12 of The Best Mystery Audiobooks

Inside The woman in cabin 10 is the suspenseful and haunting story from New York Times best-selling phenomenon R.Ware.

Imogen Church narrates this twist blockbuster thriller audiobook wonderfully. It leaves even the most sure-footed listeners restlessly uneasy long after the last minute ends.

Set in the North sea, The woman in cabin 10 features a travel journalist Laura Lo Blacklock on a luxury cruise aboard the exclusive ship, Aurora, for an adventure of a lifetime. The lush dinner parties with select guests are perfect.

What could go wrong? Lo witnesses an incident where a woman is tossed overboard from the next cabin. Each member is accounted for, so Aurora sails on despite her desperate attempt to raise alarm bells. 

Ruth is one of the best suspense novelists and takes us on a thrilling and intense journey as Lo tries to find the answers. Who is the woman? What actually happened that night? Is she going crazy from sleep problems? 

Alex Michaelides‘s New York Times bestselling, record-breaking, and spell-binding psychological mystery and thriller has got everyone talking. Alex’s intense and must-listen debut novel will be adapted into a film soon, and it’s easy to see why. 

Alicia Berenson, a famous successful painter, shoots her husband and an in-demand fashion photographer five times in the face. Alicia’s act of violence against Gabriel and refusal to never speak about it cast her into notoriety. 

Theo Faber, a criminal therapist in North London, is obsessed with treating her to uncover her motive while the price of her artwork skyrockets.

His determination to get Alicia to talk and unravel the secret history of why Gabriel lost his life takes him down a page-turning twisting path into his very own motivations. His search for the truth could consume him. 

Alex reveals the killer very early on, but it’s the numerous twists and turns of how and why it happened and the explicit imagery of the characters that’s engrossing in a macabre sense.

Jack Hawkins and L. Brealey successfully pull off the shocking twist with exceptional reading, making it one of the best mystery audiobooks around.

In addition to being an HBO limited series, Sharp Objects is one of those chilling mystery audiobooks you should listen to before watching it on TV. If you loved Gillian Flynn in Gone Girl, then you’ll enjoy this traditional mystery audiobook.

Reporter Camille Preaker is fresh out of a brief stint at a psych hospital. A troubling assignment awaits, she must cover the murders of two preteen girls in her hometown. 

Camile reluctantly heads back home to her neurotic, hypochondriac mother and her tiny bedroom in her family’s Victorian mansion after eight years away.

She finds herself relating with the young victims – a bit too strongly – and confronting the troubled past she’s spent her entire existence running from. She must do this to get at the story and uncover the secrets. 

JD Jackson, the narrator of this heartbreaking yet relevant mystery audiobook, is outstanding in his performance. J.D. conveys each chapter’s myriad emotions with great mastery guaranteed to make your long commute or road trip worthwhile.  

Attica Locke, writer and producer of the award-winning show Empire brilliantly captures the nuance of East Texas in this hype thriller. Darren Mathews, a black man who grew up in a rural town called Lark, knows precisely how deep the history of race is in a state that only plays by its rules. So he relocates to Highway 59. 

A black man wounds up dead in Lark, and three days later, a white woman loses her life. Darren has to go back home to solve each crime in the small town filled with strange suspects, complex secondary characters, and a bucketload of twists and turns.

Darren Mathews knows he too has to save himself from his own struggles before Lark’s long-simmering racial tensions erupt.

One of the best thriller audiobooks you’ll come across in a long time. This psychological thriller is curiously long, but it’s Stephen King. He’s known for writing long books with almost unbearable suspense, and this is no different. 

Will Patton takes you through a gripping journey of a perplexing murder mystery with supernatural elements using King’s usual sprawling characters to deliver a performance worthy of praise. Save this masterful audiobook for your next road trip. 

Flint City is reeling from a horrific crime in a small town park. There’s a corpse, and overwhelming evidence points to one of the city’s most popular citizens, an English teacher, coach, husband, and father of two. 

Despite having an alibi, Terry Maitland has been arrested for the brutal murder of an 11-year-old boy under detective Ralph Anderson’s orders whose son Terry once coached.

Skepticism blurs the lines between good and evil. The happily married family man has more profound questions to answer. So does Flint City.  

The award-winning thriller author, Paula Hawkins, wants us to know that everyone has secrets, so you should trust no one. A trio of outstanding narrators voices the three mysterious women in the book, shooting this unsettling yet compulsive listen to the best mystery audiobook in our exclusive list. 

Paula’s exceptional novel is undoubtedly emotionally immersive as she takes us on a gripping journey aboard a commuter train.

Rachel takes this train every morning, and glances at people around her, making up stories about them. Including her favorite couple, “Jess and Jason,” who live just outside the train stop. It takes her mind off her not-so-perfect life. 

However, this particular morning, she witnesses something shocking that forever changes the perfect image she had of the couple she admired and the seemingly perfect marriage. Has she seen too much? Or should she find out more?

She heads to the police. Deeply entangled in the lives of every suspect and with secrets unfolding, she will soon realize she’s done more harm than good. At the center of this book, the three women, Rachel, Anna, and Megan, make this riveting thriller perfect for your daily commutes.

Fans of legendary writer R.Ware and her narrating prowess Imogen church will devour yet another gripping mystery from this duo. Ruth Ware’s third novel, The lying game, explores obsessive friendships and unravels truths in her signature gentle suspenseful style.

