Julia is a professional nerd who can be spotted in the wild lounging with books in the park in Brooklyn, NY. She has a BA in International Studies from the University of Chicago and an MA in Media Studies from Pratt Institute. She loves fandom, theater, cheese, and Edith Piaf. Find her at juliarittenberg.com.
Penguin Random House Audio, For readers of cozy murder mysteries
Vera Wong is back—and just as meddling as ever! In this follow-up to the hit Vera
Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers, USA Today bestselling author Jesse Q. Sutanto
serves up another feel-good mystery, brimming with charm and intrigue. Vera Wong's
Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man), narrated by Eunice Wong is now available
wherever audiobooks are sold!
Settling into a good mystery novel is a balm on the soul. There’s a reason the genre is so persistently popular: you generally know how things are going to end. From the inciting mystery to the red herrings and the final solve, the structure guides you through the story easily and keeps it exciting.
It’s even better when you find a writer whose style you like. Beloved mystery novelists often tend to have established characters you can follow from book to book. Miss Marple, Sherlock Holmes, and Nancy Drew are just a few of them. When you find a character or world you love, jumping into a great mystery series to listen to on audio is an excellent way to engage.
Audiobooks require a lot from their performers. Narrators balance the task of maintaining tension with not making the story seem overly stressful. The performer, who knows the ending, has to ensure that the revelations sound like they, too, are discovering them for the first time. Narrators may also sometimes emphasize the clues placed throughout the book that help you solve the case, without overly insisting on them. The magic of a talented writer, a compelling character, and a great narrator make for an amazing audio mystery, like some of the series rounded up here.
Contemporary Mysteries
Thursday Murder Club (Thursday Murder Club #1) by Richard Osman, narrated by Lesley Manville
Before the movie comes out, this is a great audio series to dive into. Elizabeth, Ron, Joyce, and Ibrahim live at Coopers Chase Retirement Village in Kent, where everything is extremely normal and boring. To liven up their golden years, they start a club where they go over cold case mysteries. But when there’s a real-live murder on their doorstep, the Thursday Murder Club gets caught up in solving real crimes. Legendary British actress Lesley Manville narrates the series, so you’ll definitely be entertained.
Dial A for Aunties (Aunties #1) by Jesse Q. Sutanto, narrated by Risa Me
A wedding is supposed to be a celebration, and a massive family wedding is super high-stakes. When Meddelin accidentally kills her blind date before the wedding, her aunties are in town and spring into action. But hiding a dead body with hundreds of snooping relatives is harder than it appears. The rest of the delightful series follows Meddy and her aunties as they work to keep the peace and avoid murders at family weddings.
How to Solve Your Own Murder (Castle Knoll #1) by Kristen Perrin, narrated by Alexandra Dowling and Jaye Jacobs (Pub date: 4/29/2025)
For her whole life, Frances Adams has been trying to solve her own murder. When it finally happens, she’s nowhere closer to solving the crime. Her great-nice Annie arrives at her estate in Castle Knoll to find Frances dead, and then quickly starts to dig into Frances’s archives of research on her enemies to solve Frances’ murder.
Unquiet Dead (Rachel Getty & Esa Khattak #1) by Ausma Zehanat Khan, narrated by Peter Ganim
The first of five books following detectives Rachel Getty and Esa Khattak, this book starts with an engagingly thorny mystery. They’re looking into the death of Christopher Drayton, a seemingly normal Canadian man. When they start to uncover the secrets of his background in the Bosnian War, signs point to the possibility of murder. The detectives have a great dynamic and the rest of the series keeps pace with intense mysteries and complex questions.
City Under One Roof (Cara Kennedy #1) by Iris Yamashita, narrated by Aspen Vincent, Shannon Tyo, and Anna Caputo
If you loved the spookiness of the setting of True Detective: Night Country, this is definitely your next listen. In the too-small town of Point Mettier, Alaska, the body of a teenager washes up on the beach. Cara Kennedy–who’s from the relatively big city of Anchorage–comes to investigate and quickly gets trapped in the small town with the secretive residents. The full cast still give the vibe of a small-town, claustrophobic mystery.
The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra (Baby Ganesh Agency Investigation #1) by Vaseem Khan, narrated by Sartaj Garewal
Despite his retirement after a heart attack, Inspector Ashwin Chopra gets two new mysteries to solve. A young man dies so he starts to investigate, and then his uncle sends him a baby elephant for unexplained reasons. The elephant becomes a co-investigator alongside Chopra and has a particular nose for clues in their neighborhood of Mumbai. Throughout the series, Chopra finds missing jewels, looks into a high-profile celebrity disappearance, and explores a murder on a train.
Historical Detectives
A Few Right Thinking Men (The Rowland Sinclar Mysteries #1) by Sulari Gentill, narrated by Katherine Littrell
When you find a good mystery series, having a large backlog of installments is a pleasant surprise. Gentill’s Rowland Sinclair mysteries have 10 books, and they start with a murder and a political conspiracy. Rowland Sinclair begins as a young, effete spendthrift, but he always finds himself in the midst of a mystery with fascinating characters.
Lavender House (Evander Mills #1) by Lev A.C. Rosen, narrated by Vikas Adam
When Evander Mills is hired to investigate the murder of Irene Lamontaine, he doesn’t expect what he finds. Despite queerness being a crime in 1952, Lavender House is full of out queer people. But to ensure the safety of the house, Mills has to find the killer and ensure they don’t continue to threaten the residents. In the rest of the series, Andy sets up a private detective agency to keep helping the disenfranchised.
A good mystery is a thrilling find. If you’re looking for more, you can add 2025 mysteries and thrillers to your TBR, and also look into historical mystery series.
English (US) · 