Best Kathleen Early Audiobooks

The best audiobooks narrated by Kathleen Early — 6 titles spanning Mystery, Thriller, Literature & Fiction, Romance, averaging 4.21 ABR stars.

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Kathleen Early has become one of the go-to voices for psychological thrillers with dark, female-centered narratives — and her long association with Karin Slaughter explains why. Across Pretty Girls and We Are All Guilty Here, she brings a cool, controlled intensity to Slaughter's unflinching subject matter, never sensationalizing, never flinching. Her voice is clear and measured with a slight edge beneath the surface — the kind of delivery that makes quiet scenes feel just as tense as the violent ones. She's equally effective in Peter Swanson's The Kind Worth Killing, where the Henry Kimball/Lily Kintner dynamic demands a narrator who can make charm sound dangerous. Listeners who prefer their thrillers grounded rather than theatrical will find Early a perfect match — she lets the writing do the work while keeping you locked in.

Where to Start with Kathleen Early

  1. 1
    We Are All Guilty Here cover

    We Are All Guilty Here

    North Falls • Book 1

    by Karin Slaughter

    Narrated by Kathleen Early

    ★ 4.60 ABR Score (144.1K ratings)
    ★ 4.21 Goodreads (133.0K) ★ 4.67 Audible (11.1K)
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    Two teenage girls vanish during a small-town fireworks celebration, igniting secrets in North Falls where everyone knows everyone. Early's narration captures officer Emmy Clifton's desperation as her past collides with the investigation.

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  2. 2
    Girl, Forgotten cover

    Girl, Forgotten

    Andrea Oliver • Book 2

    by Karin Slaughter

    Narrated by Kathleen Early

    ★ 4.45 ABR Score (131.0K ratings)
    ★ 4.02 Goodreads (122.4K) ★ 4.58 Audible (8.7K)
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    Nearly forty years after Emily Vaughn's prom night murder, US Marshal Andrea Oliver returns to investigate the cold case in her hometown. This small-town mystery unfolds with devastating precision across Kathleen Early's compelling performance.

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  3. 3
    Pretty Girls cover

    Pretty Girls

    by Karin Slaughter

    Narrated by Kathleen Early

    ★ 4.21 ABR Score (734.6K ratings)
    ★ 4 Goodreads (734.0K) ★ 4.33 Audible (628)
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    Twenty years after Julia vanished without a trace, another girl's disappearance forces her sister Claire to confront buried family secrets and a possible serial killer.

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  4. 4
    The Five Year Lie cover

    The Five Year Lie

    by Sarina Bowen

    Narrated by Kathleen Early, Gary Tiedemann, Jason Clarke

    ★ 4.17 ABR Score (51.4K ratings)
    ★ 3.89 Goodreads (46.1K) ★ 4.44 Audible (5.3K)
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    Ariel receives a text from her supposedly dead ex-boyfriend, shattering her carefully rebuilt life. The three-narrator approach handles multiple perspectives as Bowen's thriller unfolds through past and present timelines.

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  5. 5
    The Twisted Women's Book Club cover

    The Twisted Women's Book Club

    by Karin Slaughter, Oyinkan Braithwaite, Sarah Pekkanen, Linwood Barclay, Naomi Hirahara, K.J. Howe, Robert Dugoni, Alison Gaylin, Heather Gudenkauf, Shari Lapena, Clare Mackintosh, Stacy Willingham, January LaVoy, Andi Arndt, Saskia Maarleveld, Kathleen Early, Lauren Ezzo, Stephanie Epstein, Jenn Lee, Brittany Pressley, Cindy Kay, Nancy Wu, Nicola F. Delgado, Emily Lawrence, Karen Murray, Adepero Oduye, Daniela Acitelli

    Narrated by January LaVoy, Andi Arndt, Saskia Maarleveld, Kathleen Early, full cast

    ★ 3.93 ABR Score (13.2K ratings)
    ★ 3.52 Goodreads (7.6K) ★ 4.24 Audible (5.6K)
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    Dr. Margaret Richter's exclusive Cape Cod book club harbors lethal secrets, with a full cast including January LaVoy bringing each deadly member to distinct life.

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  6. 6
    The Trouble With Valentine's Day cover

    The Trouble With Valentine's Day

    Chinooks Hockey Team • Book 3

    by Rachel Gibson

    Narrated by Kathleen Early

    ★ 3.92 ABR Score (14.3K ratings)
    ★ 3.91 Goodreads (14.3K)
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Kathleen Early — Narrator Profile Scott Brick Ray Porter Adam Verner Michael Kramer Abby Craden Maxine Mitchell Grover Gardner Dick Hill Luke Daniels George Guidall Simon Vance Robertson Dean Simon Prebble Barrie Kreinik R.C. Bray Nick Podehl Andrea Parsneau Bahni Turpin Travis Baldree January LaVoy Tim Gerard Reynolds Edoardo Ballerini Julia Whelan Davina Porter Alex Jennings Best Fantasy Best Sci-Fi Best Thriller Best Mystery Best Horror Best Literature & Fiction

How We Rank Audiobooks

Rankings are driven by listener ratings and review counts from Audible and Goodreads. Books with high ratings across a large number of listeners rank higher — a 4.5 with 50,000 ratings says more than a 4.8 with 200.

Unlike most book lists, we weight audiobook-specific factors: narrator performance, production quality, and how well a story translates to audio. A great book with a poor narration isn't a great audiobook.

We don't accept paid placements or prioritize new releases. These rankings reflect what listeners actually enjoy, not what's being promoted.

Rankings update periodically as new ratings come in and new titles are added to the collection.

Read our full ranking methodology →