
Past Mortem
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 $8.71
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Ben Miles
-
By:
-
Ben Elton
About this listen
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Meltdown
- By: Ben Elton
- Narrated by: Paul Thornley
- Length: 11 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For amiable city trader Jimmy Corby money was the new rock n' roll. His whole life was a party, adrenaline charged and cocaine fuelled. If he hadn't met Monica, he would probably have ended up either dead or in rehab. But Jimmy was as lucky in love as he was at betting on dodgy derivatives, so instead of burning out, his star just burned brighter than ever. Rich, pampered and successful; Jimmy; Monica; and their friends lived the dream, bringing up their children with an army of domestic helps.
-
-
Excellent
- By Sarah Jane Walton on 04-13-22
By: Ben Elton
-
Identity Crisis
- By: Ben Elton
- Narrated by: Ben Elton
- Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A series of apparently random murders draws amiable, old-school Detective Mick Matlock into a world of sex, politics, reality TV and a bewildering kaleidoscope of opposing identity groups. Lost in a blizzard of hashtags, his already complex investigation is further impeded by the fact that he simply doesn’t ‘get’ a single thing about anything anymore. Meanwhile, each day another public figure confesses to having ‘misspoken’ and prostrates themselves before the judgment of Twitter. Begging for forgiveness, assuring the public 'that is not who I am'.
-
-
Starts strange and ends amazing.
- By Adayam mirsky on 05-12-24
By: Ben Elton
-
Blind Faith
- By: Ben Elton
- Narrated by: Glen McCready
- Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As Trafford Sewell struggles to work through the usual crowds of commuters, he is confronted by the intimidating figure of his Parish Confessor. Why has Trafford not been streaming his every moment of sexual intimacy onto the community website like everybody else? Does he think he's different or special in some way? Better than his fellow man and woman? Does he have something to hide? Imagine a world where everyone knows everything about everybody.
-
-
Hard to read
- By Jules Milani on 05-30-17
By: Ben Elton
-
High Society
- By: Ben Elton
- Narrated by: Greg Wagland
- Length: 11 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The war on drugs has been lost but for want of the courage to face the fact that the whole world is rapidly becoming one vast criminal network. From pop stars and princes to crack whores and street kids. From the Groucho Club toilets to the poppy fields of Afghanistan, we are all partners in crime.
-
-
Ben brilliant as always
- By Lisa on 09-21-11
By: Ben Elton
-
Time and Time Again
- By: Ben Elton
- Narrated by: Jot Davies
- Length: 13 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It’s the 1st of June 1914 and Hugh Stanton, ex-soldier and celebrated adventurer is quite literally the loneliest man on earth. No one he has ever known or loved has been born yet. Perhaps now they never will be.Stanton knows that a great and terrible war is coming. A collective suicidal madness that will destroy European civilization and bring misery to millions in the century to come. He knows this because, for him, that century is already history.Somehow he must change that history. He must prevent the war.
-
-
Don't Mess With Yesterday!
- By Carole T. on 01-03-15
By: Ben Elton
-
Fairy Tale
- By: Stephen King
- Narrated by: Seth Numrich, Stephen King
- Length: 24 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Charlie Reade looks like a regular high school kid, great at baseball and football, a decent student. But he carries a heavy load. His mom was killed in a horrific accident when he was seven, and grief drove his dad to drink. Charlie learned how to take care of himself—and his dad. When Charlie is seventeen, he meets a dog named Radar and her aging master, Howard Bowditch, a recluse in a big house at the top of a big hill, with a locked shed in the backyard. Sometimes strange sounds emerge from that shed.
-
-
A Boy and his Dog at the end of the World
- By Victor @ theAudiobookBlog dot com on 09-06-22
By: Stephen King
-
Meltdown
- By: Ben Elton
- Narrated by: Paul Thornley
- Length: 11 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For amiable city trader Jimmy Corby money was the new rock n' roll. His whole life was a party, adrenaline charged and cocaine fuelled. If he hadn't met Monica, he would probably have ended up either dead or in rehab. But Jimmy was as lucky in love as he was at betting on dodgy derivatives, so instead of burning out, his star just burned brighter than ever. Rich, pampered and successful; Jimmy; Monica; and their friends lived the dream, bringing up their children with an army of domestic helps.
