King of Ashes,” Cosby shows the trajectory of Atlanta finance manager Roman Caruthers – akin to Michael Corleone in “The Godfather” – whose initial avoidance of “the family business” gives way to the eventual loss of his soul. Roman is the epitome of an anti-hero, maybe not even worth rooting for, too slick for his own good, arrogant and entitled. But those flaws work because Cosby makes us invested in his outcome. We need to know what happens and how Roman corrals the dark and lethal that’s unleashed in him.

A family grapples with its past, present and a shaky future as the rural area they own in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula is invaded by developers, part-time residents and tourists who lack respect and concern about the land where the Sawbrook family’s roots go back to the 19th century. “The Trouble Up North” is a heartfelt story that combines classism, economic struggles, family legacy and parental love, all packed into a tidy plot.

Fredericks takes another leap at creating engrossing historical mysteries depicting real people. Set in New York City during 1920, Fredericks focuses on charming gambler and womanizer Joseph Elwell, whose murder was covered by beginning journalist Morris Markey, with appearances by F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald. Fredericks doesn’t sanitize the real people, but draws complete portraits including their strengths and flaws. And the Fitzgeralds have a lot of flaws, which are well-documented. “The Girl in the Green Dress” is the perfect marriage of character, era, setting and intriguing plot as Fredericks did in her terrific 2024 novel “The Wharton Plot” about author Edith Wharton.

The action-packed “The Oligarch’s Daughter” is equal parts political thriller and love story in which an investment analyst marries a seemingly struggling photographer. Her down-market East Greenwich Village apartment and simple lifestyle suggest financial struggles — until he met her billionaire father, a Russian oligarch whose mega-opulent lifestyle is beyond luxurious. Guess what! His business isn’t completely legitimate. The newlywed finds his father-in-law’s henchmen and the FBI are overly interested in him and his new family.

Who hasn’t wanted to leave a nasty note on a car whose driver cut you off, stole your parking spot or was just rude. Friends on a getaway to the Hamptons do just that in “The Note.” But this is not a one-and-done as they find out when they become suspects when the driver disappears. “A simple little note — but the potential for so much damage,” writes Burke, who weaves in women’s friendships and cancel culture.

“Low April Sun” is a poignant look at how the bombing of Oklahoma City’s Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building affected a family. Squires’ novel is considered the first work of fiction to tackle what was the worst act of homegrown terrorism in U.S. history, which marked its 30th anniversary on April 19, 2025. Instead of a historical accounting of how and why this horrific act happened, Squires skillfully mines its effect on a family and how they maneuvered a morass of grief trying to rebuild their live. Squires pinpoints the moral center and the lasting effects of a tragedy.

While football is at the crux of this brisk plot, it isn’t necessary to be a fan, as Edgar Award winner Cranor explores greed, the corruption of the sport, its often naive players and hero worship in “Mississippi Blue 42.” An FBI agent investigating the University of Central Mississippi Chiefs football program tackles a history of fraud, deceit, suspicious deaths and a corrupt politician. Game on.

The five investigators in this new elite, cerebral FBI team call themselves “Head Cases” because, as one character says, they “mostly live in their heads.” Publicly, they are known as the FBI’s Patterns and Recognition team — PAR. The agents would rather stay in the office, but don’t shy away from action. The tight-knit investigators respect each other’s skills and care about their colleagues’ welfare and personal lives, without being intrusive. Rumors that PAR may be dissolved brings them closer but doesn’t affect their devotion to their investigation.

BEST DEBUTS

(in alphabetical order)

A strange photograph leads a young woman to learn that she had an aunt named Carol, who, as a teenager, disappeared decades before but who was never discussed by the family. Carol’s vanishing coincided with the disappearance of six other Black teenage girls between 1963 and 1965 from the same area of Raleigh, N.C. “We Don’t Talk About Carol” is a riveting story of racism, family, community, motherhood and decades of secrets wrapped in a solid plot filled with believable characters and situations.

Pan delivers the story of two young slackers who inadvertently are drawn into the drug trade in “Florida Palms,” a gritty, uncompromising look at the criminal underworld of Central Florida. Pan excels at making the reader care about the two teenagers, who start out as naïve. Pan shows how the Space Coast was shaped by the aerospace industry that elevated the region and now, because of economics, is on the downslide

The rich scenery of New Zealand and Scotland become facets in themselves in “The Vanishing Place,” while informing the gripping plot and shaping the believable characters. Now a police officer in Scotland, Effie escaped the New Zealand wilderness where she was raised off the grid, isolated with her family. Effie returns to New Zealand to help a girl who may be her niece and who, like her, witnessed a violent act. The plot unravels at a perfect pace as Rankin immerses the story in scenery.

