Chances are if you’re a mystery or crime fan, you love detective novels. And if, like me, you hate having a suspenseful story interrupted by life’s chores and routines, then you’re always on the lookout for the best detective book series in audio. Here are 10 detective series that are so good, you’ll have a hard time not marathoning them all.
Where are my Irish detective fans? Cormac Reilly, a once wet-behind-the-ears police officer, is now a detective when a case from his past comes back. There’s a lot to like here, from past and present mysteries to a look at the detective's life to enjoyable supporting characters. Plus, who doesn’t love a nice Irish accent?! We’ve only got two books and a prequel thus far, so consider this is a quick catch-up and then you can impatiently wait with all us fans.
Kristen Lepionka has taken a lot of what we love in noir detective novels and modernized it. In this novel, we watch Roxane Weary transform from a hot mess—dead dad, chaotic relationships, drinking too much—to pulling her life into order, bit by bit. And all the while, she's the person cops should be listening to, because as a PI, she always figures out the solve to the mystery—most likely with an explosive ending! Narrator Allyson Ryan really brings to life the dry, sarcastic, weary the way I read her on the page.
Certainly you’ve heard of that famous detective, Sherlock Holmes? Here, Sherry Thomas has brilliantly gender-swapped the detective into Charlotte Holmes, who solves crimes using the alias Sherlock Holmes after she’s cast aside from society. This series is hilarious, fun, smart, and takes all the things you love from Conan Doyle’s original series and cleverly twists them. The narration is so good—I actually once waited for the audiobook’s release even though I had an advance copy of the print edition that I was DYING to read.
This excellent historical mystery series pairs a British-born detective and a local teen sleuth in 1930s Singapore. SuLin takes a job as a nanny to escape being married—after the previous nanny was murdered in the acting governor’s home. Sounds dangerous! I love smart and curious teen sleuths, and actress Crystal Yu really brings SuLin to life with a sweet voice that easily flows between languages.
Looking for a good LA detective series that has a tough protagonist with a messy personal life and a missing sister from childhood? Here ya go! While Elouise Lou Norton tries to solve assigned homicide cases—and work out issues with her husband and a new work partner—she’ll also find herself on the trail of what happened to her sister, who vanished years ago. Between Je Nie Fleming’s warm voice and Lou’s fighter personality, I’m always rooting for her and looking forward to the next book!
This is a detective novel with a unique twist that will regularly have you on the edge of your seat. The twist is that it starts with a homicide detective, Casey Duncan, running away to a remote/secret town to protect her best friend. This town is a haven for victims who need safety and also for criminals—and the only person who knows who is who is the sheriff! Have fun guessing as Casey works with the sheriff to keep themselves safe and solve crimes in the community. Bonus: If you like the same narrator throughout a series, Therese Plummer does a great job switching between characters without grating changes in voice.
This series is set in Canada but travels the world as Detectives Rachel Getty and Esa Khattak work for a sensitive crimes department. You get an excellent partnership between them, if that’s your favorite thing in detective novels, along with stories that spotlight social issues and bring many different communities to life. Not only do I enjoy listening to Peter Ganim’s lovely, deep-ish voice, I also get to learn how to properly pronounce a bunch of words and names. Win-win!
Forced to retire for health reasons, inspector Ashwin Chopra ends up inheriting a baby elephant and solving crimes as a PI, while also running a restaurant. I was so sold on this series just from hearing baby elephant, and it was everything I hoped for and more. It also straddles the line between cozy and detective, which gives it mass appeal—and like I said, there’s a baby elephant! There are five books in the series so far, and the audiobooks have two narrators who will transport you to India for a lovely trip of solving mysteries, making you wish you too could inherit a baby elephant.
This is a great five-book series that follows Detective Inspector Darko Dawson in Ghana and gives you glimpses of culture and family as he solves twisty mysteries. I’m not sure why book 2 never got an audiobook—publishing, am I right?—but I technically started with book 3, then 1, and then 4 and 5, and I loved the series! It starts with British narrator Simon Prebble, who is very good, but I was also happy to hear Dominic Hoffman, of A Different World fame, read the third installment!
This one is bittersweet, because Grafton passed away before Z, but since her family is honoring her request for no one else to write her series, it is now complete and ends with Y. So we are left with 25 books in this very long and very great series, which follows a PI in California. You get humor, a smart woman, great mysteries to try to solve, and some action! And since almost all the books are narrated by the same narrator, this series is perfect if you find comfort in the familiar.
