Get the Most Popular Audiobooks in Mysteries & Thrillers, Historical

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Title: The Shogun's Daughter

Subtitle: A Novel of Feudal Japan

Author: Laura Joh Rowland

Narrator: Bernadette Dunne

Format: Unabridged

Length: 12 hrs and 48 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-17-13

Publisher: Dreamscape Media, LLC

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 29 votes

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

Japan, 1704. In an elegant mansion a young woman named Tsuruhime lies on her deathbed. The death of the Shogun's daughter has immediate consequences on his regime. Faced with his own mortality and beset by troubles, he names as his heir Yoshisato, the seventeen-year-old son he only recently discovered was his. Until five months ago, Yoshisato was raised as the illegitimate son of Yanagisawa, the shogun's favorite advisor. Yanagisawa is also the longtime enemy of Sano Ichiro. When Sano learns that Tsuruhime's death may have been a murder, he sets off on a dangerous investigation as he struggles to keep his pregnant wife and his son safe. Instead, he and his family become the accused. And this time, they may not survive the day.

Members Reviews:

Not "Samari Fighting" book; Story of Man & Family

Where does The Shogun's Daughter rank among all the audiobooks youve listened to so far?

Story centers on one man's struggle to maintain his personal sense of duty and honor, in the midst of a struggle with those that would have him killed, for their own gain in power. His family's involvement is supportive in the general lay of the plot. There are some things introduced to are not solved, which means there should be an additional book coming, which I would read. :)

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Title: The Fyre Mirror

Author: Karen Harper

Narrator: Katherine Kellgren

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 41 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-11-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 17 votes

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

Smitten with spring fever, Elizabeth Tudor escapes London for fantastical Nonsuch Palace in the sweet Surrey countryside. There she hopes to relax and pose for the official royal portrait for which she is holding a competition. But one of her artists is burned to death, and portraits of the queen are going up in flames.

When she hears that her rival, the dangerous Mary, Queen of Scots, has been peering in mirrors and announcing, "I see the next queen of England!" Elizabeth summons her Privy Plot Council. Has the arsonist been sent by foreign foes or is it someone in her own court? Or is the "running boy" apparition really a ghost out to avenge a terrible past tragedy caused by the Tudors?

Time is running out, because the enemy who stalks the queen means to destroy not only her portraits and artists, but her very life.

Members Reviews:

A different side of Elizabeth I

Karen Harper's Queen Elizabeth series are a rich feast for the senses. Harper has an excellent grasp of the times and her writing is rich in period detail--everything from Elizabethean fashion to the cuisine of the day comes alive under the influence of her pen. Historical fiction doesn't get much more pleasurable than this.

The seventh book in the series finds Elizabeth attempting to hunt down a murdered whose weapon of choice is the mirror. It's an intriguing and innovative premise but that is characteristic of this series. Harper deftly weaves together history and fiction to create an antagonist who has a very interesting motive for murder. The twists and turns that the queen must take to finally determine the identity of the murderer are interesting and the final confrontation is spectacular. The very imagery of it leaps off the page.

Though Elizabeth I is a spectacular and fascinating subject in her own right, in Harper's hands she truly comes alive. Harper's queen is passionate and mercurial but also mindful of those who serve her well. It is this characterization of one of the most dynamic figures in history that is the real strength of Harper's writing. My only complaint about this book--and the only thing that kept me from giving it five stars--is that Elizabeth is a bit too prone to portentious speeches, which must end every chapter or chapter segment. This rang too falsely at times for me and took me out of the story a bit.

Along with the main mystery is an engrossing subplot about Gil Sharpe, a recurring character in the novels. His travels in Italy and his discoveries of Italian painting techniques make for a fascinating read. He is also a wonderful character, displaying yet again the aptitude that Harper has for creating believeable and interesting characters. Harper could probably get by solely by focusing on Elizabeth but she does her readers a great service by surrounding the queen with a cast of vibrant characters.

Before Sherlock Holmes there wasQueen Elizabeth I...

Love these yarns because historically they include real events and persons, but adds another dimension with the fictional activities of solving murders around the Royal household and environs. The real and fictional characters are well-written and it's a fun read.

mirrors and fire!