The lying game is a game four women, whose lies have caught up with them, used to play in Salten House school to convince people of the most outrageous stories. Now, after seventeen years of shared secrets, something terrible has been found on the beach.

Isa Wilde walks her dog across the idyllic coastal outside-world village of Salten one fine morning. To her shock, the dog retrieves a human bone. Her three childhood best friends converge to comfort her. 

It’s no cozy reunion. Salten makes that abundantly clear for them. Slowly unraveling, their collective past, including that of the life lost, is revealed in this psychological thriller. The four compelling characters have to get their story straight. 

The accomplished best-selling fiction author of all time, Agatha Christie, writes the much-lauded classic murder mystery in one of the most exciting and suspense-filled mystery audiobooks.

I recommend any fan of Agatha Christie to devour it without reservation – before seeing any film versions. 

Two words; Dan Stevens. His impeccable voice performance in this audiobook makes for such an entertaining and easy listen. Dan’s soothing voice slips effortlessly from one conversion to another, giving life to multiple characters in such a unique way. Mystery listeners will want to devour one of the best mystery audiobooks ever, right away. 

By morning, the snowbound Orient Express is one passenger lighter than it was at midnight. Millionaire Samuel Edward Ratchett lies dead in his sleeper car after being stabbed a dozen times. His door is locked from the inside. A locked-room crime mystery with minimal clues? Perfect. 

Which passenger is the killer? Detective Hercule Poirot must find the answers amidst the storm before the murderer decides to strike again.

It’s quite a complicated murder investigation with several suspects, so it makes sense to get it all in your head at once during your long road trips or in a couple of listens. 

Dark, disturbing family secrets, and what just happened to Ellie? Lisa Jewell is no stranger to psychological suspense. Helen Duff provides competent narration in this fascinating best mystery, perfectly capturing the characters’ deep emotions and conflicts. 

Beloved fifteen-year-old Ellie Mack was days away from a highly anticipated summer vacation with her whole being ahead of her. And then she was gone.

After a being of misery, estrangement, and a divorce from her husband, Ellie’s mother meets a charming gentleman in a cafe. One thing leads to another, and before she knows it, Laurel Mack has gone to meet Floyd’s daughters.  

Poppy, the nine-year-old, looks exactly like Ellie. Now all the unanswered questions that have consumed Ellie’s mother for ten years come flooding back.

Lisa’s writing lures you in, but I have to say that what you find out about Ellie and the other central characters at the end of the mystery novel is hard to get out of your head.

A timely thriller full of shocking surprises is what Karin Slaughter had in mind for her latest story on her list of incredible audiobooks.

It’s a Will Trent series featuring medical examiner Sara Linton in the middle of a deadly conspiracy. Kathleen Early performs and develops each character with a chilling depiction, a fascinating experience you don’t want to miss. 

A mysterious abduction of a scientist, Michelle Spivey, at a shopping center parking lot sends waves across the Center for Disease Control (CDC). A month later, devastating explosions occur at Emory University, two major hospitals, FBI headquarters, and the CDC.  

Will Trent, an agent at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, rushes to the scene with Sarah Linton. Things spiral out of control and assailants abduct Sarah.

Will is forced to go undercover to save the being of the woman he supposedly loves from a radical militia deep inside the Appalachian mountains. 

He has to confront what happened to Michelle in this fast-paced, compulsive audiobook and come to terms with his inhibitions.

The Deep Dark Descending by Allen Eskens fans will enjoy Zach Villa’s performance of this character-driven mystery. Zach’s next-level narration and portrayal of the characters and events are impressive, and he delivers right to the shocking end. 

Joe Talbert, a college student, is set to interview a stranger and write the person’s biography. He meets Carl Iverson, a dying Vietnam veteran who’s a convicted rapist and murderer on parole at a nursing home.

Joe’s life changes forever. The relationship between Joe and his younger autistic brother is sweet and refreshing, away from the trauma inflicted by their alcoholic mother.

As he dives into Carl’s twisted world, Joe can no longer reconcile the honesty of the veteran hero with his despicable acts. He desperately wants to uncover the truth, and his skeptical neighbor, Lila, is ever so willing to help Joe get to the bottom of it.

As the stakes grow higher, Joe opens a can of worms with severe implications for a man dying of cancer. Will he escape in time?

With a deliciously dark suspense thriller, Barker makes our list of best mystery audiobooks.

His knack for blending mystery, suspense, crime, horror, and the supernatural all in one story has earned him accolades and thousands of sales in books. If you’re a Stephen King lover, this is a perfect listen.  Edoardo Ballerini and Graham Winton provide an outstanding reading of the novel.

There’s a demented serial killer on the loose in Chicago. The Fourth monkey killer (4MK) mode of operation is killing somebody related to the actual person he wants to get at. This way, the intended target suffers more, knowing they are to blame.

The master manipulator sends to his victim’s family ears, then the eyes, and then the tongue. Fast forward, 4MK is hit by a bus and left for dead. 

Police are on the hunt for one of his victims believed to be still alive, but they don’t know who or the secret place she’s in. Detective Sam Porters works like a real Sherlock Holmes, who’s been on a 5-year hunt with a silent patient for 4MK, and knows that the fight isn’t over.

If anything, the race is very much on, and he must race against time to rescue one last girl. The diary inside 4MK’s jacket reveals the mind of a psychopath, and Porter is very much caught up in it. With only a handful of clues to interpret, 4MK taunts Porter from beyond the grave. The clock keeps ticking.