10% off all books and free delivery over £50

Buy from our bookstore and 25% of the cover price will be given to a school of your choice to buy more books. *15% of eBooks.

Best Mystery and Thriller Audiobooks

Chosen and ranked by LoveReading · Updated 19 September 2026

Our editorial panel includes Julia Eccleshare MBE, Maxim Jakubowski and more

The short answer

The one to start with: Dead Beat — read by James Marsters, 15 hrs 8 mins
The longest listen here: A Column of Fire: The Groundbreaking Historical Novel from the No. 1 Bestseller — 30 hrs 19 mins
Typical length: About 12 hrs 11 mins across the 48 on this page
Most-recorded narrator: Susan Ericksen — 57 well-rated mystery, thriller & horror titles

We hold 72,155 mystery, thriller & horror audiobooks. 1,576 of them carry at least 20 listener ratings, and these are the 48 rated highest — 48 of them with the narrator named, and the running time on every one.

Dead Beat Audiobook

Jim Butcher (Author), James Marsters (Narrator)

Audiobook · 15 hrs 8 mins

Changes Audiobook

Jim Butcher (Author), James Marsters (Narrator)

Audiobook · 15 hrs 30 mins

Holiday in Death Audiobook

Holiday in Death

J. D. Robb (Author), Susan Ericksen (Narrator)

Audiobook · 9 hrs 49 mins

Divided in Death Audiobook

Divided in Death

J. D. Robb (Author), Susan Ericksen (Narrator)

Audiobook · 12 hrs 21 mins

Devoted in Death Audiobook

Devoted in Death

J. D. Robb (Author), Susan Ericksen (Narrator)

Audiobook · 12 hrs 16 mins

The Impossible Fortune: The new novel in the Sunday Times bestselling murder mystery series Audiobook

The Impossible Fortune: The new novel in the Sunday Times bestselling murder mystery series

Richard Osman (Author), Fiona Shaw (Narrator)

Audiobook · 10 hrs 29 mins

Edge of Honor: A Thriller Audiobook

Edge of Honor: A Thriller

Brad Thor (Author), Thomas Weichler (Narrator)

Audiobook · 10 hrs 24 mins

Crusader One Audiobook

Brian Andrews, Jeffrey Wilson (Author), Ray Porter (Narrator)

Audiobook · 12 hrs 11 mins

The Majors Audiobook

W.E.B. Griffin (Author), Eric G. Dove (Narrator)

Audiobook · 11 hrs 42 mins

The Last Kingdom Audiobook

The Last Kingdom

Bernard Cornwell (Author), Jonathan Keeble (Narrator)

Audiobook · 13 hrs 28 mins

Night Watch: (Discworld Novel 29): from the bestselling series that inspired BBC’s The Watch Audiobook

Night Watch: (Discworld Novel 29): from the bestselling series that inspired BBC’s The Watch

Terry Pratchett (Author), Tony Robinson (Narrator)

Audiobook · 3 hrs 52 mins

The Color of Death: A Novel Audiobook

The Color of Death: A Novel

Trey Gowdy, Christopher Greyson (Author), Toby Ricketts (Narrator)

Audiobook · 8 hrs 38 mins

Palm for Mrs. Pollifax Audiobook

Palm for Mrs. Pollifax

Dorothy Gilman (Author), Barbara Rosenblat (Narrator)

Audiobook · 7 hrs 8 mins

Close Combat Audiobook

W.E.B. Griffin (Author), Dick Hill (Narrator)

Audiobook · 15 hrs 25 mins

Big Jack Audiobook

J. D. Robb (Author), Susan Ericksen (Narrator)

Audiobook · 8 hrs 22 mins

Double Cross: The Explosive Inside Story of the Mobster Who Controlled America Audiobook

Double Cross: The Explosive Inside Story of the Mobster Who Controlled America

Sam Giancana, Chuck Giancana (Author), Joe Barrett (Narrator)

Audiobook · 13 hrs 44 mins

Eternity in Death Audiobook

Eternity in Death

J. D. Robb (Author), Susan Ericksen (Narrator)

Audiobook · 3 hrs 28 mins

Perfect Silence Audiobook

Perfect Silence

Helen Fields (Author), Robin Laing (Narrator)

Audiobook · 13 hrs 27 mins

He Shall Thunder in the Sky Audiobook

He Shall Thunder in the Sky

Elizabeth Peters (Author), Barbara Rosenblat (Narrator)

