A good mystery sinks its teeth into the psyche of a listener and doesn’t let go until the very last word. Mysteries may take many forms, but the very best tap into a wide range of human emotions—fear, anxiety, and surprise, among others.
Given this quasi-innate appeal we have to mystery fiction, it’s no wonder that the genre has exploded globally over the last several decades. While the United States and Britain have historically been seen as hotbeds of quality mystery writing, more recently we’ve seen a swell of great mystery writing coming out of nearly every pocket of the globe.
We took a trip around the world to uncover international mysteries from just about every continent. Though the audiobooks on this list are all very different, they have two things in common—each boasts a brilliant narrator performance that will take you to a distinct place, and each showcases expertly crafted plots that will keep you guessing to the last word. Kick back and enjoy the ride.
Louise Penny kicked off her Chief Inspector Gamache series with the 2005 audiobook Still Life. Penny, one of Canada's most prominent mystery writers, has gone on to pen another dozen books in the series—but Still Life is, arguably, regarded as her best. The book follows Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Québec (Quebec's provincial police force), who's brought in to investigate the death of Jane Neal, a resident of the small Canadian town of Three Pines, who is killed by an arrow in an apparent hunting accident. On the surface, Three Pines looks to be the idyllic provincial town, but Gamache, experienced and wise, knows that all is not as it seems—taking Penny's listeners along on the slow, steady pursuit of the truth.