Listen free for 30 days
-
The Social Magus
- John Mordred, Book 2
- Narrated by: Colin Watts
- Series: John Mordred, Book 2
- Length: 9 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Literature & Fiction, Genre Fiction
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Listen with a free trial
Buy Now for £18.29
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Encounter with ISIS
- John Mordred, Book 3
- By: James Ward
- Narrated by: Stephen Holloway
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When the 14-year-old daughter of a British government minister leaves the country to join ISIS, MI7 dispatches a cohort of agents to Turkey to intercept her en route. However, maybe not everything is as it seems. How to explain, for example, her long-standing prior antipathy to Islamofascism? Her sudden conversion to radicalism on the very day of her departure? The fact that there is neither sight nor sign of her in Istanbul - or elsewhere?
-
-
In books, that usually means I get away.
- By Norma Miles on 02-08-19
-
A Time to Lie
- By: Simon Berthon
- Narrated by: John Hopkins
- Length: 10 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On the morning of the Tory Party conference, the bones of a young woman’s hand are discovered in a London building site. Prime Minister Robin Sandford is accused of killer her. With his career on the brink of ruin, he enlists the unofficial help of MI5. A decision which leads him into a new world of espionage, mass executions and murder. The deeper he goes, the more treacherous the game becomes. And if he fails to expose the truth, the whole country will pay the price…
-
Too Close for Comfort
- Knight & Culverhouse, Book 1
- By: Adam Croft
- Narrated by: Adam Croft
- Length: 3 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What if the serial killer you were investigating was someone you knew? DS Wendy Knight's first murder case was always going to test her limits, but even she couldn't anticipate that a sadistic serial killer might be someone she knew - very well. As her investigation unfolds, so too does a sinister plot that will turn her world upside down and make it increasingly difficult to distinguish friend from foe in her tight-knit world. By the time Wendy realises she is the killer's final intended victim, she's left fighting against her personal instincts - and for her life.
-
-
Short Police Procedural
- By SandraL on 15-12-20
-
The One
- The Complete Emma Holden Suspense Mystery Trilogy
- By: Paul Pilkington
- Narrated by: Fiona Hardingham
- Length: 21 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The gripping, international number one chart-topping romantic suspense mystery trilogy. Now available in a single box set. This box set includes all three books in the trilogy: The One You Love, The One You Fear, and The One You Trust. Packed with twists, turns, and cliff-hangers, the fast-paced suspense mystery trilogy has topped the charts on both sides of the Atlantic, with over three million downloads worldwide.
-
Murder in Steeple Martin
- A Libby Sarjeant Murder Mystery Series, Book 1
- By: Lesley Cookman
- Narrated by: Patience Tomlinson
- Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There's a baffling mystery in the village of Steeple Martin...but actress and amateur sleuth Libby Sarjeant is on the case! Libby Sarjeant, former actress and artist, loves life in the idyllic English countryside. She's busy with her friends preparing a play for the pretty new Oast House Theatre in Steeple Martin when there's suddenly news of a baffling mystery - the murder of a cast member.
-
-
Most enjoyable.
- By Annie on 06-01-22
-
The Apothecary's Daughter
- Ray Flowers Series, Book 1
- By: Jane Adams
- Narrated by: Dan Calley
- Length: 8 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One February afternoon, Detective Ray Flowers' life is blown apart by a petrol bomb attack. No one can tell him who did it. Or why. Anchorless and alone, he moves to his aunt's country cottage. What he needs is perspective. Instead, he is tormented by visions of Kitty Hallam, a troubled young woman accused of witchcraft. Back in 1643. Is she a figment of Flowers' imagination or something more? Whatever the truth, Flowers can't help but be drawn into Kitty's world, sensing their stories are intertwined somehow.
-
Encounter with ISIS
- John Mordred, Book 3
- By: James Ward
- Narrated by: Stephen Holloway
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When the 14-year-old daughter of a British government minister leaves the country to join ISIS, MI7 dispatches a cohort of agents to Turkey to intercept her en route. However, maybe not everything is as it seems. How to explain, for example, her long-standing prior antipathy to Islamofascism? Her sudden conversion to radicalism on the very day of her departure? The fact that there is neither sight nor sign of her in Istanbul - or elsewhere?
-
-
In books, that usually means I get away.