Audiobook · 17 hrs 14 mins

A Column of Fire: The Groundbreaking Historical Novel from the No. 1 Bestseller Audiobook

A Column of Fire: The Groundbreaking Historical Novel from the No. 1 Bestseller

Ken Follett (Author), John Lee (Narrator)

Audiobook · 30 hrs 19 mins

A Minute to Midnight: The Number One Bestseller Audiobook

A Minute to Midnight: The Number One Bestseller

David Baldacci (Author), Kyf Brewer, Brittany Pressley (Narrator)

Audiobook · 12 hrs 11 mins

Never Lie Audiobook

Freida McFadden (Author), Leslie Howard (Narrator)

Audiobook · 7 hrs 20 mins

The Alice Network: A Novel Audiobook

The Alice Network: A Novel

Kate Quinn (Author), Saskia Maarleveld (Narrator)

Audiobook · 15 hrs 7 mins

The Housemaid: An absolutely addictive psychological thriller with a jaw-dropping twist Audiobook

The Housemaid: An absolutely addictive psychological thriller with a jaw-dropping twist

Freida McFadden (Author), Lauryn Allman (Narrator)

Audiobook · 9 hrs 41 mins

The Girl Who Was Taken Audiobook

The Girl Who Was Taken

Charlie Donlea (Author), Nina Alvamar (Narrator)

Audiobook · 10 hrs 50 mins

The Whispering Room Audiobook

The Whispering Room

Dean Koontz (Author), Elisabeth Rodgers (Narrator)

Audiobook · 16 hrs 46 mins

The Wrong Daughter: The absolutely unputdownable psychological thriller with a jaw-dropping twist by Dandy Smith for 2026! Audiobook

The Wrong Daughter: The absolutely unputdownable psychological thriller with a jaw-dropping twist by Dandy Smith for 2026!

Dandy Smith (Author), Heather Long, Daphne Kouma (Narrator)

Audiobook · 12 hrs 48 mins

The Girl on the Train Audiobook

The Girl on the Train

Paula Hawkins (Author), India Fisher, Clare Corbett, Louise Brealey (Narrator)

Audiobook · 11 hrs 4 mins

The Killing Game (An Alexa Chase Suspense Thriller—Book 1) Audiobook

The Killing Game (An Alexa Chase Suspense Thriller—Book 1)

Kate Bold (Author), Justin Price (Narrator)

Audiobook · 6 hrs 33 mins

The Storyteller Audiobook

The Storyteller

Jodi Picoult (Author), Suzanne Toren, Fred Berman, Jennifer Ikeda, Edoardo Ballerini, Mozhan Marno (Narrator)

Audiobook · 18 hrs 16 mins

Watchers Audiobook

Dean Koontz (Author), René Wagner, Edoardo Ballerini (Narrator)

Audiobook · 17 hrs

Girl on a Train Audiobook

Girl on a Train

A.J. Waines (Author), Melissa Chambers (Narrator)

Audiobook · 9 hrs 1 min

The Black Echo Audiobook

Michael Connelly (Author), Dick Hill (Narrator)

Audiobook · 13 hrs 19 mins

Little Ghosts: A completely gripping psychological thriller with a shocking twist Audiobook

Little Ghosts: A completely gripping psychological thriller with a shocking twist

Gregg Dunnett (Author), Katie Villa (Narrator)

Audiobook · 11 hrs 55 mins

The Wife Upstairs Audiobook

The Wife Upstairs

Freida McFadden (Author), Angie Kane (Narrator)

Audiobook · 9 hrs 46 mins

The Thursday Murder Club: (The Thursday Murder Club 1) Audiobook

The Thursday Murder Club: (The Thursday Murder Club 1)

Richard Osman (Author), Lesley Manville, Marian Keyes, Richard Osman (Narrator)

Audiobook · 12 hrs 25 mins

American Assassin Audiobook

American Assassin

Vince Flynn (Author), George Guidall (Narrator)

Audiobook · 11 hrs 30 mins

Becoming Sherlock - The Red Circle Audiobook

Becoming Sherlock - The Red Circle

Anthony Horowitz, Sarah J. Naughton (Author), Alfred Enoch (Narrator)

