Featured Articles AudioFile Spotlight: Best Mystery and Suspense Audiobooks for 2022

AudioFile’s 2022 Best Mystery and Suspense selections are packed with thrilling, intense, and twisty audiobooks with incredible narrations. Discover the choices for the best in mystery listening below. For the full list of 2022 Best Audiobooks, visit AudioFile’s website.

THE BANGALORE DETECTIVES CLUB

by Harini Nagendra | Read by Soneela Nankani

AudioFile Earphones Award

Blackstone Audio | 9.25 hrs.

With an engaging South Indian accent and lively characterizations, Golden Voice narrator Soneela Nankani paints a vibrant listening experience. When a defenseless woman is implicated in a murder case, new bride Kaveri launches an investigation in 1920s colonial Bangalore.

REVIEW

BIRDS OF PREY: The Harlan Coben Challenge

by Kelley Armstrong, Ace Atkins, C.J. Box, Allison Brennan, S.A. Cosby, et al.| Read by Lisa Flanagan, Nicky Endres, Fred Berman, MacLeod Andrews, Justis Bolding, Cary Hite, Helen Laser, Amanda Dolan, Dan Bittner, Julia Motyka, Eunice Wong

AudioFile Earphones Award

Audible, Inc. | 9 hrs.

Harlan Coben challenged fellow authors to produce short audio-original thrillers inspired by birds of prey, and the result is a gripping and varied collection of expertly narrated mini-thrillers.

REVIEW

THE BULLET THAT MISSED: Thursday Murder Club, Book 3

by Richard Osman | Read by Fiona Shaw, Richard Osman, Steph McGovern (Interview)

AudioFile Earphones Award

Penguin Audio | 11.25 hrs.

The great Fiona Shaw’s performance of this third outing for the Thursday Murder Club is a multilayered joy. Her technique is impeccable as she delivers the deliciously funny dialogue of Osman’s elderly characters. A comic marvel.

REVIEW

THE MAID

by Nita Prose | Read by Lauren Ambrose

AudioFile Earphones Award

Random House Audio | 9.5 hrs.

Narrator Lauren Ambrose performs this creatively crafted mystery featuring Molly, a hotel maid who finds a dead body while cleaning a suite. All clues point to her. Ambrose’s narration is perfection as Molly tries to solve the case and save herself.

REVIEW

THE MATCH: Wilde, Book 2

by Harlan Coben | Read by Steven Weber

AudioFile Earphones Award

Brilliance Audio | 10 hrs.

This audiobook is an edge-of-your-seat gripper. Wilde is a loner hero who survived living alone in the woods as a child. The story takes off like a rocket when family members are discovered and disappear, and bodies start to pile up. Narrator Steven Weber is a wizard at making the characters vivid. High-octane fun.

REVIEW

A SPY’S LIFE: Robert Harland, Book 1

by Henry Porter | Read by Matthew Lloyd Davies

AudioFile Earphones Award

HighBridge Audio | 15.5 hrs.

Matthew Lloyd Davies’s performance is intelligent, honest, and compelling in this intriguing story filled with spycraft and surprises. Davies’ flexible voice and characterizations are credible thanks to his top-notch acting, and he captures all the emotions packed into this terrific audiobook.

REVIEW

AudioFile will feature exclusive interviews with narrators from this year’s Best Audiobooks on their podcast, Behind the Mic with AudioFile Magazine. You can subscribe to the podcast here.