AudioFile was excited to host a live conversation with four narrators of British mystery audiobooks. Watch Antonia Beamish, John Hopkins, Jennifer Kirby, and Aoife McMahon perform live readings from new and favorite mystery audiobooks—including titles that inspired the popular crime drama television series "Midsomer Murders" and "Whitstable Pearl"—and answer audience questions about their work. Learn about how they got their start narrating audiobooks, their favorite characters to perform, and more in this fascinating discussion.
John Hopkins narrates a selection from the first book in Caroline Graham's popular Midsomer Murders series, THE KILLINGS AT BADGER'S DRIFT. John tells us about acting in the television series and how it influenced his portrayals in the newly recorded audiobook series. First published in 1987, THE KILLINGS AT BADGER'S DRIFT is a complicated murder mystery with multidimensional characters and murders galore. John draws listeners into the tiny hamlet of Badger's Drift, where DCI Barnaby and DS Troy investigate an elderly woman's murder. Listeners can hear John narrate the subsequent books in the series as well.
Aoife McMahon reads from HIGH PRESSURE, Sam Blake's mystery set in London and featuring an anti-terrorism expert and a girl desperately searching for her sister after an explosion. Aoife tells us about how she handles reading tense audiobooks like this one, and her approach to accents and characterizations. Listeners can also hear Aoife's talents in Sally Rooney's Earphones Award-winning audiobooks NORMAL PEOPLE and BEAUTIFUL WORLD, WHERE ARE YOU.
Narrator Jennifer Kirby narrates a selection from Julie Wassmer's MURDER AT MOUNT EPHRAIM, her ninth book in the Whitstable Pearl series, also a popular television series. She gets to play with a whole household of vicious wedding guests in a Christie-esque mystery set in an English country house. Listeners hear her skill as she voices Pearl Nolan, a restaurant owner who sets up a small-time detective agency. Pearl hopes for a break at the wedding of friends but unfortunately has to put her detective skills to use when faced with a gruesome murder.
Antonia Beamish reads from the beginning of THE DEADLY HOUSES, book six in Charlie Gallagher's Detective Maddie Ives series. It's an intense thriller that revolves around convicted domestic abusers, motivated by revenge and rage, who terrorize those they think are responsible for breaking up their families and homes. Beamish's Earphones Award-winning narration is described as a tour de force by our reviewer, who warns that the audiobook will ignite a thrilling full-body experience.
Narrator images courtesy of the narrators.