Audiobook · 9 hrs 17 mins

Consent to Kill: A Thriller Audiobook

Consent to Kill: A Thriller

Vince Flynn (Author), George Guidall (Narrator)

Audiobook · 17 hrs 17 mins

The Crooked Staircase: A Jane Hawk Novel Audiobook

The Crooked Staircase: A Jane Hawk Novel

Dean Koontz (Author), Elisabeth Rodgers (Narrator)

Audiobook · 15 hrs 37 mins

The Housemaid's Secret: A totally gripping psychological thriller with a shocking twist Audiobook

The Housemaid's Secret: A totally gripping psychological thriller with a shocking twist

Freida McFadden (Author), Lauryn Allman (Narrator)

Audiobook · 9 hrs 44 mins

The Boy: A Novel Audiobook

The Boy: A Novel

Tami Hoag (Author), Hillary Huber (Narrator)

Audiobook · 17 hrs

Enemy of the State Audiobook

Enemy of the State

Vince Flynn, Kyle Mills (Author), Scott Brick (Narrator)

Audiobook · 11 hrs 34 mins

The Concrete Blonde Audiobook

The Concrete Blonde

Michael Connelly (Author), Dick Hill (Narrator)

Audiobook · 14 hrs

Harry Bosch Box Set Audiobook

Harry Bosch Box Set

Michael Connelly (Author), Len Cariou (Narrator)

Audiobook · 27 hrs 37 mins

Separation Of Power Audiobook

Separation Of Power

Vince Flynn (Author), Ken Kilban (Narrator)

Audiobook · 14 hrs

The Hound of the Baskervilles Audiobook

The Hound of the Baskervilles

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Author), Laurie Anne Walden (Narrator)

Audiobook · 5 hrs 54 mins

Impostor: An Alexander Gregory Thriller (The Alexander Gregory Thrillers Book 1): The Alexander Gregory Thrillers, Book 1 Audiobook

Impostor: An Alexander Gregory Thriller (The Alexander Gregory Thrillers Book 1): The Alexander Gregory Thrillers, Book 1

Lj Ross (Author), Hugh Dancy (Narrator)

Audiobook · 7 hrs 4 mins

The voices of Mystery, Thriller & Horror

The narrators with the most well-rated mystery, thriller & horror audiobooks in our catalogue. Every one has a page listing their work.

Narrow it down

Every corner of mystery, thriller & horror, with the full catalogue behind each one.

More audiobooks

How we chose these

No page of ours should call a book one of the best because one person gave it five stars. Every title here had to clear the same bar:

At least 20 listener ratings, then ranked by rating and then by how many people gave it.
Narrated by a person. Machine-narrated recordings are excluded — one synthetic voice alone is credited on 5,582 audiobooks in our catalogue.
In English. Around a third of the wider catalogue is recorded in another language and says so in its own title; those are not on this page.

Stock, prices and samples come from Audiobooks.com. Running times are theirs too, and we publish them only where the stored figure is credible.

LoveReading has been recommending books for two decades, with named experts behind the reviews. Members of the panel include:

Julia Eccleshare MBEAward-winning children’s literature expert and former Guardian Children’s Editor

Maxim JakubowskiCrime writer, editor and critic, and founder of London’s Murder One bookshop

Alison FloodBooks journalist and critic whose work has appeared in the Guardian, Observer and Sunday Times

Andrea ReeceChildren’s literature expert, editor and former children’s publisher

Joanne OwenAuthor, publishing expert, and LoveReading’s Literary Fiction Champion and YA Lead Reviewer

Liz RobinsonLoveReading reviewer since 2014 and former judge of the CWA Gold Dagger

Paul BlezardMulti-award-winning broadcaster, author and literary commentator

Julie VuongPublishing journalist, BookBrunch feature writer and Mslexia columnist

Lyndy CookeFormer Managing Director of Hay Festival, with more than 35 years in books and literature

Lois CudjoeBook critic, content creator and passionate cross-genre reader

Maureen StapletonWriter and journalist with international publishing experience

Joy CourtLeading children’s literature expert and former Chair of the CILIP Carnegie & Kate Greenaway Medals

Tricia AdamsFormer Director of the School Library Association and Carnegie & Kate Greenaway judging Chair

Victoria GoldmanAuthor, health journalist and editor with more than 25 years’ experience

Reader reviews on our book pages come from our 900-strong Reader Review Panel. More about our editorial experts.