Cup of Tea's Best Audiobooks of 2023

She Started It

A Novel

By: Sian Gilbert
Narrated by: Sarah Ovens, Anne-Marie Piazza, Ione Butler, Billie Fulford-Brown, Sarah Cullum & Ella Lynch
Length: 11 hours 13 minutes

A hot, twisty summer debut thriller about a Caribbean bachelorette party that takes a sinister turn. It’s Lord of the Flies meets And Then There Were None...but with Instagram and too much prosecco.The party of a lifetime is nothing like what they expected...Annabel, Esther, Tanya, and Chloe are best friends—or were, as children. Despite... Read more

Penance

A Novel

By: Eliza Clark
Narrated by: Hollie-Jay Bowes, Anna Gilthorpe, Emily Goldie, Evie Hargreaves, Salima Saxton & George Weightman
Length: 11 hours 50 minutes

One of Granta's Best Young British Novelists 2023 “Eliza Clark’s writing embraces the socially unacceptable and wryly explores themes of gender, power, and violence.”—Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists 2023“Chilling, clever, and unputdownable.”—GuardianFrom the author of the cult hit Boy Parts comes a chilling, brilliantly told story of... Read more

The Drift

A Novel

By: C. J. Tudor
Narrated by: Richard Armitage, Nathalie Buscombe & Rachel Handshaw
Length: 10 hours 48 minutes

Three ordinary people risk everything for a chance at redemption in this audacious, utterly gripping novel of catastrophe and survival at the end of the world, from the acclaimed author of The Chalk Man.

“The wildest thriller of the year is three thrillers in one. Buckle up.”—Linwood Barclay

FINALIST FOR THE ITW THRILLER AWARD • AN ESQUIRE BEST... Read more

Win Lose Kill Die

By: Cynthia Murphy
Narrated by: Rachel Atkins
Length: 7 hours 29 minutes

A high-school slasher with a lethal twist, perfect for fans of Holly Jackson! The students at Morton Academy are high-achievers, selected based on academic excellence. So when a series of murders target the school's best and brightest, the pressure is on.

Failure is fatal...

At the historic Morton Academy, a school for high-achievers, everyone ... Read more

Perfectly Nice Neighbors

By: Kia Abdullah
Narrated by: Tania Rodrigues
Length: 11 hours 6 minutes

“One of my ten best reads of the year. Easy five stars.” — Lisa Jewell, New York Times bestselling author of None of This is True

A twisty and consuming thriller, Perfectly Nice Neighbors asks: When your dream home comes with nightmare neighbors, how far will you go to keep your family safe?

    Salma Khatun is hopeful about Blenheim, the suburban... Read more

Red Queen

A Novel

Antonia Scott: Book #1

By: Juan Gómez-Jurado
Narrated by: Scott Brick
Length: 12 hours 54 minutes

"Scott Brick narrates this addictive audiobook, which blends dark humor and thrills... Brick skillfully builds tension and suspense, drawing the listener into the investigation alongside the main characters."- AudioFile Magazine

"...Scott Brick’s sublime performance deserves to be savored."- Library Journal

Fan favorite and acclaimed narrator... Read more

Against the Currant

By: Olivia Matthews
Narrated by: Janina Edwards
Length: 7 hours 35 minutes

“Shy baker and kick boxer Lyndsay opens a West Indian bakery in Brooklyn and has to defend herself from suspicion of murder- of another baker! A delightfully cozy mystery, with a wonderful family at its center. I loved the character development, the light (and bloodless) murder mystery and the warm, enveloping bakery vibes. And there are recipes!... Read more

The Gifts

By: Liz Hyder
Narrated by: Tuppence Middleton
Length: 12 hours 43 minutes

October 1840. A young woman staggers alone through a forest in the English countryside as a huge pair of impossible wings rip themselves from her shoulders. In London, rumors of a fallen angel cause a frenzy across the city, and a surgeon desperate for fame and fortune finds himself in the grips of a dangerous obsession, one that will place the... Read more

Outcasts

Ferryman: Book #3

By: Claire McFall
Narrated by: Chloe Pirrie
Length: 8 hours 17 minutes

Dylan and Tristan have finally found their place in the world of the living, guarding it from any wraiths that manage to break through from the wasteland. But it seems that in escaping death, they have upset a careful balance—more and more wraiths are appearing in their world, causing destruction. The wasteland itself is changing as well, with... Read more

Clytemnestra

By: Costanza Casati
Narrated by: Olivia Vinall
Length: 14 hours 54 minutes

Monarch. Mother. Murderer. Magnificent.

You were born to a king, but you marry a tyrant. You stand by helplessly as he sacrifices your child to placate the gods. You watch him wage war on a foreign shore, and you comfort yourself with violent thoughts of your own. Because this was not the first offense against you. This was not the life you ever... Read more

We Don't Swim Here

By: Vincent Tirado
Narrated by: iiKane
Length: 8 hours 34 minutes

She is the reason no one goes in the water. And she will make them pay. A chilling new novel for fans of Tiffany D. Jackson, Lamar Giles, and Ryan Douglass.



Bronwyn is only supposed to be in rural Hillwoods for a year. Her grandmother is in hospice, and her father needs to get her affairs in order. And they're all meant to make some final... Read more

The Blackhouse

A Novel

By: Carole Johnstone
Narrated by: Joe McFadden & Eilidh Beaton
Length: 13 hours 40 minutes

From the author of the “dark and devious...beautifully written” (Stephen King) Mirrorland comes an “atmospheric, thrilling, and utterly captivating” (Booklist) gothic tale set on a remote Scottish island where the locals are hiding a deadly secret.

Maggie Mackay has been haunted her entire life. No matter what she does, she can’t shake the sense... Read more

The Lagos Wife

A Novel

By: Vanessa Walters
Narrated by: Dami Olukoya & Debra Michaels
Length: 10 hours 44 minutes

This lush and suspenseful Good Morning America Book Club pick “will have you glued to every page” (HuffPost) as it follows a woman to Nigeria to uncover what happened to her missing estranged niece…no matter the cost.

Previously published as The Nigerwife.

Nicole Oruwari has the perfect life: a handsome husband, a palatial house in the heart of... Read more

Strange Sally Diamond

By: Liz Nugent
Narrated by: Jessica Regan, Stephen Hogan, Sara Lynam & Liz Nugent
Length: 10 hours 4 minutes

“A completely compelling story and perfect narration combine to make this a must-listen audio book! When Sally Diamond's father dies, she takes his directive to, 'just put me out with the rubbish' seriously. Shortly after her mistake is discovered, listeners begin to find out the past trauma that Sally faced which has formed her quirky... Read more

The Trap

By: Catherine Ryan Howard
Narrated by: John Keating & Alana Kerr Collins
Length: 9 hours 10 minutes

“I can’t believe that The Trap is the first Catherine Ryan Howard book I have listened to, but I guarantee you it won’t be my last. The cast of characters - missing women, an unreliable police task force, the grief-stricken sister of one of the missing girls, the boyfriend of one of the women, the husband of another, and a civilian in the missing... Read more