- By Norma Miles on 02-08-19
-
A Time to Lie
- By: Simon Berthon
- Narrated by: John Hopkins
- Length: 10 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On the morning of the Tory Party conference, the bones of a young woman’s hand are discovered in a London building site. Prime Minister Robin Sandford is accused of killer her. With his career on the brink of ruin, he enlists the unofficial help of MI5. A decision which leads him into a new world of espionage, mass executions and murder. The deeper he goes, the more treacherous the game becomes. And if he fails to expose the truth, the whole country will pay the price…
-
Too Close for Comfort
- Knight & Culverhouse, Book 1
- By: Adam Croft
- Narrated by: Adam Croft
- Length: 3 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What if the serial killer you were investigating was someone you knew? DS Wendy Knight's first murder case was always going to test her limits, but even she couldn't anticipate that a sadistic serial killer might be someone she knew - very well. As her investigation unfolds, so too does a sinister plot that will turn her world upside down and make it increasingly difficult to distinguish friend from foe in her tight-knit world. By the time Wendy realises she is the killer's final intended victim, she's left fighting against her personal instincts - and for her life.
-
-
Short Police Procedural
- By SandraL on 15-12-20
-
The One
- The Complete Emma Holden Suspense Mystery Trilogy
- By: Paul Pilkington
- Narrated by: Fiona Hardingham
- Length: 21 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The gripping, international number one chart-topping romantic suspense mystery trilogy. Now available in a single box set. This box set includes all three books in the trilogy: The One You Love, The One You Fear, and The One You Trust. Packed with twists, turns, and cliff-hangers, the fast-paced suspense mystery trilogy has topped the charts on both sides of the Atlantic, with over three million downloads worldwide.
-
Murder in Steeple Martin
- A Libby Sarjeant Murder Mystery Series, Book 1
- By: Lesley Cookman
- Narrated by: Patience Tomlinson
- Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There's a baffling mystery in the village of Steeple Martin...but actress and amateur sleuth Libby Sarjeant is on the case! Libby Sarjeant, former actress and artist, loves life in the idyllic English countryside. She's busy with her friends preparing a play for the pretty new Oast House Theatre in Steeple Martin when there's suddenly news of a baffling mystery - the murder of a cast member.
-
-
Most enjoyable.
- By Annie on 06-01-22
-
The Apothecary's Daughter
- Ray Flowers Series, Book 1
- By: Jane Adams
- Narrated by: Dan Calley
- Length: 8 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One February afternoon, Detective Ray Flowers' life is blown apart by a petrol bomb attack. No one can tell him who did it. Or why. Anchorless and alone, he moves to his aunt's country cottage. What he needs is perspective. Instead, he is tormented by visions of Kitty Hallam, a troubled young woman accused of witchcraft. Back in 1643. Is she a figment of Flowers' imagination or something more? Whatever the truth, Flowers can't help but be drawn into Kitty's world, sensing their stories are intertwined somehow.
-
Murder-de-Sac
- The Mrs McGrath Mysteries, Book 1
- By: Jim Bennett
- Narrated by: Helena Little
- Length: 7 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Not a lot happens to Julie. Since her husband died, the closest she’s come to a romantic encounter is being ogled by Brian across the road. With her son preoccupied elsewhere, there’s not even anyone to come home to anymore, apart from a glass of wine. That all changes when an unexpected visitor comes to stay and brings a host of problems with them. Before she knows it, Julie has been unwittingly drawn into a murder investigation, thanks to her nuisance neighbor Mrs. McGrath.
-
The Bookseller
- The First Hugo Marston Novel
- By: Mark Pryor
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 10 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Max - an elderly Paris bookstall owner - is abducted at gunpoint. His friend Hugo Marston, head of security at the U.S. embassy, launches a search. His investigation reveals that Max was a Holocaust survivor and later became a Nazi hunter. Is his disappearance somehow tied to his grim history, or even to the mysterious old books he sold? Before long, other booksellers start to disappear, their bodies found floating in the Seine. Then Marston himself becomes a target of the unknown assassins.
-
Time Leap 1: Date Me
- By: Steve Howrie
- Narrated by: Graham Mack
- Length: 6 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How many of us have wished for the ability to travel through time? With such a power, we could avert past wrongs, save loved ones from personal tragedy, prevent major world disasters, and catch a glimpse of what the future holds in store for us. Joe Cooper has found such a power - and uses it. Together with his partner, Niki Ling, and Russian hit-man Smirnoff, Joe embarks on a series of adventures in an attempt to change the world for the better. But, as they soon discover, altering events in one reality can have alarming effects in another.