What a wonderful read. I am a great fan of Karen Harper and hope she writes more on Elizabeth the Sluth. Her detail of life, clothes and habits of the time are fascinating.

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Title: Prince of Legend

Subtitle: The Crusades Trilogy, Book 3

Author: Jack Ludlow

Narrator: Jonathan Keeble

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 37 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-02-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 52 votes

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

They were men born to fight. If God willed that Antioch was the place where they gave up life, so be it. Thanks to the stratagems of Bohemund de Hauteville, leader of the Apulian Normans, the Crusade has taken the city of Antioch, and just in time. Once the besiegers, Bohemund and his men are about to become the besieged - a huge Turkish-led army, commanded by the fearsome General Kerbogha, is fast approaching. Provisions are needed to support not only the army, but also thousands of camp followers and pilgrims. But the surrounding countryside is near barren and the storerooms of Antioch much depleted.

It soon becomes obvious that the Crusaders cannot hold out for long without falling prey to starvation. And for Bohemund and his nephew Tancred there is another difficulty: The dissent between the Crusade leaders has broken out into the open, with the wealthy Provencal magnate Raymond of Toulouse stirring up conflict. If the Christian host is fighting on two fronts, so is Bohemund himself. With the enemy Turks at his front and his warring peers at his back, can he gain the might city of Antioch once and for all? Only one of the greatest battles of the age will decide.

Members Reviews:

Through the eyes of a warriot

This value of this book and the series cenerted upon history'' s best knights, Tancred the Great, Godfrey de Boulion, and Bohemund de Hauteville, first set before me in The Sword and the Cross is in thr detailed account of the first and most successful Crusade, so well remembered among our present allies that we were in effect forbidden to use the very word in our somewhat mishandled victories in Iraq., through the eyes, faith, greed and bravery of some of the best knights of the time. Thr discussion of the training from boyhood in an instution closely paralleling the "agoge' which Spartan youth were obliged to enter at age twelve and exit upon majority a a warrior to carry on his line. The similarities were uncanny and produced warriors that held considerable sway from Normandy, as descendants of Northmen to whom the Frankish king was obliged to cede to them the province named for them. The extent of their influence and power throughout Europe I'd sometimes if not most often forgotten by our Teachers and Professors through apparently overshadowing rrepute given the 'le batard" of Normandy, who could take no part in the first Crusade, William the Conqueror, whose brother was nevertheless in the Holy Land during this first and most effective Crusade.

Great book on the First Crusade

What did you love best about Prince of Legend?

I liked how the author told the story of the First Crusade through the eyes of the men you led the crusade.

What did you like best about this story?

I liked the battle scenes. It is fascinating how the men were able to bear such hardships and accomplish so much.

Which character as performed by Jonathan Keeble was your favorite?

The Count of Taranto was my favorite.

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Title: Rubicon

Subtitle: A Novel of Ancient Rome

Author: Steven Saylor

Narrator: Ralph Cosham

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 48 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-30-13

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 41 votes

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

As Caesar marches on Rome and panic erupts in the city, Gordianus the Finder discovers, in his own home, the body of Pompey's favorite cousin. Before fleeing the city, Pompey exacts a terrible bargain from the finder of secrets: to unearth the killer or sacrifice his own son-in-law to service in Pompeys legions - and certain death. Amid the city's sordid underbelly, Gordianus learns that the murdered man was a dangerous spy. Now, as he follows a trail of intrigue, betrayal, and ferocious battles on land and sea, the Finder is caught between the chaos of war and the terrible truth he must finally reveal.

Rubicon, set in early days of the Roman Civil War, is a pivotal novel in Saylor's best-selling and critically acclaimed series of novels set in late republican Rome.

Members Reviews:

May You Live in Interesting Times

The first five novels in Stephen Saylors Roma Sub Rosa saga span almost 30 years, from when Gordianus the Finder met Cicero the Advocate (Roman Blood, set in 80 BC) to the murder of Clodius (Murder on the Appian Way, 52 BC). Gordianus rubbed shoulders with historical bigshots while he solved crimes, got married, acquired children, and watched as the Roman republic crumbled. In "Rubicon," the sixth book of the series, he (and we) reach the era of outright civil war--early 49 BC, as Julius Caesar and his legions cross the Rubicon in defiance of the Roman senate and its leader, Pompey Magnus (the great, a title Pompey apparently bestowed on himself).