-
-
Excellent
- By Sarah Jane Walton on 04-13-22
By: Ben Elton
-
Identity Crisis
- By: Ben Elton
- Narrated by: Ben Elton
- Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A series of apparently random murders draws amiable, old-school Detective Mick Matlock into a world of sex, politics, reality TV and a bewildering kaleidoscope of opposing identity groups. Lost in a blizzard of hashtags, his already complex investigation is further impeded by the fact that he simply doesn’t ‘get’ a single thing about anything anymore. Meanwhile, each day another public figure confesses to having ‘misspoken’ and prostrates themselves before the judgment of Twitter. Begging for forgiveness, assuring the public 'that is not who I am'.
-
-
Starts strange and ends amazing.
- By Adayam mirsky on 05-12-24
By: Ben Elton
-
Blind Faith
- By: Ben Elton
- Narrated by: Glen McCready
- Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As Trafford Sewell struggles to work through the usual crowds of commuters, he is confronted by the intimidating figure of his Parish Confessor. Why has Trafford not been streaming his every moment of sexual intimacy onto the community website like everybody else? Does he think he's different or special in some way? Better than his fellow man and woman? Does he have something to hide? Imagine a world where everyone knows everything about everybody.
-
-
Hard to read
- By Jules Milani on 05-30-17
By: Ben Elton
-
High Society
- By: Ben Elton
- Narrated by: Greg Wagland
- Length: 11 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The war on drugs has been lost but for want of the courage to face the fact that the whole world is rapidly becoming one vast criminal network. From pop stars and princes to crack whores and street kids. From the Groucho Club toilets to the poppy fields of Afghanistan, we are all partners in crime.
-
-
Ben brilliant as always
- By Lisa on 09-21-11
By: Ben Elton
-
Time and Time Again
- By: Ben Elton
- Narrated by: Jot Davies
- Length: 13 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It’s the 1st of June 1914 and Hugh Stanton, ex-soldier and celebrated adventurer is quite literally the loneliest man on earth. No one he has ever known or loved has been born yet. Perhaps now they never will be.Stanton knows that a great and terrible war is coming. A collective suicidal madness that will destroy European civilization and bring misery to millions in the century to come. He knows this because, for him, that century is already history.Somehow he must change that history. He must prevent the war.
-
-
Don't Mess With Yesterday!
- By Carole T. on 01-03-15
By: Ben Elton
-
Fairy Tale
- By: Stephen King
- Narrated by: Seth Numrich, Stephen King
- Length: 24 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Charlie Reade looks like a regular high school kid, great at baseball and football, a decent student. But he carries a heavy load. His mom was killed in a horrific accident when he was seven, and grief drove his dad to drink. Charlie learned how to take care of himself—and his dad. When Charlie is seventeen, he meets a dog named Radar and her aging master, Howard Bowditch, a recluse in a big house at the top of a big hill, with a locked shed in the backyard. Sometimes strange sounds emerge from that shed.
-
-
A Boy and his Dog at the end of the World
- By Victor @ theAudiobookBlog dot com on 09-06-22
By: Stephen King
-
East of Alice
- By: Annie Seaton
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Brennan
- Length: 10 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Gemma Hayden has returned to her hometown of Alice Springs for a new job as a primary school teacher. It's been six years since her family broke apart following the disappearance of her twin brother. And the scars still run deep. Hard on the heels of her homecoming, Saul Pearce, the man she once loved, is reposted from Parks and Wildlife in Darwin back to Alice. When an old car wreck is uncovered, washed down the river to Ruby Gap, Saul investigates only to find that the wreck belonged to Ethan, Gemma's twin—and there's a coded note for her in the glovebox.
By: Annie Seaton
-
Did I Ever Tell You This?
- By: Sam Neill
- Narrated by: Sam Neill
- Length: 12 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this unexpected memoir, written in a creative burst of just a few months in 2022, Sam Neill tells the story of how he became one of the world’s most celebrated actors, who has worked with everyone from Meryl Streep to Isabel Adjani, from Jeff Goldblum to Sean Connery, from Steven Spielberg to Jane Campion.
