Host Jo Reed welcomes AudioFile publisher Michele Cobb to discuss three powerful memoirs, narrated by their authors. Booker Prize–winning writer Arundhati Roy returns with a complex look at her relationship with her challenging and ‘visionary,’ mother in MOTHER MARY COMES TO ME; an unflinching, polarizing memoir about Elizabeth Gilbert’s sex and love addiction in ALL THE WAY TO THE RIVER; and VAGABOND, a restrained dive into the long, varied career of inimitable actor Tim Curry. Read our reviews of the audiobooks at our website:  MOTHER MARY COMES TO ME: Published by Simon & Schuster Audio ALL THE WAY TO THE RIVER: Published by Penguin Audio VAGABOND: Published by Hachette Audio Discover thousands of audiobook reviews and more at AudioFile’s website Support for AudioFile’s Behind the Mic comes from HarperCollins Focus and HarperCollins Christian Publishing, publishers of some of your favorite audiobooks and authors, including Reba McEntire, Bob Goff, Kathie Lee Gifford, Max Lucado, Lysa TerKeurst, and so many more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Golden Voice narrator January LaVoy speaks to AudioFile publisher Michele Cobb about the most recent entry in Patricia Cornwell’s Scarpetta Series, SHARP FORCE. January is a nine-time Audie Award winner, and she shares what it's like to revisit the voice of enduring character Kay Scarpetta, a forensic pathologist who now must deal with a new nightmare where tech, AI, and murder converge. January discusses how she keeps character voices consistent from book to book, and how she balances narrating technical passages with keeping the pace thrilling for listeners. This episode is brought to you by Hachette Audio. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today host Jo Reed welcomes AudioFile’s founder and editor, Robin Whitten, to discuss Phillip Pullman’s world and THE ROSE FIELD, read by Michael Sheen, the much anticipated conclusion of the extraordinary epic fantasy. It began in 1999 with THE GOLDEN COMPASS and with the story of Lyra Silvertongue, in an all-time-favorite full-cast performance. Lyra’s story plays out over six audiobooks—a double trilogy, HIS DARK MATERIALS and THE BOOK OF DUST. We could revel in Pullman’s alternate universe for hours, but for this episode, Jo and Robin compare the different narrations and storytelling styles of the audiobooks that bring Pullman’s imagination to us.  Read our reviews of the audiobooks at our website:  THE ROSE FIELD:  Published by Listening Library THE GOLDEN COMPASS: Published by Listening Library THE BOOK OF DUST: Published by Listening Library Discover thousands of audiobook reviews and more at AudioFile’s website Support for AudioFile’s Behind the Mic comes from HarperCollins Focus,, and HarperCollins Christian Publishing, publishers of some of your favorite audiobooks and authors, including Reba McEntire, Bob Goff, Kathie Lee Gifford, Max Lucado, Lysa TerKeurst, and so many more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Author Brian Andrews, who is, along with Jeffrey Wilson, half of the author duo Andrews & Wilson, speaks with AudioFile publisher Michele Cobb about THE ADVERSARY, the ninth book in the Tier One thriller series, narrated by Ray Porter. In their conversation, Andrews shares his longtime love of audiobooks and talks about his persistence in getting Ray Porter involved as the narrator for the Tier One series.  This episode is brought to you by Blackstone Publishing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Host Jo Reed welcomes AudioFile contributor Alan Minskoff this week to dig into three new audiobooks that delight and satirize, often using humor to shed light on social issues. Three unlikely characters bond in an anger management class in SNAP, a comedic novel by Susin Nielsen and read by Carol Schneider; a failed poet with a snarky alter-ego struggles with an autoimmune disease and a polyamorous wife in the debut novel OLD SCHOOL INDIAN by Aaron John Curtis, read by Jason Grasl; and a teenage flag-twirler switches sides in the satirical Civil War-era novel HOW TO DODGE A CANNONBALL by Dennard Dayle, read by William DeMeritt. Read our reviews of the audiobooks at our website:  SNAP: Published by Harper Audio OLD SCHOOL INDIAN: Published by Hillman Grad Books HOW TO DODGE A CANNONBALL: Published by Macmillan Audio Discover thousands of audiobook reviews and more at AudioFile’s website   Support for AudioFile’s Behind the Mic comes from HarperCollins Focus, and HarperCollins Christian Publishing, publishers of some of your favorite audiobooks and authors, including Reba McEntire, Bob Goff, Kathie Lee Gifford, Max Lucado, Lysa TerKeurst, and so many more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