Rubicon opens with Pompeys nephew found murdered in the atrium of Gordianus own home. Pompey is going to be mightily pissed, moans Gordianus, now 60 and retired. He has tried to avoid taking sides in the civil war, despite the fact that his son Meto is Caesars close adviser and literary amanuensis. Gordianus the Finder has given way to Gordianus the Father (and grandfather), paterfamilias of a unique family that he loves deeply and is desperate to protect. But of course the startling murder drags him into the thick of things. Pompey, about to lead his own army against Caesar, takes Gordianus son-in-law hostage and will return him only when Gordianus finds the killer.

Especially considering that its one of the shorter entries in the series, the plot of Rubicon is complex. There are secret love affairs and coded messages and disguises and blackmail and a climactic battle. The ending reveals the killer but opens up a whole new mystery that will play out over the next few books.

The Roman Republic-into-Empire era epitomizes the curse may you live in interesting times. Saylors books portray the uncertainty, violence, and chaos and its effects on ordinary citizens with verve and scholarship. The parallel but somewhat less earnest SPQR books by John Maddox Roberts feature the same timeframe and events, starring a young aristocrat who is prone to stumble across murders. Both series are treats for the classical history lover.

In terms of audiobooks, its unfortunate that the early Gordianus novels were *extremely* poorly narrated. Ralph Cosham takes over the narration for Rubicon and later books, and I enjoy him (once I get over wondering how Inspector Armand Gamache--a trademark Cosham character--got from modern Quebec to ancient Rome). The SPQR books are narrated by Simon Vance and John Lee, both great old hands at this type of material.

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Title: Lord Fool to the Rescue

Author: L.L. Muir

Narrator: Stevie Zimmerman

Format: Unabridged

Length: 2 hrs and 26 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-10-13

Publisher: Lesli Muir Lytle

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 29 votes

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

She has an excellent escape planned...

Lady Tempest MacIntyre has been offered, by her stepfather, as an item up for auction! But she has an excellent escape planned... if she can keep from tripping over the good intentions of the Duke of Stromburg, sometimes referred to as Lord Fool.

Leland Wescott, Duke of Stromburg, is no hero. But he can't help but warn an innocent young woman that she is about to fall victim to her step-father's greed. Luckily, she claims to have a plan to rescue herself. He only prays it is a damned good plan...

Lord Fool to the Rescue has at least one hero, a heroine, and an assortment of characters who may or may not be villains. The fun is in the discovery.

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Title: The Midwife's Tale

Subtitle: A Mystery

Author: Sam Thomas

Narrator: Leila Birch

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 21 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-29-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 82 votes

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

In the tradition of Arianna Franklin and C. J. Sansom comes Samuel Thomass remarkable debut, The Midwifes Tale.

It is 1644, and Parliaments armies have risen against the King and laid siege to the city of York. Even as the city suffers at the rebels hands, midwife Bridget Hodgson becomes embroiled in a different sort of rebellion. One of Bridgets friends, Esther Cooper, has been convicted of murdering her husband and sentenced to be burnt alive. Convinced that her friend is innocent, Bridget sets out to find the real killer.

Bridget joins forces with Martha Hawkins, a servant whos far more skilled with a knife than any respectable woman ought to be. To save Esther from the stake, they must dodge rebel artillery, confront a murderous figure from Marthas past, and capture a brutal killer who will stop at nothing to cover his tracks. The investigation takes Bridget and Martha from the homes of the citys most powerful families to the alleyways of its poorest neighborhoods. As they delve into the life of Esthers murdered husband, they discover that his ostentatious Puritanism hid a deeply sinister secret life, and that far too often tyranny and treason go hand in hand.

Members Reviews:

Excellent First Novel!

Would you consider the audio edition of The Midwife's Tale to be better than the print version?

I didn't read the print version.

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

The person)s) who committed the murders was not even suspected until near the end. Kept me guessing.

What does Leila Birch bring to the story that you wouldnt experience if you just read the book?