SHORT STORY ANTHOLOGIES

Author Copenhaver and publisher West tapped 26 authors to deliver stories about LGBTQ+ life, community and concerns using queer icons as inspiration in “Crime Ink: Iconic.” Brief essays from each contributor about who inspired their short story as well as brief biographies of the authors are featured.

Art critic, literary editor, biographer and author S.S. Van Dine devised “Twenty Rules for Writing Detective Fiction” during the early 20th Century that did more to hamper than enhance the genre. Frankly, those rules made no sense then and even less now. The 20 authors in the smart “Double Crossing Van Dine” don’t just ignore those rules but “break them like kindling,” as McPherson writes. Today, Van Dine may be recognized only by those steeped in the history of mystery fiction. But the authors in this anthology are making an impact.

The story songs by the late Stephen Sondheim, arguably the greatest composer of musical theater who ever lived, are the perfect fodder for this collection.

Each author in this collection has worked in the entertainment business in some aspect — as a performer, a producer, a writer, even catering. Each contributor’s proceeds are being donated to the California Community Foundations Wildfire Recovery Fund. The editors included a mixture of styles, from the hard-boiled to the cozy. Many stories feature well-known landmarks and favorite sites such as Larry Edmunds’ bookstore.

The prestigious “Strand” magazine dates to 1891 — it was the first place readers heard of Sherlock Holmes as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s “The Hound of the Baskervilles” appeared here. This anniversary book shows the breadth of short stories the magazine has published during the last 25 years under the Gullis, a brother and sister team. Yes, there is a story by Michael Connelly but also Ray Bradbury, Tennessee Williams, Rudyard Kipling and H.G. Wells, among others.

NONFICTION

An apt title for this comprehensive biography of the late Elmore Leonard, the master of American crime fiction who definitely is and was one of the coolest authors ever. A Mystery Writers of America Grand Master, Leonard’s entertaining plots were punctuated by punchy, tightly coiled prose filled with wit and grit. Many of Leonard’s novels landed on best-sellers lists and remain timeless. “Get Shorty,” “Jackie Brown” and “Justified” are just a few of the films and TV series launched from his books. Just remember his advice to writers: Never start a book with weather.

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OSLO, Norway (AP) — A planned news conference on Tuesday by Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado was canceled after a several-hour delay, a day before the award ceremony in Oslo.

Machado, who last appeared in public 11 months ago, had been due to hold a traditional news conference by the laureate the day before the formal award ceremony. But the lunchtime event was delayed without explanation, until the Norwegian Nobel Institute said three hours after the scheduled time that “it will not take place today.”

“María Corina Machado has herself stated in interviews how challenging the journey to Oslo, Norway, will be,” the institute said in an email. “We therefore cannot at this point provide any further information about when and how she will arrive for the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony.”

The institute did not specify whether the news conference would take place at a later point.

Machado’s spokesperson did not immediately respond to questions about the opposition leader’s location and planned attendance at Wednesday’s ceremony.

The 58-year-old’s win for her struggle to achieve a democratic transition in her South American nation was announced on Oct. 10, and she was described as a woman “who keeps the flame of democracy burning amid a growing darkness.”

Machado won the opposition’s primary election and intended to run against President Nicolás Maduro in last year’s presidential election, but the government barred her from running for office. Retired diplomat Edmundo González took her place.

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The lead-up to the July 28, 2024, election saw widespread repression, including disqualifications, arrests and human rights violations. That increased after the country’s National Electoral Council, which is stacked with Maduro loyalists, declared the incumbent the winner despite credible evidence to the contrary.

González sought asylum in Spain last year after a Venezuelan court issued a warrant for his arrest.

Meanwhile, Machado went into hiding and has not been seen in public since Jan. 9, when she was briefly detained after joining supporters in a protest in Caracas, Venezuela’s capital. The following day, Maduro was sworn in for a third six-year term.

By Gretchen McKay, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

PITTSBURGH — Adam Sweetland has cooked for many different types of diners since graduating from IUP Academy of Culinary Arts, the nationally recognized culinary program offered by Indiana University of Pennsylvania in Punxsutawney, in 1998.

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It didn’t take him long to realize he wasn’t cut out to follow the traditional path of a culinary student, and work his way up the ladder from line cook to sous chef to executive chef of a fancy restaurant.

