Discover New Releases Audiobooks in Mysteries & Thrillers, Historical

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Title: Perfidia

Author: James Ellroy

Narrator: Jeff Harding

Format: Unabridged

Length: 26 hrs and 26 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-06-15

Publisher: Isis Publishing Ltd

Ratings: 2 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

It is December 6, 1941. America stands at the brink of World War II. Last hopes for peace are shattered when Japanese squadrons bomb Pearl Harbor. Los Angeles has been a haven for loyal Japanese-Americans - but now war fever grips the city, and the Japanese internment begins. The hellish murder of a Japanese family summons three men and one woman.

William H. Parker is a captain on the Los Angeles Police. Hes superbly gifted but consumed by dubious ideology. He is bitterly at odds with Sergeant Dudley Smith ex-IRA killer, fledgling war profiteer.

Kay Lake is a 21-year-old dilettante looking for adventure. Hideo Ashida is a police chemist and the only Japanese on the payroll. The investigation throws them together and rips them apart.

Members Reviews:

Weird book, excellent reader

Like many of Ellroys books the prose style is strange and takes a lot of time getting used to. There is little in the way of normal descriptive narrative, so the reader has to glean what he can from disjointed conversations and peculiar, almost surreal data dumps. Sometimes these are diary extracts, sometimes news broadcast and sometimes newspaper extracts. All that having been said, I really enjoyed this ( slightly overlong ) book. The setting in the anti-Jap hysteria of post Pearl Harbour Los Angeles is fascinating and the corruption of police and local officials truly horrifying. The plot is extremely convoluted and, together with the Ellroy style means that a listener really has to concentrate,. However, the reader (Jeff Harding) is amazing, using many different voices and accents. Truly brilliant, especially the women. Bottom line, I strongly recommend this book.

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Title: The Dynamite Room

Subtitle: A Novel

Author: Jason Hewitt

Narrator: Will Thorp

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 38 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-30-15

Publisher: Hachette Audio

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

It was all her doing. She had cried wolf, and the wolf had come.

It's July 1940, and 11-year-old Lydia has just run away from life as a child evacuee in Wales. She arrives in her English village, gas mask in tow, only to find it abandoned. Her family's house is shuttered and empty, the windows covered by black-out blinds - but Lydia settles in, determined to wait there until they return.

Late that night he comes: a wounded soldier, gun in hand, heralding a full-blown German invasion. There are, the man explains, certain rules that Lydia must now follow. He says he won't hurt Lydia, but she cannot leave the house.

As the unlikely pair coexists in the claustrophobic confines of the house, each becomes dependent on the other for survival. But when Lydia tries to uncover what brought the soldier to her door, she realizes that he knows more than he should about her family - and that he's plotting something for them both.

Eerie, gripping, and piercingly sad, The Dynamite Room brings a strikingly original and contemporary resonance to the great tradition of war classics. It shrinks the global theater of history's most devastating war to a game of cat and mouse played out in a single house - resulting in a moving portrait of war and how it affects soldiers and citizens alike.

Critic Reviews:

"Suspenseful and powerful. A novel of great humanity that exposes the absurd contradictions of war." (Samantha Harvey, author of the Orange shortlisted/Booker longlisted The Wilderness)

"An effective psychological drama between two extraordinary characters. Claustrophobic, touching, character-driven, and told in lovely prose.... Readers who loved The Boy in the Striped Pajamas will have a strong affinity with The Dynamite Room."(Katie Ward, author of Girl Reading)

"Clever and unsettling, this most unconventional of war stories had me totally gripped." (Shelley Harris, author of Jubilee)

Members Reviews:

Don't Miss This One! Loved it!

July 1940. In the high heat of summer, eleven-year-old Lydia walks alone down a dusty road to her English village and finds the place deserted. Disquieted, she continues homeward with her suitcase bumping her leg and the box for her gas mask swinging from her shoulder. Greyfriars is empty, but Lydia settles in to wait for her familyâs return. And then that night, she wakes to the creak of footsteps in the house.

