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.
Maggie Tyson loves living in the utterly charming village, Mousehole. She spends her days walking the local coastal paths, solving the latest crossword puzzle, and working in the small town's only fish and chip shop. Looking for a fresh start, Ryan Stepney is in desperate need of a job, and stumbles across a vacancy at the chip shop. When a body is found by the harbour, shock ripples through the village. And as Ryan was the last person seen talking to the victim, he becomes the number one suspect in the investigation. Maggie is certain that her new colleague had nothing to do with the murder, so swaps her apron for a magnifying glass, and starts to investigate herself. Can Maggie prove Ryan's innocence and reel in the killer, before they strike again?
Borrow The Fish and Chip Shop Detectives by Jenny Kane
Ali Dawson is a police detective who leads a unit that investigates cases so cold her team must travel to the distant past to solve them. But Ali and the team haven't been allowed to time-travel ever since their technical expert, Jones, got stuck in Victorian London, never to be seen again. To distract herself from meaningless tasks, Ali decides to look into a present-day case - an apparent suicide of a young man who fell to his death from a high building. She believes the death is linked to a psychic medium called Barry Power, who convinced the boy he could fly. When Ali notices that evening that her cat, Terry, has gone missing, she decides to go back in time just long enough to prevent Terry from escaping through his open cat flap. A dangerous plan which backfires, and she finds herself once more in Victorian London, where she meets Jones, as well as Power, and the darkly mysterious Cain Templeton with whom Ali has unfinished business from her previous visit to the past . . .
Borrow The Killing Time by Elly Griffiths
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
It's Bathory University's 25-year reunion. The Class of 2000 reassemble - and old flames and old feuds are quicky reignited. Laurence still loves Diana. Mags still hates Bill. Tillie wants Ed. Ryan wants revenge. Rob turned out good. J.D. turned out bad. Lilah's not the same. And as for Marty... But when murder strikes, the clues to the killing can be found a quarter of a century ago on Graduation Day 2000. As the secrets, tragedies and betrayals from years gone by play out at the reunion, someone is taught a deadly lesson. Eleven witnesses - or are they suspects? - from the Bathory students and staff recount events in the years 2000 and 2025 while the murder trial unfolds before us. But who is the victim? Who is accused of being the killer? And is the right person even on trial?
Borrow A Degree of Murder by Maz Evans
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
When 18-year-old Christian Shaw is found dead in an Edinburgh park, the city reels - and the shock only deepens when police charge her best friends, Eliza Lawson and Isobel Smyth, with her murder. As their trial begins and headlines scream for justice, rumours of bullying spiral into something darker: whispers of rituals, obsession, and a teenage pact gone wrong. But then the girls take the stand - revealing a chilling defence no one saw coming - and the jury must question everything: the motives, the evidence, even their own judgement. Who's telling the truth? Who can be trusted? And what really happened to Christian Shaw? Let the Witch Trial begin . . .
Borrow Witch Trial by Harriet Tyce
It was a mistake to trust him. Shivering and bruised, a teen wakes up on the side of a dirt road with no memory of how she got there—or who she is. The police don't know where she came from until a frantic man arrives at the station. He's been searching for her for hours. He has her school ID, her birth certificate, and even family photos. He is her father. Her name is Mary. Or so he says. When Lola slammed the car door and stormed off into the night, Drew thought they just needed some time to cool off. Except Lola disappeared. Now his friends, the sheriff, and the whole town are convinced Drew murdered his girlfriend. Forget proving his innocence—he needs to find her. The longer Lola is missing, the fewer leads there are to follow ... and the more danger they both are in.
Borrow That’s Not My Name by Megan Lally
At just eight years old, Jodie is violent, aggressive and extremely challenging. Five carers in four months have been unable to cope, but there is one last hope: Cathy Glass… As Jodie begins to trust Cathy and make progress, shocking details about her past come to light. No one had noticed the glaring signs of abuse by those who were supposed to love her most. One of Cathy’s earliest and bestselling memoirs, Damaged is a heartbreaking story that proves just how valuable foster carers are for society’s most vulnerable children.
Borrow Damaged by Cathy Glass
After a brief and ill-advised dalliance with the Suffragette movement, Lady Rose Summers' debut season in London society turns out to be a complete disaster. Rose's father suspects that her fiancé, Sir Geoffrey Blandon, is a first class scoundrel and calls in Captain Harry Cathcart to investigate. But when a malicious guest is found dead in suspicious circumstances, Rose becomes far more interested in discovering the truth than in landing a more appropriate suitor. As Harry and Rose begin to unravel this web of lies and rumours, a clever murderer sets out to make Rose's disastrous first season her last.
Borrow Snobbery with Violence by M. C. Beaton
A life of poverty in a cramped pit cottage is all that 17-year-old Ruby Dinsdale has known. Even with her father and younger brother working at the coal mine, money is tight. Her mother, Mary, is skilled at stretching what little they have, but the small contribution Ruby makes from her job at the local pub makes all the difference. So when Ruby is sacked, and Mary becomes pregnant again, the family's challenges are greater than ever. When charming Miner Gordon begins to court Ruby, it seems as though happiness is on the horizon, until she uncovers a deeper betrayal than she could ever have imagined. But although the Dinsdales are materially poor, they are rich in love, friendship and determination - all qualities that they will draw on to get them through whatever lies ahead.
Borrow The Miner's Lass by Glenda Young