Just two years after graduating, while working at Brackenridge Heights Country Club following a couple early jobs in Pittsburgh restaurants, he got engaged to wife, Nikki. Of his career trajectory, he thought: This is not where I want to be.

“I needed insurance,” Sweetland, 51, admits.

So he left his chef job and took a less prestigious position as a cook for the Presbyterian Senior Care Network at its campus in Oakmont.

Turns out, you can’t keep a good chef down.

Within nine months, the New Kensington native was promoted to a supervisory position overseeing the facility’s evening staff of eight dietary aides, a cook and a cook’s helper. Three years after that, he moved on to an even bigger job at Elmcroft of Allison Park, a senior assisted living community in Hampton.

As its director of dining for the next 15 years, Sweetland was responsible for both daily and long-term operations — everything from menu planning to purchasing and making sure his employees adhered to food safety and dietary regulations. He also was tasked with assuring the meals served in its restaurant-style dining room made residents happy.

Chef Adam Sweetland pulls a tray of Chicken Romano from the oven at Juniper Village at Forest Hills on Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025. (Sebastian Foltz/Post-Gazette/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette/TNS)

Other chefs may find such institutionalized cooking boring, but Sweetland — who was a food service specialist in the Army National Guard at Fort Lee in Prince George County, Virginia, after high school — loves the challenge of figuring out how to make the specialized diets often found in assisting living facilities taste good.

“You do what you have to to be successful,” he says.

For instance, to keep food from tasting too bland when salt is restricted, he adds herbs like tarragon to give dishes a minty, peppery taste. For those who have to restrict their intake of potassium, he swaps low-potassium items like cauliflower and rice for potatoes and tomatoes.

“It’s just about adapting to the culture and the environment, which I learned in the Army.”

Generations of Sweetlands have served in the military — his father, Arthur, was in the Navy — so it’s not surprising that he chose to enlist after graduating from Valley High School in 1994. He served for nine years, earning the distinction of becoming the youngest mess sergeant in Pennsylvania Army National Guard history.

Chef Adam Sweetland plates a Chicken Romano dish at Juniper Village at Forest Hills on Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025. (Sebastian Foltz/Post-Gazette/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette/TNS)

In his new position as director of dining at Juniper Village at Forest Hills, a personal care and memory care community, Sweetland cooks for around 70 residents instead of overseeing 1,000 or more meals a day like he did in the Army. But he’s still pushing the boundaries.

In addition to reintroducing crowd-pleasing favorites like fantail shrimp, fish Florentine, Swiss steak and pork-stuffed portobello mushrooms, he is planning cooking demonstrations in the upstairs bistro, family-style Thanksgiving dinners and a festive holiday party to strengthen relationships between residents, families and associates.

Contrary to what some may believe, Sweetland says you can make enjoyable, tasty meals in a health care environment — even when you’re working around specialized diets, food allergies and the loss of taste and appetite that come naturally with aging.

What makes his job easier, he says, is a “pretty good budget” and 35 years of experience. Residents can select from a daily menu and be served at a table. Or they can choose something different, he says.

“If someone comes down and says, ‘I want a burger and fries [instead of what’s on the menu]’ we can do that for them,” he says.

The key is making what’s on the plate as appealing as possible, he says, and responding to customer complaints if there are any.

“It takes a heart to do what we do, because this is their home,” he says. That’s especially true when a resident has dementia. “It’s not just about cooking. It’s about taking care of someone’s life.’”

When he sees a resident light up or someone tells him the food is great, “you see you’ve touched their lives and their voice was heard.”

Chef Adam Sweetland holds up a finished dish of Chicken Romano at Juniper Village at Forest Hills on Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025. (Sebastian Foltz/Post-Gazette/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette/TNS)

One of Sweetland’s first cooking memories is of helping his dad make sauce when he was 12 for a spaghetti dinner at his church. He also often helped out his sister, Christie, at pancake dinners for Girl Scouts. So when asked to share a favorite recipe, he chose the chicken Romano that was a favorite of his mother, Sandra.

He first made it for her early in his career for Mother’s Day, when he was “trying to do something a little different” while working at Romans Ups and Downs in Harmarville.

“She couldn’t believe how great it was,” he recalls.

Because his mother’s cancer caused swelling in her mouth, he cut the chicken and other ingredients into smaller pieces than he might have for a restaurant guest. It’s a trick that now serves him well when cooking for an elderly population.

His is a traditional recipe that calls for dipping the chicken in seasoned flour before bathing it in a cheesy egg batter and then giving it a quick fry in oil, followed by a short bake in the oven.

