Best Samuel Gillies Audiobooks

The best audiobooks narrated by Samuel Gillies — 7 titles spanning Mystery, averaging 4.07 ABR stars.

Read more

Samuel Gillies is an audiobook narrator who has become closely associated with Charles Todd's Inspector Ian Rutledge series, having narrated Wings of Fire, Search the Dark, Watchers of Time, A Fearsome Doubt, A Cold Treachery, A Long Shadow, and A False Mirror. The Rutledge series is set in post-World War One England and follows a Scotland Yard detective haunted by the voice of a dead soldier — Hamish MacLeod — whose presence Rutledge carries as a form of psychological trauma and moral conscience. Gillies handles this unusual narrative device — the interior voice of Hamish, Scottish in accent and often in opposition to Rutledge's own thinking — with careful consistency, maintaining Rutledge's English register and Hamish's distinct Scottish voice as parallel presences. The series' rural English settings and its meditation on shell shock and grief require a narrator attentive to atmosphere and psychological nuance, and Gillies provides both with sustained skill across multiple volumes.

  1. 1
    A Cold Treachery cover

    A Cold Treachery

    Inspector Ian Rutledge • Book 7

    by Charles Todd

    Narrated by Samuel Gillies

    4.23 ABR Score (7.0K ratings)
    ★ 4.2 Goodreads (6.4K) ★ 4.58 Audible (604)
    More about this pick

    Inspector Rutledge confronts savage family murders in the Lake District's brutal winter landscape. Samuel Gillies captures both the blizzard's isolation and Rutledge's psychological depth in this haunting mystery.

  2. 2
    A Long Shadow cover

    A Long Shadow

    Inspector Ian Rutledge • Book 8

    by Charles Todd

    Narrated by Samuel Gillies

    4.18 ABR Score (6.3K ratings)
    ★ 4.15 Goodreads (5.8K) ★ 4.58 Audible (485)
    More about this pick

    Inspector Rutledge investigates a murder that forces him to confront his WWI trauma while solving a case that spans decades, with Samuel Gillies capturing both the procedural elements and psychological depth.

  3. 3
    A False Mirror cover

    A False Mirror

    Inspector Ian Rutledge • Book 9

    by Charles Todd

    Narrated by Samuel Gillies

    4.06 ABR Score (5.8K ratings)
    ★ 4.06 Goodreads (5.4K) ★ 4.48 Audible (425)
    More about this pick

    Inspector Rutledge must prove the innocence of a man he despises while confronting memories of his own lost love from the war. The seaside setting of Hampton Regis becomes a character itself in this haunting mystery.

  4. 4
    Watchers of Time cover

    Watchers of Time

    Inspector Ian Rutledge • Book 5

    by Charles Todd

    Narrated by Samuel Gillies

    4.04 ABR Score (7.8K ratings)
    ★ 3.99 Goodreads (7.1K) ★ 4.44 Audible (680)
    More about this pick

    Post-WWI detective Rutledge probes a Norfolk marsh murder that may connect to history's greatest maritime disaster. Samuel Gillies captures the haunted veteran's internal struggles alongside the period atmosphere.

  5. 5
    A Fearsome Doubt cover

    A Fearsome Doubt

    Inspector Ian Rutledge • Book 6

    by Charles Todd

    Narrated by Samuel Gillies

    4.03 ABR Score (7.0K ratings)
    ★ 4.04 Goodreads (6.5K) ★ 4.43 Audible (510)
    More about this pick

    Inspector Rutledge confronts a case that questions his own honor while battling his WWI trauma and the voice of a dead soldier in his head. Samuel Gillies captures both the external mystery and internal psychological warfare.

  6. 6
    Search the Dark cover

    Search the Dark

    Inspector Ian Rutledge • Book 3

    by Charles Todd

    Narrated by Samuel Gillies

    3.98 ABR Score (8.5K ratings)
    ★ 4.05 Goodreads (7.6K) ★ 4.32 Audible (857)
    More about this pick

    Inspector Rutledge investigates a child's disappearance while battling his own WWI trauma, Samuel Gillies capturing both the external mystery and internal torment.

  7. 7
    Wings of Fire cover

    Wings of Fire

    Inspector Ian Rutledge • Book 2

    by Charles Todd

    Narrated by Samuel Gillies

    3.95 ABR Score (11.2K ratings)
    ★ 4.01 Goodreads (10.2K) ★ 4.29 Audible (973)
    More about this pick

    Inspector Rutledge returns to investigate mysterious deaths while battling his own WWI trauma and the voice of a dead soldier in his head. Samuel Gillies navigates the psychological complexity with skill.

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 →