Black Tag cover art

Black Tag

A heart-racing new thriller from the Sunday Times bestselling author of Knife Edge

 Preview

Get 30 days of Standard free

£5.99/mo after trial. Cancel monthly.
Try for £0.00
More purchase options

Black Tag

By: Simon Mayo
Narrated by: Rachel Bavidge
Try for £0.00

£5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for £12.06

Buy Now for £12.06

LIMITED TIME OFFER

£0.99/mo for 3 months - terms apply. Offer ends 31 August 2026.

Your house is on fire. What do you save? You have seconds to decide…

When the West End Gallery in London's fashionable Coal Drops Yard is set alight, the fire service must use the list of paintings lodged with it - a grab list - to snatch the key pieces of art from the flames.

But something has been altered. It’s the wrong list.

Then the ashes reveal another tragedy: an unidentified dead body. Someone who should not have been there. Crusading journalist Famie Madden wants to know who it is and what they were doing. Soon it becomes apparent that the ashes are hiding much more than they should be - and that this is much more than a casual act of arson.

Soon Famie’s investigation will take her far from the pages of her website into a murderous family saga stretching back over centuries…

'Gripping' Daily Express
'Full of twists and turns' That's Life
'Another winner... Plenty of twists, the odd conspiracy theory to ramp up the pace. Insider glimpses into the media and art world add fascination' Press Association

© Simon Mayo 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025

 Amateur Sleuths Crime Thrillers Family Life Genre Fiction Mystery Suspense Thriller & Suspense Women Sleuths Exciting
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1

Critic reviews

Gripping
Full of twists and turns
Praise for Simon Mayo
Simon Mayo is clearly a force to be reckoned with in the thriller world... Smart and tense [with] some highly ingenious twists.
Mayo spools out his many twists and turns skillfully. A slice of scary, escapist fun.
The characters are well observed, the dialogue effortless and the twists and turns never-ending.
All stars
Most relevant
I'm finding so many audio books disappointing. This would not fall into that category but it's just OK,nothing special. Would I recommend? No.

It's OK

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This is a fast paced thriller from this very talented author. I have read / listened to a number of Simon’s books but I think this is the best yet. The hero’s were very believable and the baddies were sickeningly callous and brutal behind a wealthy and privileged facade. My cap is doffed, well done Mr Mayo

Oh my word!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Fast moving, great story line and excellent characters. Will go back and listen to the first book now!

Excellent characters

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I always pre order Simon Mayo's books and was looking forward to this release. Rachel Bavidge's performance was excellent. The story line was good but I found the characters two dimensional. Either so pure they need a halo or a parody of evil. By the end of the book I felt I was being preached to. Spoiler alert - we all know slavery is bad. Overall, disappointing.

Great performance

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The story was well paced and the main character likeable. The characters made some unlikely decisions in service of an exciting finale but it was the supposed villains who were really underwhelming. There just wasn’t much real jeopardy and the big reveal of the baddies’ motives was a damp squib.

Disappointing

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.