Features AudioFile Spotlight: Mystery & Suspense Audiobooks

AudioFile’s Editors have five excellent new audiobooks to recommend for your next thrilling listen. An unusual historical mystery explores the horrors of predatory doctors, while an ill-fated train ride turns sinister when someone is murdered on board. And two titles with impressive ensemble narrations make for highly engaging listening. Read on to discover your next mysterious listen.

ACT LIKE A LADY, THINK LIKE A LORD
By Celeste Connally| Read by Eilidh Beaton
AudioFile Earphones Award
Macmillan Audio | 11.25 hrs.

Eilidh Beaton’s performance is stellar, and she takes on the roles of strong-willed aristocratic ladies; stuffy, self-important lords; and capable staff with panache. Self-proclaimed spinster and freethinker Lady Petra becomes concerned when she learns her highborn women friends are disappearing into asylums—or dying. The men are unperturbed. Beaton’s spellbinding narration is most disturbing when Lady Petra falls into the clutches of the smarmy, smooth-talking doctor who runs the asylum. She captures the fear of the women as they become helpless pawns manipulated by the evil doctor.

REVIEW

EVERYONE ON THIS TRAIN IS A SUSPECT
By Benjamin Stevenson| Read by Barton Welch, Megan Smart
Harper Audio | 8.5 hrs.

Barton Welch brings the perfect narrative touches to this mystery set on a train ride through Australia. Ernest Cunningham is on the train to participate in a crime-writing festival. There is backbiting and jealousy among the attendees—then someone dies. Welch speaks directly to listeners as he lays out the rules of fair-play mystery solving, along with a number of clues. His dialogue captures the egos and insecurities of all those aboard. Narrator Megan Smart, as Cunningham’s significant other, Juliette, narrates the epilogue. It’s a nice touch to wrap up a fun, clever listen.

REVIEW

THE MANOR HOUSE
By Gilly Macmillan| Read by Ethan Reid, Nathalie Buscombe, Clare Corbett, Fenella Woolger, Josh Dylan, Ben Allen, Sian Thomas
Harper Audio | 11.75 hrs.

The rich voices and intelligent deliveries of seven talented narrators make it possible to keep this novel’s many characters straight. After a huge lottery win, Nicole and Tom build their dream house on an estate in Gloucestershire. The state-of-the-art glass barn has everything, including glitches. When Tom’s corpse shows up in their swimming pool, Nicole is devastated, but was it more than an accident? Neighbors offer Nicole support, and chapters are divided into individual observations that allow each character a voice and each narrator an opportunity to shine. With more twists than a labyrinth, the story soon makes clear that nothing is what it seems.

REVIEW

GANGSTERS DON’T DIE: Gangsterland, Book 3
By Tod Goldberg| Read by Johnny Heller
HighBridge Audio | 10.75 hrs.

Narrator Johnny Heller solidly maintains the author’s intriguing premise: A mobster from Chicago is hiding as a rabbi in Las Vegas. Whether David Cohen—aka Sal Cupertine—will be found out by those who are after him is the mystery. Heller understands how to shape characters with voices that fit their personalities. Cohen/Cupertine offers advice throughout the book, delivered in a steady tone while the walls close in. Heller maintains that sense of calm throughout his narration.

REVIEW

ALEX CROSS MUST DIE: Alex Cross, Book 31
By James Patterson| Read by Wayne Carr, Inger Tudor, Zeno Robinson, William Christopher Stephens, Peter Giles, Kiff VandenHeuvel, Jim Meskimen
Hachette Audio | 8.75 hrs.

Fans of James Patterson will no doubt appreciate the latest installment in the Alex Cross series. A cast of thousands—Okay, seven—takes on roles that range from good cops to killers, spouses, and family members in what sounds like a made-for-TV drama. Wayne Carr does an excellent job portraying the gravitas, intellect, and humanity of Cross. Each performer brings a unique take to their role, which makes for an entertaining listen as Cross tracks down not one, but two, killers.

REVIEW

AudioFile Spotlight: Mystery & Suspense Audiobooks