Get the Most Popular Audiobooks in Mysteries & Thrillers, Historical

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Title: Sherlock Holmes and the Element of Surprise: The Wormwood Scrubs Enigma

Author: James Andrew Taylor

Narrator: Steve White

Format: Unabridged

Length: 2 hrs and 29 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-26-16

Publisher: MX Publishing

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

When two prison guards are found beheaded in the barren countryside surrounding Her Majesty's Prison at Wormwood Scrubs, Inspector Lestrade seeks Holmes' singular powers to determine how the murders could have been committed in separate locations with the only footprints being those of the murdered guards themselves. With Doctor Watson at his side, Holmes sets out on this new adventure and uncovers deeper mysteries still; mysteries that will not only test the detectives' powers of observation and deduction, but his skepticism of the paranormal as well.

Members Reviews:

wonderful!

First off, I enjoyed this book tremendously. I was impressed with how Mr. Taylor immersed me in the time and the place. He really knows his Sherlockian world. The suspense and mystery kept me reading, following Sherlock and Watson as they unravel what's really going on.

That said, I have to admit I gave four stars instead of five because Mr. Taylor badly needed a proofreader. At first I thought it might just be the difference between British and American punctuation. But then I began to realize that often the punctuation was missing entirely. I would be into a paragraph before realizing it was actually dialogue; there were no quotation marks. Sometimes a comma was missing, more often it seemed to have been inserted for no reason except to confuse the reader. This happened on nearly every page. For such an enjoyable book, it was tragic that I was constantly distracted by typos and bad or missing punctuation.

I think it is perfectly understandable that Mr. Taylor was approved by the Conan Doyle estate as far as his wonderful story and vivid recreation of the characters and setting. I just wish they'd loaned him a proofreader before it was thrown up for sale.

Another Sherlockian Romp!

What is it with these Sherlock pastiches from MX Publishing? Full of misspellings, improper use of words, horrible grammar and lack of punctuation (see my review of "The Case of the Edinburgh Haunting"), they nevertheless contain some great Sherlockian entertainment.

In this tale, Holmes and Watson must deal with headless bodies, fairy voices in the air, even a flying elephant! Still, Holmes's healthy sense of skepticism as to all things metaphysical and his methodical investigative techniques win the day.

However, I must say that the tale's last sentence is totally unforgivable (no, I won't spoil the surprise.) Enjoy!

Rather Silly

Anyone who can't see that a flying machine is being used by the murderers halfway through the story must be brain dead. It is a very complicated plot for a simple jailbreak, and the "death from the air" aspect of the book is just plain silly.

A New Sherlock Holmes Adventure Mystery!

J.

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Title: Allegiance

Subtitle: A Novel

Author: Kermit Roosevelt

Narrator: Kaleo Griffith

Format: Unabridged

Length: 14 hrs

Language: English

Release date: 08-19-16

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

A sophisticated legal thriller that plunges listeners into the debate within the US government surrounding the imprisonment of thousands of Japanese-Americans during World War II.

When the news broke about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Caswell "Cash" Harrison was all set to drop out of law school and join the army...until he flunked the physical. Instead, he's given the opportunity to serve as a clerk to Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black. He and another clerk stumble onto a potentially huge conspiracy aimed at guiding the court's interests, and the cases dealing with the constitutionality of the prison camps created to detain Japanese-Americans seem to play a key part. Then Cash's colleague dies under mysterious circumstances, and the young, idealistic lawyer is determined to get at the truth. His investigation will take him from the office of J. Edgar Hoover to an internment camp in California, where he directly confronts the consequences of America's wartime policies. Kermit Roosevelt combines the momentum of a top-notch legal thriller with a thoughtful examination of one of the worst civil rights violations in US history in this long-awaited follow-up to In the Shadow of the Law.

Members Reviews:

The More Things Change.....