AudioFile publisher Michele Cobb speaks with author and illustrator Christy Mandin and narrator Elizabeth Knowelden about the new audiobook MILLIE FLEUR SAVES THE NIGHT. This enchanting story for children, where night-blooming plants come alive, reassures the residents of Garden Glen—and the listener—that the dark is nothing to be afraid of, as long as you're brave enough to turn off the lights and see what wonders are waiting. Read our review of MILLIE FLEUR SAVES THE NIGHT: Published by Scholastic Audiobooks Discover thousands of audiobook reviews and more at AudioFile’s website   This episode is brought to you by Scholastic Audiobooks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on Behind the Mic, host Jo Reed welcomes our resident horror expert, Alex Richey. Together they discuss three gripping audiobooks that are more about the spooky atmosphere than jump-scares. A catastrophic event kicks off a series of bizarre deaths in LUCKY DAY by Chuck Tingle, read by Mara Wilson; a woman falls into a mirrored world in HEMLOCK & SILVER, T. Kingfisher’s unique take on Snow White, read by Jennifer Pickens; and a boy who can see and speak with ghosts hides in a haunted abbey in AMONG GHOSTS by Rachel Hartman, read by Will Watt. Read our reviews of the audiobooks at our website:  LUCKY DAY: Published by Macmillan Audio HEMLOCK & SILVER: Published by Macmillan Audio AMONG GHOSTS:   Published by Listening Library Discover thousands of audiobook reviews and more at AudioFile’s website   Support for our podcast comes from Dreamscape, the publisher of The Intruder by bestselling author Freida McFadden. The Intruder is a deadly tale of survival that explores how far one girl will go to save herself. — on-sale 10/7. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this bonus edition of Behind the Mic, host Jo Reed speaks with actor Courtney B. Vance. His shelves are lined with awards—two Emmys, a Tony, a Critics Choice Award, and several NAACP Image Awards. Vance is also a dedicated audiobook listener and occasional narrator, nominated for a Grammy for his performance of Neil deGrasse Tyson’s and Avis Lang’s ACCESSORY TO WAR. Vance’s latest project is a monumental one—narrating historian David Levering Lewis’s two-volume Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of W.E.B. Du Bois, available as an audiobook for the first time. But it’s a recording that might never have happened if Courtney B. Vance hadn’t picked up the phone and called the author. Read our review of W.E.B. DU BOIS 1868-1919: Biography of a Race:   Courtney B. Vance photo by Matthew Jordan Smith Discover thousands of audiobook reviews and more at AudioFile’s website   Support for our podcast comes from Dreamscape, the publisher of The Intruder by bestselling author Freida McFadden. The Intruder is a deadly tale of survival that explores how far one girl will go to save herself. — on-sale 10/7. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Host Jo Reed welcomes AudioFile contributor Kendra Winchester to Behind the Mic this week to discuss one memoir and two biographies which center three different writing lives: A deaf, mixed-race writer finding his voice in THE QUIET EAR by Raymond Antrobus, read by the author; a cultural biography of Octavia Butler, the groundbreaking science fiction and fantasy writer in POSITIVE OBSESSION by Susana M. Morris, read by Karen Murray; and an expansive biography of James Baldwin told through the lens of friendship and love in BALDWIN by Nicholas Boggs, read by Ron Butler. Read our reviews of the audiobooks at our website:  THE QUIET EAR: Published by Random House Audio POSITIVE OBSESSION: Published by Harper Audio BALDWIN: Published by Macmillan Audio Discover thousands of audiobook reviews and more at AudioFile’s website Support for our podcast comes from Dreamscape, the publisher of The Intruder by bestselling author Freida McFadden. The Intruder is a deadly tale of survival that explores how far one girl will go to save herself. — on-sale 10/7. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