“Then I use the residual in the pan to glaze it,” he says.

The rich lemon-butter sauce compliments both the texture of the chicken and the cheesiness of the fried coating, Sweetland notes.

While the dish is not yet served at Juniper Village, he’d love to put it on the menu to see if residents love it just as much as his family, which includes son, Austin, and daughter, Haley.

“They do like piccata,” he says of his clients with a laugh, adding, “but there are only so many things you can do.”

Chicken Romano with Lemon Butter

PG tested

This crispy Italian-American chicken dish can be prepared in about a half-hour and is often served over pasta with a light lemon-butter sauce. Adam Sweetland, the new director of dining at Juniper Village at Forest Hills, learned to make it for his mother, Sandra. “It was one of her favorites,” he says.

For chicken

2 boneless chicken breasts, cut in half and flattened

1/4 cup vegetable oil

For egg batter

4 eggs

1/4 cup fresh parsley chopped

1/2 cup Romano cheese, plus more for serving

Pinch of salt and pepper

For seasoned flour

1/2 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon each salt, granulated garlic and onion powder

1/4 teaspoon pepper

For sauce

1/4 cup lemon juice

6 ounces butter, cubed

Chopped parsley, for garnish

Cooked carrots and roasted red-skin potatoes, for serving

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Prepare egg batter by mixing all the ingredients in a medium-size bowl.

Stir together flour seasoning by mixing all the ingredients in a second medium-size bowl. Set aside an oven-proof baking pan.

In a sauté pan over medium heat add 1/4 cup of vegetable oil; bring up to temperature.

Coat chicken in flour mixture and shake off excess. Use tongs to dip chicken in batter and place in pan with hot oil.

Cook each side for 3 minutes, or until brown and crispy. (Once batter starts to set, you will be able to loosen from pan and turn over to other side.) Place chicken in baking dish and place in pre-heated oven. Continue cooking until chicken reaches 165 degrees.

While chicken is cooking, deglaze the pan with lemon juice. Turn off heat and add butter cubes. Swirl around till it is melted and keep warm until chicken is done.

Plate chicken and pour the sauce over top of chicken.

Garnish with fresh chopped parsley and more Romano cheese. Can serve with dill buttered baby carrots and roasted red skinned potatoes.

Serves 2.

— Adam Sweetland, Juniper Communities

©2025 PG Publishing Co. Visit at post-gazette.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

By PAUL WISEMAN, Associated Press Economics Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. job openings barely budged in October, coming in at 7.7 million with ongoing uncertainty over the direction of the American economy.

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The Labor Department reported Tuesday that employers posted 7.67 million vacancies in October, close to September’s 7.66 million.

The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS), which was delayed by the extended government shutdown, also showed that the layoffs rose and number of people quitting their jobs — a sign of confidence in the labor market — fell in October.

Job openings have come down steadily since peaking at a record 12.1 million in March 2022, when the economy was roaring back from COVID-19 lockdowns. The job market has cooled partly because of the lingering effect of the high interest rates the Federal engineered in 2022 and 2023 to combat an outburst of inflation.

Overall, it’s a puzzling time for the American economy, buffeted by President Donald Trump’s decision to reverse decades of U.S. policy in favor of free trade and instead impose double-digit tariffs on imports from most of the world’s countries.

Policymakers at the Federal Reserve are meeting this week to decide whether to cut their benchmark interest rate, and the gathering is expected to be unusually contentious. Inflation remains stuck above the Fed’s 2% target, partly because importers have tried to pass along the cost of Trump’s tariffs by raising prices. Normally, stubborn inflation would discourage Fed policymakers from cutting rates. But the job market has looked shaky in recent months, and the Fed is expected to reduce its benchmark rate for the third time this year, though some policymakers might dissent.

Meanwhile, the 43-day federal shutdown has made a mess of the government’s economic statistics.

The October report on job openings came out a week late, and the September version was not published separately because federal data collectors were on furlough. Instead, September’s JOLTS numbers were folded into Tuesday’s report along with October’s.

The Labor Department will issue numbers for hiring and unemployment in November next Tuesday, 11 days later than originally scheduled. The department is not releasing an unemployment rate for October because it could not calculate the number during the shutdown. It will release some of the October jobs data — including the number of positions that employers created that month — along with the full November jobs report.

Forecasters surveyed by the data firm FactSet predict that employers added fewer than 38,000 jobs in November and that the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.5% from September’s 4.4%, how by historical standards but the highest in nearly four years.