New Reviews: Mystery & Suspense

The listener will hang onto narrator Humphrey Bower's every word in this gripping psychological thriller, well suited to audio. Bower's Nick Kelly sounds like everybody's idea of a media-happy tough-guy NYPD detective as he investigates a string of murders. Serial killer Michael Fisher seeks fame as an artist by arranging his victims in gruesome versions of famous paintings,... Read More

Penelope Keith returns to narrate Book 30 in M.C. Beaton's Agatha Raisin series. Keith provides the perfect voice, tone, and tempo for the delightfully flawed Agatha Raisin, who solves crimes in the Cotswolds. This time Agatha's private detective agency is hired to investigate industrial espionage. Before long, she and her crew are involved in a murder supposedly committed by a... Read More

Gerard Doyle is simply wonderful narrating Crombie's exciting 18th outing with the crime-solving couple Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James. Doyle animates each of Crombie's numerous characters with slight shifts in voice and tone. The Kincaid family is invited to a posh country estate in the Cotswolds. They're looking forward to a relaxing getaway from their stressful Scotland Yard... Read More

Narrator Dion Graham uses his full breadth of talent in delivering an action-packed thriller that weaves together several plotlines. Listeners are hooked from the start as a maniacal serial killer is being tracked down by Homeland Security agent Kit Steele. The story then shifts to Boston Harbor chief Cormack O'Connell and his battle to maintain control of the harbor and his... Read More

Listeners soon learn that a simple act of kindness inadvertently places series hero Jack Reacher at the center of a war between the Albanian and Ukrainian mobs. Reacher's latest adventure begins innocently enough. He is on a Greyhound bus with no planned destination when he encounters an old man in need of help--Aaron Shevick. Narrator Scott Brick presents Reacher as strong and... Read More

Jeff Harding's hard-bitten rasp should suit Connelly's latest paranormal thriller featuring ex-cop Charlie Parker. However, the Texas twang he gives to Parker, who is from Maine, as well as other ill-considered character accents, and his squeaky portrayal of women, sometimes divert the listener's attention. The story involves Connelly's signature blend of supernatural horror... Read More

Alyssa Bresnahan narrates the second story of Naomi, an investigator who specializes in finding missing children. Naomi has an almost blind determination to locate her own missing sister, and Bresnahan infuses her character with the desperate tenacity that engulfs her life and threatens her marriage. Naomi befriends a homeless street kid, a girl named Celia, who imagines that... Read More

Stephen Graybill narrates this tense thriller in a steady tone that keeps the listener engaged throughout each of its chilling assassinations. In this first novel in Pobi's American crime series, we are introduced to former FBI agent Dr. Lucas Page, a brilliant analyst whose strength is connecting the dots. While his mind is computer sharp, his body is an amalgam of prosthetic... Read More

Colleen Prendergast's strong, nuanced voice takes listeners to a village by the sea in northwest England. There, Tess, an investigator for Innocence UK, is gathering evidence to exonerate a woman imprisoned for stabbing her husband's mistress to death. Tess has her own secrets, which come to light as witnesses are interviewed about the murder case. This feminist thriller... Read More

Rosalyn Landor, who has performed the nurse Bess Crawford mystery series since its inception, can be trusted to deliver a thoroughly satisfying listen. Her rich and expressive voice has the range to create believable male and female characters, including Americans, and she colors personalities affectingly. This eleventh book, set during the post-WWI armistice talks, finds Bess... Read More

It's the 1930s. Listeners join Amory and Milo Ames on their trip to New York City for the wedding of Amory's childhood friend. When one of the groomsmen is murdered, the couple find themselves once again immersed in a mystery. This time they're taken into a world of bootleggers, speakeasies, and gangsters. Narrator Alison Larkin captures the atmosphere of this historical... Read More