Allegiance is a legal thriller, but if youâre expecting a best-seller of the John Grisham genre, a page-turning, plot-driven race to the who-dunnit ending, look elsewhere. Roosevelt, the great-great grandson of T.R. and a professor of Constitutional Law at Penn Law School, makes you think, confront issues, address the grey areas of the law, and he does this slowly. He writes elegantly. I found myself rereading paragraphs just to absorb their beauty. At the center of Allegiance is the internment of Japanese-Americans during WWII, and the novel includes many historical characters of that time: J. Edgar Hoover, Supreme Court Justices Frankfurter, Black, Douglas, Atty. General Francis Biddle, etc. But the questions, loyalties, and issues raised go far beyond the detainment and make us realize that although this took place 75 years ago, things havenât changed much.....Guantanamo, building walls (and making the Mexicans pay for it), anti-Muslim rhetoric.

Roosevelt is clearly a man of great talent and I hope he will use it to ...

This is much more than just another murder mystery in an historical setting. Rather, it is a novel of the coming age of a young man as a clerk in the Supreme Court in 1941-46. It is also a novel of manners and mores of Philadelphia society with a strong dose of reality about the deportation of Japanese Americans from the West Coast to nasty camps inland. On the whole, perhaps the book may be regarded as a modern version of John O'Hara's From the Terrace. It was a very enjoyable read; the murders seemed almost incidental to the story. I would have rated this book at five stars, but the protagonist was doing too much agonizing, too many internal monologues, and the alleged conspiracy did not seem plausible, while the ending was just too pat. Mr.

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Title: The Grave Tattoo

Author: Val McDermid

Narrator: Julie Maisey

Format: Unabridged

Length: 14 hrs and 46 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-04-16

Publisher: Wholestory Audiobooks

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 4 votes

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

When torrential summer rains uncover a bizarrely tattooed body on a Lake District hillside, old wives' tales also come swirling to the surface. For centuries Lakelanders have whispered that Fletcher Christian staged the massacre on Pitcairn so that he could return home. And there he told his story to an old friend and schoolmate, William Wordsworth, who turned it into a long narrative poem.

Wordsworth specialist Jane Gresham, herself a native of the Lake District, feels compelled to discover once and for all whether the manuscript ever existed - and whether it still exists today....

Critic Reviews:

"Absorbing modern mystery." (Times)

"An irresistible combination of contemporary psychological thriller and historical mystery." (Tess Gerritsen)

Members Reviews:

Dreadful writing

I loved the last Val McDermid book I read, I almost can't believe this is by the same writer. Indulgent nonsense, a back story so dull - but obviously not to the author - it kept putting me to sleep. And it kept being repeated and laboured over by more and more characters having to explain it to one another! I don't know how any of them managed to convince one another it was even a vaguely likely rumour, it was clearly bollocks. I tried persevering but it was too stupid and dull. Find a better Val MacDermid book, she's usually perceptive and smart. Too wrapped up in her own fascination with history here to remember to think about character, plot, intrigue and suspense.

couldn't stop listening

great plot . Lots of twists and turns keeping the listener interested. Would like to hear more about Jayne Gresham...

Different approach for Val

A different perspective as the main hero is not a detective looking at the crimes, but a literary searcher. Of course well plotted and good characters. Very enjoyable.

Identity fraud?

Can this really be Val McDermid ? Never been know to fail . . . . but really not up to standard. Unsympathetic characters with carved from stone dialogue . Really had no interest in any of them and not bothered about their fates. Maybe a reissue of a very early work? Certainly reads like one

Thoroughly absorbing

Great idea, well executed. Narration of the characters voices was convincing and this really allowed you to get involved in the intriguing story.

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Title: Regan O'Reilly, Private Investigator

Subtitle: Regan O'Reilly Series, Book 1

Author: Margaret Lake

Narrator: Susanna Burney

Format: Unabridged

Length: 1 hr and 57 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-06-16

Publisher: Jobree Publishing

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 7 votes

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

May, 1942 - Regan O'Reilly comes from a long line of police officers. She would have followed her father and brother into the force but women officers are rare and usually relegated to the status of social workers.

Now she's a private investigator with her own agency and the freedom to live her life the way she wants. That is until she meets widower Mark Harris and his delightful son, Patrick, who have plans of their own for Regan.

Members Reviews:

Lightweight mystery

I was a bit disappointed in that I was expecting more of a hardcore female detective proving herself. Instead, it was more romance with a lightweight mystery. It was an enjoyable quick read/ listen, just expecting more. I did have my interest piqued for the next installment.

