22 Best Mystery Audiobooks for Road Trips
The best mystery audiobooks for road trips will keep you awake at the wheel while you wait on baited breath to find out what happens next! Psychological thrillers, police mysteries, and famous murder mysteries are all in the mix.

If you’re heading out for a long vacation and need help keeping your focus on the drive, a surefire way to stay wide awake and at the edge of your seat is to listen to one of these best mystery audiobooks for road trips!
Several of these mystery books came highly recommended by the members of the Peanut Blossom Book Club. If you want additional titles for your Kindle, you can see the list of murder mystery books they love here.
But road trips are another story.
For a mystery audiobook to keep your attention on the drive, it needs to have:
- A Fantastic Narrator
- A Gripping Plot
- Plenty of Action
- Lots of Suspense
I took the best books from the book club recommendations and added several more that had super-high ratings on Audible.
These are the most popular mysteries that cross a variety of niche genres including:
- Psychological Thrillers
- Traditional Murder Mysteries
- Cozy Mysteries
- Historical Mysteries
- Woman’s Fiction Suspense
- And yes, even Classic Mysteries by Agatha Christie. After all, she is the world’s most popular mystery writer for a reason!
So queue up one of these exciting mystery audiobooks for your trip but don’t miss checking out the last title on the list — the book of mystery short stories could be perfect for a road trip where you want to take breaks from your story!
Best Mystery Audiobooks for Road Trips
Need a nail biting, finger gripping mystery audiobook to keep you awake on your next road trip? Don't miss these awesome picks that will be sure to keep you wide awake at the wheel.
After Tova Sullivanโs husband died, she began working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, mopping floors and tidying up. Keeping busy has always helped her cope, which sheโs been doing since her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on a boat in Puget Sound over thirty years ago.
Tova becomes acquainted with curmudgeonly Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium. Marcellus knows more than anyone can imagine but wouldnโt dream of lifting one of his eight arms for his human captorsโuntil he forms a remarkable friendship with Tova.
Ever the detective, Marcellus deduces what happened the night Tovaโs son disappeared. And now Marcellus must use every trick his old invertebrate body can muster to unearth the truth for her before itโs too late.ย
From the internationally best-selling author who Stephen King calls โan absolute masterโ, a โgripping and eerieโ (Karin Slaughter) thriller about a dangerous young woman with the ability to know when someone is lying - and the criminal psychologist who must outwit her to survive.
A girl is discovered hiding in a secret room in the aftermath of a terrible crime. Half-starved and filthy, she wonโt tell anyone her name, or her age, or where she came from. Maybe she is 12, maybe 15. She doesnโt appear in any missing persons file, and her DNA canโt be matched to an identity. Six years later, still unidentified, she is living in a secure childrenโs home with a new name, Evie Cormac. When she initiates a court case demanding the right to be released as an adult, forensic psychologist Cyrus Haven must determine if Evie is ready to go free. But she is unlike anyone heโs ever met - fascinating and dangerous in equal measure.ย
The Silent Patientย is a shocking psychological thriller of a womanโs act of violence against her husband - and of the therapist obsessed with uncovering her motive.ย
Alicia Berensonโs life is seemingly perfect. A famous painter married to an in-demand fashion photographer, she lives in a grand house with big windows overlooking a park in one of Londonโs most desirable areas. One evening, her husband, Gabriel, returns home late from a fashion shoot, and Alicia shoots him five times in the face and then never speaks another word.ย ย
From theย New York Timesย best-selling author ofย Moriartyย andย Trigger Mortis, this fiendishly brilliant, riveting thriller weaves a classic whodunit worthy of Agatha Christie into a chilling, ingeniously original modern-day mystery.
When editor Susan Ryeland is given the manuscript of Alan Conway's latest novel, she has no reason to think it will be much different from any of his others. After working with the best-selling crime writer for years, she's intimately familiar with his detective, Atticus Pรผnd, who solves mysteries disturbing sleepy English villages. An homage to queens of classic British crime such as Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers, Alan's traditional formula has proved hugely successful. So successful that Susan must continue to put up with his troubling behavior if she wants to keep her job.
