The best crime and thriller audiobooks for 2024

'Are you happy in your life?' These are the last words Jason Dessen hears before being knocked unconscious. He wakes up strapped to a gurney, surrounded by strangers in hazmat suits. In this world, Jason's life is completely different – his wife isn't his wife, his son never existed, and he’s a celebrated genius, not just a physics professor. Jason discovers he’s created a device that allows travel to infinite alternate universes. To get his old life back, he must navigate these possibilities and battle his most formidable enemy: himself.

When a body is found near Rosebank, an isolated care home for troubled teens, DI Vera Stanhope is called to investigate. The victim is Josh, a staff member who never showed up to work, and the only clue is the disappearance of fourteen-year-old resident Chloe. Though Vera doubts a teenager could be the murderer, she can't dismiss the possibility. Then, a second body is discovered near the Three Dark Wives standing stones. As dark secrets emerge, Vera realises the truth may be far more dangerous than she imagined.

Told from three different perspectives – father, mother and daughter – this psychological thriller audiobook asks: ‘what would you do if your child was suspected of murder?’ The three sections of the audiobook are read by different narrators – Richard Armitage, who has starred in Hannibal, The Hobbit and Spooks, award-winning actress Emily Watson and Georgia Maguire – bringing to life each character’s story.

Late at night, Abi and Ben are driving home on foggy country roads, arguing after cutting short their weekend away. Abi takes a wrong turn and briefly looks away from the road just as Ben gasps – a man is in front of their car, waving a torch. Abi swerves to avoid him. Despite Ben's suggestion to stop, Abi drives on until they see a broken-down car with a woman holding a baby. Hesitant but unable to leave them stranded, they offer a lift. But letting these strangers into their car might be their worst mistake . . .

Would you print a lie across a front page? For Stella, Deputy Editor of The Globe, the answer is simple—she will stop at nothing to get the best story, no matter the cost. For Jess, a rookie reporter, the story ends when the truth does, but she knows that challenging tabloid tactics won’t be easy. When the subject of Jess's story pays the ultimate price, she begins to suspect the paper's involvement. What price would you pay to uncover the truth if someone is willing to kill to keep it buried?

Christina Hardwicke faces an unbearable decision when two killers hold her at gunpoint, forcing her to choose between the lives of her daughter and son. The Hardwicke family, on a holiday to the Scottish Highlands, never expected to encounter a deadly couple on a killing spree. Tailed by Detective Saul Anguish, the ruthless pair have left a trail of bodies across the country, all leading to this terrifying moment. Will the detective reach the Hardwicke family in time to prevent a catastrophe?

Kindle County’s most revered courtroom advocate, Sandy Stern, has been persuaded to defend his old friend Kiril Pafko, despite being eighty-five years old and in precarious health. The former Nobel prize-winner has been charged in a federal racketeering indictment with fraud, insider trading and murder. As Stern begins to question everything he thought he knew about his friend, he finds his duty to defend his client and his belief in the judicial system facing a terrible final test. This masterful legal thriller unfolds with page-turning suspense.

Set in the fast-paced world of high finance, David Baldacci brings us another heart-racing thriller, expertly narrated by Christine Lakin. After fighting the Taliban and Al Qaeda for New York's financial district, Travis Devine is soon embroiled in the greed, power and jealousy that pervades the cut-throat world of investment banking. Every day, Devine puts on a his suit and boards the 6.20 a.m. commuter train to Manhattan. But his routine is quickly shattered by an anonymous email declaring that Sarah Ewes, his colleague and friend, has been found dead – and she is just the first victim. Soon, Devine must question who he can trust and who he must fight . . .  

When the sudden death of Charlie Cavendish, a pupil at a small private boarding school in Norfolk, creates suspicion from the local police force, high-flying Detective Inspector Jazmine ‘Jazz’ Hunter is called to investigate. Soon, she is confronted by another troubling revelation – Charlie is exposed as an arrogant bully, giving those around him a motive to switch the drugs he took daily to control his epilepsy. But that's just the beginning – further deaths and disappearances plague the school, revealing secrets darker than Jazz could ever have imagined. From the author of the multimillion-selling The Seven Sisters series, Lucinda Riley doesn't disappoint with this suspenseful and utterly compelling crime novel. 

A bold reimagining of the unexplained eleven-day disappearance of Agatha Christie in 1926, Nina Gramont's The Christie Affair is an essential crime fiction listen. While Agatha Christie's world is full of glamorous parties and growing literary fame, Nan O'Dea lives a very different reality. Having lived through both a tough London upbringing during the Great War, and a period of tragedy in Ireland, Nan is drawn to Agatha Christie. Despite an affair with Agatha's husband, the two women become the most unlikely of allies. And during the mysterious eleven days that Agatha goes missing, they will unravel a dark secret that only Nan holds the key to . . .   

Red, the daughter of a Cornish fortune-teller, travels with her father, predicting fortunes using the ancient method: the Square of Sevens. After her father's sudden death, Red becomes the ward of a gentleman scholar and is raised as a lady in the Georgian splendor of Bath. Though her fortune-telling charms high society, Red is haunted by questions about her mother's identity and the enemies her father feared. Her quest for answers leads her from Cornwall to London, bringing both the possibility of great reward and the risk of grave danger.

Cole is the perfect husband – romantic, supportive of his wife Mel's career, and a hands-on dad. So when Mel leaves him, he's shocked. Seeking solitude, he moves to the coast and meets reclusive artist Lennie, who made a similar move. As they grow closer, two young women go missing nearby while protesting gendered violence. Now at the center of a police investigation, Cole and Lennie realize they don't know each other as well as they thought . . .