Narrator Kathryn Leigh Scott's deep, rich timbre and earnest tone evoke the ominous atmosphere of Ross's mystery. When Victoria Winters accepts a position as a governess at the remote Collinwood estate, she encounters troubled inhabitants, a history of suspicious accidents, and a family with much to hide. Skillful characterizations build the confusing world Victoria must... Read More

Narrator Lisa Coleman shows listeners sinister elements in the world of antiques and collectibles in small-town England. Juno Browne is supporting herself as a dog walker and house cleaner when antique dealer Old Nick persuades her to partner with him in his business. Then Juno finds him murdered in the apartment above his shop. With careful pacing to keep the listener in... Read More

Narrator Elizabeth Knowelden handles the witty, rapid-fire wordplay of Kinsey's mystery. Lady Hardcastle and her lady's maid, Florence, take a holiday at the seaside, only to become embroiled in international intrigue. Knowelden keeps listeners laughing out loud and gives strong expression to the many foreign voices in the story. Knowelden especially shines as the voice of... Read More

Go-to narrator Scott Brick delivers this first installment of a planned trilogy featuring Army CIS officer Scott Brodie and his partner, Maggie Taylor. The pair are in Venezuela looking for Delta Force deserter Kyle Mercer. Brick narrates in his usual breathless style, which is perfectly suited to this page-turning thriller, coauthored by father and son. The plot takes a while... Read More

Narrators Paul Woodson and David de Vries join together to create a suspenseful listening experience set against the backdrop of WWII. Woodson is the voice of Josef Hofmann, a clandestine Russian agent sent to keep the German communist party alive. De Vries is the much younger Walter Gersdorff, a man who remembers a strange house guest from his childhood. His voice is the frame... Read More

This suspense, narrated superbly by Johnathan McClain, shows how the best audiobooks grab the listener at the outset and maintain their attention to the end. Linwood Barclay's story begins when four people board a New York office building elevator, which ascends to the top floor and then suddenly plummets. What seems to be a random accident repeats the next day and the next,... Read More

Narrators Tamaryn Payne, Bea Holland, and Dominic Thornburn shine in Jewell's latest dark, twisted story about history, family, and sacrifice. When Libby turns 25, she receives a long awaited letter notifying her about her biological parents and about the inheritance of an abandoned mansion in London. At the same time we meet Lucy, a young, homeless woman with two children who... Read More

Narrator Kathleen McInerney is assigned the tricky task of voicing duplicity. She uses the honest and familiar tone of a best friend to voice Jane Harris, a stay-at-home mom who is grieving the accidental death of her teenage daughter Mary. But there is a darker Jane, who emerges in subtle tones punctuated by emotional outbursts. Teen characters figure heavily as Jane... Read More

Narrator Gordon Griffin skillfully depicts the rivalry between the Bow Street Runners and twin detectives Peter and Paul Skillen. Their cases involve egotistical actress Hannah Granville and a woman who is trying to learn the fate of her elderly father. The Runners are consistently bested by the brothers, a detail that Griffin cleverly plays up, particularly focusing on jocular... Read More

Narrator Gerry O'Brien returns to transport listeners to the bleak and brutal world of former Irish Guard and reluctant private investigator Jack Taylor. Taylor, barely hanging on from the murder of his daughter, is stalked by a psychotic young woman who is intent on destroying him. Like an Irish shawl, Bruen's intricate weaving of literary, musical, sports, and political... Read More

Narrator Sandy Rustin gives voice to the naïveté of a young woman living in a glorified cult. When Grace was a child, she and her family witnessed a horrifying vision of wicked creatures known as the Fury, who are shown to them by a supposed angel. Since then, the faithful have gathered in a hidden religious community deep in the woods, seeking safety behind a red rope that... Read More

While working as an Arabic translator for the Paris police department, Patience Portefeux finds the solution to her own financial woes and a way to fund her mother's increasing care costs as she creates a double life for herself as an unlikely drug-gang boss. Narrator Julia Franklin does a wonderful job of bringing 53-year-old Patience and a wide selection of colorful... Read More