It is a wounded Nazi soldier who did not expect to find anyone here, certainly not Lydia, who is a runaway from Wales, where she had been sent as an evacuee. A German invasion is coming, he says. They must prepare Greyfriars for the next arrivals. He will not hurt her if she does as he says. Break the rules, and he will shoot her. Thus, their cautious relationship begins: a cat-and-mouse game wherein she tiptoes past him while he explores Greyfriars, searching forâ what? When they are in separate rooms, Heiden feels Lydia âcrouching behind the door, listening to him listening to her,â though neither makes a sound. They, and we, feel the pulse of the house breathing as this wonderful, thoroughly original story unfolds.

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Title: Sundance

Author: David Fuller

Narrator: R.C. Bray

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 57 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-17-15

Publisher: Dreamscape Media, LLC

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 7 votes

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

Legend has it that bank robber Harry Longbaugh and his partner Robert Parker were killed in a shootout in Bolivia. That was the supposed end of the Sundance Kid and Butch Cassidy. Sundance tells a different story.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Longbaugh is very much alive, though serving in a Wyoming prison under an alias. When he is released in 1913, Longbaugh reenters a changed world. What hasn't changed are Longbaugh's ingenuity, his deadly aim, and his and his love for his wife Etta Place.

Determined to find her, Longbaugh follows her trail to New York City. Confounded by the city's immensity, energy, chaos, and crowds, Longbaugh finds himself in a tense game of cat and mouse, racing against time before the legend of the Sundance Kid catches up to destroy him.

Members Reviews:

What if....?

Who has not read a novel or viewed a movie, that when the book ends or the credits roll, you wonder, "Yeah, but what happens next? Where does the story go from here?" The popular seventies movie, "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" probably didn't inspire such questions, as the visually conclusive freeze-frame pretty much summed it up, "The End." But the reliance of the screenwriter on information, second or third-hand reports from the early 20th century Bolivian jungle might not have been, shall we say, accurate.

David Fuller's "Sundance," is all about "What if," as Harry Longbaugh strolls out of a dusty western prison into a dusty western saloon and the Sundance Kid rides again. Fuller's novel is fast-moving, informative and suprising as Harry learns to navigate New York City as it explodes into the modern world waiting for the first Great War.

For fans of the movies there is enough hat-tipping, for readers new to the story, it is, like Harry Longbaugh, standing alone.

Sundance, not just a western anymore!!!

For those of you who are expecting a Western from looking at the cover, you might be surprised. Once you dive into David Fuller's portrayal of Kid's quest to find Etta, you will be transported to New York in the early 1900s. Wonderfully scripted, this love story takes you on a journey that is thrilling and absorbing. Fuller's novel encapsulates the evolution of New York at a crucial time in its history.

Fantastic read!!!

thoroughly enjoyable read

I've loved Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid for many years and this was a fun way to imagine how Harry's life might have played out. Historical fiction is a genre I love and this provoked me to read more about the New York of the early 1900s and the run-up to World War I. Thanks, Dave!

Simply amazing

This book had my imagination from the first page. it was a beautifully written novel and an amazing alternate reality. I can't stress enough how great a book this was!!!!!

An Enjoyable Easy Read On Many Levels

An "old West" gunfighter in prison for 12 years, released into a newly industrialized world that he doesn't understand.

The romance of a man looking for his lost love. The mystery/suspense of a strong man moving against powerful harmful forces. The background of teeming 1913 New York City. All this mixed with accuracy and a swift plot that completely engaged this reader.

I'd recommend it to anyone looking to just hunker down for a few hours of enjoyable diversion. .