AudioFile’s Michele Cobb is joined by Golden Voice narrator Cassandra Campbell to chat about the sixth and newest audiobook in the Shady Hollow Mystery series, MOCKINGBIRD COURT. Vulpine reporter Vera Vixen finds herself the prime suspect in what looks to be a murder. Cassandra Campbell is the voice behind all six of the Shady Hollow mysteries, and AudioFile listeners may also recognize her from her Earphones Award-winning narrations of WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING and THE SCRIBE OF SIENA. Cassandra was named an AudioFile Golden Voice in 2021. Read our reviews of some of Cassandra Campbell’s work: MOCKINGBIRD COURT: Published by Random House Audio SHADY HOLLOW: Published by Random House Audio WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING: Published by Penguin Audio THE SCRIBE OF SIENA: Published by Simon & Schuster Audio Discover thousands of audiobook reviews and more at AudioFile’s website   This episode is brought to you by Random House Audio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

AudioFile contributor Stephen Cummings is on Behind the Mic this week with host Jo Reed. This week’s theme is all about dark academia—suspenseful and often fantastical audiobooks that take place in a campus or school setting. Two graduate students descend into hell to get a recommendation from their professor in KATABASIS by R.F. Kuang, read by Morag Sims and Will Watt; affairs are revealed in a creative writing thesis in SEDUCTION THEORY by Emily Adrian, read by Jennifer Pickens; and a teacher at a magical school needs help wrangling demons in THE INCANDESCENT by Emily Tesh, read by Zara Ramm. Read our reviews of the audiobooks at our website:  KATABASIS: Published by Harper Audio SEDUCTION THEORY: Published by Hachette Audio THE INCANDESCENT: Published by Macmillan Audio.  Discover thousands of audiobook reviews and more at AudioFile’s website   Support for our podcast comes from Dreamscape, the publisher of The Intruder by bestselling author Freida McFadden. The Intruder is a deadly tale of survival that explores how far one girl will go to save herself. — on-sale 10/7. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

British narrator David Timson has recorded numerous audiobooks for Naxos AudioBooks, including the complete Sherlock Holmes stories, five Charles Dickens novels, and a complete unabridged reading of Edward Gibbon’s DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. During his time working with Naxos as actor, director, and writer, David has also directed five of the successful audio series of Shakespeare’s plays. In 2002 he won the Audiobook of the Year Award for his reading of A STUDY IN SCARLET. David Timson sits down with AudioFile publisher Michele Cobb to discuss narrating classic crime novels and Golden Age mysteries, including works by Anthony Berkeley (aka Francis Iles) such as MALICE AFORETHOUGHT, THE PICCADILLY MURDER, and TRIAL AND ERROR, and giving voice to the extensive Sherlock Holmes and Arsène Lupin canons.  Read our reviews of some of David Timson’s work: DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE: Published by Naxos Audiobooks MALICE AFORETHOUGHT: Published by Naxos Audiobooks THE PICCADILLY MURDER: Published by Naxos Audiobooks TRIAL AND ERROR: Published by Naxos Audiobooks Discover thousands of audiobook reviews and more at AudioFile’s website https://www.audiofilemagazine.com/  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