Romantic Mystery

If you are into reading romance with a bit of mystery mixed in this may be your book. As I don't enjoy reading about romantic relationships I was disappointed in this book. It was probably well written but just not my style.

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Title: Requiem

Subtitle: The Penny Dreadfuls, Book 1

Author: Skye Knizley

Narrator: Julie Hoverson

Format: Unabridged

Length: 5 hrs and 28 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-08-16

Publisher: CHBB Publishing

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 10 votes

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

London, 18--

A bizarre and vicious rash of murders has wrapped the city in the cold grip of fear and a curfew is in place to protect young women from the clutches of an unknown madman.

Chastity MacLeod, a young investigator for the secretive Order of St. Raphael, is assigned the case. With only a woman's severed head and a handful of macabre clues, Chastity must use all of her experience and training to find a killer that leaves no trace, no weapon, and no blood.

Beneath gathering storm clouds, rumbling thunder, and vicious lightning, Chastity and her new companion, Inspector Price, must confront an evil thought long dead, or lose their souls trying.

Members Reviews:

An interesting mix of characters

What made the experience of listening to Requiem the most enjoyable?

I love listening to Julie Hoverson. She brings the characters to life. She handles the mix of English, Scottish, and Western USA accents very well.

Which scene was your favorite?

I think the final confrontation was the best scene. Next to that was the carriage ride across the Thames.

Great listen

The narrator did an excellent job on an already great book. Well worth reading and/or listening to!

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Title: Satan's Lullaby

Subtitle: A Medieval Mystery

Author: Priscilla Royal

Narrator: Wanda McCaddon

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 3 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-07-16

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 6 votes

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

It is the autumn of 1278. The harvest is in. The air is crisp. Dusty summer breathes a last sigh before the dark seasons arrive.

For Prioress Eleanor, dark times arrive early in Norfolk. The head of her order, Abbess Isabeau, has sent Father Etienne Davoir from their headquarters in France to inspect all aspects of Tyndal Priory, from its morals to its roofs. Surely the abbess would not have chosen her own brother for this rare and thorough investigation unless the cause was serious and she had reason to fear intervention from Rome. Prioress Eleanor knows something is terribly amiss.

The situation turns calamitous when Davoir's sick clerk dies from a potion sent by Sister Anne, Tyndal's subinfirmarian. Is Sister Anne guilty of simple incompetence - or murder? Or, Davoir asks, did Prioress Eleanor order the death to frighten him away before he discovered the truth behind accusations that she is unfit for her position?

When Davoir himself is threatened, the priest roars for justice. Even expectant father Crowner Ralf, the local representative of the king's justice, has lost all objectivity. The most likely suspects are Anne, the woman Ralf once loved; the prioress he respects; and the Tyndal monk, Thomas, who is his closest friend. Who among the French and English assembled at Tyndal has succumbed to Satan's lullaby?

Members Reviews:

11th in the series...

Priscilla Royal's new mystery, "Satan's Lullaby: A Medieval Mystery" is the 11th book in her Medieval Mystery series. I've read all the series books over the years and this latest is an excellent return to Prioress Eleanor, Brother Thomas, and the others - both religious and secular - at Tyndal Priory in Norfolk. Eleanor is the leader of the Priory, which supports both male and female religious. It is one of the few houses where a woman is the leader of the order.

"Satan's Lullaby" does not really have much of a plot. The order is being "visited" by Father Etienne Davoir, who is the brother of Abbess Isabeau, of the Fondevraud Abbey in France, which is the "mother" house of Tyndal Priory. He's come with some aides to check out the finances and structural strength of the Priory, along with the rumor of impropriety between two members of the clergy, One of his clerks - with whom Father Etienne has a close relationship - is found dead during the visit. Etienne suspects the young man has been poisoned and points out Sister Anne, the chapter's sub-infirmarian who is a whiz with natural medicines, as the probable killer. Anne is tossed into confinement, not allowed to practice her healing ways. There are also some odd characters skulking around the grounds and, as usual, some people are not who they seem to be.

