
A Darkness of the Heart
A Joanne Kilbourn Mystery, Book 18
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $20.63
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Athena Karkanis
-
By:
-
Gail Bowen
About this listen
The 18th installment of the bestselling Joanne Kilbourn series from the “queen of Canadian crime fiction” (Winnipeg Free Press).
When, at the age of sixty, Joanne learns that Douglas Ellard, the reserved general practitioner whom she had grown up believing to be her father was, in fact, the best friend of her biological father, the brilliant visual artist Desmond Love, she begins to question not just who she is, but what factors play a role in shaping all of us and in making us who we really are.
Joanne is offered the chance to revisit her family history when writer Roy Brodnitz, author of The Happiest Girl, a Broadway mega-hit inspired by a Desmond Love painting, approaches her with the idea of making a mini-series about the close relationship between the Ellard and Love families. Brodnitz is in town working on the film adaptation of his Broadway hit, and he and his film company soon become a significant presence in the life of Joanne’s family, with results that are both life-changing and menacing.
When Joanne and Zack’s eighteen-year-old daughter, Taylor Shreve, develops a close friendship with the seventeen-year-old actress starring in the movie, the Shreve family is exposed to the dark side of the film industry and they uncover disturbing truths about the handsome and talented people they have invited into their lives.
A Darkness of the Heart explores the ways in which clear vision, generosity of spirit, and a willingness to love can combat the forces in our world that seek to encroach upon innocence. Once again, Gail Bowen’s powerful storytelling, engaging characters, and gripping plot reaffirm her place as one of the finest mystery writers around.
Bespeak Audio Editions brings Canadian voices to the world with audiobook editions of some of the country’s greatest works of literature, performed by Canadian actors.
©2018 Gail Bowen (P)2022 Bespeak Audio EditionsListeners also enjoyed...
-
The Deadly Appearances
- A Joanne Kilbourn Mystery, Book 1
- By: Gail Bowen
- Narrated by: Lisa Bunting
- Length: 8 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Andy Boychuk is a successful Saskatchewan politician - until one sweltering August afternoon when the party faithful gather at a picnic. All of the key people in Boychuk’s life - family, friends, enemies - are there. Boychuk steps up to the podium to make a speech, takes a sip of water, and drops dead. Joanne Kilbourn, in her début as Canada’s leading amateur sleuth, is soon on the case, delving into Boychuk’s history. What she finds are a Bible college that’s too good to be true, a woman with a horrifying and secret past, and a murderer who’s about to strike again.
-
-
quiet mystery; strong sense of place
- By connie on 07-13-13
By: Gail Bowen
-
Still Life
- Chief Inspector Gamache, Book 1
- By: Louise Penny
- Narrated by: Ralph Cosham
- Length: 9 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Surêté du Québec 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 it’s 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.
-
-
A rare find
- By Alex on 01-16-15
By: Louise Penny
-
Death at La Fenice
- Commissario Brunetti Mysteries, Book 1
- By: Donna Leon
- Narrated by: David Colacci
- Length: 9 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
During intermission at the famed La Fenice opera house in Venice, Italy, a notoriously difficult and widely disliked German conductor is poisoned—and suspects abound. Guido Brunetti, a native Venetian, sets out to unravel the mystery behind the high-profile murder. To do so, he calls on his knowledge of Venice, its culture, and its dirty politics. Along the way, he finds the crime may have roots going back decades—and that revenge, corruption, and even Italian cuisine may play a role.
-
-
Hercule Poirot in Venice...!!!
- By Emil Grancagnolo on 10-09-22
By: Donna Leon
-
The Distant Echo
- By: Val McDermid
- Narrated by: Tom Cotcher
- Length: 14 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Four in the morning, mid-December, and snow blankets St. Andrews School. Student Alex Gilbery and his three best friends are staggering home from a party when they stumble upon the body of a young woman. Rosie Duff has been raped, stabbed and left for dead in the ancient Pictish cemetery. The only suspects are the four young students stained with her blood. Twenty-five years later, police mount a cold case review. Among the unsolved murders they're examining is that of Rosie Duff. But someone else has his own idea of justice.
-
-
Beware, scam!!
- By CehTex on 12-14-22
By: Val McDermid
-
A Peculiar Combination
- By: Ashley Weaver
- Narrated by: Alison Larkin
- Length: 9 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Electra McDonnell has always known that the way she and her family earn their living is slightly outside of the law. Breaking into the homes of the rich and picking the locks on their safes may not be condoned by British law enforcement, but World War II is in full swing, Ellie's cousins, Colm and Toby, are off fighting against Hitler, and Uncle Mick's more honorable business as a locksmith can't pay the bills anymore. So when Uncle Mick receives a tip about a safe full of jewels in the empty house of a wealthy family, he and Ellie can’t resist.