AudioFile publisher Michele Cobb is on Behind the Mic this week with host Jo Reed. Together they dig into three True Crime audiobooks that tell haunting stories and that take place in three distinct institutions. THE FORT BRAGG CARTEL by Seth Harp, read by Dan John Miller, is a frightening tale of murders and drug trafficking at a military base; THE SLEEP ROOM by Jon Stock, read by Richard Armitage, Celia Imrie, and Antonia Beamish, is a revelation of the disturbing practices of Dr. William Sargant on his mostly female patients; and THE IDAHO FOUR by James Patterson and Vicky Ward, read by Elisabeth Rodgers, is an investigation of the infamous murders of four university students in 2022. Read our reviews of the audiobooks at our website:  THE FORT BRAGG CARTEL: Published by Penguin Audio THE SLEEP ROOM: Published by Tantor Media THE IDAHO FOUR: Published by Hachette Audio Discover thousands of audiobook reviews and more at AudioFile’s website https://www.audiofilemagazine.com/  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

AudioFile Editor and Founder Robin Whitten joins host Jo Reed this week to discuss three gripping new mystery audiobooks that share a dark wit and anti-establishment protagonists. Martin Cruz Smith’s HOTEL UKRAINE, narrated by Jeremy Bobb, is a compact suspense about Detective Arkady Renko and the early days of the invasion of Ukraine; CLOWN TOWN by Mick Herron is the ninth installment of the popular Slough House series, read by Golden Voice Gerard Doyle; and THE HALLMARKED MAN by Robert Galbraith is a lengthy but memorable 8th mystery in the Comoran Strike series, read by Robert Glenister. Read our reviews of the audiobooks at our website:  HOTEL UKRAINE: Published by Hachette Audio CLOWN TOWN: Published by Recorded Books THE HALLMARKED MAN: Published by Hachette Audio Discover thousands of audiobook reviews and more at AudioFile’s website   Support for AudioFile's Behind the Mic comes from Blackstone Publishing: an independent, award-winning publisher of bestselling books and audiobooks. Find your next great listen at BlackstonePublishing.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

AudioFile awards Earphones to exceptional audio experiences—it’s our version of a starred review, specifically for the audiobook. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Laura Rossi discuss three recent Earphones Award-winning audiobooks that delve deeply into the human experience. Laura and Jo discuss the controversial, posthumously published NOTES TO JOHN by Joan Didion, read by Julianne Moore; CRY FOR ME, ARGENTINA: My Life As a Failed Child Star by comedian Tamara Yajia, read by Tamara Yajia; and the highly anticipated memoir by Jen Hatmaker, AWAKE, read by the author. Read our reviews of the audiobooks at our website:  NOTES TO JOHN: Published by Random House Audio CRY FOR ME, ARGENTINA:   Published by Bloomsbury Publishing AWAKE: Published by Simon & Schuster Audio Discover thousands of audiobook reviews and more at AudioFile’s website   Support for AudioFile's Behind the Mic comes from Blackstone Publishing: an independent, award-winning publisher of bestselling books and audiobooks. Find your next great listen at BlackstonePublishing.com.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, host Jo Reed and AudioFile contributor Leslie Fine review three new audiobooks that harbor family secrets and feature excellent character development. A woman grapples with her roles as wife, mother, and more in SAME AS IT EVER WAS by Claire Lombardo, read by Emily Rankin; a father and daughter are living off the grid in WHAT KIND OF PARADISE by Janelle Brown, read by Peter Ganim and Helen Laser; and a quiet English farm is disturbed by a murder mystery in BROKEN COUNTRY by Clare Leslie Hall, read by Hattie Morahan. SAME AS IT EVER WAS: Published by Random House Audio WHAT KIND OF PARADISE:   Published by Random House Audio BROKEN COUNTRY: Published by Simon & Schuster Audio Discover thousands of audiobook reviews and more at AudioFile’s website   Support for AudioFile's Behind the Mic comes from Blackstone Publishing: an independent, award-winning publisher of bestselling books and audiobooks. Find your next great listen at BlackstonePublishing.