Father Etienne is a blustering bully, Prioress Eleanor is diplomatic, Crowner Ralf is investigative, Gytha is pregnant, and Brother Thomas is still a hunk. Other reoccurring characters are included and as with any good series, the reader is brought up-to-date with the lives of these characters. The story is brought to an end in somewhat desultory fashion - remember, you're probably not reading it for the plot. But Priscilla Royal is a whiz at creating both interesting characters and interesting settings.

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Title: The North Water

Author: Ian McGuire

Narrator: John Keating

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-02-16

Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 18 votes

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

A 19th-century whaling ship sets sail for the Arctic with a killer aboard in this dark, sharp, and highly original tale that grips like a thriller.

Behold the man: Stinking, drunk, brutal and bloodthirsty, Henry Drax is a harpooner on the Volunteer, a Yorkshire whaling ship bound for the hunting waters of the Arctic Circle. Also aboard is Patrick Sumner, an ex-army surgeon with a shattered reputation, no money, and no better option than to embark as ship's medic on this ill-fated voyage.

In India during the Siege of Delhi, Sumner thought he had experienced the depths to which a man can stoop and imagined he'd find respite on the Volunteer, but now, trapped in the wooden belly of the ship with Drax, he encounters pure evil and is forced to act. As the true purposes of the expedition become clear, the confrontation between the two men plays out in the freezing darkness of an Arctic winter.

Critic Reviews:

"Fast-paced, gripping. A tour de force of narrative tension and a masterful reconstruction of a lost world." (Hilary Mantel)

"Utterly convincing and compelling, remorselessly vivid and insidiously witty. A startling achievement." (Martin Amis)

Members Reviews:

gripping story. rivetingly told and written

Loved it. Couldn't turn it off. the narrator is fantastic and it is beautifully viscerally engaging

Good writing, believable characters and plot

Ian McGuire is a good writer. The story clips along, the characters are believable and the plot plausible. Enjoyed it.

Fast paced, rated 18+

Great writing, great performance, fast paced and graphic. Some chapters not for the faint hearted! Totally sucked me in.

needlessly horrific

A macho wet dream that didn't need to be written. It starts with the rape of a young child and goes downhill from there.

A glorious and disturbing assault on the senses

This is a brutal but magnificent tale set on a whaling ship in the 1850's and telling the tale of Patrick Sumner, an Irish surgeon with a dubious past, who plans to spend his voyage reading Homer and feeding his laudanum habit. His plans quickly unravel when a cabin boy is raped and murdered during the voyage. Sumner is not prepared to allow the wrong man hang for the crime and thus finds himself pitched against the harpoon man Henry Drax who must be by far the most honest and unrelentingly evil depiction of a psychopath ever described in fiction.

This book however, is not merely a thriller but is something that completely engulfs your senses. Not only do you see and hear the characters but you are also able to smell and taste the foul and corrupt stenches that emit from the wholesale butchery of animals and from the men themselves. It depicts the overwhelming desire to survive, where even a broken barrel will be reconstructed, rather than squandered, but also the despair of men who begin to realise there is no longer any hope. The hero of this story is not a brooding macho character but is nonetheless somebody who thrills you with the sheer tenacity of his spirit and the humanity of his actions.

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Title: A Grave Concern

Subtitle: The Twenty Second Chronicle of Matthew Bartholomew

Author: Susanna Gregory

Narrator: David Thorpe

Format: Unabridged

Length: 15 hrs and 35 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-02-16

Publisher: Hachette Audio UK

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 25 votes

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

Identifying the murderer of the Chancellor of the university is not the only challenge facing physician Matthew Bartholomew. Many of his patients have been made worse by the ministrations of a 'surgeon' recently arrived from Nottingham, his sister is being rooked by the mason she has commissioned to build her husband's tomb and his friend, Brother Michael, has been offered a bishopric which will cause him to leave Cambridge.

Brother Michael, keen to leave the university in good order, is determined that the new Chancellor will be a man of his choosing. The number of contenders putting themselves forward for election threatens to get out of control, then more deaths in mysterious circumstances make it appear that someone is taking extreme measures to manipulate the competition.

With passions running high and a bold killer at large, both Bartholomew and Brother Michael fear the very future of the university is at stake.