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Title: I Can't Begin to Tell You

Author: Elizabeth Buchan

Narrator: Anna Bentinck

Format: Unabridged

Length: 18 hrs and 5 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-29-15

Publisher: Lamplight Audio

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

For Kay, living on her husband Bror's country estate, the Nazi invasion is a time of uncertainty. Bror is desperate to preserve the legacy of his home, even if it means co-existing with the enemy; Kay cannot do the same. She is lured by British Intelligence into a world of resistance.

Tasked with protecting an SOE agent, Kay learns the art of subterfuge. Caught on opposing sides, will Kay and Bror find their way back to one another?

Critic Reviews:

"This is such a good novel, full of incident and history and the minutiae of life as a spy" (Daily Express)

"She who dares wins in Buchan's gripping doorstopper about the Nazi occupation in Denmark" (Daily Mail)

Members Reviews:

My first ever wartime story

Four completely separate lives, joined together by patriotism. Such bravery in the resistance and on the home front. Clever story bringing the pieces together, the committed Danish Felix, the elegant British Kay in the field, the cleverness and diligence of British Ruby and Mary on the home front.

Loved it!

I knew nothing about Denmark's role in the last war and was fascinated right from the start. Kay is married to a Dane, has two children and considers Denmark her country, but was born British. She is horrified that her husband accepts the Germans walking in and taking over and is determined to fight back. I was completely engrossed in this story and was so sad when it finished!

Dreary tale of occupied Denmark

This story really dragged in places and made me think, for once, that I might have preferred the abridged version. I was interested to know about the Nazi Occupation of Denmark but that got swallowed up in a soapy storyline peopled by cardboard characters.

Also got really irritated that Copenhagen was always referred to in the Danish pronunciation- why? It's a story written in English and you'd laugh out loud if a similar story set in France always said "Paree" rather than Paris, wouldn't you?

I've heard this narrator before and thought it was just a one-off that she gave an ear piercing voice to one or two of the characters but, no, she did it again with this book - why? There's nothing in the description of the character that says they have a high pitched nasal voice that makes you turn down the volume or bury your iPad under several pillows.

It's an OK story but hard to feel much empathy with any of the characters and I will definitely avoid Anna Bentinck as a narrator in the future. Sian Thomas would have been a much better choice. She reads more fluently and is excellent with accents and inflexions. Maybe she has higher standards when choosing her authors.

EXCELLENT STORY! EXCELLENT NARRATOR!

I've listened to many WW2 stories over the past few years but this one tops my list. In fact, this was my second time of listening and it still affects me in so many ways.

I knew nothing of Denmark's role in WW2 and because of this it was very informative and the story was both personal and factual. The author wove a rich tapestry of what humans are capable of when pushed to their limit. They either stand up to be counted or fade away. It put brother against brother, wife against husband, as in this story, and the reader experiences so many different emotions. It was an excellent story and I didn't want it to end.

THE narrator was excellent too bringing to life the author's story.

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Title: The Head of Athena

Subtitle: The Cyrus Skeen Series

Author: Edward Cline

Narrator: Robert Burke

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-05-14

Publisher: Edward Cline

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

Cyrus Skeen is hired by Edgar Freund, the defense attorney of Enoch Paige, a notorious lecturer charged with the savage murder of his ex-wife, to find evidence that will exonerate his client of the crime. Skeen soon finds himself at odds with Freund, as well as with Detective Sergeant Robert Hoile of the San Francisco police, who is determined to send Paige to the electric chair, and with Reverend Oswald Hoxley, the pastor of a popular church. More murders are committed. The case takes Skeen from the depths of the underworld to the top of San Francisco's wealthy society in a bizarre maze of clues and blind alleys. The story opens when Skeen hasfollowed an international art fence, Andre Petrossian, to a burlesque theater,hoping that the man will lead him to the artworks stolen from a Boston museum.When the theater is raided by the police, Petrossian makes a run for it, but isshot dead by Sergeant Robert Hoile, a homicide detective who had made a wagerwith a colleague that he could find the man responsible for molesting childrenin a city playground. Together Hoile and Skeen recover the cache of stolenartwork, and learn that Petrossian had planned to sell it to Handy Ollo, amobster who owns a gambling ship off the city's coast. The next evening, whileattending a ballet, Skeen is approached by Edgar Freund, a trial attorneyfamous for representing gangsters and corrupt politicians. Freund wants to hireSkeen to find evidence proving the innocence of his newest client, Enoch Paige,a noted orator and promulgator of atheism. Paige, the son of a wealthy miningcompany founder, has been charged with the brutal rape and murder of his ex-wife,Esmee Planchet.

