
Queen Macbeth
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
3 months free
Buy for $9.45
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Lesley Harcourt
-
By:
-
Val McDermid
About this listen
Shakespeare created the myth of the Macbeths as indefensible murderous conspirators. But now internationally bestselling author Val McDermid drags the truth out of the shadows, exposing the patriarchal prejudices of history
Britain’s reigning “Queen of Crime” (The Scotsman), Val McDermid has ensnared audiences worldwide for over thirty years with her thrilling and masterfully plotted crime oeuvre. A radical, rip-roaring counternarrative drawing on the historical record, Queen Macbeth delivers an illuminating portrait of Shakespeare’s most famous villain, and the treacherous pursuit of ambition that made her legendary.
A thousand years ago in an ancient Scottish landscape, a woman is on the run with her three companions–a healer, a weaver, and a seer. The men hunting her will kill her–because she is the only one who stands between them and their violent ambition. She is no lady: she is the first queen of Scotland, married to a king called Macbeth. As the net closes in, what unfurls is a tale of passion, forced marriage, bloody massacre, and the harsh realities of medieval Scotland. At the heart of it is one strong, charismatic woman, who survived loss and jeopardy to outwit the endless plotting of a string of ruthless and power-hungry men. Her struggle won her a country. But now it could cost her life.
Immersive and utterly riveting, Queen Macbeth is an electric reimagining of one of Shakespeare’s most celebrated tragedies and reaffirms McDermid as one of the preeminent writers of our day.
©2024 Val McDermid (P)2024 W. F. Howes LtdListeners also enjoyed...
-
The Killing Stones
- A Detective Jimmy Perez Novel
- By: Ann Cleeves
- Narrated by: Kenny Blyth
- Length: 10 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's been several years since Detective Jimmy Perez left Shetland. He has settled into his new home in Orkney, the group of islands, off the northern coast of Scotland, with his partner Willow Reeve and their growing family. One stormy winter night, his oldest and closest friend, Archie Stout, goes missing. Ever the detective, Perez catches a boat to the island of Westray, where Archie worked as a farmer and lived with his wife and children. But when he arrives he finds a shocking scene.
By: Ann Cleeves
-
Columba's Bones
- By: David Greig
- Narrated by: Antony Ferguson
- Length: 3 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a bloody, brutal raid, Abbot Blathmac is slain on the steps of his monastery for refusing to give away the location of the sacred relics of St Columba, the missionary who first brought Christianity to Scotland. Following a night of rampage and mayhem, one Viking wakes up the next morning to find himself alone, hungover, and abandoned by his crew mates. He can't swim, there are no boats, and the only surviving monk on the island has taken his sword.
-
-
Excellent Norse/Gaelic Tale
- By Doug C on 01-07-25
By: David Greig
-
Evil Bones
- A Temperance Brennan Novel
- By: Kathy Reichs
- Length: 8 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Small creatures—a rat, a rabbit, a squirrel—have been turning up throughout Charlotte, North Carolina, mutilated and displayed in the same bizarre manner. But one day, as Tempe is relaxing at home alongside her aimless, moody great-niece Tory, she’s diverted by a disturbing call. Now, it seems, the perp is upping the ante. This find is larger. Could the remains be human?
By: Kathy Reichs
-
Wild Houses
- By: Colin Barrett
- Narrated by: Damian Gildea
- Length: 6 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The riotous, raucous, and deeply resonant debut novel from “one of the best story writers in the English language today” (Financial Times), Wild Houses follows two outsiders caught in the crosshairs of a small-town revenge kidnapping gone awry.
-
-
Insider look at a small crime
- By Probably did on 03-24-24
By: Colin Barrett
-
The Proving Ground
- A Lincoln Lawyer Novel
- By: Michael Connelly
- Length: 12 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The next Lincoln Lawyer novel from Michael Connelly.
By: Michael Connelly
-
Becoming Sherlock - The Red Circle
- Becoming Sherlock, Book 1
- By: Sarah J. Naughton, Anthony Horowitz
- Narrated by: Alfred Enoch
- Length: 9 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We are 40 years into the future, and London is a city in decay. John Watson has returned from medical service in the war in Afghanistan and lives by himself in a run-down part of town. On his way home from work, he stumbles upon a beaten man in the street – unconscious and completely naked. His chances of survival are minimal. The same evening, a passenger plane crashes in Richmond Park. There are several hundred victims, and Watson and the mysterious man are left to their own devices.
-
-
So creative!
- By Joshua B. Wager on 03-11-25
By: Sarah J. Naughton, and others
-
The Killing Stones
- A Detective Jimmy Perez Novel
- By: Ann Cleeves
- Narrated by: Kenny Blyth
- Length: 10 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's been several years since Detective Jimmy Perez left Shetland. He has settled into his new home in Orkney, the group of islands, off the northern coast of Scotland, with his partner Willow Reeve and their growing family. One stormy winter night, his oldest and closest friend, Archie Stout, goes missing. Ever the detective, Perez catches a boat to the island of Westray, where Archie worked as a farmer and lived with his wife and children. But when he arrives he finds a shocking scene.
