Best Mystery Audiobooks for Beginners

1. 1

   

   And Then There Were None

   by Agatha Christie

   Narrated by Dan Stevens

   ★ 4.68 ABR Score (1.7M ratings)

   ★ 4.27 Goodreads (1.6M) ★ 4.63 Audible (20.5K)

   6h 1m listening time • Released 2013

   Ten strangers trapped on a remote island face methodical murder based on a sinister nursery rhyme in this perfectly paced psychological thriller.

   More about this pick

   Ten strangers trapped on a remote island face methodical murder based on a sinister nursery rhyme in this perfectly paced psychological thriller.

   Start Listening → Get the Book →
   Start Listening → Get the Book →
2. 2

   

   The Black Echo

   Harry Bosch • Book 1

   by Michael Connelly, Titus Welliver

   Narrated by Titus Welliver

   ★ 4.65 ABR Score (224.1K ratings)

   ★ 4.14 Goodreads (218.4K) ★ 4.78 Audible (5.7K)

   14h 54m listening time • Released 2020

   Vietnam tunnel rat turned LAPD detective Harry Bosch investigates when a fellow veteran turns up dead in a drainage pipe. Titus Welliver, who plays Bosch on screen, inhabits the character's war-haunted cynicism and stubborn moral code with authentic grit.

   More about this pick

   Vietnam tunnel rat turned LAPD detective Harry Bosch investigates when a fellow veteran turns up dead in a drainage pipe. Titus Welliver, who plays Bosch on screen, inhabits the character's war-haunted cynicism and stubborn moral code with authentic grit.

   Start Listening → Get the Book →
   Start Listening → Get the Book →
3. 3

   

   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)

   16h 33m listening time • Released 2025

   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.

   More about this pick

   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.

   Start Listening → Get the Book →
   Start Listening → Get the Book →
4. 4

   

   Rebecca

   by Daphne du Maurier

   Narrated by Anna Massey

   ★ 4.56 ABR Score (741.5K ratings)

   ★ 4.25 Goodreads (730.8K) ★ 4.57 Audible (10.7K)

   14h 48m listening time • Released 2014

   A shy bride arrives at her husband's estate, Manderley, only to find herself competing with the ghost of his deceased first wife. Massey's haunting narration perfectly captures the Gothic atmosphere.

   More about this pick

   A shy bride arrives at her husband's estate, Manderley, only to find herself competing with the ghost of his deceased first wife. Massey's haunting narration perfectly captures the Gothic atmosphere.

   Start Listening → Get the Book →
   Start Listening → Get the Book →
5. 5

   

   The Life We Bury

   Joe Talbert • Book 1

   by Allen Eskens

   Narrated by Zach Villa

   ★ 4.56 ABR Score (289.0K ratings)

   ★ 4.09 Goodreads (213.3K) ★ 4.58 Audible (75.7K)

   8h 23m listening time • Released 2015

   College student Joe interviews dying Vietnam veteran Carl Iverson for a class assignment, uncovering a decades-old murder conviction. Zach Villa conveys Joe's growing obsession as he questions whether the man he's profiling is actually innocent.

   More about this pick

   College student Joe interviews dying Vietnam veteran Carl Iverson for a class assignment, uncovering a decades-old murder conviction. Zach Villa conveys Joe's growing obsession as he questions whether the man he's profiling is actually innocent.

   Start Listening → Get the Book →
   Start Listening → Get the Book →
6. 6

   

   [Dolores Claiborne] [By: King, Stephen] [July, 2011]

   by Stephen King

   Narrated by Frances Sternhagen

   ★ 4.54 ABR Score (177.3K ratings)

   ★ 3.95 Goodreads (172.3K) ★ 4.77 Audible (5.0K)

   9h 15m listening time • Released 2016

   Dolores confesses thirty years of secrets after her employer's suspicious death, revealing the truth about her husband's demise during a solar eclipse. Frances Sternhagen inhabits Dolores completely, making her Maine accent and fierce determination absolutely authentic.

   More about this pick

   Dolores confesses thirty years of secrets after her employer's suspicious death, revealing the truth about her husband's demise during a solar eclipse. Frances Sternhagen inhabits Dolores completely, making her Maine accent and fierce determination absolutely authentic.

   Start Listening → Get the Book →
   Start Listening → Get the Book →
7. 7

   

   The Delicate Things We Make

   by Milena McKay

   Narrated by Abby Craden

   ★ 4.51 ABR Score (4.1K ratings)

   ★ 4.51 Goodreads (3.2K) ★ 4.79 Audible (899)

   9h 12m listening time • Released 2022

   Failed Manhattan journalist gets one last shot: find the art world's most elusive artist who's managed to stay completely anonymous for decades.