Police detective Alec Nichols faces a horrific crime at a farm in the backwater English seaside town of Ilmarsh: sixteen horses heads buried with an eye turned to the winter sun. This is the first of chain of crimes waiting to be uncovered, from arson to mutilations. Nichols and forensic vet Cooper Allen try to cut through the conspiracy stories and reach the truth, as the town slips into panic.

When James Taylor arrives late for a funeral, he stands at the back of the church and notices a man six rows ahead. At first, he thinks he's mistaken, but soon becomes convinced the man is his old schoolfriend Rufus Rorke. Except it can't be – Taylor attended Rufus's funeral two years ago and even delivered his eulogy. Meanwhile, at Brighton Police HQ, Detective Superintendent Roy Grace is troubled by a series of suspicious deaths. How are they connected, and could they be linked to Rufus Rorke?

The Dales Detective Agency is about to face its biggest challenge after a fatal accident at Bruncliffe's livestock auction. Detective duo Samson O’Brien and Delilah Metcalfe are called in for a simple health and safety investigation, but things take a dark turn when they discover evidence that points to murder. If you love cosy crime books set in spectacular landscapes, you'll love this intriguing murder mystery.

Twenty years after a baby is stolen from her pushchair, a woman is murdered in a care home. The two crimes are connected, and a good bad girl may hold the key to the truth. Edith, tricked into a nursing home, is planning her escape at eighty years old. Patience, who works there, bonds with Edith but is lying to her about almost everything. Edith's daughter, Clio, refuses to speak to her, and someone with ill intentions is about to knock on Clio's door. Together, these women must solve a mystery involving three suspects, two murders, and one victim to uncover what happened to the missing baby and the mother who lost her.

Last Bus to Woodstock is the novel that began Colin Dexter's phenomenally successful Inspector Morse series, famously brought to life by John Thaw in the popular TV series.

The death of Sylvia Kaye figured dramatically in Thursday afternoon's edition of the Oxford Mail. By Friday evening Inspector Morse had informed the nation that the police were looking for a dangerous man. But as the obvious leads fade into twilight and darkness, Morse becomes more and more convinced that passion holds the key.

I Survived is Victoria Cilliers' chilling account of attempted murder, revealing the truth behind a headline-making case, now also the subject of Channel 4 documentary The Fall: Skydive Murder Plot. In 2015, experienced skydiver Victoria took a jump arranged by her husband, Emile Cilliers. Her parachutes failed, and she plummeted 4,000 feet, but miraculously survived. The police soon revealed that someone had tampered with her parachute, and Emile was the prime suspect. In this gripping story, Victoria describes how the man she loved slowly revealed a darker side, leading to shocking revelations, a trial, and a fight to reclaim her life.

Bad Blood tells the story of the epic rise and shocking collapse of Theranos, a start-up "unicorn", founded by Elizabeth Holmes, that promised to revolutionize the medical industry with technology to make blood testing faster and easier. Theranos was valued at more than $9 billion, and Holmes herself an estimated $4.7 billion, earning her the title of the female Steve Jobs. But there was a problem – the technology didn't work. Narrated by Will Damron, listen to how the biggest corporate fraud since Enron unravelled, causing rifts in the cutthroat world of Silicon Valley. 

In 1977, at the Thunderbird Motel, fresh-faced FBI agents J. J. Wedick and Jack Brennan prepared to go undercover. Their target: Phil Kitzer, a charismatic con man responsible for swindling millions of dollars. Despite their lack of training, the agents plunged into the operation, improvising as they went. As they became entangled in Kitzer's schemes, they grew to respect – and even care for – him. Kitzer, in turn, began to see them as friends, teaching them his tricks. Chasing Phil recounts this incredible round-the-world manhunt, a con man, and a friendship that changed crime forever.

Carol Ann Lee's account of the White House Farm murders was the inspiration for ITV's series White House Farm. Nevill and June Bamber, their daughter Sheila and her two young sons were discovered shot to death in their home. All the windows and doors of the farmhouse were secure. The Bambers' son, 24-year-old Jeremy, alerted the police after apparently receiving a phone call from his father who told him Sheila had 'gone berserk' with the gun. At first it appeared to be a straightforward case of murder-suicide, but a dramatic turn of events was to disprove the police's theory and Jeremy was convicted of killing his entire family.

On 10 October 1986, the bodies of two young girls were found in a Brighton park. The girls were nine-year-olds Nicola Fellows and Karen Hadaway who had gone out to play the day before and not returned home. Evidence mounted against a local man Russell Bishop, but a shock trial result saw him walk free.

Three years later, Graham Bartlett was working for Brighton CID when a seven-year-old was abducted and left to die. She survived, and connections were made to Russell Bishop. Will the police put him away this time? With unique access to the officers involved in the investigation, former senior detective Graham Bartlett and bestselling author Peter James tell the fascinating inside story of a thirty-two year fight for justice in this true crime book.

Edward Snowden, the man who risked everything to expose the US government's system of mass surveillance, tells the story of his life. In 2013 Snowden shocked the world by revealing that the United States was secretly collecting every phone call, text message, and email, creating an unprecedented system of mass surveillance. In Permanent Record, Snowden shares how he helped build this system and what motivated him to bring it down. Spanning his childhood and his clandestine work with the CIA and NSA, this memoir is a candid, insightful account of a whistleblower who became the Internet’s conscience.

On 4 March 2018, in Salisbury, England, Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned with the deadly nerve agent Novichok, unknowingly spending what seemed like a peaceful Sunday together. Hours later, they were found close to death on a park bench. Following their attempted murders, Russia was publicly accused by the West, straining international relations to a new low since the Cold War. The Skripal Files offers a definitive account of Skripal’s life as a Russian spy turned MI6 agent, his imprisonment, release in a spy swap, and the events leading to the near-fatal poisoning in Salisbury.