Harbach’s popular debut is part baseball novel, part campus satire, part exploration of male friendship, and part warped 21st-century love story. Juggling all of this would be a heavy burden for any narrator, and while Holter Graham can’t quite keep all the balls in the air, he does deliver an engaging performance. Graham handles Harbach’s prose gingerly, delicately threading his way through the book’s elegant descriptions of life on the baseball diamond. Additionally, Graham delivers distinct voices for Harbach’s characters, including wizardly shortstop Henry Skrimshander, college president Guert Affenlight, and Affenlight’s searching daughter, Pella. If something of the book’s grandeur is lost in the transition to audio, Graham’s narration allows listeners—from baseball novices to scholars—an opportunity to immerse themselves in the supremely alluring world of Westish College. A Little, Brown hardcover. (Dec.)

Lorelei King continues to shine as the narrator of Evanovich’s long-running series about feisty New Jersey bail bondswoman Stephanie Plum. The wry humor of the book is evident from King’s rendition of the opening lines: “New Jersey was 40,000 feet below me, obscured by cloud cover. Heaven was above me, obscured by the thin skin of the plane. And hell was sitting four rows back.” Plum’s flight home from Hawaii is typically atypical; instead of a relaxing trip, a neighboring passenger vanishes while the aircraft stops in Los Angeles, and a mysterious photograph he was carrying becomes the subject of an intense clash between the bad guys and the FBI—with Plum caught in the middle. King—who enhances the text with her spot-on narration—has no equal when it comes to voicing characters of the opposite sex, and her pacing perfectly matches the book’s breezy tone. Listeners new to the series will want to seek out the previous 17 installments. A Bantam hardcover. (Nov.)

There’s one thing listeners can be sure Patterson will not do in this audio edition of the latest installment in the Alex Cross series, and that is kill Alex Cross. This time around, the famous detective finds himself investigating the kidnapping of the president’s children and several terrorist attacks in Washington, D.C. Andre Braugher—who smoothly reads sections of the book narrated by Cross—captures the tough, often frustrated, at times furious lawman, but also portrays Cross’s warmer side as he deals with domestic problems involving his children, a streetwise waif, and his cantankerous aunt. Zach Grenier—who reads portions of the book not narrated by Cross—deftly renders a husband and wife terrorist team, while creating a variety of foreign accents. But his major achievement is his interpretation of the psychotic kidnapper whose oral dairy of the abduction and its aftermath is bone-chillingly creepy. A Little, Brown hardcover. (Nov.)

In this chilling audio edition of the latest collection from the prolific Oates, the author offers up a selection of seven dark and psychologically thrilling tales that delve into everything from kidnapping and ritual sacrifice to twins, childhood trauma, and plastic surgery run amok. Of the two narrators, Adam Verner shines the brightest, capturing the tone and rhythm of the author’s prose and demonstrating a keen ability to switch between emotions—something that makes him a perfect reader for these twisting tales. Christine Williams provides workmanlike narration, but her reading lacks the emotional punch and range displayed by Verner, and this makes it feels flat by comparison. A Mysterious Press hardcover. (Nov.)

Jacobi, whose readings of many of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories have been impressive, more than does justice to Horowitz’s standout pastiche, easily one of the best ever attempted. The dark and somber plot plunges Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson into the dark underbelly of Victorian London in search of the titular house, the mere mention of which sparks fear at the highest levels of the British government. The detective’s probe overlaps with a murder case linked to the stalking of an art dealer, apparently by an old nemesis from America. Jacobi is unparalleled at making his vocal characterizations distinct: his Watson has an inherent warmth and humanity and is a sharp contrast from his rendition of the doctor’s higher-pitched and higher-energy companion. Even minor parts, such as Holmes’s smarter older brother, Mycroft, a pawnbroker, and members of Holmes’s young assistants, the Baker Street Irregulars, benefit from Jacobi’s considerable gifts. Fans of Doyle’s original stories are in for a real treat, both from the compelling story itself, and this memorable and gripping performance from Jacobi. A Little, Brown/Mulholland hardcover. (Nov.)

In Connelly’s latest, Los Angeles police detective Harry Bosch has to deal with two puzzling cases. The first involves DNA evidence from a 20-year-old unsolved rape and murder that matches up with a convict who would have been just eight years old at the time of the crime. The second sees Bosch investigating the death of an influential and overbearing councilman’s son, while trying to avoid the police department’s internal politics. Len Cariou, who has narrated most of Connelly’s recent books, sounds more over-the-hill than appropriate for Bosch, despite the detective’s looming age-based forced retirement. Nonetheless, Cariou’s performance ably serves this compelling, fast-paced police procedural—even if his croaking voice takes a little getting used to. A Little, Brown hardcover. (Nov.)

James Langton’s narration of the latest title in Finch’s Victorian-era historical whodunit series captures the suspense and drama of a high-stakes murder investigation carried out at sea. Although veteran sleuth Charles Lenox is now a member of parliament and looking to leave his detecting days behind, he travels to Egypt following the murder of several British spies. Before he arrives, Lenox finds himself looking into a brutal crime onboard the ship transporting him through the Suez Canal. Thanks to Langton’s ability to create unique voices, listeners will have no trouble distinguishing the many characters. And with a killer stalking the crew, Langton infuses his narration with tension, ably handling the book’s final reveal—an essential requirement of an audio whodunit. A Minotaur hardcover. (Nov.)

It only adds to the autobiographical nature of Ondaatje’s novel—concerning a young boy who journeys by ship from Sri Lanka to England in the 1950s—that the author narrates this audio edition of his latest work. The mellifluous tones of Ondaatje’s accent (part British and part subcontinental) are themselves testament to the memoiristic underpinnings of his novel. He reads without a professional’s preciseness, and yet, knowing his work as well as he does, captures the subtle music of its understated prose. Listeners will relish Ondaatje’s occasional variations from traditional British pronunciation, each one serving as a symbol of the book itself, which spans two continents and two eras. Listening to Ondaatje read becomes a pleasure in its own right; being neither here nor there, the author is himself much like the tale he tells, and the boy at its heart. A Knopf hardcover. (Oct.)

If there’s something worth talking about in the fictional town of Lake Wobegon, Garrison Keillor has probably covered it on his radio show, A Prairie Home Companion. But despite his decades of telling Wobegon tales, listeners will find this latest compilation of recent radio segments an entertaining listen. Though Keillor’s stories from Lake Wobegon move in all directions, this batch focuses on passing seasons, passing opportunities, and passing on. With his decades of experience in radio, Keillor proves a master behind the microphone, ably creating an intimacy with listeners, who will feel as if they are sitting down for a private talk with an old friend. Though some stories pack more of a punch than others, listeners will find the collection and another trip to Lake Wobegon enjoyable and full of idiosyncratic laughs. (Oct.)

When burnt-out lawyer David Zinc quits his job at a major corporate firm, a stress-induced nervous breakdown, heavy drinking, and the prospect of unemployment lead him to the doors of the seedy law firm of Finley & Figg and into the middle of a huge class action lawsuit against a pharmaceutical company that may be more than the partners at Finley & Figg can handle. Dennis Boutsikaris’s narration is competent; he keeps the plot chugging along at an appropriate pace and shines in his portrayal of Zinc. He also effectively captures the over-the-top, ambulance-chasing banter of Zinc’s new colleagues at the shady Finley & Figg. Yet when characters outside of Zinc’s immediate orbit appear—particularly females and characters from varying ethnic backgrounds—the voices Boutsikaris creates begin to sound similar, amounting to some noticeable lost opportunities in a still enjoyable and highly entertaining audio. A Doubleday hardcover. (Oct.)