   More about this pick

   Failed Manhattan journalist gets one last shot: find the art world's most elusive artist who's managed to stay completely anonymous for decades.

   Start Listening → Get the Book →
   Start Listening → Get the Book →
8. 8

   

   The Only One Left

   by Riley Sager

   Narrated by Christine Lakin, Dawn Harvey

   ★ 4.45 ABR Score (645.8K ratings)

   ★ 4.13 Goodreads (635.0K) ★ 4.52 Audible (10.8K)

   12h 32m listening time • Released 2023

   Caregiver Kit arrives at a decaying mansion to tend Lenora Hope, the woman suspected of murdering her family in 1929 but never convicted. Dual narration captures both timelines.

   More about this pick

   Caregiver Kit arrives at a decaying mansion to tend Lenora Hope, the woman suspected of murdering her family in 1929 but never convicted. Dual narration captures both timelines.

   Start Listening → Get the Book →
   Start Listening → Get the Book →
9. 9

   

   The Deep, Deep Snow

   Shelby Lake • Book 1

   by Brian Freeman

   Narrated by January LaVoy

   ★ 4.44 ABR Score (35.0K ratings)

   ★ 4.21 Goodreads (11.3K) ★ 4.55 Audible (23.7K)

   10h 6m listening time • Released 2019

   Deputy Shelby Lake, abandoned as a baby in freezing cold, now searches for a missing boy. Freeman creates an emotionally intense mystery spanning a decade in small-town life.

   More about this pick

   Deputy Shelby Lake, abandoned as a baby in freezing cold, now searches for a missing boy. Freeman creates an emotionally intense mystery spanning a decade in small-town life.

   Start Listening → Get the Book →
   Start Listening → Get the Book →
10. 10

    

    The Cold Dish

    Walt Longmire • Book 1

    by Craig Johnson

    Narrated by George Guidall

    ★ 4.41 ABR Score (64.3K ratings)

    ★ 4.11 Goodreads (46.6K) ★ 4.54 Audible (17.7K)

    13h 17m listening time • Released 2007

    When Cody Pritchard turns up dead two years after his rape conviction, Sheriff Walt Longmire suspects vigilante justice in Wyoming's Absaroka County. George Guidall's weathered voice perfectly embodies the laconic lawman.

    More about this pick

    When Cody Pritchard turns up dead two years after his rape conviction, Sheriff Walt Longmire suspects vigilante justice in Wyoming's Absaroka County. George Guidall's weathered voice perfectly embodies the laconic lawman.

    Start Listening → Get the Book →
    Start Listening → Get the Book →
11. 11

    

    In Cold Blood

    by Truman Capote

    Narrated by Scott Brick

    ★ 4.37 ABR Score (751.4K ratings)

    ★ 4.09 Goodreads (735.8K) ★ 4.44 Audible (15.6K)

    14h 27m listening time • Released 2006

    Capote meticulously reconstructs the senseless murder of a Kansas farm family and tracks the killers' capture in this pioneering work of true crime. Brick's gravitas matches the material's weight.

    More about this pick

    Capote meticulously reconstructs the senseless murder of a Kansas farm family and tracks the killers' capture in this pioneering work of true crime. Brick's gravitas matches the material's weight.

    Start Listening → Get the Book →
    Start Listening → Get the Book →
12. 12

    

    [The Murder at the Vicarage] [by: Agatha Christie]

    Miss Marple • Book 1

    by Agatha Christie

    Narrated by Richard E. Grant

    ★ 4.36 ABR Score (219.0K ratings)

    ★ 4.04 Goodreads (216.7K) ★ 4.58 Audible (2.3K)

    8h 11m listening time • Released 2013

    Colonel Protheroe's murder shocks no one in St. Mary Mead — the man was universally despised, making everyone a suspect. Richard E. Grant captures the village's dark undercurrents beneath Christie's deceptively cozy setting.

    More about this pick

    Colonel Protheroe's murder shocks no one in St. Mary Mead — the man was universally despised, making everyone a suspect. Richard E. Grant captures the village's dark undercurrents beneath Christie's deceptively cozy setting.

    Start Listening → Get the Book →
    Start Listening → Get the Book →
13. 13

    

    The Broken Girls

    by Simone St. James

    Narrated by Rebecca Lowman

    ★ 4.35 ABR Score (139.9K ratings)

    ★ 4.05 Goodreads (130.7K) ★ 4.51 Audible (9.2K)

    11h 12m listening time • Released 2018

    Idlewild Hall housed unwanted girls in 1950s Vermont—the illegitimate, the troublemakers—and decades later, a journalist discovers the boarding school's haunted secrets.

    More about this pick

    Idlewild Hall housed unwanted girls in 1950s Vermont—the illegitimate, the troublemakers—and decades later, a journalist discovers the boarding school's haunted secrets.

