As this audiobook opens, Hayley Burke is busy arranging an exhibition on Lady Fowling, the late benefactor who created the First Edition Library to honor classic literary detectives. When Hayley hires her former boss, Oona Atherton, to act as exhibition manager, everything goes well until someone pushes Oona down a spiral staircase in the same manner as the murder in Dorothy L. Sayers's MURDER MUST ADVERTISE, the featured book in the exhibition. Marisa Calin does an excellent job of performing this audiobook, especially in the way she emphasizes the connections between the classic mysteries that are part of the exhibition and aspects of the contemporary plot. She also creates believable voices for the characters and makes Hayley sound like someone listeners would want to know.
Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2020
Duration: 10 hrs, 45 mins
DD ISBN: 9780593340318
Publisher: Penguin Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
A cozy crime mystery ideal for a fireside listen on a dark night with a hot toddy for company.
Emilia Fox rises to the challenge of creating a dozen or more voices to tell this intriguing murder mystery. Freya Lockwood and her aunt Carole are antique hunters working in league with the FBI, tracking down the source of three forged paintings recently shipped to the United States. A Scottish castle, concealed identities, and a couple of bodies make for a good yarn—not one to be taken too seriously, but reasonably compelling. Fox is on more stable vocal ground with Freya, Carole, and assorted Scots than she is with Phil, the FBI agent, but she keeps a firm grip on the plot and moves along at a good pace.
A cozy crime mystery ideal for a fireside listen on a dark night with a hot toddy for company.Pub Date: March 17, 2026
Duration: 11 hrs, 2 mins
DD ISBN: 9781668103067
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Review Posted Online: March 25, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2026
This audiobook is evidence that a delightful whodunit is best consumed through the ears.
Set in the glitzy 1970s New York gourmet restaurant scene, this story of food critic Bernice Black’s mystery-solving escapades is well performed by Mozhan Navabi. The novel opens as Navabi affectionately recounts Bernice’s introduction to fine dining through the generosity of her mentor, an over-the-top French chef whom Navabi gives appropriate flair. When Bernice discovers her beloved chef’s severed head in a batch of perfectly prepared aspic, she has the food expertise to find the only other chef capable of making an aspic that divine—and hence, to identify the killer. A sultry writer for a competing magazine tries to beat Bernice to the story, and Navabi delivers the twisty narrative without missing a beat.
This audiobook is evidence that a delightful whodunit is best consumed through the ears.Pub Date: Feb. 3, 2026
Duration: 12 hrs
DD ISBN: 9798217285181
Publisher: Penguin Audio
Review Posted Online: March 10, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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