-
-
A Kiwi Knight who kept me up for many nights
- By C. A. Cameron on 04-13-23
By: Sam Neill
-
Broken Bay
- By: Margaret Hickey
- Narrated by: Henry Nixon
- Length: 11 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Detective Sergeant Mark Ariti has taken a few days' holiday in Broken Bay at precisely the wrong time. The small fishing town on South Australia's Limestone Coast is now the scene of a terrible tragedy. Renowned cave-diver Mya Rennik has drowned while exploring a sinkhole on the land of wealthy farmer Frank Doyle. As the press descends, Mark's boss orders him to stay put and assist the police operation. But when they retrieve Mya's body, a whole new mystery is opened up, around the disappearance of a young local woman twenty years before.
-
-
Just OK for Me
- By Lia on 05-28-24
By: Margaret Hickey
-
Boys Don't Cry
- By: Fíona Scarlett
- Narrated by: Ronan Raftery
- Length: 4 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Joe is 17, a gifted artist and a brilliant older brother to 12-year-old Finn. They live with their Ma and Da in a Dublin tower block called Bojaxhiu, or 'the Jax'. It's not an easy place to be a kid, especially when your father, Frank, is the muscle for the notorious gang leader Dessie 'The Badger' Murphy. But whether it's daytrips to the beach or drawing secret sketches, Joe works hard to show Finn life beyond the battered concrete yard below their flat. Joe is determined not to become like his Da. But when Finn falls ill, Joe finds his convictions harder to cling to.
-
-
Really well written
- By joan on 12-23-23
By: Fíona Scarlett
-
The Dentist
- DS Cross, Book 1
- By: Tim Sullivan
- Narrated by: John Heffernan
- Length: 10 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
DS George Cross can be rude, difficult and awkward with people. But his unfailing logic and dogged pursuit of the truth means his conviction rate is the best on the force. So when his police colleagues dismiss the death of a man as a squabble among Bristol's homeless community, Detective Sergeant George Cross is not convinced.
-
-
Unique Detective Story
- By Lia on 06-11-22
By: Tim Sullivan
-
The Girl Before
- A Novel
- By: J. P. Delaney
- Narrated by: Emilia Fox, Finty Williams, Lise Aagaard Knudsen
- Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Reeling from a traumatic break-in, Emma wants a new place to live. But none of the apartments she sees are affordable or feel safe. Until One Folgate Street. The house is an architectural masterpiece: a minimalist design of pale stone, plate glass, and soaring ceilings. But there are rules. The enigmatic architect who designed the house retains full control: no books, no throw pillows, no photos or clutter or personal effects of any kind. The space is intended to transform its occupant—and it does.
-
-
No, No, No
- By Virginia on 02-02-17
By: J. P. Delaney
-
The Perpetual Astonishment of Jonathon Fairfax
- By: Christopher Shevlin
- Narrated by: Finlay Robertson
- Length: 12 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Jonathon Fairfax accidentally helps a murderer bump off Sarah Morecambe, the secretary of a senior politician, he sets off a chain of events that astonishes him. Jonathon is wrong-footed by even the most everyday things, so he's particularly startled to find himself caught up in a conspiracy that goes right to the heart of government. Teaming up with a suave private investigator, a glamorous granny and the probable love of his life, Jonathon must confront his greatest fears - including talking to girls and balaclava-clad killers - and answer some very difficult questions.
-
-
Great story with LOL moments
- By Bethany on 12-11-20
-
The Cruel Sea
- By: Nicholas Monsarrat
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 17 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Darting back and forth across the icy North Atlantic, Compass Rose played a deadly cat-and-mouse game with packs of German U-boats lying in wait beneath the ocean waves. Packed with tension and vivid descriptions of agonizing U-boat hunts, this tale of the most bitter and chilling campaign of the war tells of ordinary men who had to master their own fears before they could face a brutal menace - one that would strike without warning from the deep.