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, host Jo Reed and AudioFile contributor Alan Minskoff review three new audiobooks, both fiction and nonfiction, that revolve around diverse types of turbulence a family might encounter: The tragic American family saga of THE SPINACH KING by John Seabrook, read by Dion Graham; ON ISABELLA STREET, a historical novel set in a pre- and post-Vietnam War Toronto, by Genevieve Graham, read by Liz Leafloor and Erin Moon; and SO FAR GONE by Jess Walter, read by Edoardo Ballerini, a satirical novel on the rise of religious fundamentalist militias. THE SPINACH KING: Published by HighBridge Audio ON ISABELLA STREET:   Published by Simon & Schuster Audio SO FAR GONE: Published by Harper Audio Discover thousands of audiobook reviews and more at AudioFile’s website   Support for AudioFile's Behind the Mic comes from Blackstone Publishing: an independent, award-winning publisher of bestselling books and audiobooks. Find your next great listen at BlackstonePublishing.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, host Jo Reed welcomes AudioFile contributor Kendra Winchester to chat about three new sci-fi/fantasy audiobook gems: MODERATION, written and read by Elaine Castillo, a cautionary tale that dives into tech, class, and immigration; SUNBIRTH by An Yu, a character-driven story in which slices of the sun start disappearing, read by Mei Mei Macleod; and a historical horror-romance with elements of fantasy, THE POSSESSION OF ALBA DÍAZ by Isabel Cañas, read by Carolina Hoyos and Anthony Rey Perez. MODERATION: Published by Penguin Audio SUNBIRTH: Published by Simon & Schuster Audio THE POSSESSION OF ALBA DÍAZ:   Published by Penguin Audio Discover thousands of audiobook reviews and more at AudioFile’s website   Support for AudioFile's Behind the Mic comes from Blackstone Publishing: an independent, award-winning publisher of bestselling books and audiobooks. Find your next great listen at BlackstonePublishing.com.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, host Jo Reed welcomes AudioFile contributor Alex Richey. Together, they’ll chat all about vampires, monsters, and witches in three sci-fi/fantasy/horror audiobooks: BURY OUR BONES IN THE MIDNIGHT SOIL, a multiple-POV sapphic vampire story by V.E. Schwab, read by Julia Whelan, Katie Leung, and Marisa Calin; the “bonkers” genre-bending OF MONSTERS AND MAINFRAMES by Barbara Truelove, read by Chris Devon, Emana Rachelle, Charlie Albers, Eve Passeltiner, Zura Johnson, Cary Hite, and Gail Shalan; and a multi-generational horror story by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, THE BEWITCHING, read by Gisela Chípe. BURY OUR BONES IN THE MIDNIGHT SOIL: Published by Macmillan Audio OF MONSTERS AND MAINFRAMES: Published by Dreamscape THE BEWITCHING: Published by Random House Audio Discover thousands of audiobook reviews and more at AudioFile’s website  Today’s episode is brought to you by Hachette Audio and the audiobook Kiss Her Goodbye, the newest Lisa Gardner thriller, read by Hillary Huber. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Stephen Cummings discuss three audiobook biographies in which the New York City of the 1970s and ’80s plays a key role. This week, they’ll highlight LORNE by Susan Morrison, read by Kristen DiMercurio and the author, about the Saturday Night Live creator; YOKO by David Sheff, read by Max Meyers, an intimate look at the avant-garde artist; and I REGRET ALMOST EVERYTHING by Keith McNally and read by Richard E. Grant, a highly enjoyable listen about the legendary restaurateur. Read our reviews of the audiobooks at our website:  LORNE by Susan Morrison, read by Kristen DiMercurio, Susan Morrison Published by Random House Audio YOKO by David Sheff, read by Max Meyers Published by Simon & Schuster Audio I REGRET ALMOST EVERYTHING by Keith McNally, read by Richard E. Grant Published by Simon & Schuster Audio Discover thousands of audiobook reviews and more at AudioFile’s website   Today’s episode is brought to you by Hachette Audio and the audiobook Kiss Her Goodbye, the newest Lisa Gardner thriller, read by Hillary Huber. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices