Four friends in a Kent retirement village meet every Thursday to discuss cold cases, and when a real murder happens in their community, they investigate it themselves. Osman, a British TV presenter, fills it with humor, wit and a delightful, quirky cast. It rates 4.4 stars from about 10,200 ratings on Audible.

Precious Ramotswe opens a detective agency in Botswana and takes on small mysteries with warmth and common sense. It is gentle and charming, and it rates 4.2 stars from about 5,900 ratings on Audible.

A bored widowed grandmother decides to become a spy, and a lighthearted adventure follows. It rates 4.5 stars from about 8,200 ratings on Audible.

The first Hannah Swensen mystery, about a small-town bakery owner who solves crimes between batches of cookies. It is a core of the cozy genre and rates 4.2 stars from about 1,900 ratings on Audible.

Agatha opens her own private detective agency, and after a few mundane cases a wealthy woman hires her to find out who is sending death threats to her daughter. Penelope Keith’s narration is a delight. It rates 4.7 stars from about 2,200 ratings on Audible.

CIA assassin Fortune Redding goes undercover as a librarian in the small bayou town of Sinful, Louisiana, where a dog digs up a bone in her backyard. A group of senior ladies known as the Geritol Mafia adds a heavy dose of humor. It rates 4.5 stars from about 9,000 ratings on Audible.

Lacy opens a pet boutique in New Orleans’s Garden District, until a man is found dead in her shop with a glitter gun that only has her prints on it. Brittany Pressley’s southern accents are noticeable without being distracting. It rates 4.6 stars from about 2,100 ratings on Audible.

Melanie West and her grandmother open a B&B on the Oregon coast and find a skeleton in the closet, and then a new body on the beach. A resident ghost and a spitfire grandmother add to the fun. It rates 4.3 stars from about 3,900 ratings on Audible.

Jayne Frost, Jack Frost’s daughter and Santa Claus’s niece, investigates disappearances in Nocturne Falls, a town that celebrates Halloween every day. A charming vampire adds a love triangle. It rates 4.4 stars from about 4,800 ratings on Audible.

The first Miss Marple mystery, performed by a full cast of well-known actors including Toni Collette and Kit Harington. At about 4 hours it is the shortest pick here. It rates 4.5 stars from about 1,300 ratings on Audible.

The first Flavia de Luce mystery, with a precocious 11-year-old chemist as the amateur sleuth. Jayne Entwistle’s narration is the star. It rates 4.3 stars from about 5,800 ratings on Audible.

Guests begin to go missing at a small seaside hotel on the English coast, and Lady Hardcastle and her lady’s maid, Flo, two former spies, are on the case. The series is lighthearted, with humor and dry wit, and this is one of the best in it. It rates 4.8 stars from about 2,100 ratings on Audible.

Fans of Downton Abbey will enjoy this series debut, set in 1923. Daisy Dalrymple’s first writing assignment turns into a murder when a guest is found dead on a frozen pond, and handsome Scotland Yard detective Alec Fletcher joins her. It rates 4.4 stars from about 3,300 ratings on Audible.

In Victorian England, Charlotte Holmes solves crimes under the name of Sherlock Holmes, and when her family becomes the target of suspicion in three deaths, she must clear their names. Kate Reading’s narration is wonderful. It rates 4.6 stars from about 200 ratings on Audible.