2026 is turning out to be a good year for audiobooks, so once again I am giving them their own post.

We have one Jess Kidd (always, and always as an audiobook as the narration is one of my favourite parts), a modern Gothic mystery and two Will Carvers (who also made it to my Top Ten favourite books of 2026 Part Two). Here we go:

Murder at the Spirit Lounge by Jess Kidd
Nora Breen Investigates Book #2

Murder at Gulls Nest ‘stars’ Nora Breen, ex-nun turned Miss Marple. It’s very different from Jess Kidd’s other novels, but it still has the same ring to it. Murder at the Spirit Lounge is the second in the series and it’s even better.

I literally couldn’t wait for this and I was not disappointed. New narrator but just as good. I listened to it with Audible.

Dolores Chimes, a famous medium, arrives in Gore-on-Sea and organises a séance in the ‘Spirit Lounge’ with six sitters, all personally invited by Dolores. One of them happens to be Detective Inspector Rideout himself.

For my full review click here

Winterbourne by Elisabeth Wolf

The narration was great, but I have one criticism and it grated on me. Lucien Broussard is posh and well educated. When reading out his letter, the narrator spells out ‘haitch’. No-one with his background says ‘haitch’. It would be ‘aitch’. Tell me I’m wrong if you want.

But all in all I really enjoyed listening to this on Audible. It was perfect while walking the dog. Poor Anne. Having survived a terrible car crash which killed her beloved twin brother Malcolm – Anne was driving – she is told she may never walk again. Except she does. She is forced to live with her parents who can never forgive her for the accident. So she takes a job on a remote island off the coast of Scotland, cataloguing Winterbourne’s fabulous, priceless, yet often sinister library.

For my full review click here

Girl 4 by Will Carver January David #1

It started with The Beresford, since which I have read everything Will Carver has ever written. So I decided it’s time to go back to the very beginning with Girl 4, book one in the January David series.

January David is our leading protagonist. He’s a police officer with a touch of the psychic. This doesn’t endear him to one of his colleagues, Murphy, the other, Poulson, being more open-minded about Jan’s visions.

For my full review click here

The Two by Will Carver January David #2

Once again I listened on Borrowbox. There are still two narrators – one male and one female – but many different voices and points of view. These include Detective January David himself, the killer, Celeste and the victims.

As with most of Carver’s books, The Two is not for the faint hearted. The descriptions of the killings are extremely graphic, as are Jan’s visions of the boy and the girl. We also know from book one that Jan’s sister Kathy was taken as a child and never found.

For my full review click here