The different voices of characters, their moods and feelings.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I had great sympathy with the two main women in the story.

Any additional comments?

Please make the next books by Sam Thomas available in audio as soon as they appear!

Only so so

The narrator of this book was so annoying I almost stopped listening. I'm not sure if my rating would have been higher if I had read the book. The main character's dialogue was so slow I wondered if there was an issue with the speed. But other characters were okay, at least from a speed standpoint. Most of the male characters who were or could be one of the bad guys sounded like old crones. When they were annoyed, they even sounded like the Wicked Witch of the West. The sitcom Italian reading of one character, with sing songy sentences and lots of words ending in "a," was laughable at times.

Bridget Hodgson, the Midwife in the title, is based on an actual person. I understand it is normal in a novel to take liberties with actual happenings in and around a character's life. I felt, however, one of the liberties the author took with Bridget's life was unacceptable. Throughout the book Bridget mourns the loss of her only two children. She doesn't mourn the death of her second husband and there were no surviving children from their brief marriage. According to the author's website, however, Bridget actually had six children with her second husband that survived to the point she named them in her will.

Regarding the story, I didn't like the Bridget. She was flat and uninteresting. Her obsession with forcing unmarried pregnant women to name the father of their bastard children became a problem for me.

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Title: The Flying Scotsman

Subtitle: A Mycroft Holmes Novel, Book 3

Author: Quinn Fawcett

Narrator: Alan Stanford

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 34 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-24-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 26 votes

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

To keep the peace after an attempted assassination, a prince must be smuggled out of England aboard the Flying Scotsman, the fastest train between London and Edinburgh. Disguised as journalists, Mycroft and Patterson Guthrie, guard the prince. Also aboard is Pauline Gatspy. Is she on Mycroft's side? Or is the Prince her latest target?

Members Reviews:

A good story, let down by the American vocabulary.

Located in the United Kingdom, and told in the first person by a Scottish character, this thriller is badly let down by the repeated use of American vocables; this especially jarring when it comes to railway terminology:

Just for a sample, in Britain; trains have drivers and guards, not engineers and conductors, while engines have tenders and not colliers.

In short, the book needs being translated into English.

Painfully bad

This seems to be the fourth in a series about someone called Mycroft Holmes (but having no real relation to the character created by Conan Doyle) as "edited" by Quinn Fawcett and as told by Mycroft's colorless assistant Guthrie. It is the only book in the series I have read and will certainly forevermore remain the one and only. Had I the inductive skills of Conan Doyle's Sherlock and Mycroft, I would have put the book back on the bookstore shelves as soon as I noticed that all the reviewers' blurbs on the flyleaf and back cover are from publications of the Western East Podunk Grain and Corn Bulletin sort.

Well, what we have is an almost completely plotless 320 pages, in which the author carefully describes every scrap of food and sip of liquid that goes into Mycoft's mouth, but never finds time to create characters, situations or developments that would be of any interest to the long-suffering reader. The books most similar to this one that I have seen are the Irene Adler novels of Carol Nelson Douglas, in which there are 50 pages of descriptions of Irene's outfits for every paragraph in which Irene wonders idly who killed the little Paris seamstress about 200 pages back, and why.

Mycroft himself seems to have no real job, and spends his time eating, fretting in a distant, avuncular way, and sending and receiving telegrams which never amount to anything. In this particular novel, someone of questionable judgement has chosen Mycroft to organize getting the friendly Scandinavian Prince Oscar safely out of England, before an international incident is created by having him assassinated on English soil. The novel takes place in a completely imaginary and relentlessly superficial world, connected in no way to the sociopolitical realities of 1890. Instead, we have two gigantic, global and preposterously efficient forces for evil, the Brotherhood and the Golden Lodge. Unlike vaguely similar organizations in our real world, whose members have trouble finding their shoes, pistols and computers in the morning, the organizations Mycroft faces here are always 30 steps ahead of him, even when he has only just decided what to do. Thus he and his two aides, Guthrie and Tyers, are always reacting, never acting. Not that much happens that they need to react to, as there is virtually no action.

I got the feeling that the book is a first draft, and that the author never had time to go back and decide what to do with certain sequences.