By: Ann Cleeves
-
Columba's Bones
- By: David Greig
- Narrated by: Antony Ferguson
- Length: 3 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a bloody, brutal raid, Abbot Blathmac is slain on the steps of his monastery for refusing to give away the location of the sacred relics of St Columba, the missionary who first brought Christianity to Scotland. Following a night of rampage and mayhem, one Viking wakes up the next morning to find himself alone, hungover, and abandoned by his crew mates. He can't swim, there are no boats, and the only surviving monk on the island has taken his sword.
-
-
Excellent Norse/Gaelic Tale
- By Doug C on 01-07-25
By: David Greig
-
Evil Bones
- A Temperance Brennan Novel
- By: Kathy Reichs
- Length: 8 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Small creatures—a rat, a rabbit, a squirrel—have been turning up throughout Charlotte, North Carolina, mutilated and displayed in the same bizarre manner. But one day, as Tempe is relaxing at home alongside her aimless, moody great-niece Tory, she’s diverted by a disturbing call. Now, it seems, the perp is upping the ante. This find is larger. Could the remains be human?
By: Kathy Reichs
-
Wild Houses
- By: Colin Barrett
- Narrated by: Damian Gildea
- Length: 6 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The riotous, raucous, and deeply resonant debut novel from “one of the best story writers in the English language today” (Financial Times), Wild Houses follows two outsiders caught in the crosshairs of a small-town revenge kidnapping gone awry.
-
-
Insider look at a small crime
- By Probably did on 03-24-24
By: Colin Barrett
-
The Proving Ground
- A Lincoln Lawyer Novel
- By: Michael Connelly
- Length: 12 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The next Lincoln Lawyer novel from Michael Connelly.
By: Michael Connelly
-
Becoming Sherlock - The Red Circle
- Becoming Sherlock, Book 1
- By: Sarah J. Naughton, Anthony Horowitz
- Narrated by: Alfred Enoch
- Length: 9 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We are 40 years into the future, and London is a city in decay. John Watson has returned from medical service in the war in Afghanistan and lives by himself in a run-down part of town. On his way home from work, he stumbles upon a beaten man in the street – unconscious and completely naked. His chances of survival are minimal. The same evening, a passenger plane crashes in Richmond Park. There are several hundred victims, and Watson and the mysterious man are left to their own devices.
-
-
So creative!
- By Joshua B. Wager on 03-11-25
By: Sarah J. Naughton, and others
-
A Winter Grave
- By: Peter May
- Narrated by: Peter Forbes
- Length: 9 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A young meteorologist checking a mountain top weather station in Kinlochleven discovers the body of a missing man entombed in ice. Cameron Brodie, a Glasgow detective, sets out on a hazardous journey to the isolated and ice-bound village. He has his own reasons for wanting to investigate a murder case so far from his beat. Brodie must face up to the ghosts of his past and to a killer determined to bury forever the chilling secret that his investigation threatens to expose.
-
-
Futuristic stories not my thinh
- By LouA on 03-28-23
By: Peter May
-
The Engine House: A Black Beacons Murder Mystery
- DCI Evan Warlow Crime Thriller, Book 1
- By: Rhys Dylan
- Narrated by: Joseph Tweedale
- Length: 9 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When a landslip on Pembrokeshire’s stunning coastal path reveals the harrowing remains of two bodies, ex-DCI Evan Warlow’s quiet retirement is shattered.
-
-
Captivating!
- By Lori on 10-15-23
By: Rhys Dylan
-
Murder on the Marlow Belle
- The Marlow Murder Club, Book 4
- By: Robert Thorogood
- Length: 9 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Verity Beresford is worried about her husband. Oliver didn’t come home last night so of course Verity goes straight to Judith Potts, Marlow’s resident amateur sleuth, for help. Oliver, founder of the Marlow Amateur Dramatic Society, had hired The Marlow Belle, a private pleasure cruiser, for an exclusive party with the MADS committee but no one remembers seeing him disembark. And then Oliver’s body washes up on the Thames with two bullet holes in him—it’s time for the Marlow Murder Club to leap into action.
By: Robert Thorogood
-
The Black Wolf
- A Novel
- By: Louise Penny
- Narrated by: Jean Brassard
- Length: 12 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Several weeks ago, Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Québec and his team uncovered and stopped a domestic terrorist attack in Montréal, arresting the person behind it. A man they called the Black Wolf. But their relief is short-lived. In a sickening turn of events, Gamache has realized that plot, as horrific as it was, was just the beginning. Perhaps even a deliberate misdirection. One he fell into. Something deeper and darker, more damaging, is planned. Did he in fact arrest the Black Wolf, or are they still out there?
By: Louise Penny
-
Illuminations
- By: T. Kingfisher
- Narrated by: Raquel Beattie
- Length: 8 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rosa Mandolini knows in her heart that her family are the greatest painters of magical illuminations in the city. But the eccentric Studio Mandolini has fallen on hard times and the future is no longer certain. While trying to help her family, Rosa discovers a strange magical box protected by a painted crow. But when she finds a way to open the box, she accidentally releases the Scarling, a vicious monster determined to destroy the Mandolini family at any cost.
