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.
What if the only way to prevent a murder is by confessing to it? Jemma Stelling has confessed to a murder - one she can't have committed. She has an unshakeable alibi: when Marianne Upton was stabbed to death outside her home, Jemma was at the police station confessing to a murderous obsession with Marianne and a plan to kill her in precisely the way she was killed. So is Jemma innocent? Or is she an ingenious, cold-blooded murderer?
Borrow The Opposite of Murder by Sophie Hannah
It's nearly Christmas and Leon has had a Brilliant Idea. A holiday - to enable a very reluctant Max to recover from her recently acquired injuries. Devon, 1924 - Martingale Manor. Lovely surroundings, good food and very pleasant guests. Or, as they soon become known - the usual suspects. They mysterious older woman. The absent-minded clergyman. The doctor. The military man. The charming young couple. Because this is the world of Agatha Christie and before long one of them is dead. And when the police arrive, the only person without a cast-iron alibi is. . . Leon. It was supposed to be a holiday, for heaven's sake.
Borrow Murder at Martingale Manor by Jodi Taylor
Acting on a tip from a confidential informant, Stilwell and his deputies watch a plane land in the middle of the night at the Airport in the Sky, a remote airstrip in the mountains. A duffel bag of drugs is dropped and the deputies move in, but things quickly go sideways. While Stilwell chases the fleeing pickup man into the mountainside brush, shots are fired on the runway and the plane flies off. Stilwell and Ballard work the case from both sides of the channel, and soon realize they are on the trail of a criminal who revels in taunting the authorities. Meanwhile, frustrated at being shut out of an investigation on his own island, Stilwell risks his already shaky standing in the department to pursue a case whose reach is wider than he ever imagine.
Borrow Ironwood by Michael Connelly
Zoe Pascal has settled into her new life in the picturesque village of Sainte-Catherine, running her beloved bookshop with her new companion, Russell the dog. When an old friend invites Zoe to join her family at Chateau Palotte for the holidays, Zoe heads off into the French countryside to the grand, yet slightly dilapidated, castle. But there's a frosty atmosphere at the chateau - and when the butler is found dead, Zoe is forced to ask: Was this an accident, or is there a murderer in the grounds? Soon, Zoe uncovers that everyone staying at the chateau has a motive for murder - can she uncover the truth, before they strike again?
Borrow The Chateau Murder by Greg Mosse
In modern Vienna, the infamous Hotel Orient glitters at the heart of the city, luring lovers inside for an evening of debauchery. Behind its velvet curtain, cameras are forbidden, aliases are required, and every guest has something to hide. For those seeking illicit liaisons, Sterling Lockwood is the perfect concierge. Sultry and poised, she's the ultimate keeper of secrets, including her own. But when dawn breaks and two of the anonymous guests are found dead in their suite, Sterling must break the Orient's sacred code of discretion, turning detective to find a killer and clear her own name. Alongside Fernando, her quick-witted friend and bellhop, Sterling steps beyond the hotel's stained-glass doors, venturing from grand coffee houses where power whispers between porcelain cups, to dimly lit bars where the curious seek rapturous oblivion, and risking everything to solve an impossible case.
Borrow Murder at the Hotel Orient by Allessandra Ranelli
1950: Seventeen-year-old Josephine Cliffe and her younger sister, Eliza, have the perfect lives, wanting for nothing in the huge house they live in with their parents in Sydney, Australia. But when her father's mining company falls apart, the family are left with nothing. They have no choice but to return to Durham, England, to live with their harsh, mean-spirited grandmother. Life in England isn't what Jo expects, and as bad luck continues to follow the Cliffe family, she'll need to rely on the local community if her family are to survive. But will Jo be able to find a new beginning in Durham?
Borrow A Daughter's Hope by Elizabeth Gill
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.
Borrow The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
In her letters to family and friends we come to know the life of Sybil Van Antwerp: stubborn, cantankerous, opinionated, always steadfast in her belief in the power of the written word.
But as the clock begins to tick for Sybil, the need for a few post-scripts to the life she's led becomes apparent. Fixing her difficult relationship with her children. Taking a final chance at romance. Atoning for an old legal case which has come back to haunt her. And finally, reckoning with a devastating loss that she has spent the last thirty years holding close to her chest.
Love at first sight, a whirlwind Vegas wedding, a fairy-tale romance. For seventy-nine days, Tavish Advani has been the happiest man in the world-until his new life turns to ash, his wealthy in-laws' house going up in a fiery explosion. His badly injured wife lies in a coma, her family all but annihilated. Tavish thought he left the sins of his Los Angeles life behind, but it's not so easy to leave behind an investigation into the deaths of several high-profile women-all of whom he professed to love. Tragedy and death follow him no matter where he goes . . . but this time, he knows he's innocent. Desperately trying to clear his name as the authorities zero in, he begins his own investigation into the fire-and learns that his wife's picture-perfect family may have been nothing but a meticulously constructed mirage. The truth is much darker than anything Tavish could've imagined . . .
Borrow Such a Perfect Family by Nalini Singh
TO KILL A MONSTER, SHE MUST BECOME ONE . . . As the emperor lays dying, the once-great Azalea Dynasty plunges towards civil war. While its princes plot for power, a more hidden war - to become the next empress - occupies the imperial court. Wei Yin - peasant girl turned concubine to the cruel Prince Terren - has already endured unimaginable suffering. Ripped from her family, she has no title, no allies, and no escape. But she does have a secret . . . In the shadows of the palace, surrounded by enemies, she is learning a skill forbidden to women. Because when words are weapons and poetry holds an ancient magic, the fate of a girl - and a nation - can both be rewritten. All she has to do is compose the perfect poem - a tale so powerful, it can kill any man, even the next emperor.
Borrow The Poet Empress by Shen Tao