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Title: The Scottish Ploy

Subtitle: A Mycroft Holmes Novel, Book 4

Author: Quinn Fawcett

Narrator: Alan Stanford

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 50 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-21-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 27 votes

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

Featuring the most intriguing sleuth to come along since Sherlock Holmes, and a supporting cast whose loyalty and intelligence are matched only by their humor and quick reaction times, the Mycroft Holmes novels appeal to new readers and to fans of all things Holmesian.

In The Scottish Ploy, seemingly unconnected events pull Mycroft in several directions at once. To prevent the leaders of an anarchist group from reaching England's shores, Mycroft must, much to his dismay, become part of the intended reconciliation of a husband and wife. To do so he has spy networks to monitor and men of influence to, well, influence.

Then there are the minor puzzles: Why is a gentleman who claims to be Turkish seeking his supposedly kidnapped brother in London? Why does an eminent phrenologist urgently want Mycroft's opinion on the inhabitants of his asylum? Who has been following Mycroft and his estimable secretary, the amiable Paterson Guthrie, through foggy streets? What motivated the attempted assassination of an Admiralty courier on Mycroft's own doorstep? When the lovely Penelope Gatspy saves Guthrie's life, is it because of the attraction between them, or on orders of the mysterious "lodge" she serves?

But, most important to Mycroft - what is behind the kidnapping of his old friend, the actor Edmund Sutton, who was in the midst of a triumphant run as Macbeth?

Members Reviews:

Great story, hopefully not the last

Another great story in the series. There are still unsolved puzzles to ask for more.

The characters the author invented are well developed. I do give full marks although this story as well as the 3rd in the series made me wonder if there is at least one story that hasn't been published for events were mentioned I can't recollect from former books.

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Title: The Fala Factor

Author: Stuart M. Kaminsky

Narrator: Jim Meskimen

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 18 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-09-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 13 votes

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

Hollywood PI Toby Peters looks for a kidnapped dog - with political connections

If he is surprised to find Eleanor Roosevelt waiting for him in his dingy little office, Toby Peters does not show it. Although this is his first time working for the First Lady of the United States, years of private investigations for the Hollywood elite have left him unfazed by a famous face. The First Lady comes straight to the point. Six months after Pearl Harbor, the only thing that keeps her husband from buckling under the pressures of the presidency is his dog, a sprightly black terrier named Fala. As America gears up for war, Mrs. Roosevelt has a secret domestic problem: She fears that Fala has been kidnapped and replaced by an imposter.

As he investigates the dogs whereabouts, Toby learns that the dog is the linchpin in a fiendish plot against the White House. He must recover the real Fala quickly, for the fate of the free world rests in the terriers paws.

Contact me for any questions: [email protected]

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Title: The Tinner's Corpse

Author: Bernard Knight

Narrator: Paul Matthews

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-07-13

Publisher: Whole Story Audiobooks

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 27 votes

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

Crowner John is summoned to investigate the murder of a tin miner. The victim worked for Devon's most powerful and successful mine owner, Walter Knapman. There seems, to be only one motive - to sabotage Walter's business. But the tinners have their own laws, and they are none too pleased at Crowner John's interference. How on earth can Crowner John sort all this out when his own life is in turmoil?

Members Reviews:

The Cranky Crowner

So refreshing to meet an unapologetically flawed character. Crowner John, the man in black, cheats on his wife and his mistress but defends the right of the accused criminal to fair treatment. He shouts, he stomps, he hates his in-laws. You've got to love it. I've been reading a lot of historical mysteries and this may be my new favorite. The author easily weaves medieval history, culture and vocabulary into the story. The settings are gritty and real. I gave it a 4 instead of a 5 only because I didn't like the ending; I felt the author took the easy way out. That said, I will be visiting Crowner John again soon.

mediocre

What disappointed you about The Tinner's Corpse?

same old plot

Would you ever listen to anything by Bernard Knight again?

might do , might not

How did the narrator detract from the book?

did the best of a bad job

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

disappointment

Any additional comments?

like most of the other crowner john books but not this one

The Tinner's Corpse

I like medieval mysteries and this was horoughly enjoyable, as are all Bernard Knight's Crowner John books.