AudioFile’s Best Audio Books of 2019

AudioFile’s 2019 Best Mystery and Suspense

According to the Audio Publishers Association, audiobooks have had seven years of double-digit growth in both unit and dollar sales. And with a boom in the number of titles being produced—nearly 45,000 in 2018—there is something for every taste.

Accessing audiobooks is easier than ever with smartphones being the preferred listening device across the globe and the proliferation of smart speakers and in-dash information and entertainment systems in cars driving new listeners to the format.

A recent survey by the Audio Publishers Association also revealed that Mystery/Suspense is the most popular genre—no surprise to readers of The Big Thrill!

AudioFile’s 2019 Best Audiobooks list is the culmination of a year of listening. It’s a slightly impossible task to select a mere 53 Best Audiobooks and six Best Mysteries from the 2,500 audiobooks AudioFile reviewed this year. There’s simply too much good listening.

AudioFile has already honored 257 titles with the Earphones Award that signals “exceptional listening.” So how do the AudioFile editors refine the picks?

They start with the reviews, and the Earphones titles get onto the long list, along with other audiobooks that have received extra attention.

As editor and founder, Robin Whitten, and managing editor, Jennifer Dowell, sit down to review final choices, they factor in personal favorites. In the end they have to concur and make the difficult final choices.

One criterion that sometimes tips the balance for a selection is whether the audio version made the experience particularly unique and different from what a print reader would get. The goal is always to honor the voices—the narrators who make the magic.

We’re thrilled to celebrate these outstanding performances—and to share these excellent audiobooks with our readers.

Best Mystery and Suspense Audiobooks for 2019

(with our review and jacket hyperlinks)

AMERICAN SPY by Lauren Wilkinson

Read by Bahni Turpin

Review

RUN AWAY by Harlan Coben

Read by Steven Weber

Review

Big Sky by Kate Atkinson

Read by Jason Isaacs

Review

Heaven, My Home

By Attica Locke, read by J D Jackson

Review

The Marylebone Drop

By Mick Herron, read by Gerard Doyle

Review

The Accomplice

By Joseph Kanon, read by Jonathan Davis

Review

To read the complete AudioFile’s Best of 2019 CLICK HERE.