-
-
Examining the paradoxes
- By Pepps on 30-08-20
-
Murder in the Valleys
- Lambert and Havard, Book 1
- By: Pippa McCathie
- Narrated by: Gwen Watson
- Length: 7 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Out walking near the rain-swelled river running past her small Welsh town, she comes across the body of Amber Morgan. Fabia’s police training tells her instantly that the death is the result of foul play. But no longer in the force, all she can do is call it in. Yet she has mixed feelings when she discovers it is her former colleague, Matt Lambert, newly promoted to chief inspector, who will head the investigation into the girl’s death.
-
-
Dull as can be, nearly
- By Gerard on 04-12-19
-
Retriever of Souls
- DI Sterling, Book 1
- By: Lorraine Mace
- Narrated by: Andrew Cullum
- Length: 8 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Brought up believing that sex is the devil's work, a killer only finds release once he has saved his victim's souls. Abiding by his vision, he marks them as his. A gift to guide his chosen ones on the rightful path to redemption. Detective Inspector Paolo Sterling is out to stop him, but Paolo has problems of his own. Hunting down the killer as the death toll rises, the lines soon blur between Paolo's personal and professional lives.
-
-
Great read
- By Deborah on 03-09-19
-
Black River
- A Jess Bridges Mystery, Book 1
- By: Joss Stirling
- Narrated by: Claire Wyatt, James Lailey
- Length: 10 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The River Thames always gives up its dead.... There’s a killer picking off victims from the wild swimming spots on the upper reaches of the Thames. The case takes Detective Inspector Leo George into the path of Jess Bridges, a private investigator who lives life close to the edge. Their enquiries lead them to author, Jago Jackson, whose book on secret wild swimming spots has turned him into a social media celebrity. Is Jago’s book the blueprint that the murderer is following?
-
-
An ‘acerbic’ review of this relationship drama
- By incubroz on 28-08-21
-
The Thursday Murder Club
- (The Thursday Murder Club 1)
- By: Richard Osman
- Narrated by: Lesley Manville, Richard Osman, Marian Keyes
- Length: 12 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet up once a week to investigate unsolved killings. But when a local property developer shows up dead, 'The Thursday Murder Club' finds themselves in the middle of their first live case. The four friends, Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron, might be octogenarians, but they still have a few tricks up their sleeves. Can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer, before it's too late?
-
-
Oh WHAT a disappointment!
- By mollyeyre on 03-09-20
-
Their Lost Daughters
- Audible's breakthrough crime author of 2018
- By: Joy Ellis
- Narrated by: Richard Armitage
- Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Deep in the muddy fields of the Lincolnshire Fens, a teenage girl is found wandering, delirious, claiming to have been drugged at a party. Metres away, the drowned body of another girl is found on an isolated beach. And all this on a small stretch of land where, nearly 10 years ago, the shocking disappearance of a young girl remains an open case.
-
-
The best audio book of 2018?????
- By Mr Chops on 07-01-19
-
A Man with One of Those Faces
- By: Caimh McDonnell
- Narrated by: Morgan C. Jones
- Length: 11 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The first time somebody tried to kill him was an accident. The second time was deliberate. Now Paul Mulchrone finds himself on the run with nobody to turn to except a nurse who has read one-too-many crime novels and a renegade copper with a penchant for violence. Together they must solve one of the most notorious crimes in Irish history. Or else they’ll be history.
-
-
Outstanding
- By Moz on 14-09-18
-
Our Friends in Beijing
- By: John Simpson
- Narrated by: John Simpson
- Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A thrillingly authentic novel about truth, power, politics and friendship, from one of our most revered and experienced foreign correspondents. Jon Swift is in trouble again. His journalism career is in freefall. He is too old to be part of the new world order, and he has never learned to suck up to those in charge. But experience has taught him to trust his instincts. When, for the first time in years, Jon runs into Lin Lifeng in a café in Oxford, he wonders if the meeting is a coincidence. When Lin asks him to pass on a coded message, he knows it's not.
-
-
Fascinating from start to finish
- By Lawrie Jenkins on 13-10-21
-
Web of Lies
- Detective Sebastian Clifford, Book 1
- By: Sally Rigby
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
- Length: 9 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Police officer Sebastian Clifford never planned on becoming a private investigator. But when a scandal leads to the disbandment of his London based special squad, he finds himself out of a job. That is, until his cousin calls on him to investigate her husband’s high-profile death, and prove that it wasn’t a suicide. Clifford’s reluctant to get involved, but the more he digs, the more evidence he finds. With his ability to remember everything he's ever seen, he's the perfect person to untangle the layers of deceit.