For listeners of Gillian Flynn and Tana French comes one of the decade's most anticipated debuts, to be published in 36 languages around the world and already in development as a major film from Fox: A twisty, powerful Hitchcockian thriller about an agoraphobic woman who believes she witnessed a crime in a neighboring house.ย
It isn't paranoia if it's really happening....ย ย
In this smart and chilling thriller, master of suspense Mary Kubica takes domestic secrets to a whole new level, showing that some people will stop at nothing to keep the truth buried.
People don't just disappear without a trace....
Shelby Tebow is the first to go missing. Not long after, Meredith Dickey and her six-year-old daughter, Delilah, vanish just blocks away from where Shelby was last seen, striking fear into their once-peaceful community. Are these incidents connected? After an elusive search that yields more questions than answers, the case eventually goes cold.
Now, 11 years later, Delilah shockingly returns. Everyone wants to know what happened to her, but no one is prepared for what they'll find....
A wedding celebration turns dark and deadly in this deliciously wicked and atmospheric thriller reminiscent of Agatha Christie from theย New York Timesย best-selling author ofย The Hunting Party.
The bride - the plus one - the best man - the wedding planner - the bridesmaid - the body.
On an island off the coast of Ireland, guests gather to celebrate two people joining their lives together as one. The groom: handsome and charming, a rising television star. The bride: smart and ambitious, a magazine publisher. Itโs a wedding for a magazine or for a celebrity: the designer dress, the remote location, the luxe party favors, the boutique whiskey. The cell phone service may be spotty and the waves may be rough, but every detail has been expertly planned and will be expertly executed.
The world's best-selling mystery!
"Ten..." Ten strangers are lured to an isolated island mansion off the Devon coast by a mysterious "U.N. Owen".
"Nine..." At dinner a recorded message accuses each of them in turn of having a guilty secret, and by the end of the night one of the guests is dead.
"Eight..." Stranded by a violent storm, and haunted by a nursery rhyme counting down one by one...one by one they begin to die.
"Seven..." Who among them is the killer? And will any of them survive?
Can you stop a murder after itโs already happened?
Late October. After midnight. Youโre waiting up for your seventeen-year-old son. Heโs late. As you watch from the window, he emerges, and you realize he isnโt alone: heโs walking toward a man, and heโs armed.
You canโt believe it when you see him do it: your funny, happy teenage son, he kills a stranger, right there on the street outside your house. You donโt know who. You donโt know why. You only know your son is now in custody. His future shattered.
That night you fall asleep in despair. All is lost. Until you wake . . .
. . . and it is yesterday.
Everyone knows a couple like Jack and Grace. He has looks and wealth; she has charm and elegance. He's a dedicated attorney who has never lost a case; she is a flawless homemaker, a masterful gardener and cook, and dotes on her disabled younger sister. Though they are still newlyweds, they seem to have it all. You might not want to like them, but you do. You're hopelessly charmed by the ease and comfort of their home, by the graciousness of the dinner parties they throw. Youโd like to get to know Grace better.ย
But it's difficult, because you realize Jack and Grace are inseparable.ย
Some might call this true love. Others might wonder why Grace never answers the phone. Or why she can never meet for coffee, even though she doesn't work. How she can cook such elaborate meals but remain so slim. Or why she never seems to take anything with her when she leaves the house, not even a pen. Or why there are such high-security metal shutters on all the downstairs windows.ย
Some might wonder what's really going on once the dinner party is over and the front door has closed.ย
When Chloe Davis was 21, six teenage girls went missing in her small Louisiana town. By the end of the summer, her own father had confessed to the crimes and was put away for life, leaving Chloe and the rest of her family to grapple with the truth and try to move forward while dealing with the aftermath.