-
-
Spectacular
- By Emily on 12-27-21
By: Ashley Weaver
-
A Curious Beginning
- By: Deanna Raybourn
- Narrated by: Angele Masters
- Length: 10 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As the city prepares to celebrate Queen Victoria's golden jubilee, Veronica Speedwell is marking a milestone of her own. After burying her spinster aunt, the orphaned Veronica is free to resume her world travels in pursuit of scientific inquiry - and the occasional romantic dalliance. As familiar with hunting butterflies as she is fending off admirers, Veronica wields her butterfly net and a hatpin with equal aplomb, and with her last connection to England gone, she intends to embark upon the journey of a lifetime.
-
-
For fans of Elizabeth Peters and Gail Carriger
- By L. Williams on 06-29-16
By: Deanna Raybourn
-
The Deadly Appearances
- A Joanne Kilbourn Mystery, Book 1
- By: Gail Bowen
- Narrated by: Lisa Bunting
- Length: 8 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Andy Boychuk is a successful Saskatchewan politician - until one sweltering August afternoon when the party faithful gather at a picnic. All of the key people in Boychuk’s life - family, friends, enemies - are there. Boychuk steps up to the podium to make a speech, takes a sip of water, and drops dead. Joanne Kilbourn, in her début as Canada’s leading amateur sleuth, is soon on the case, delving into Boychuk’s history. What she finds are a Bible college that’s too good to be true, a woman with a horrifying and secret past, and a murderer who’s about to strike again.
-
-
quiet mystery; strong sense of place
- By connie on 07-13-13
By: Gail Bowen
-
Still Life
- Chief Inspector Gamache, Book 1
- By: Louise Penny
- Narrated by: Ralph Cosham
- Length: 9 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Surêté du Québec 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 it’s 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.
-
-
A rare find
- By Alex on 01-16-15
By: Louise Penny
-
Death at La Fenice
- Commissario Brunetti Mysteries, Book 1
- By: Donna Leon
- Narrated by: David Colacci
- Length: 9 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
During intermission at the famed La Fenice opera house in Venice, Italy, a notoriously difficult and widely disliked German conductor is poisoned—and suspects abound. Guido Brunetti, a native Venetian, sets out to unravel the mystery behind the high-profile murder. To do so, he calls on his knowledge of Venice, its culture, and its dirty politics. Along the way, he finds the crime may have roots going back decades—and that revenge, corruption, and even Italian cuisine may play a role.
-
-
Hercule Poirot in Venice...!!!
- By Emil Grancagnolo on 10-09-22
By: Donna Leon
-
The Distant Echo
- By: Val McDermid
- Narrated by: Tom Cotcher
- Length: 14 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Four in the morning, mid-December, and snow blankets St. Andrews School. Student Alex Gilbery and his three best friends are staggering home from a party when they stumble upon the body of a young woman. Rosie Duff has been raped, stabbed and left for dead in the ancient Pictish cemetery. The only suspects are the four young students stained with her blood. Twenty-five years later, police mount a cold case review. Among the unsolved murders they're examining is that of Rosie Duff. But someone else has his own idea of justice.
-
-
Beware, scam!!
- By CehTex on 12-14-22
By: Val McDermid
-
A Peculiar Combination
- By: Ashley Weaver
- Narrated by: Alison Larkin
- Length: 9 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Electra McDonnell has always known that the way she and her family earn their living is slightly outside of the law. Breaking into the homes of the rich and picking the locks on their safes may not be condoned by British law enforcement, but World War II is in full swing, Ellie's cousins, Colm and Toby, are off fighting against Hitler, and Uncle Mick's more honorable business as a locksmith can't pay the bills anymore. So when Uncle Mick receives a tip about a safe full of jewels in the empty house of a wealthy family, he and Ellie can’t resist.
-
-
Spectacular
- By Emily on 12-27-21
By: Ashley Weaver
-
A Curious Beginning
- By: Deanna Raybourn
- Narrated by: Angele Masters
- Length: 10 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As the city prepares to celebrate Queen Victoria's golden jubilee, Veronica Speedwell is marking a milestone of her own. After burying her spinster aunt, the orphaned Veronica is free to resume her world travels in pursuit of scientific inquiry - and the occasional romantic dalliance. As familiar with hunting butterflies as she is fending off admirers, Veronica wields her butterfly net and a hatpin with equal aplomb, and with her last connection to England gone, she intends to embark upon the journey of a lifetime.