Narrator Johnny Heller brings author Nick Pirog's well-defined characters to life. This audiobook focuses on Thomas Prescott, a depressed former police officer and FBI consultant. At the start of the story, he returns to his hometown of Seattle. While visiting his boyhood home, he discovers the governor of Washington floating on the shore--dead. Not surprisingly, he soon finds... Read More

Narrator Michael Beck's Southern drawl lends authenticity to John Grisham's 40th audiobook, this one about a lawyer for a small law firm that works to free prisoners they believe to be wrongly convicted. Beck's earnestness elevates the story of world-weary attorney/minister Cullen Post as he fights like the devil to free Quincy Miller, a man framed for the murder of a sleazy... Read More

Listeners who expect murders in horse barns or on racetracks will be disappointed with this new audio mystery by Felix Francis, son of the late Dick Francis, who was known for writing about the track. This psychological mystery, narrated by Martin Jarvis, spends more time in the courtroom than in the world of horses. Jarvis portrays Bill Russell as a good, sensitive man who... Read More

Narrator Andrew Wincott's refined British accent brings Dickensian atmosphere and substance to this romantic mystery. An unnamed ghost moves randomly through nearly 150 years of history with a spectral fortune-teller urging him on. Wincott gives the ghost a whispery rasp as he haunts a 2017 Internet café and a young family during the Blitz, among others. He searches for his... Read More

Zeno Robinson narrates the fourth audiobook in the series featuring private investigator Isaiah Quintabe (IQ). IQ's latest case involves especially high stakes. For one, the powerful arms dealer Angus Byrne is forcing him to solve a shooting death and threatening to break the hands of IQ's girlfriend, a violinist, if he fails. Also, the main witness/suspect is Byrne's daughter,... Read More

Narrator Saul Reichlin returns to deliver the next phase in the challenging lives of the many characters in McDermid's Tony Hill/Carol Jordan series. Reichlin successfully differentiates men and women of differing ages and backgrounds. With Hill and Jordan sidelined, the rebuilt REMIT team is drawn into unraveling the mystery of the bones of 40 girls who are buried at the... Read More

Listeners who enjoy complex espionage stories like those of le Carré, will want to hear Tim Campbell narrate this taut political thriller. Former British diplomat Simon Davey's life was shattered during the protests in Independence Square in Kiev, Ukraine, in 2004. Campbell employs a clear, fast-paced delivery. He sounds American, but he creates other accents with ease. Notable... Read More

In no-nonsense highborn tones, narrator Danielle Cohen uses her vocal skills to create a convincing self-assured aristocrat who meddles where she doesn't belong. In this gothic mystery set in Yorkshire, Lady Anne Addison is bound and determined to uncover the source of howls in the dark, for it can't possibly be a werewolf, as her friend Lydia fears. After she stumbles over the... Read More

Narrator Jasmine Blackborow takes on the challenge of voicing many characters--some historic, others fictional--from across the British Empire, including the Duke of Windsor and his mistress, Wallis Simpson. In the 13th book in The Royal Spyness series, Lady Georgiana is surprised by her groom with a honeymoon trip to Kenya, where she finds the British aristocrats engaging in... Read More

An intriguing woman, a secret affair, a dead lover, and a cover-up--the perfect recipe for a psychological suspense. Narrator Jan Cramer portrays Neve Connolly, wife, mother, adulterer. Neve is summoned by text to her lover's flat, where she finds him dead. Attempting to hide the affair, she cleans up the crime scene, kicking off the story. Listeners will feel like they are in... Read More

Narrator Saskia Maarleveld shines in this compelling, multilayered listen. The land and the sea of the New Zealand coast become an integral part of the story's beautiful descriptions, authentic narration, and well-developed characters. After her husband dies, Anahera Spenser-Ashby returns home to Golden Cove--a place she left eight years earlier, after her mother's death.... Read More