As bodies pile up and the most unlikely partiesbecome suspects, Skeen refuses to allow mob rule and the elusive dissimilitudeof clients and hostile witnesses to triumph over his commitment to the truth.

Members Reviews:

Classic Mystery with Caveats

Be prepared for a very heavy handed dose of Objectivism - Cyrus Skeen, East Coast scion, is playing at being a private eye based in San Francisco until he is ostensibly called back to run the family firm. What we have here is Hammett without the humor. I skipped the Ayn Rand spoon feeding and found an okay mystery. Though it's rather easy to guess.

The narrator suffers from bad direction and is not as polished as he could be.

Why did I continue to listen? It's kind of like a "Real Housewives" episode ... how bad is the wreck gonna be?

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Title: Closure

Author: Gillian Hamer

Narrator: Catherine O'Brien

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 39 mins

Language: English

Release date: 11-18-14

Publisher: Gillian Hamer

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 6 votes

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

Helen West is coming to terms with her husband's death and trying to cope with her six-year-old son's grief. Jake suffers from nightmares, and visions of what he calls his 'other' life. He talks about a boy called Jacob and a place known only as 'the island'.

Helen's journey to find the source of Jake's torment leads them to North Wales, where the university town of Bangor is in lockdown following a series of student abductions.

When Jake's nightmares start to mirror the abductions, Helen begins to believe her son might have second sight. But what could Jake's island possibly have to do with these crimes? And how can they help without putting their own lives in danger?

It seems that decision will be Jakes alone.

Members Reviews:

Riveting

Would you listen to Closure again? Why?

Yes, great story with a lot of subplots

What about Catherine O'Briens performance did you like?

Very good performance except she does a lousy southern accent

Any additional comments?

Hoping for a sequel

Excellent Mystery

This is the second in a trilogy but it is fine as a stand alone. You don't need to read the first one before you listen to this. I liked the mystery and was surprised at the twist at the end. The characters were likeable and engaging and the narration was excellent. I am looking forward to the next one!! (Disclosure: I received this free from the narrator)

Mystical murder mystery

This is an intriguing novel set mostly on the rugged coastline of North Wales. There are two storylines which at first seem worlds apart but are actually linked in an interesting way.

On the one hand we have a university city which is being terrorised by a serial rapist and murderer, the crimes are chilling but handled with great subtlety by the author. We then meet young widow Helen who is concerned about her son Jake due to his disturbing nightmares, she seeks help from unusual sources when mainstream medicine lets her down. These two strands are woven together and lead to a dramatic, tense pay-off.

The book is skillfully written and the characters are engaging; you come to care about Helen, Jake, Gareth and Mia. I enjoyed the blend of history, the paranormal and gritty crime drama. The entire story is well paced and handled with the touch of a more experienced author.

Good story, bad narrator

This was a really good book but the narrator was dreadful. Not only did she have no idea how to pronounce welsh names and phrases but her voice is so monotonous it sounds like it's computer generated! Being Welsh and living in Wales it was really irritating to listen to her awful attempts at pronouncing welsh names and places. Overall a really good story spoilt by an awful narrator...surely there are Welsh ones?

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Title: Mercy Row Clann

Subtitle: Mercy Row Series, Book 2

Author: Harry Hallman

Narrator: Rick Myers

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 7 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-02-14

Publisher: Octane Interactive

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

The Byrne family of Philadelphia fights two wars. One for the freedom of the world and the other for the survival of their family.