Now 20 years later, Chloe is a psychologist in Baton Rouge and getting ready for her wedding. While she finally has a fragile grasp on the happiness sheโs worked so hard to achieve, she sometimes feels as out of control of her own life as the troubled teens who are her patients. So when a local teenage girl goes missing, and then another, that terrifying summer comes crashing back. Is she paranoid, seeing parallels from her past that aren't actually there, or for the second time in her life, is Chloe about to unmask a killer?
In development as a major motion picture produced by and starring Florence Pughย
Molly Gray is not like everyone else. She struggles with social skills and misreads the intentions of others. Her gran used to interpret the world for her, codifying it into simple rules that Molly could live by.
Since Gran died a few months ago, twenty-five-year-old Molly has been navigating lifeโs complexities all by herself. No matterโshe throws herself with gusto into her work as a hotel maid. Her unique character, along with her obsessive love of cleaning and proper etiquette, make her an ideal fit for the job. She delights in donning her crisp uniform each morning, stocking her cart with miniature soaps and bottles, and returning guest rooms at the Regency Grand Hotel to a state of perfection.
On a beautiful summer night in a charming English suburb, a young woman and her boyfriend disappear after partying at the massive country estate of a new college friend.
One year later, a writer moves into a cottage on the edge of the woods that border the same estate. Known locally as the Dark Place, the dense forest is the writerโs favorite place for long walks and itโs on one such walk that she stumbles upon a mysterious note that simply reads, โDIG HERE.โ
Could this be a clue towards what has happened to the missing young couple? And what exactly is buried in this haunted ground?
Sarah Morgan is a successful and powerful defense attorney in Washington D.C. At 33 years old, she is a named partner at her firm and life is going exactly how she planned.ย
The same cannot be said for her husband, Adam. He is a struggling writer who has had little success in his career. He begins to tire of his and Sarahโs relationship as she is constantly working.ย
Out in the secluded woods, at Adam and Sarahโs second home, Adam engages in a passionate affair with Kelly Summers.ย
Then, one morning everything changes. Adam is arrested for Kellyโs murder. She has been found stabbed to death in Adam and Sarahโs second home.ย
Sarah soon finds herself playing the defender for her own husband, a man accused of murdering his mistress.ย
But is Adam guilty or is he innocent?
Four septuagenarians with a few tricks up their sleeves.
A female cop with her first big case.
A brutal murder.
Welcome to...
The Thursday Murder Club
In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet weekly in the Jigsaw Room to discuss unsolved crimes; together, they call themselves the Thursday Murder Club.ย
When a local developer is found dead with a mysterious photograph left next to the body, the Thursday Murder Club suddenly find themselves in the middle of their first live case.ย
As the bodies begin to pile up, can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer, before it's too late?
Theย New York Timesย best-selling author ofย Magpie Murdersย andย Moriartyย brilliantly reinvents the classic crime novel once again with this clever and inventive mystery starring a fictional version of the author himself as the Watson to a modern-day Holmes, investigating a case involving buried secrets, murder, and a trail of bloody clues.
A woman crosses a London street.
It is just after 11 a.m. on a bright spring morning, and she is going into a funeral parlor to plan her own service.
Six hours later the woman is dead, strangled with a crimson curtain cord in her own home.
Enter disgraced police detective Daniel Hawthorne, a brilliant, eccentric man as quick with an insult as he is to crack a case. And Hawthorne has a partner, the celebrated novelist Anthony Horowitz, curious about the case and looking for new material.
Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Surรชtรฉ du Quรฉbec and his team of investigators are called in to the scene of a suspicious death in a rural village south of Montreal. Jane Neal, a local fixture in the tiny hamlet of Three Pines, just north of the U.S. border, has been found dead in the woods.
The locals are certain itโs a tragic hunting accident and nothing more, but Gamache smells something foul in these remote woods, and is soon certain that Jane Neal died at the hands of someone much more sinister than a careless bowhunter.ย
Still Lifeย introduces not only an engaging series hero in Inspector Gamache, who commands his forces - and this series - with integrity and quiet courage, but also a winning and talented new writer of traditional mysteries in the person of Louise Penny.
