Sounding Off About Audiobooks

Listen up, everyone: The Audio Publishers Association has announced its finalists for the 2022 Audie Awards, “which recognize work in audiobooks and spoken-word entertainment.” There are 25 categories of contenders, including the following two, which fall under The Rap Sheet’s usual range of coverage.

Mystery:
• The Bucket List, by Peter Mohlin and Peter Nystrom, narrated by
Dion Graham (Recorded Books)
• Later, by Stephen King, narrated by Seth Numrich (Simon &
Schuster Audio)
• Murder in Old Bombay, by Nev March, narrated by Vikas Adam (Macmillan Audio)
• The Man in the Brown Suit, by Agatha Christie, narrated by Gabrielle de Cuir, with John Lee (Blackstone/Skyboat Media)
• The Midnight Man, by Caroline Mitchell, narrated by Emma Gregory and Elliot Fitzpatrick (Embla)

Thriller/Suspense:
• The Last Thing He Told Me, by Laura Dave, narrated by Rebecca Lowman (Simon & Schuster Audio)
• Local Woman Missing, by Mary Kubica, narrated by Brittany Pressley, Jennifer Jill Araya, Gary Tiedemann, and Jesse Vilinsky (HarperAudio)
• Never Far Away, by Michael Koryta, narrated by Robert Petkoff (Hachette Audio)
• The Night She Disappeared, by Lisa Jewell, narrated by Joanne Froggatt (Simon & Schuster Audio)
• Razorblade Tears, by S.A. Cosby, narrated by Adam Lazarre-
White (Macmillan Audio)

In addition, the Best Audio Drama nominees include two works of crime fiction: The Coldest Case: A Black Book Audio Drama, by James Patterson, Aaron Tracy, and Ryan Silbert, performed by Aaron Paul, Krysten Ritter, Nathalie Emmanuel, Beau Bridges, and a full cast (Audible Originals); and Sherlock Holmes—The Seamstress of Peckham Rye, by Jonathan Barnes, performed by Nicholas Briggs, Richard Earl, Lucy Briggs-Owen, India Fisher, James Joyce, Anjella MacKintosh, Glen McCready, and Mark Elstob (Big Finish). Vying for Best Female Narrator honors is Hillary Huber, who read Lisa Gardner’s Before She Disappeared (Brilliance), while Best Male Narrator candidates include Robert Bathurst, who read Louise Penny’s The Madness of Crowds (Macmillan Audio). Finally, Rachel Howzell Hall’s How It Ends: A Novella, narrated by Joniece Abbott-Pratt (Audible Originals), is among the finalists for the Short Stories/Collections prize.

All of the 2022 winners are set to be declared during a virtual ceremony on March 4 at 9 p.m. ET/14:00 GMT.

READ MORE: “Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Lin-Manuel Miranda Among Finalists for Audio Publisher Awards,” by Kimberly Nordyke (The Hollywood Reporter).