-
-
Clifford , ace P I
- By Brian Marriott on 27-11-21
-
Many Rivers to Cross
- By: Peter Robinson
- Narrated by: Simon Slater
- Length: 11 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The 26th instalment of the internationally best-selling DCI Banks series. When the body of a teenage boy is found stuffed into a wheely bin on the East Side Estate, Banks and Annie have a homegrown murder case to solve. But Banks' attention is also on Zelda, who, in helping him track down his old enemy, has put herself in danger and alerted the stone-cold Eastern European sex traffickers who brought her to the UK.
-
-
No more DCI Banks for me
- By Debra Atkinson on 10-11-19
Summary
Everyone knows UK general elections aren’t what they were. British politics, Westminster in particular, is mired in an integrity crisis. Expenses scandals, cash for questions, a tainted honours system, and other wrong-turns have deeply disillusioned the electorate.
Enter Real Alternative, a bold new party with a youthful, charismatic leader, and a radical manifesto. True, it stands to win very few seats, but what matters more is that it has galvanised the young and apathetic. And apparently, it has the establishment running scared. Yet it may be more vulnerable than appears. Who’s funding it? No one quite knows. If its backers are foreign, that would constitute a clear breach of electoral commission rules. Which would please a lot of people in Whitehall.
Agent John Mordred is assigned to investigate. What looks at first like a routine probe becomes much more when he discovers not only that his own sister is an integral part of Real Alternative’s setup, but that she’s having a relationship with the party leader. And that someone wants both of them dead.
The Social Magus is the first of the Tales of MI7 series to be set mostly in London. Written in the run-up to the 2015 general election, it examines some of the trends and concerns that later materialised in “Corbynism” and the Momentum movement.
More from the same
What listeners say about The Social Magus
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Ann D
- 19-11-19
Pleasant enough!
I struggled a bit with this one. I think I may have enjoyed the story more with a different narrator. His voice was good, but, even allowing for the author’s injection of humour throughout the story, he was just too loud and perky for me. Also, I felt the characters were a little lacking in depth. It is interesting and unusual to have an espionage tale where the protagonist is not intense though. I would consider listening to another offering by this author, narrated in a more sober tone, allowing the humour to be less ‘in your face’.
I was given a free audio copy of this by by the author, via Bookboom, in exchange for an honest review.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Norma Miles
- 12-12-19
You're not George Smiley and you're not James Bond
Book five in the excellent Tales of MI7 series, but these can be read in any order.
With a general election imminent, the established order is shocked by the unexpected rise of a new political party, Real Alternatives, or R.A., led by the charismatic Chapman, which was rapidly gaining attention and supporters. John Mordred, from MI7, is ordered to investigate, coils an assassination attempt and discovers his sister, Julia, loves, and believes herself loved by, Chapman.
A delicious mix of family, British politics, spies, Russians and murders, plus the mysterious fact-or-fiction? Constantius Soper, all bound together with humour and mystery. This book is well written with good, natural dialogue and a truly convoluted plot so bizarre it could easily be true - even down to poisoned umbrellas.
James Ward has written a great series based around the unlikely young spy, John Mordred. Sent in various books in different locations around the world, this book is based mostly in London. The reader is given a great sense of place, the atmosphere and surroundings conjured up with few words. Similarly, characterisation is excellent, the protagonists living their way through the stories. This is enhanced by the very English narration of Colin Watts who reads with humour, great pacing and intonation. Although he does not attempt to give individual voices to each of the characters, instead reading rather than performing, this perversely adds to the character of the book rather than detracting from it.
I was very fortunate in being freely gifted with a complimentary copy of The Social Magus, by the rights holder, after I requested it via Audiobook Boom. Thank you so much. I have enjoyed every one of the John Mordred books that I have read. They are not always an easy read, demanding attention if the reader is not to get lost in the complexity of the p!ot, but so well worth the concentration as they are quirky, amusing and very satisfying. Highly recommended.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Rayc
- 28-12-19
Uniquely British
The Social Magus,
I'm a fan of the John Mordred character, he is a unique character, a man who doesn't quite fit into the world of British security services.
It is quite a long book - it needs the length to deal with a complex plot and it does so in a very satisfactory manner.
When you finish this book you'll be looking for more.
Narration is clear and concise.
I received a free copy of this audio book at my own request, and voluntarily leave this honest review.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Jan
- 08-12-19
Excellent plot and characters!
bookshelves: espionage, london, thriller, suspense, twisty
If it was shorter that would be a disservice to the plot and the characters, so just prepare yourself for a book that takes several days while trying to entice you into reading far into the night. Lots of entanglements, plot twists, and red herrings along with some characters who are just too realistic. I think it's awful that this is book five and now I want to hunt up the earlier ones and binge read them!
It also comes as audio, but I really didn't like the narration.