-
-
For fans of Elizabeth Peters and Gail Carriger
- By L. Williams on 06-29-16
By: Deanna Raybourn
-
This Time Next Year We'll Be Laughing
- A Memoir
- By: Jacqueline Winspear
- Narrated by: Jacqueline Winspear
- Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After 16 novels, Jacqueline Winspear has taken the bold step of turning to memoir, revealing the hardships and joys of her family history. Both shockingly frank and deftly restrained, her story tackles the difficult, poignant, and fascinating family accounts of her paternal grandfather’s shell shock; her mother’s evacuation from London during the Blitz; and her soft-spoken animal-loving father’s torturous assignment to an explosives team during WWII.
-
-
A Vivd Look at the Life of Jackie Winspear
- By Dr. Janet Bobby on 01-10-21
-
Two by Two
- By: Nicholas Sparks
- Narrated by: Ari Fliakos
- Length: 14 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At 32 Russell Green has it all: a stunning wife, a lovable six-year-old daughter, a successful career as an advertising executive, and an expansive home in Charlotte. He is living the dream, and his marriage to the bewitching Vivian is the center of that. But underneath the shiny surface of this perfect existence, fault lines are beginning to appear, and no one is more surprised than Russ when he finds every aspect of the life he took for granted turned upside down.
-
-
I Am Stunned At The Good Reviews!
- By Wendi on 10-17-16
By: Nicholas Sparks
-
The Murderer's Son
- A Jackman and Evans Thriller
- By: Joy Ellis
- Narrated by: Richard Armitage
- Length: 9 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Crimebusting duo DI Jackman and DS Evans are back, solving another crime that will make your skin crawl. Twenty years ago: a farmer and his wife are cut to pieces by a ruthless serial killer. Now: a woman is viciously stabbed to death in the upmarket kitchen of her beautiful house on the edge of the marshes. Then a man called Daniel Kinder walks into Saltern police station and confesses to the murder. But DI Rowan Jackman and DS Marie Evans of the Fenland Constabulary soon discover that there is a lot more to Daniel than meets the eye.
-
-
Audible ruined this one for me.
- By Julie on 12-29-18
By: Joy Ellis
-
Born with Teeth
- A Memoir
- By: Kate Mulgrew
- Narrated by: Kate Mulgrew
- Length: 10 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Audie Award, Narration by Author, 2016. Raised by unconventional Irish Catholics who knew "how to drink, how to dance, how to talk, and how to stir up the devil", Kate Mulgrew grew up with poetry and drama in her bones. But in her mother, a would-be artist burdened by the endless arrival of new babies, young Kate saw the consequences of a dream deferred.
-
-
Beautiful Memoir
- By Jasmine on 07-23-15
By: Kate Mulgrew
-
The Interestings
- A Novel
- By: Meg Wolitzer
- Narrated by: Jen Tullock
- Length: 15 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The summer that Nixon resigns, six teenagers at a summer camp for the arts become inseparable. Decades later the bond remains powerful, but so much else has changed. In The Interestings, Wolitzer follows these characters from the height of youth through middle age, as their talents, fortunes, and degrees of satisfaction diverge. The kind of creativity that is rewarded at age 15 is not always enough to propel someone through life at age 30; not everyone can sustain, in adulthood, what seemed so special in adolescence.
-
-
Needs a better title, but a good read (listen)
- By Tango on 04-12-13
By: Meg Wolitzer
-
I've Got You Under My Skin
- By: Mary Higgins Clark
- Narrated by: Jan Maxwell
- Length: 7 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this suspenseful audiobook from the number-one New York Times best-selling author Mary Higgins Clark, a Manhattan ER doctor is brazenly murdered in front of his young son in a city playground. Five years later, his killer is still at large. Meanwhile his widow, Laurie Moran, is now an award-winning TV producer. Still haunted by her husband's murder, she has been raising their son alone. Laurie and her TV crew have just received the green light to produce a new cold-case series.
-
-
Enjoyable to listen to
- By Cammy J on 02-04-15
-
You Should Have Known
- By: Jean Hanff Korelitz
- Narrated by: Christina Delaine
- Length: 16 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Grace Reinhart Sachs is living the only life she ever wanted for herself. Devoted to her husband, a pediatric oncologist at a major cancer hospital, their young son Henry, and the patients she sees in her therapy practice, her days are full of familiar things: She lives in the very New York apartment in which she was raised, and sends Henry to the school she herself once attended. Dismayed by the ways in which women delude themselves, Grace is also the author of a book You Should Have Known, in which she cautions women to really hear what men are trying to tell them.