    Start Listening → Get the Book →
    Start Listening → Get the Book →
14. 14

    

    The Lake House

    by Kate Morton, Unknown Author

    Narrated by Caroline Lee

    ★ 4.34 ABR Score (152.9K ratings)

    ★ 4.08 Goodreads (131.8K) ★ 4.45 Audible (21.1K)

    21h 24m listening time • Released 2015

    A child vanishes during a 1933 midsummer party, and seventy years later a detective discovers the abandoned estate where the Edevane family's tragedy began.

    More about this pick

    A child vanishes during a 1933 midsummer party, and seventy years later a detective discovers the abandoned estate where the Edevane family's tragedy began.

    Start Listening → Get the Book →
    Start Listening → Get the Book →
15. 15

    

    The Alienist

    Laszlo Kreizler and John Schuyler Moore • Book 1

    by Caleb Carr

    Narrated by George Guidall

    ★ 4.34 ABR Score (190.0K ratings)

    ★ 4.06 Goodreads (182.1K) ★ 4.49 Audible (7.9K)

    20h listening time • Released 2012

    Set in 1896 New York, a psychologist and reporter hunt a serial killer targeting boy prostitutes using revolutionary criminal psychology methods.

    More about this pick

    Set in 1896 New York, a psychologist and reporter hunt a serial killer targeting boy prostitutes using revolutionary criminal psychology methods.

    Start Listening → Get the Book →
    Start Listening → Get the Book →
16. 16

    

    Allegedly

    by Tiffany D. Jackson

    Narrated by Bahni Turpin

    ★ 4.33 ABR Score (88.8K ratings)

    ★ 4.02 Goodreads (84.0K) ★ 4.55 Audible (4.8K)

    10h 37m listening time • Released 2017

    Mary B. Addison was convicted of killing a white baby at age nine, but now at sixteen, she questions everything about that night. Bahni Turpin navigates the unreliable narrator's complex emotional landscape with nuanced skill.

    More about this pick

    Mary B. Addison was convicted of killing a white baby at age nine, but now at sixteen, she questions everything about that night. Bahni Turpin navigates the unreliable narrator's complex emotional landscape with nuanced skill.

    Start Listening → Get the Book →
    Start Listening → Get the Book →
17. 17

    

    The Cuckoo's Calling

    Cormoran Strike • Book 1

    by Robert Galbraith

    Narrated by Robert Glenister

    ★ 4.33 ABR Score (668.5K ratings)

    ★ 3.89 Goodreads (630.7K) ★ 4.45 Audible (37.8K)

    15h 54m listening time • Released 2013

    One-legged Afghanistan veteran Cormoran Strike investigates the supposed suicide of supermodel Lula Landry when her brother insists she was murdered. Robert Glenister captures Strike's gruff determination.

    More about this pick

    One-legged Afghanistan veteran Cormoran Strike investigates the supposed suicide of supermodel Lula Landry when her brother insists she was murdered. Robert Glenister captures Strike's gruff determination.

    Start Listening → Get the Book →
    Start Listening → Get the Book →
18. 18

    

    Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

    by John Berendt

    Narrated by Jeff Woodman, Will Damron, John Berendt

    ★ 4.32 ABR Score (305.5K ratings)

    ★ 3.92 Goodreads (297.3K) ★ 4.52 Audible (8.3K)

    15h 11m listening time • Released 2005

    John Berendt chronicles Savannah's eccentric characters during a real-life murder trial involving the city's antique dealer elite. The multiple narrators capture the Southern Gothic atmosphere and colorful local personalities that made this nonfiction read like fiction.

    More about this pick

    John Berendt chronicles Savannah's eccentric characters during a real-life murder trial involving the city's antique dealer elite. The multiple narrators capture the Southern Gothic atmosphere and colorful local personalities that made this nonfiction read like fiction.

    Start Listening → Get the Book →
    Start Listening → Get the Book →
19. 19

    

    Mystic River

    by Dennis Lehane

    Narrated by Scott Brick

    ★ 4.32 ABR Score (170.1K ratings)

    ★ 4.18 Goodreads (166.9K) ★ 4.46 Audible (3.2K)

    15h 24m listening time • Released 2012

    Three childhood friends reunite over a murder in working-class Boston, with Scott Brick's Boston-tinged delivery grounding every character interaction.

    More about this pick

    Three childhood friends reunite over a murder in working-class Boston, with Scott Brick's Boston-tinged delivery grounding every character interaction.