-
-
written for children
- By Ijw on 12-12-23
By: T. Kingfisher
-
Death at the Sanatorium
- A Mystery
- By: Ragnar Jónasson
- Narrated by: Sam Woolf
- Length: 6 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At a former sanatorium in the north of Iceland, now a hospital ward, an old nurse, Yrsa, is found murdered. Detective Hulda Hermannsdottir and her boss, Sverrir, are sent to investigate her death. There, they discover five suspects: the chief physician, two junior nurses, a young doctor, and the caretaker, who is arrested following false testimony from one of the nurses, but subsequently released. Less than a week after the murder, the chief physician, is also found dead, having apparently fallen from a balcony.
-
-
So this really does end in the middle of a word
- By S. Armor on 09-12-24
By: Ragnar Jónasson
-
The Body in the Garden
- A Lily Adler Mystery
- By: Katharine Schellman
- Narrated by: Henrietta Meire
- Length: 11 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
London 1815. Newly widowed Lily Adler is returning to a society that frowns on independent women. At a ball thrown by her oldest friend, Lady Walter, she expects the scandal, gossip, and secrets. What she doesn't expect is the dead body in Lady Walter's garden. Lily overheard the man just minutes before he was shot: young, desperate, and attempting blackmail. But she's willing to leave the matter to the local constables - until Lord Walter bribes the investigating magistrate to drop the case. Stunned, Lily realizes she's the only one with the key to catching the killer.
-
-
Limited enthusiasm
- By John S. on 06-07-20
-
Fresh Water for Flowers
- By: Valérie Perrin
- Narrated by: Sara Young
- Length: 14 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Violette Toussaint is the caretaker at a cemetery in a small town in Bourgogne. Casual mourners, regular visitors, and sundry colleagues - gravediggers, groundskeepers, and a priest - visit her to warm themselves in her lodge, where laughter, companionship, and occasional tears mix with the coffee she offers them. Her life is lived to the rhythms of their funny, moving confidences. But her routine is disrupted by the arrival of the local police chief, who insists on scattering the ashes of his recently deceased mother on the gravesite of a complete stranger.
-
-
A great story, an appalling reading
- By C. Prunier on 06-22-21
By: Valérie Perrin
-
The Grave Tattoo
- By: Val McDermid
- Narrated by: Kate Reading
- Length: 13 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After torrential summer rains uncover a bizarrely tattooed body on a Lake District hillside, a long-disregarded old wives' tale takes on a chilling new plausibility. For centuries, Lakelanders have whispered that Fletcher Christian, made infamous by Mutiny on the Bounty, staged the massacre on Pitcairn so that he could return home. And once there, what if he could tell his story to an old friend and schoolmate, William Wordsworth, who turned it into a long narrative poem—a poem that remained hidden lest it expose Wordsworth to the gallows for harboring a fugitive?
-
-
Sort of like AS Byatt's Possession,
- By salamander on 06-01-10
By: Val McDermid
-
So Late in the Day
- By: Claire Keegan
- Narrated by: Claire Keegan
- Length: 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After an uneventful Friday at the Dublin office, Cathal faces into the long weekend and takes the bus home. There, his mind agitates over a woman named Sabine with whom he could have spent his life, had he acted differently. All evening, with only the television and a bottle of champagne for company, thoughts of this woman and others intrude - and the true significance of this particular date is revealed.
-
-
This Audible is not the full Kindle/Book version.
- By Mary F. on 11-26-23
By: Claire Keegan
-
The Mysterious Affair at Styles and The Murder on the Links
- Agatha Christie's First Two Hercule Poirot Novels
- By: Agatha Christie
- Narrated by: Justin Longbourn
- Length: 11 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Agatha Christie's first two Poirot novels, narrated with a general-American accent. The Mysterious Affair at Styles: Someone has poisoned wealthy Emily Inglethorp. But who? And how? Everyone suspects Emily's young husband, Alfred...and Alfred seems to be actually trying to get arrested and charged.... The Murder on the Links: Poirot comes to France in response to a desperate plea for help to find his client already murdered - stabbed in the back and lying in an open grave. Brusque, arrogant Inspector Giraud thinks he knows who did it.
-
-
Queen of Murder Mysteries
- By Elderly and Happy on 06-23-25
By: Agatha Christie
-
Down Cemetery Road
- By: Mick Herron
- Narrated by: Julia Franklin
- Length: 13 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When a house explodes in a quiet Oxford suburb and a young girl disappears in the aftermath, Sarah Tucker becomes obsessed with finding her. Accustomed to dull chores in a childless household and hosting her husband’s wearisome business clients for dinner, Sarah suddenly finds herself questioning everything she thought she knew, as her investigation reveals that people long believed dead are still among the living, while the living are fast joining the dead.
-
-
A bit of a slog....
- By rhl60 on 01-26-24
By: Mick Herron
A queen like no other
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Okay story, great reader
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Excellent Lady Macbeth rendition
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.