Audible recommendations please! 5 credits to spend...

[DontReallyCareBear]

I like...decent crime fiction, preferably with female main characters (nothing too gory or over complicated though). Some fantasy (Lord of the Rings, Philip Pullman). Some historical fiction if it's about women's lives.

I don't like romance [shudder] or anything overly literary or anything described as "lyrical" or "a love letter to" or gory crime stuff all about awful things happening to women.

The last few books I finished were Strange Sally Diamond, The Giver Of Stars, Shtum, The Return Of The King, The List Of Suspicious Things, Dirty Thirty, and Amy And Lan.

I find it really hard to get gripped by books but when I do I never want them to end! I don't even know what I'm looking for but I've got nothing to listen to and 5 credits to spend.

The Strike Series
the Wool Trilogy.
the Safekeep
this thing of Darkness
the forsyte
crippen, and the mutiny on the bounty, both by John boyne

The Vera books are beautifully narrated, much better than the TV series.
Peter May's Lewis Trilogy is wonderful, non-gory Scottish crime.
The Strike books are a great listen, though I found the last two a bit too long.
Any other Liz Nugent books (she wrote Strange Sally Diamond) are worth a listen.
The two Cal Hooper books by Tana French.
I also loved the Wallander books but some people might find them a bit depressing.
Unsettled Ground by Claire Fuller is really satisfying.
And although they may be too 'literary' I think the Olive Kitteridge books are thr best audiobooks ever!

Agree with the Strike series and also the Maeve Kerrigan series by Jane Casey.

Oh brilliant thank you, I shall settle down to listen to a load of samples later this evening!

Strike is a good shout, I watched the TV series and enjoyed them.

Oh the Robin and Strike books are so much better than the TV series!
And I love the TV adaptations ☺️
Robert Glenister's narration is excellent.

I have just listened to all the Kate Atkinson Jackson Brodie books. Really enjoyed them.

I am mid-listen to Robin Hobb's Reign of the Elderlings series, brilliant world building. Not the best narration but I always check the speed abd it improves things.

I plan to relisten to Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers of London series. Kobna Holbrook Smith is a fantastic narrator.

Phil Rickman has just died, his books are so good. Very eclectic and different but he can create a sense of unsettling dread so well.

I hope you find somethings that you love.

Shardlake series is good
The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

I recently came across these 2 books set in Victorian London, with an excellently feisty female heroine. They hey are called 'The Tumbling Girl' and 'The Innocents'. I really liked the narrator, she was very well suited to the tone of the books. I'm already looking forward to another one in the future, hopefully! bridgetwalsh.co.uk

None Of This Is True, Tom Lake and Project Hail Mary are the best audios I've done this year.

Agree with the recommendations for Strike and Maeve Kerrigan by Jane Casey.

I'm listening to the Bee Sting by Paul Murray right now and it's good

I have recently finished Guilty by Definition by Susie Dent and really enjoyed it. It required proper listening to follow so deeply immersive and hugely entertaining. Currently listening to Tom Lake narrated by Meryl Streep which is a gem. Richard Coles narrates his own crime fiction which I enjoy very much and I did find the most recent Bob Mortimer (Hotel Avocado) which includes him as one of the narrators fun but less of a great story (or maybe just the ending) than the others mentioned.

Another vote for strike series
Currently listening to all the colours of the dark which is absorbing and unusual
Also like the Ellie griifiths series set in Norfolk, can't read the books as it's not right if not in the narrators voice !

Just finished The Last Suspect by Louise Candlish. But found it really gripping with so many twists - with a jaw dropping one towards the end.

Was also going to recommend None Of This Is True by Lisa Jewell. The format works really well as an audiobook. (Uses extracts from interviews and different narrators.)

@mum2jakie

If you've recommended this before it's probably you whose recommendation I took in the first place. So thanks !

The Whalebone theatre is fabulous, I read the book so not sure who narrates it.

The Karen Pirie series by Val McDeirmid is great, except the most recent one which has a new (boring) narrator

The Watchmaker of Filigree Street is wonderful. More mystery with a little bit of fantasy but a brilliant female character.

some good suggestions here, especially Strike.

I have really enjoyed the Slough House (Slow Horses) audio book series by Mick Herron.

Isn't it! Really didn't enjoy listening to it.