-
-
Hard Edged Historical Fiction
- By CLR on 01-20-18
-
A Tapping at My Door
- By: David Jackson
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
- Length: 10 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the best-selling author of Cry Baby, the beginning of a brilliant and gripping police procedural series set in Liverpool, perfect for fans of Peter James and Mark Billingham. A woman at home in Liverpool is disturbed by a persistent tapping at her back door. She's disturbed to discover the culprit is a raven and tries to shoo it away. Which is when the killer strikes. DS Nathan Cody, still bearing the scars of an undercover mission that went horrifyingly wrong, is put on the case.
-
-
Surprised by how Good It Was
- By L. O. Pardue on 04-12-16
By: David Jackson
-
Strange Sally Diamond
- By: Liz Nugent
- Narrated by: Jessica Regan, Stephen Hogan, Sara Lynam, and others
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Reclusive Sally Diamond is thrust into the media spotlight when she tries to incinerate her dead father, causing widespread outrage. Now she’s the center of attention, not only from hungry reporters and police detectives, but also a sinister voice from a past she does not remember. As she begins to discover the repressed memories of her horrific early childhood, Sally steps into the world for the first time, making new friends, big decisions, and learning that people don’t always mean what they say.
-
-
Kept me listening.
- By Amazon Customer on 11-06-23
By: Liz Nugent
-
The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart
- By: Holly Ringland
- Narrated by: Louise Crawford
- Length: 13 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After her family suffers a tragedy, nine-year-old Alice Hart is forced to leave her idyllic seaside home. She is taken in by her grandmother, June, a flower farmer who raises Alice on the language of Australian native flowers, a way to say the things that are too hard to speak. Under the watchful eye of June and the women who run the farm, Alice settles, but grows up increasingly frustrated by how little she knows of her family’s story.
-
-
Beautiful story
- By Julia Blackburn on 08-19-23
By: Holly Ringland
-
Mystery Man
- By: Colin Bateman
- Narrated by: Stephen Armstrong
- Length: 9 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
He’s the Man With No Name and the owner of No Alibis, a mystery bookshop in Belfast. But when a detective agency next door goes bust, the agency’s clients start calling into his shop asking him to solve their cases. It’s not as if there’s any danger involved. It’s an easy way to sell books to his gullible customers and Alison, the beautiful girl in the jewellery shop across the road, will surely be impressed. Except she’s not – because she can see the bigger picture.
-
-
Mystery, humor & literary nuances - GREAT
- By Toby on 09-06-13
By: Colin Bateman
Critic reviews
"Ben Miles' reading...is flawless." (The Times [London])
What listeners say about Past Mortem
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
- Philip
- 03-14-07
Internet reunites old friends and enemies
"Past Mortem" provides an interesting tale around a question that many people have asked themselves: wouldn't it be fun to get together with those old highschool classmates? From personal experience, I would say maybe.... reunions can either be very boring, or provide a good opportunity to get back in touch with old friends. The characters in the plot have the same experience, however old feuds start to resurface, and are settled once and for all. A caveat: there were some shortcuts in the audiobook plot, which made me wonder if the work hasn't been too abridged. If you enjoy Carl Hiaasen or Nick Hornby, then Ben Elton is certainly a writer you need to discover. I first came across his work with the excellent "Popcorn", and have by now read most of his other work (including the excellent Big Brother parody Dead Famous). For me, "Chart Throb" by the same author outperforms "Past Mortem", but both are worth your while!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
- Corinne
- 04-20-08
clear and enjoyable
One of the rare listens that though short is compelling to the end! Well worth it!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Peter Morton
- 05-27-15
Butchered by abridgement - dreadful
What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?
Having all of what Elton wrote would have been a start.
Have you listened to any of Ben Miles’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
I don't think so, but he makes a good job of what's left of the book.
What character would you cut from Past Mortem?
None
Any additional comments?
I never listen to abridged books but made a special exception in this case as it's the one Elton audiobook I haven't heard. Now I know why. The cutting is shameful. Chunks of the plot are missing and some scenes are so cut they read like notes the author might have made in the first place. Avoid at all costs if you admire Elton as a novelist as I do. I've a good mind to ask for my money back.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
4 people found this helpful