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Top 10 Downloads

Check out the most popular audiobooks downloaded or streamed from the Listening Books collection! Updated at the beginning of every month - here is March 2024

1. The Marlow Murder Club Book 3: The Queen of Poisons

Robert Thorogood

Geoffrey Lushington, Mayor of Marlow, dies suddenly during a Town Council meeting. When traces of aconite – also known as the queen of poisons – are found in his coffee cup, the police realise he was murdered. But who did it? And why? The police bring Judith, Suzie and Becks in to investigate as Civilian Advisors right from the start, so they have free rein to interview suspects and follow the evidence to their heart’s content, which is perfect because Judith has no time for rules and standard procedure. But this case has the Marlow Murder Club stumped. Who would want to kill the affable Mayor? How did they even get the poison into his coffee? And is anyone else in danger? The Marlow Murder Club are about to face their most difficult case yet . . .

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2. Death in the Clouds

Agatha Christie

From seat No.9, Hercule Poirot was ideally placed to observe his fellow air passengers. Over to his right sat a pretty young woman, clearly infatuated with the man opposite; ahead, in seat No.13, sat a Countess with a poorly-concealed cocaine habit; across the gangway in seat No.8, a detective writer was being troubled by an aggressive wasp. What Poirot did not yet realize was that behind him, in seat No.2, sat the slumped, lifeless body of a woman.

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3. Agatha Raisin: The Potted Gardener & The Walkers of Dembley

M. C. Beaton

Agatha Raisin, the Columbo of the Cotswolds, is back in four more full-cast dramas based on the bestselling books by M.C. Beaton. The Potted Gardener - When a garden festival is announced, the village of Carsely is gripped with enthusiasm for water features and mulch. But the Grim Reaper is in the garden... The Gardener's Legacy - When her arch rival at the garden festival is found hanging from her conservatory roof, Agatha is determined to dig deep and root out the wrongdoer. The Walkers of Dembley - Keen to get closer to James Lacey, Agatha joins his walking group. But she is soon embroiled in a saga of murder, lust and wellington boots. A Marriage of Convenience - Agatha and James are hired to investigate the murder of a militant rambler. They go undercover as a married couple, but it's a marriage made in hell.

4. Normal Women

Philippa Gregory

Did you know that there are more penises than women in the Bayeux Tapestry? That the Peasant’s Revolt was started and propelled by women, protesting a tax on women? Or that celebrated naturalist Charles Darwin believed not just that women were naturally inferior to men but that they’d evolve to become ever more inferior? These are just a few of the startling findings you will learn from reading Philippa Gregory’s Normal Women. In this ambitious and ground-breaking book, she tells the story of our nation over 900 years, but for the very first time women – some fifty per cent of the population – are no longer invisible in this history of England, but are at its beating heart.

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5. The Marlow Murder Club Book 2: Death Comes to Marlow

Robert Thorogood

Judith, Suzie and Becks return in the brilliant second crime novel in the Marlow Murder Club series, from the creator of the hit TV series, Death in Paradise.

It’s been an enjoyable and murder-free time for Judith, Suzie and Becks – AKA the Marlow Murder Club – since the events of last year. The most exciting thing on the horizon is the upcoming wedding of Marlow grandee, Sir Peter Bailey, to his nurse, Jenny Page. Sir Peter is having a party at his grand mansion on the river Thames the day before the wedding, and Judith and Co. are looking forward to a bit of free champagne.

But during the soiree, there’s a crash from inside the house, and when the Marlow Murder Club rush to investigate, they are shocked to find the groom-to-be crushed to death in his study.

The study was locked from the inside, so the police don’t consider the death suspicious. But Judith disagrees. As far as she's concerned, Peter was murdered! And it’s up to the Marlow Murder Club to find the killer before he or she strikes again...

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6. The Garden Party and Other Stories

Maeve Binchy

A collection of short stories from the Archives read for Radio 4, by bestselling author Maeve Binchy. Stories included are: The Garden Party read by Niamh Cusack - Helen looked down at Mrs Kennedy's garden. It was cheerfully coloured yet ordered like Mrs Kennedy. But first impressions are not always reliable. The Special Sale read by Dervla Kirwan - Yvonne's good deed leads to a romantic encounter the day after Christmas. The Sensible Celebration read by Doreen Hepburn - Are the picture perfect couple really the ones to envy? All is not as it seems... Dolly's Mother by Stella McCusker - If you were square and solid and without colour and grace it was sometimes easy to hate Mother.

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7. All That Lives

James Oswald

Two victims. Nothing connects them, except that someone buried them in the exact same way. Seven hundred years apart. An archaeological dig at the old South Leith parish kirkyard has turned up a mysterious body dating from around 700 years ago. Some suspect that this gruesome discovery is a sacrifice, placed there for a specific purpose. Then a second body is unearthed. This victim went missing only 30 years ago—but the similarities between her death and the ancient woman's suggest something even more disturbing. Drawn into the investigation, Inspector McLean finds himself torn between a worrying trend of violent drug-related deaths and uncovering what truly connects these bodies. When a third body is discovered, and too close for comfort, he begins to suspect dark purpose at play—and that whoever put them there is far from finished.

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8. Don't Look Back

Jo Spain

An explosive, unforgettable thriller from Jo Spain! For one week, everything in Luke Miller's life is perfect. Surprised with a belated honeymoon by his wife, Rose, he's had seven days with her in a Caribbean paradise. It's more than he ever thought he'd deserve. But as they pack their bags, Rose breaks down, confessing that on the day they left London, a violent man from her past tracked her down and broke into their home. He wasn't expecting her to fight back. And, in her terror, Rose killed him. Now there's a dead body in Luke's apartment, and only one person he can think to turn to. Mickey Sheils never expected to hear from Luke again, not after he disappeared the first time. Luke knows Mickey can't deny a woman who needs help, so she promises she'll deal with things - she'll make sure Rose doesn't have to keep running. But it turns out, some lies are too big to run from.

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9. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

J. R. R. Tolkein

A BBC radio full-cast dramatisation of the first book in JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy. Brian Sibley's famous 1981 adaptation, starring Ian Holm and Michael Hordern, has been divided into three corresponding parts, with newly-recorded beginning and end narration by Ian Holm.

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10. Should I Tell You?

Jill Mansell

Amber, Lachlan and Raffaele met as teenagers in the Cornish seaside home of kind-hearted foster parents. Years on, the bond between them is unbreakable But Amber has a secret. She's in love with Lachlan. She can't tell him, because that would never work—he's definitely not the settling-down type. Surely it's better to keep him as a friend than to risk losing him for good? Raffaele has his own dilemma. He had the dream girlfriend in Vee, until it all went horribly wrong...and he still can't understand why. Is Vee hiding something from him? Now their widowed foster dad Teddy has found new love. Younger, charming and beautiful, Olga seems perfect. But is she? Or will she break Teddy's fragile heart? Against a backdrop of sparkling seas and sunny skies, the unexpected is always just around the corner. Welcome to Lanrock!

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