If I like Jackson Brodie and Strike…

[parrotonmyshoulder]

What else might I like in similar vein? For audiobooks on long journeys. Not really my usual thing for reading, but I have found them unputdownable.
I want more detective fiction with background stories, not just procedure and plot.
Bonus for a great narrator for the audiobook

If you can get Slow Horses on audio, I think you'd enjoy those.

Mick Herron - Slow horses series

The Susan Hill Simon Serrelia (I think I’ve misspelled that) definitely fit with what you’re looking for. Read them in order, even though each is a stand alone story (as in mystery solved) the character’s stories develop in each in (like in Strike and the Brodies).

I like Val McDermid's Karen Pirie books.

Jane Casey’s Maeve Kerrigan series

There's a really good TV series called Tracker based on a Jeffrey Deaver book. The main character is Colter Shaw. I've thought they would make interesting audio.

Ian Rankin - Rebus series?

Anything by Anne Cleeves. Shetland series is good.

I second this. Fabulous and really layered nuanced characters.

Anything by Peter May but specifically the Lewis trilogy.

Or the Rhona Mcleod series by Lin Anderson.

The Ellie Griffiths Ruth Galloway series. She's an archaeologist who is called in as a police consultant. Like the books you mentioned, the characters develop through the series, there's an on off complicated love story, quite a bit about archaeology and the characters are likeable.

They're great.

I liked both the Jackson Brodie and Srike books and recommend Val McDiarmid's Karen Pirie books or for something a bit different CJ Sansom's Shardlake books (which are essentially detective stories but set in Tudor times)

I was just about to recommend these. I didn’t like her Brighton books as much, but am currently reading her new time travelling detective one, which seems promising.

Ellie Griffiths is friends in rl with William Shaw - I have heard them speak together at a festival - and I like his Dungeness series.

MW Craven (the Washington Poe series) is excellent and quite Strike-ish.

Brilliant, thanks.
I have listened to the first from Slow Horses (as the TV series is fantastic) and will get the rest. Will try some of these other suggestions too. I’ll listen to some samples to find a perfect narrator.

I like Sophie Hannah's books too, especially the Culver Valley (Charlie and Simon) ones.

I was gonna say just this!

Yes this but I got a few in on audiobooks and there is one that isn't on audible. I'm trying to read it but have 0 time but the audiobooks are great.

His Enzo McLeod series is good fun too.

Yes I really enjoyed those too. I've just read one of his China series, Chinese Whispers which I think is actually the last in that series.

Shetland is really good, I love the narrator's accent.

The Shardlake series is brilliant if you like medieval detective stories the narrator is perfect for the stories.

I’d also recommend Ian Rankin’s Rebus and potentially also PD James’s Adam Dalgleish books.

I like Anthony Horowitz' detective books - both The Hawthorn ones and the Magpie Murder Series. Not as complex as Strike but there's a very deadpan wit to them.