-
-
watch out -- you will have trouble unplugging
- By DrK on 05-16-14
-
In Short Measures
- Three Novellas
- By: Michael Ruhlman
- Narrated by: Lydia Mackay, Robert McCollum, Lauren Davis
- Length: 11 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In his three novellas, In Short Measures, Strong Conspirators, and Sally Forth, Michael Ruhlman delves deeply into the nuanced complexity of romantic and sexual love - and the inevitable evolution of the heart over the span of years and decades. Each novella asks questions about the nature of love in terms of loyalty and fidelity - what are one's obligations toward one's spouse, one's family, and one's heart?
-
-
achingly lovely
- By Kmeme on 09-13-20
By: Michael Ruhlman
-
Babylon Sisters
- By: Pearl Cleage
- Narrated by: Pearl Cleage
- Length: 8 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Catherine, busy working with refugee and immigrant women through her small firm, Babylon Sisters, has taken on a powerful new client. She doesn't have much time for Phoebe's complicated questions of paternity - that is, until Phoebe's real father, B. J., a renowned investigative reporter, shows up in town to work on a story connected to Catherine.
-
-
Sister Love
- By Florence Graydon on 03-26-21
By: Pearl Cleage
-
A Single Thread
- The Cobbled Court Series, Book 1
- By: Marie Bostwick
- Narrated by: Pam Ward, Lorna Raver
- Length: 12 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Marie Bostwick weaves the unforgettable story of four very different women whose paths cross, changing their lives forever. It’s a long way from Fort Worth, Texas, to New Bern, Connecticut, yet it only takes a day in the charming Yankee town to make Evelyn Dixon realize she’s found her new home. The abrupt end of her marriage was Evelyn’s wake-up call to get busy chasing her dream of opening a quilt shop. Finding a storefront is easy enough; starting a new life isn’t....
-
-
Christian oriented fiction
- By Ruth Lambert on 04-07-16
By: Marie Bostwick
-
A House Among the Trees
- A Novel
- By: Julia Glass
- Narrated by: Mary Stuart Masterson
- Length: 13 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When the revered children's book author Mort Lear dies accidentally at his Connecticut home, he leaves his property and all its contents to his trusted assistant, Tomasina Daulair, who is moved by his generosity but dismayed by the complicated and defiant directives in his will. Tommy knew Morty for more than four decades, since meeting him in a Manhattan playground when she was 12 and he was working on sketches for the book that would make him a star.
-
-
Glass Fan
- By G Eliot on 07-17-17
By: Julia Glass
-
When We Were Sisters
- By: Emilie Richards
- Narrated by: Karen White, Elijah Alexander, Rachel Fulginiti
- Length: 14 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As children in foster care, Cecilia and Robin vowed they would be the sisters they had never had. Cecelia, now a superstar singer-songwriter, is living life on the edge. Robin set aside her career as a successful photojournalist to create the loving family she always yearned for. But gazing through a wide-angle lens at both past and future, she sees that her marriage is disintegrating. Her attorney husband is rarely home. She and the children need Kris' love and attention, but does Kris need them?
-
-
An incredible journey!
- By Terri C. on 02-02-17
By: Emilie Richards
Critic reviews
“A great little family mystery with engaging characters and a solid plot. Definitely worth a weekend.” — Globe and Mail
“Regina has no more ardent literary promoter than Gail Bowen … A Darkness of the Heart is really about family — families — and their flexible and evolving, chosen and unchosen relationships.” — London Free Press
What listeners say about A Darkness of the Heart
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- MJ Ryan
- 07-15-22
NARRATION IS A DETRACTION
I enjoy Gail Bowen's Joanne Kilbourn series, to the point that I have read all her titles, some a couple of times, and I thought I would enjoy listening to them in the evening. Unfortunately, the producer of the audio version and the narrator do their jobs so poorly that I totally dislike listening to the stories.
The producer has added "he said" or "she said" to an excess. I just rifled through my copy of the book and confirmed that the audio version has those two phrases added where they do not exist in the written version. I think the narrator is so poor that the producer must have felt the need to identify who was speaking since the narrator provides little variation among the characters.
If you have only listened to Gail Bowen's series, I urge you to purchase one of her Joanne Kilbourn books and read it for yourself. The experience will be superior to the audio version.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Ruhi
- 11-10-23
Love listening to the books
After a day at the computer I listen to fiction.
I am listening to all the recordings and enjoying the narrator. May end up reading the early ones that dont seem to be recorded. The characters are enjoyable as are the family interactions.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!