This fifteenth Deryn Lake mystery, featuring John Rawlings, the apothecary and amateur sleuth who solves cases in Georgian England, is beautifully performed by Michael Tudor Barnes. In Hotwell, a spa near Bristol where the fashionable (and the disreputable) take the waters, listeners are immersed in a world of color, rich delicacies, bad odors, an odious fat impostor claiming an inheritance, and a dangerous lunatic. Barnes, with vivid characterizations and a smooth narrative, perfectly depicts the milieu, manners, and persona of a spa town. This is good listening for lovers of period mysteries with familiar characters portrayed by a polished narrator.
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2014
Duration: 8 hrs
Publisher: ISIS Audio Books
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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