Narrator Simon Prebble is an able coconspirator is this, the eleventh in Charles Todd's historical mysteries about WWI veteran and Scotland Yard Inspector Ian Rutledge. In this captivating addition to the series, Rutledge searches for the person who killed Harold Quarles, a successful London businessman who died while relaxing at his country estate. Everyone, including Quarles's wife, has reason to dislike, even hate, the man. But murder? The answers may lie in battlefield crimes that Quarles committed in the Boer War. Prebble has a fine command of our sympathetic protagonist, but the special pleasures of the narration come in his enlivening renditions of everyone from a teenage Welsh girl to a rough Yorkshireman. Also, his ability to render emotion without excessive drama is exemplary. Do listen.
Pub Date: Aug. 16, 2011
Duration: 11 hrs, 45 mins
Publisher: AudioGo
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Novelist Benet Archdale and housemaid Carol Stratford are two young, single parents who have no reason to know each other. They become tangled in a nightmarish spiral of kidnap, fraud, family violence and death. Ruth Rendell creates psychological suspense in thrillers that are compulsively readable or, in this case, listenable. British actress Imelda Staunton's reading is perfectly paced, and the characters are well defined. You'll have a hard time turning it off.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: 9 hrs
Publisher: BBC Audiobooks America/ Chivers
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Emerson and Peabody are at it again! Uncovering antiquities takes a back-seat as the romantic archaeologists track down the master criminal who is stealing Egypt's ancient treasures. With the help of their precocious son, Ramses, the intrepid pair unravel this mystery in crowded bazaars, desert camps and the heart of the Black Pyramid. Barbara Rosenblat's reading fully measures up to the tale. She is a master of timing and nuance. Rosenblat's power for character interpretation has grown with each book in this amusing series. This is the best one yet.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: 12 hrs
Publisher: Recorded Books Inc.
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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