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Inspired by one of the prompts of 2026’s Read Harder Challenge, I thought I’d list a handful of my favorite true crime and mystery book covers of 2025.
Book covers can start to blend together when there is a popular style of the moment, and sometimes, even though they’re intended to signify genre or subgenre to readers, they can also tip into making everything look the same. With that in mind, these are some of the covers that stood out to me this year. Bonus: they make nice front-facing books on a bookshelf.
 Empire of Orgasm: Sex, Power, and the Downfall of a Wellness Cult by Ellen HuetCover by design team at MCD Books. I had two immediate thoughts when I first saw the cover of this true crime book: the feeling of standing in front of Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus in Florence, and seeing romance author Casey McQuiston’s forearm tattoo “androgyne botticelli’s venus at a caravaggio bacchanal.” Once I found out what the book was about—a deep dive into Nicole Daedone’s OneTaste business as she strove to make orgasmic meditation as popular as yoga—I realized what a truly difficult assignment the cover artist(s) had in representing the content and the tone of the book while also enticing readers to pick it up. A+ all around. |
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