Narrator Matt Green and author Lynne Truss shine in their second adventure together featuring Constable Twitten of the Brighton, England, constabulary, circa 1950. This time, we have a murder in a beach chair, a notorious con artist, good lovely ladies, nasty lovely ladies, a secret basement, and hideously bad wax effigies à la Madame Tussaud. That's just for starters. Green... Read More

From the beginning, narrators Brittany Pressley and Kyf Brewer are in full control of this audiobook with their talent and skill. Pressley portrays Atlee Pine, a troubled FBI agent whose idyllic childhood was interrupted by the kidnapping of her twin sister, Mercy. At the same time, a serial killer is on the loose with a bizarre modus operandi. Pressley and Kyf Brewer expertly... Read More

Some listeners may remember this new audio production of Stewart's classic romantic suspense as a 1964 Disney movie. Nicola Ferris takes a holiday in a solitary region of Crete, only to be thrown into a mystery. While exploring the hills above the village, she comes upon a young Englishman who has been shot, and she can't help but get involved. Narrator Daphne Kouma breathes... Read More

When you hear Damian Lynch narrate this third crime novel in the Mycroft and Sherlock series, you would think that a new, original manuscript had been unearthed. The story has a captivating plot, exotic trained animals, male bonding, and deduction through observation--all of which are the components of a Conan Doyle story. Lynch portrays a young Sherlock who is naïve, smart,... Read More

Narrators Titus Welliver and Christine Lakin return to perform Connelly's newest offering in the Bosch/Ballard series. Connelly has solved the problem of the aging-out of his determined retired detective Harry Bosch. By pairing him with Renée Ballard, a young, relentless detective, we have the old guard complemented by the new and receptive mentee. They work day and night... Read More

Six went in, only one, Matthew, came out of the Standedge Canal Tunnel. So begins the mysterious story of the missing, narrated quite emotionally by David Thorpe. Matthew calls author Robert Ferringham, whose wife, Sam, was last seen in Huddersfield near Standedge. The secrets Matthew reveals plunge Robert into a headlong search for the truth as he follows a host of vague clues... Read More

Grover Gardner narrates this Sicilian police procedural with ease and familiarity. As Inspector Montalbano and his team juggle everyday policing tasks, they must deal with the additional challenge of providing support for migrants arriving at the port. The situation is compounded when the murder of a seamstress with whom Montalbano has a connection is discovered. Gardner... Read More

Narrator Jane Oppenheimer captures Nina's alarm when a man in a penguin suit shows up at her door insisting that the house she just bought to serve as a B&B really belongs to him. That's what his late aunt promised, Harry claims. Shortly afterwards, Nina finds a man in a penguin costume, stabbed and dying--but it's not her would-be evictor. Instead it's the most hated man in... Read More

Spoiler alert: Angelica Chastain, heroine of THE PENMAKER'S WIFE, may be among the most diabolical, manipulative women in recent fiction. Narrator Clare Corbett delivers Angelica's convoluted story of love, murder, and betrayal with all the precise period diction of the 1880s in place. She inhabits several points of view, making each devastatingly real. It's hard to like a... Read More

Narrator Peter Kenny shows his incredible range in this world-hopping tribute to "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner," in which the titular character is cursed by the shadow of a person whose life he did not save. To outrun the shadow, William Abbey travels the world, and this allows Kenny to use a myriad of accents, smoothly transitioning from one to the next. Because he is... Read More

Thriller fans are in for a treat as narrator January LaVoy performs Patricia Cornwell's latest. It's the first adventure of Captain Calli Chase, a NASA pilot, quantum physicist, and cybercrime investigator who must puzzle through the clues that point to her missing identical sister, Carme. LaVoy delivers this heart-pounding story using a combination of emotionally even tones,... Read More

Michael Page flawlessly presents this story, based on an actual mystery writers' convention. After Damian "Poison Pen" Penrose is found dead in the town of Harrogate's Victorian baths, the list of suspects is unending. Listeners will accompany witty, literate Detective Chief Inspector Oldroyd as he sifts through a mountain of clues--and tries online dating. Page's portrayals of... Read More