Mercy Row Clann is Book Two of the continuing story of a powerful North Philadelphia Irish crime family. As World War 2 rages, the Byrne family must send their sons to fight the German's and Japanese while they battle for survival against old and new enemies at home.

The Byrne children's ability to protect and grow the family, and the K & A Gang, is tested with violence, sorrow, fear, and love.

Members Reviews:

Great narration. I hope this series continues.

Where does Mercy Row Clann rank among all the audiobooks youve listened to so far?

The best so far

Who was your favorite character and why?

Jacob Burnes

What does Rick Myers bring to the story that you wouldnt experience if you just read the book?

I can cover more books with Audable and Rick does a great job. He is easy to follow and to understand.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

yes But it took two.

Any additional comments?

Hallman's stories are very realistic and interesting.

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Title: The Edison Effect

Subtitle: Professor Bradshaw Mystery, Book 4

Author: Bernadette Pajer

Narrator: Malcolm Hillgartner

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 7 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-01-14

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 11 votes

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

When Thomas Alva Edison asks for information, most feel compelled to give it. Not University of Washington professor Benjamin Bradshaw. Not when the question concerns a device conceived in anger and harnessed for murder. Bradshaw hopes the mysterious invention remains lost in Elliott Bay, eluding the search of deep-sea divers. But when, on a cold December morning in1903, an electrician is found dead in the men's wear window of Seattle's Bon Marché clutching a festoon of Edison's holiday lights, Bradshaw suspects a dangerous game has been set in motion. Greed, passion, silence? Motives multiply as the dead man's secrets come to light.

Bradshaw and his investigative partner Henry Pratt join Seattle police detective James O'Brien to narrow suspects, but Bradshaw's intuition fails him. His heart is elsewhere, his attention distracted by the dilemma of loving a woman he cannot marry without defying his faith. With Christmas fast approaching, the pressure mounts, as does Bradshaw's dread that this will be his first unsolved case. With no other option, he does the unthinkable and prepares to face his greatest fears. Whatever the outcome, there will be no going back.

Members Reviews:

Not as good as previous

This is still an enjoyable read but not as good as previous efforts. There was too much time spent criticizing Edison and the Catholic Church.

EXCELLENT! WELL WRITTEN AND NARRATED.

I totally enjoyed this book. Professor Bradshaw is a good detective. He is skilled in his profession as a professor of engineering as well . I like the plot is intriguing and the pace was fast moving.i like how well Missouri understands him and still love him despite his misgivings and fears. Anyway I am glad that they finally make a decision. I hope there will be more books on this series..

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Title: Guns in the Desert

Author: Lauran Paine

Narrator: Jeff Harding

Format: Unabridged

Length: 5 hrs and 43 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-01-14

Publisher: Isis Publishing Ltd

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

In the title story of this Western duo, Sheriff Jess Wright must protect Singing Springs from the Wilton gang after their youngest member is killed trying to set fire to the town.

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Title: Wake Up Little Susie

Author: Ed Gorman

Narrator: Bronson Pinchot

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 54 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-15-14

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 9 votes

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

In 1958 Ford introduced the Edsel to America. In the Black River Falls, Iowa, the dead body of a 19-year-old girl in the trunk of a brand new Edsel upstages the ill-fated car. Sam McCain makes some troubling discoveries as he tracks down the murderer.

Members Reviews:

Overall a Pretty Good Book

What did you like best about Wake Up Little Susie? What did you like least?

I adore just about any book read by by Pinchot, he's brilliant!

And in truth I love McCain. He's sweet, persistent, and just snarky enough to be fun. My only real problem with the book are those moments when Gorman chooses to inject his 'Democrats were cool in the fifties' silliness. If he could stick to the facts and just tell the story the books would be more fun.

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

The cast of characters keeps the book lively.

Which character as performed by Bronson Pinchot was your favorite?

Definitely McCain