    Start Listening → Get the Book →
    Start Listening → Get the Book →
20. 20

    

    The Woman in White

    by Wilkie Collins

    Narrated by Ian Holm

    ★ 4.31 ABR Score (168.6K ratings)

    ★ 4.01 Goodreads (167.1K) ★ 4.59 Audible (1.4K)

    24h 37m listening time • Released 2010

    Ian Holm guides you through Collins' labyrinthine Victorian mystery with the patient authority needed for this intricate tale of identity theft.

    More about this pick

    Ian Holm guides you through Collins' labyrinthine Victorian mystery with the patient authority needed for this intricate tale of identity theft.

    Start Listening → Get the Book →
    Start Listening → Get the Book →
21. 21

    

    The Murders at Fleat House

    by Lucinda Riley

    Narrated by Gemma Whelan

    ★ 4.31 ABR Score (46.7K ratings)

    ★ 4.1 Goodreads (46.5K) ★ 4.79 Audible (272)

    11h 38m listening time • Released 2022

    Gemma Whelan captures the claustrophobic atmosphere of St Stephen's boarding school, where a student's suspicious death threatens the institution's reputation. Her performance adds tension to Riley's compelling mystery.

    More about this pick

    Gemma Whelan captures the claustrophobic atmosphere of St Stephen's boarding school, where a student's suspicious death threatens the institution's reputation. Her performance adds tension to Riley's compelling mystery.

    Start Listening → Get the Book →
    Start Listening → Get the Book →
22. 22

    

    One of Us Is Lying

    One of Us Is Lying • Book 1

    by Karen M. McManus

    Narrated by Kim Mai Guest, MacLeod Andrews, Shannon McManus, Robbie Daymond

    ★ 4.30 ABR Score (1.1M ratings)

    ★ 3.91 Goodreads (1.1M) ★ 4.47 Audible (8.2K)

    10h 43m listening time • Released 2017

    Five students enter detention, but only four leave alive when the creator of a gossip app dies mysteriously. The multi-narrator cast gives each suspect their own voice.

    More about this pick

    Five students enter detention, but only four leave alive when the creator of a gossip app dies mysteriously. The multi-narrator cast gives each suspect their own voice.

    Start Listening → Get the Book →
    Start Listening → Get the Book →
23. 23

    

    The Mysterious Affair at Styles

    A Hercule Poirot Mystery • Book 1

    by Agatha Christie

    Narrated by Hugh Fraser

    ★ 4.30 ABR Score (515.5K ratings)

    ★ 4 Goodreads (514.2K) ★ 4.55 Audible (1.3K)

    5h 57m listening time • Released 2012

    Hercule Poirot investigates his first case when wealthy Emily Inglethorp dies mysteriously at her country estate. Hugh Fraser's narration introduces the Belgian detective's distinctive mannerisms with theatrical precision.

    More about this pick

    Hercule Poirot investigates his first case when wealthy Emily Inglethorp dies mysteriously at her country estate. Hugh Fraser's narration introduces the Belgian detective's distinctive mannerisms with theatrical precision.

    Start Listening → Get the Book →
    Start Listening → Get the Book →
24. 24

    

    Letters to a Young Poet

    by Rainer Maria Rilke

    Narrated by Dan Stevens, Max Deacon

    ★ 4.29 ABR Score (125.5K ratings)

    ★ 4.27 Goodreads (125.4K) ★ 4.73 Audible (138)

    1h 51m listening time • Released 2014

    A young military student's poetry request sparks Rilke's most famous literary correspondence about art, love, and authentic living. Dan Stevens and Max Deacon bring intimate warmth to these profound creative meditations.

    More about this pick

    A young military student's poetry request sparks Rilke's most famous literary correspondence about art, love, and authentic living. Dan Stevens and Max Deacon bring intimate warmth to these profound creative meditations.

    Start Listening → Get the Book →
    Start Listening → Get the Book →
25. 25

    

    The Black Echo

    Harry Bosch • Book 1

    by Michael Connelly

    Narrated by Dick Hill

    ★ 4.29 ABR Score (235.9K ratings)

    ★ 4.14 Goodreads (217.9K) ★ 4.36 Audible (18.0K)

    13h 49m listening time • Released 2008

    Vietnam tunnel rat turned LAPD detective Harry Bosch investigates when a fellow veteran turns up dead in a drainage pipe. Titus Welliver, who plays Bosch on screen, inhabits the character's war-haunted cynicism and stubborn moral code with authentic grit.

    More about this pick

    Vietnam tunnel rat turned LAPD detective Harry Bosch investigates when a fellow veteran turns up dead in a drainage pipe. Titus Welliver, who plays Bosch on screen, inhabits the character's war-haunted cynicism and stubborn moral code with authentic grit.

    Start Listening → Get the Book →
    Start Listening → Get the Book →

Mystery audiobooks are perfect for building a listening habit. Many of the best series here have dozens of installments — once you find a detective you love, you'll never run out.