Each month, we highlight a selection of the top titles borrowed from the Listening Books collection — the audiobooks our members have borrowed the most this month.
"Welcome to the family," Nina Winchester says as I shake her elegant, manicured hand. I smile politely, gazing around the marble hallway. Working here is my last chance to start fresh. I can pretend to be whoever I like. But I'll soon learn that the Winchesters' secrets are far more dangerous than my own...
This unbelievably twisty read will have you glued to the pages late into the night. Anyone who loves The Girl on the Train won't be able to put down The Housemaid!
Borrow The Housemaid by Freida McFadden
She's looking for the perfect man. He's looking for the perfect victim.
Sydney Shaw, like every single woman in New York, has terrible luck with dating. She's seen it all: men who lie in their dating profile, men who stick her with the dinner bill, and worst of all, men who can't shut up about their mothers. But finally, she hits the jackpot.
Her new boyfriend is utterly perfect. He's charming, handsome, and works as a doctor at a local hospital. Sydney is swept off her feet. Then the brutal murder of a young woman - the latest in a string of deaths across the coast - confounds police. The primary suspect? A mystery man who dates his victims before he kills them.
Sydney should feel safe. After all, she is dating the guy of her dreams. But she can't shake her own suspicions that the perfect man may not be as perfect as he seems. Because someone is watching her every move, and if she doesn't get to the truth, she'll be the killer's next victim...
Borrow The Boyfriend by Freida McFadden
Gourmet cook Manako Kajii sits in Tokyo Detention Centre convicted of the serial murders of lonely businessmen, who she is said to have seduced with her delicious home cooking. The case has captured the nation’s imagination but Kajii refuses to speak with the press. That is, until journalist Rika Machida writes a letter asking for her recipe for beef stew and Kajii can’t resist writing back. Rika, the only woman in her news office, works late each night, rarely cooking more than ramen. As the visits unfold between her and the steely Kajii, they are closer to a masterclass in food than journalistic research. Rika hopes this gastronomic exchange will help her soften Kajii but it seems that she might be the one changing. With each meal she eats, something is awakening in her body. Might she and Kaji have more in common than she once thought?
Borrow Butter by Asako Yuzuki
Feathers are flying in Agatha Raisin's brand new case! Agatha Raisin can think of nothing duller than a lecture on birdwatching...but events take a thrilling turn when an angry interloper storms the stage at the Carsely Ladies' Society and threatens the three bird fanatics. When Agatha walks in on the trio of women in the middle of a blazing row, her detective instincts start 'twitching'. And when one of the birdwatchers is found dead, she can't resist investigating. Her first lead comes from the victim's brother, who believes his sister was murdered by her fellow twitchers. Further digging reveals the disturbing nature of the women's friendship, and a bewilderingly long list of suspects. Agatha will have to break out her binoculars and embrace her bitter side to solve the murders. Will she be able to gather all the breadcrumbs and put together the clues before she becomes a sitting duck herself?
Borrow Sugar and Spite by M. C. Beaton and R. W. Green
Once, Sera Swan was one of the most powerful witches in Britain. Then she resurrected her great-aunt Jasmine from the (very recently) dead, lost most of her powers, befriended a semi-villainous talking fox, and was exiled from her Guild. Now she helps Jasmine run an enchanted inn in Lancashire, where she deals with their quirky guests' shenanigans and longs for a future that seems lost. Until she finds about an old spell that could restore her power...Enter Luke Larsen, handsome magical historian, who might have the key to unlocking the spell's secrets. Luke has no interest in the inn's madcap goings-on, and is even less interested in letting a certain bewitching innkeeper past his walls. So no one is more surprised than he is when he agrees to help. Running an inn, reclaiming lost power, and staying one step ahead of the watchful Guild is a lot for anyone, but Sera is about to discover she doesn't have to do alone - and that love might be the best magic of all.
Borrow A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna
August 2010. The Tobins - a happy, well-off family - spend a sunny afternoon at a birthday party with friends. By dawn, most of them are dead. It's a crime that grabs headlines and shocks the nation. The key suspect, Aidan Tobin, was known as a loving husband and father, but his desperate attempt to take his own life is as good as a confession. The case begins and ends with him. August 2021. A survivor of the attacks regains a memory of that horrific night. Chloë Tobin never believed her father was guilty. Only six at the time, she is the sole witness to the brutal attacks. Now, she insists that somebody else was involved. Could she be right? DI Matt Lockyer and DC Gemma Broad of Wiltshire Police's cold case unit aren't so sure. But as they begin to investigate, they soon discover there's more to this case than meets the eye. After all, why would a man who had everything destroy it all?
Borrow Vital Signs by Kate Webb
Lady Rose Summer prides herself on not being a jealous woman - and she knows her engagement to Captain Harry Cathcart is only a ruse to keep her parents from shipping her off to India to find a husband. But then Harry's latest client, Dolores Duval - French, curvaceous, flirtatious - starts appearing everywhere at his side. And that changes everything. In a fit of temper Rose threatens Dolores - only to be found the very next day standing over her dead body. Only Harry can clear Rose's name - and to do that he has to put the real murderer behind bars...
Borrow Our Lady of Pain by M. C. Beaton
The Lancashire town of Burnley is a typical British melting pot. Where drugs, violence and human trafficking rub shoulders with grand houses and rolling moors... and now two people have been found dead - are they suicides or is there something darker lurking in this community? DI Jane Hacker grew up in Burnley but fled to London after the death of her teenage brother. Now, she's back caring for her sick mother and heading up a crime unit that doesn't trust her instincts. It's time Jane finally faces up to the truth of the town's past and present to track down a sadistic killer, before it is too late.
Borrow Her Last Breath by M.J. Arlidge and Alex Khan
Pride and Prejudice is one of the most beloved novels of all time. Elizabeth Bennett, the book's poverty-bound heroine has charmed readers with her wit and sincerity since the book was first published in 1813. Its hero, the handsome and wealthy Mr. Darcy, infuriates Elizabeth - and women readers around the world - with his rude arrogance, but all fall in love with him anyway.
A comedy of manners, romance, and neighborhood drama - it's all there and more.
Borrow Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Continuing the story begun in The Hobbit, this is the first part of Tolkien's epic masterpiece, The Lord of the Rings. Sauron, the Dark Lord, has gathered to him all the Rings of Power - the means by which he intends to rule Middle-earth. All he lacks in his plans for dominion is the One Ring - the ring that rules them all - which has fallen into the hands of the hobbit, Bilbo Baggins. In a sleepy village in the Shire, young Frodo Baggins finds himself faced with an immense task, as his elderly cousin Bilbo entrusts the Ring to his care. Frodo must leave his home and make a perilous journey across Middle-earth to the Cracks of Doom, there to destroy the Ring and foil the Dark Lord in his evil purpose.
Borrow The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring by J R R Tolkien