Clive Chafer's narration guarantees that listeners will be laughing out loud at Cotterill's fourteenth mystery featuring Siri Paiboun, Laos's national coroner. Siri finds a note attached to the stumpy tail of his dog, Ugly, threatening to destroy Siri and those he holds dearest. More threats follow, and people begin dying, forcing Siri to explore who in his past holds such... Read More

Best known for his animated narration of DON QUIXOTE and other essential classics, Roy McMillan is one of our most versatile and accomplished voices, equally effective narrating a popular thriller. The author of FATHERLAND always keeps listeners on their toes, and here a pastiche of elements--a dystopian world, a possible murder mystery, the high action of a thriller--results... Read More

Southern charm highlights this audiobook, which will delight listeners who enjoy mysteries with personality. The audiobook is an ensemble performance, and the use of multiple narrators enhances the dialogue. Set in Tibbehah County, Mississippi, the story focuses on the 1997 death of Brandon Taylor and a new investigation into his case, which has been rejuvenated based on the... Read More

The longstanding Arkady Renko series has had its share of heavyweight narrators, and Jeremy Bobb, who debuts with the ninth installment, is among the best. He comes prepared, having narrated the Red Sparrow trilogy, and he provides the necessary modulation and tempo associated with Russian language speakers. More importantly, he conveys the pessimistic Russian subtext that... Read More

An appealing protagonist and supporting cast [characters?], a strong plot, and Gildart Jackson's excellent English-accented performance enliven this audiobook. Young, smart Detective Sergeant Chris Waters has his first case as crime scene manager when the body of a murdered woman is found. The story follows the Norfolk-based police team as it follows leads to dead ends and new... Read More

This is number eight in Nicola Upson's crime series, and narrator Helen Lloyd perfectly brings its setting and personalities into sharp focus. In the early part of the twentieth century, Josephine Tey was a popular crime writer. In Upson's series Josephine actually investigates crimes. Here, she is called to the horticultural school Moira House to help clarify the details of a... Read More

David Rintoul narrates this latest Alexander McCall Smith story, that features Detective Uif Varg, head of the Department of Sensitive Crimes in Sweden. Rintoul's Varg does not speak with any sort of Swedish accent, but rather in a mild, cultured English voice that communicates the wry humor, quick wit, and ethnic idiosyncrasies found in the dialogue. Varg must find out who... Read More

Narrator Lucy Paterson brings a top-level performance to this mystery featuring murder in a small Scottish burg. Finn, a church deacon, and her husband, Paddy, a lawyer, get great jobs in the town of Simmerton. Both have secrets to hide, so when they find the bloodied bodies of their benefactors shortly after dining with them, they decide to keep quiet. But murder has a way of... Read More

Take deep, calming breaths--sit back and let Jason Culp terrify you with his narration of this violent psychological thriller about a sociopath, called The Conductor, who controls a string of compromised followers who commit crimes. Culp gives this villain a truly creepy voice that is as memorable as it is horrible. The voices of the students who become caught up in the evil... Read More

Narrator Allen Grunerud ratchets up the tension in this sci-fi about Big Pharma profits and our reliance on prescription drugs. Dr. Clyde Daniel and his team invented WAND, a device that cures most serious illnesses. Grunerud's Daniel calmly explains the miraculous invention, but that calm is soon shattered when Daniel must defend himself against a brutal killer who is... Read More

Put on your earbuds, pour a cup of tea, and travel back to the 1950s with this exciting, if dated, classic of romantic suspense. With her lovely English accent, narrator Ellie Heydon embodies the naïve Jennifer as she arrives at a remote convent high in the French Pyrenees to visit her cousin, Gillian. Finding that Gillian recently died without ever mentioning any relatives,... Read More