One of Audible's Best of 2022
Killers hiding in plain sight. Small-town secrets. A girl who knows too much. From the Amazon Charts bestselling author ofย Unspeakable Thingsย andย Bloodlineย comes a nerve-twisting novel inspired by a shocking true crime.
Minnesota, 1977. For the teens of one close-knit community, summer means late-night swimming parties at the quarry, the county fair, and venturing into the tunnels beneath the city. But for two best friends, itโs not all fun and games.
Heather and Brenda have a secret. Something they saw in the dark. Something they canโt forget. Theyโve decided to never tell a soul. But their vow is tested when their friend disappearsโthe second girl to vanish in a week. And yet the authorities are reluctant to investigate.
Heather is terrified that the missing girls are connected to what she and Brenda stumbled upon that night. Desperately searching for answers on her own, she learns that no one in her community is who they seem to be. Not the police, not the boys she met at the quarry, not even her parents. But she canโt stop digging because she knows those girls are in danger.
She also knows sheโs next.
Itโs been a decade since Trumanell Branson disappeared, leaving only a bloody handprint behind. Her pretty face still hangs like a watchful queen on the posters on the walls of the townโs Baptist church, the police station, and in the high school. They all promise the same thing: We will find you. Meanwhile, Tru's brother, Wyatt, lives as a pariah in the desolation of the old family house, cleared of wrongdoing by the police but tried and sentenced in the court of public opinion and in a new documentary about the crime.
When Wyatt finds a lost girl dumped in a field of dandelions, making silent wishes, he believes she is a sign. The townโs youngest cop, Odette Tucker, believes she is a catalyst that will ignite a seething town still waiting for its own missing girl to come home. But Odette canโt look away. She shares a wound that wonโt close with the mute, one-eyed mystery girl. And she is haunted by her own history with the missing Tru.
Desperate to solve both cases, Odette fights to save the lost girl in the present and to dig up the shocking truth about a fateful night in the past - the night her friend disappeared, the night that inspired her to become a cop, the night that wrote them all a role in the townโs dark, violent mythology.
Maisie Dobbs got her start as a maid in an aristocratic London household when she was thirteen. Her employer, suffragette Lady Rowan Compton, soon became her patron, taking the remarkably bright youngster under her wing. Lady Rowanโs friend, Maurice Blanche, often retained as an investigator by the European elite, recognized Maisieโs intuitive gifts and helped her earn admission to the prestigious Girton College in Cambridge, where Maisie planned to complete her education.
The outbreak of war changed everything. Maisie trained as a nurse, then left for France to serve at the Front, where she foundโand lostโan important part of herself. Ten years after the Armistice, in the spring of 1929, Maisie sets out on her own as a private investigator, one who has learned that coincidences are meaningful, and truth elusive. Her very first case involves suspected infidelity but reveals something different.
Mma โPreciousโ Ramotswe sets up a detective agency in Botswana on the edge of the Kalahari Desert, making her the only female detective in the country. At first, cases are hard to come by. But eventually, troubled people come to Precious with a variety of concerns. Potentially philandering husbands, seemingly schizophrenic doctors, and a missing boy who may have been killed by witch doctors all compel Precious to roam about in her tiny van, searching for clues.
At last, a single volume that gathers together all of the short stories featuring Agatha Christie's most famous creation, Hercule Poirot.ย
The dapper, mustache-twirling little Belgian with the egg-shaped head and curious mannerisms has solved some of the most puzzling crimes of the century - and, in his own humble opinion, is "probably the greatest detective in the world".
In this complete collection of more than 50 stories, ranging from short tales to novellas, Poirot faces violent murders, poisonings, kidnappings, and thefts - all solved with his characteristic panache. Only Agatha Christie could have devised cases worthy of Hercule Poirot's skill and "little gray cells".ย
More Audiobooks for Road Trips
Looking for more great audiobooks to listen to while you drive? Don’t miss these other great picks: