Five hour car drive, audiobook or podcast recommendations please!

[WildFlowerBees]

I will preface this by saying I'm really funny about narration. If I don't like the voice I can't listen (normal right?!)

Audiobooks I have really enjoyed recently are,

Thursday murder club series, Lesley Manville did a wonderful job but then the last book was narrated by Fiona Shaw which I couldn't stand, so completely different and in the middle of a series.

The Marlow murders series, enjoyed the audiobook more than the read.

Ruth Jones books, she's a great narrator.

I've listened to some twee chick lit but I don't think I can stomach anymore boy meets girl, couple have a misunderstanding, no communication about misunderstanding until the very end and all is well.

I love period dramas, enjoy all things murder and intrigue but I'd like something that has humour.

Exit is on my list but I'd rather read that than listen to it.

Can anyone recommend anything please?

The Strike books by Robert Galbraith (JK Rowling). Narrated by Robert Glenister. Cuckoos Calling is the first one.

Cabin Pressure (R4 comedy, available on Audible) got us to Orkney and back last year. (DH and I, dc aged 10 and 13). There are 5 series, I can listen to them over and over again.

I recently enjoyed The Maid by Nita Prose and thought the narration was excellent.

I love the podcast The Rest is History, it covers a wide variety of topics and RR hosts are fun to listen to.

No idea how 'the' became RR!

Have you listened to Marian Keyes narrate Rachel's holiday and again Rachel? She is a wonderful narrator on the books are brilliant.

If you are looking for podcasts, I really enjoy the Off Menu one. Originally I started with people I knew and liked but I now enjoy listening to most of them.

Check out Sean Barrett. He narrates the Slough House books, the Harry Hole series and the Wallander books. Lots of others too. Excellent narrator with a very listenable voice.

Or Steven Pacey. He does the Simon Serrailler series, the First Law trilogy and loads of others. He does The Road Home by Rose Tremain.

Kobna Holdbrook-Smith is another brilliant narrator. He does the Rivers of London series. Such a charismatic voice and his accents are always spot-on.

Juliet Stevenson is an excellent narrator, and very prolific. I also like Cathleen McCarron who does the Karen Pirie books.

The Poirot books are well done. Most of them are narrated by Hugh Fraser, who played Hastings in the ITV series. David Suchet does a few as well.

Ruth Rendell’s books are very good. I like the Wexford ones. The early ones are of their time but I always think she’s a very witty writer; I always laugh at some of the descriptions, or the exchanges between Wexford and Burden. The narrators are usually either Robin Bailey, Nigel Anthony or Christopher Ravenscroft.

If you’re on Audible you can listen to a sample of about five minutes, to see if you get on with the narrator or not.

Thank you so much 😊