Members Reviews:

Excellent series, looking for more in audio

What made the experience of listening to A Grave Concern the most enjoyable?

Susanna Gregory has developed an excellent series, maintaining certain enjoyable and evolving characters throughout the series while always introducing new people, new history to the story.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Matthew, the complexity of his character grows.

Would you listen to another book narrated by David Thorpe?

Not sure; there was rather a lot of what seemed like over-dramatization - as much as I loved the story, I was tempted to fast forward through some of the more emotional scenes.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Greed. politics, and scheming... a historical curriculum.

Any additional comments?

I do hope audiobooks of the earlier books in this series are done, especially if they are narrated by Andrew Wincott.

Poor reading

Excellent story brilliant research spoils by very disjointed reading with confusing voices all rather similar spoils flow of story trying to differentiate between them.

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Title: Longhorn Trail

Author: Lauran Paine

Narrator: Jeff Harding

Format: Unabridged

Length: 5 hrs and 48 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-01-16

Publisher: Isis Publishing Ltd

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

This Western duo sees a rancher accused of the murder of a woman he believes is still alive and a trail drive made dangerous by the threat of Comancheros.

Members Reviews:

a review of a book is personal

books, like music are open to each person's taste and I feel should not be reviewed. It's art in written form - what I like, someone else will not.

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Title: Covenant with Hell

Subtitle: A Medieval Mystery, Book 10

Author: Priscilla Royal

Narrator: Wanda McCaddon

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 2 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-26-16

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 7 votes

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

In the spring of 1277, Prioress Eleanor goes on a pilgrimage to a famous East Anglian shrine. There are rumors that King Edward may also visit the shrine soon to seek God's blessing for his invasion of Wales. Lurking in this sacred place, however, is an assassin hoping to murder a king.

Soon after Prioress Eleanor and Brother Thomas arrive, a nun falls to her death from the priory bell tower. Brother Thomas finds the body, and the pair quickly grasp that this nun's death was not an accident. The circumstances point to murder, but this slaying is further tainted with treason. Among the pilgrims, merchants, and religious, too many betray an interest in this death - including a canny street child. At least one of them is most certainly a killer.

Can Prioress Eleanor and Brother Thomas succeed in exposing the assassin, or will they also fall victim to the one who has made a covenant with hell?

Members Reviews:

... in this series were a little bit of a disappointment to me

SPOILER ALERT the last couple books in this series were a little bit of a disappointment to me, not by how they were written or their plots, which were all very good. What bothered me was it seemed as if Brother Thomas's journey to acceptance of his sexual orientation was being abandoned or diverted. I'm happy to say that is definitely not the case in "Covenant With Hell." I won't go into detail, but something does "happen" when he meets another man who finds him very attractive and Thomas discovers that he feels something for the other man, but is still not totally sure about it, and of course their time together is way too short. Will they meet again? Possibly not, but I feel it's not impossible.

The other major milestone for Thomas is that he finally realizes that he is "over" his former best friend, lover, and betrayer. There are still numerous obstacles in his way, but it really seems to me as if the gates have opened for Thomas to finally discover who and what he is.

Satisfying read

It's not easy to sustain the quality of writing over an extended series of books. Fortunately for readers Ms Royal has developed the ability to keep us interested. Digression: I met her once at Historical Novel Society conference in San Diego and misread her name a 'Princess Royal.' I later learned my mistake, but I like my version better.

The complex relationship between Brother Thomas, a gay monk, and his affectionate Prioress Eleanor is skillfully furthered in each book. Founded on mutual respect, their connection with each other grows over time.

I don't read mysteries for the puzzle, so I don't pay much attention to who is killed and who does the killing, so I don't remember much about the plot. It's the characters, even the minor ones, that keep bringing me back to the series. On to #11, with #12 waiting in the wings.

Not enough atmosphere, still good read

I fell in love with this series. It stepped right into the shoes of the late author Margaret Frazer for me. This book did seem to be an excellent story line, great ideas and put well, however, and there was a however, it did not seem to set the sense of place and time that previous novels did so well.

A lot of the plot took place in conversation, either between characters or in their own minds.