How lovely to spend time again with Mma Precious Ramotswe, of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. Thanks to the quiet performance of Lisette Lecat, series fans reconnect with a bevy of fully formed Botswana residents--from self-important detective-assistant Grace Makutsi to Mma Ramotswe's gentle husband, Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni, and part-time detective-assistant Charlie, who's... Read More

Part intense police procedural, part suspense, and part family drama, this audiobook keeps listeners guessing. Natalie Lockhart is a rookie detective in Burning Lake, New York, a sleepy town hiding dark secrets, where she is assigned the cold cases of nine missing women. Narrator Laura Nichol struggles at times to create distinctions between the characters, and much of the... Read More

Narrator Rebekkah Ross keeps the listener's pulse racing with her multifaceted performance of a story that explores what happens when old wounds are ripped open again. When a popular podcast begins to reinvestigate the murder of a professor, his daughter, Josie Buhrman, discovers that running from a tragic past is pointless when everyone knows your story. It was Josie's... Read More

Lorelei King returns to bring us our favorite characters in the Stephanie Plum series. Grandma Mazur, the star of the twenty-sixth addition, is married and widowed all in the first paragraphs. The typical chaos ensues. Thanks to King's masterful performance, listeners know immediately who is talking. Fans will find all they have come to expect: Stephanie whining about her life... Read More

Narrator Peter Noble is known for the range and variety of his audiobook credits, and more importantly for his sensitivity to the unique mood and character of each work he undertakes. That skill is put to good use in historical novelist Alan Furst's latest WWII thriller, set in occupied Paris and other sites across Nazi-occupied Europe. The plot is episodic, a series of... Read More

Narrator Alexander James convincingly presents this odd and creepy short mystery. Eugene, an 82-year-old serial killer, is hitchhiking under a boiling Texas sun, searching for his fiftieth victim. James's raspy voice harshly recounts Eugene's plan to make sure everyone knows that he "helped" his victims escape difficult lives. Listeners will also learn that Eugene still laments... Read More

Part legal suspense, part romance, this audiobook is a stellar debut. Narrator Tavia Gilbert introduces listeners to Liana Cohen, a New York City public defender who is struggling to find meaning and balance. Gilbert transitions seamlessly between the personal and professional challenges Liana faces--how to justify her lack of belief in her clients' innocence, whether to move... Read More

A trio of talented narrators tackles a dystopian cyberthriller in which Cloud, a tech company akin to Amazon, has taken over the American marketplace. Paxton, a new employee whose business fell prey to Cloud, and Zinnia, a corporate infiltrator, take the lead as the darkness behind Cloud's glossy exterior comes to light. Emily Woo Zeller, Jason Culp, and Karissa Vacker... Read More

Stina Nielsen is an experienced narrator who consistently excels at playing strong female characters. She does so again as she portrays Swedish detective Embla Nystrom, moving us from the post-traumatic stress of her previous case to the horrors of children going missing in her new one. Nielsen captures the persona of a professional woman beautifully; she sounds both strong and... Read More

Two excellent narrators flesh out this gritty mystery set amid the opioid epidemic in the American heartland. Sadie is a single mother whose brother has just died under mysterious circumstances. Suzanne Elise Freeman portrays Sadie, imbuing her with both intelligence and world-weariness. Henley is an 18-year-old girl who grew up in a large family on the wrong side of the... Read More

Narrator Allyson Ryan convincingly depicts Briar Creek, Connecticut-- a small seaside town--along with its inviting public library and feisty director, Lindsey Norris. As Lindsey plans her wedding to boat skipper Mike "Sully" Sullivan, she becomes the target of a library patron who is stalking her. Ryan realistically portrays Aaron Grady, a seemingly nice guy who's obsessed... Read More

The story may be fiction, but listeners will feel like they're hearing true crime--so captivating are the performances of narrators Greta Jung and Glenn Davis. The mystery involves Grace Park, a sheltered Korean pharmacist, and Shawn Matthews, who find themselves intertwined following a horrendous crime that rocks Los Angeles, where they both live. The result is a gripping... Read More