
Tales from the Folly
A Rivers of London Short Story Collection
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 $11.17
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
About this listen
Return to the world of Rivers of London in this first short-story collection from best-selling author Ben Aaronovitch. Tales from the Folly is a carefully curated collection that gathers together previously published stories and brand-new tales in the same place for the first time.
Each tale features a new introduction from the author, filled with insight and anecdote offering the listener a deeper exploration into this absorbing fictional world. This is a must-listen for any Rivers of London fan.
Join Peter, Nightingale, Abigail, Agent Reynolds, and Tobias Winter for a series of perfectly portioned tales. Discover what's haunting a lonely motorway service station, who still wanders the shelves of a popular London bookshop, and what exactly happened to the River Lugg....
With an introduction from internationally best-selling author of the Sookie Stackhouse series Charlaine Harris.
©2020 Ben Aaronovitch (P)2020 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
-
The 13th Witch
- The King's Watch, Book 1
- By: Mark Hayden
- Narrated by: Ciaran Saward
- Length: 10 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Conrad Clarke, former RAF pilot and alleged gangster, gets a text – and a visit – from The Allfather. Odin has a challenge for Conrad: Sign up to protect England from wild magick and get a commission in the King’s Watch. All he has to do is find a missing witch. Simple. Conrad never could resist a challenge. Before you can say “Ragnarok”, he’s plunged into a world of gods, mages, witches, dwarves, and one very aggressive giant mole.
-
-
A great story becomes even better
- By Pine wind on 11-09-20
By: Mark Hayden
-
Starter Villain
- By: John Scalzi
- Narrated by: Wil Wheaton
- Length: 8 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Inheriting your uncle's supervillain business is more complicated than you might think. Particularly when you discover who's running the place. Charlie's life is going nowhere fast. A divorced substitute teacher living with his cat in a house his siblings want to sell, all he wants is to open a pub downtown, if only the bank will approve his loan. Then his long-lost uncle Jake dies and leaves his supervillain business (complete with island volcano lair) to Charlie. But becoming a supervillain isn't all giant laser death rays and lava pits.
-
-
Volcanic Lairs, Death Rays & Cats… Oh My! 😼
- By C. White on 09-19-23
By: John Scalzi
-
The Complete Sookie Stackhouse Stories
- By: Charlaine Harris
- Narrated by: Johanna Parker, Brian Hutchison
- Length: 11 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A definitive new collection featuring all of the previously published Sookie Stackhouse stories, along with a new introduction from the number one New York Times best-selling author of the series. Return to Bon Temps, Louisiana, with these listener favorites featuring spunky telepathic waitress Sookie Stackhouse and her paranormal friends.
-
-
it's not a complete series
- By Anonymous User on 10-01-20
By: Charlaine Harris
-
The Stranger Times
- The Stranger Times, Book 1
- By: C. K. McDonnell
- Narrated by: Brendan McDonald
- Length: 11 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A weekly newspaper dedicated to the weird and the wonderful (but mostly the weird), The Stranger Times is the go-to publication for the unexplained and inexplicable. At least that's their pitch. The reality is rather less auspicious. Their editor is a drunken, foul-tempered and foul-mouthed husk of a man who thinks little of the publication he edits. His staff are a ragtag group of misfits. And as for the assistant editor...well, that job is a revolving door - and it has just revolved to reveal Hannah Willis, who's got problems of her own.
-
-
Animal abuse
- By Meep on 10-26-21
By: C. K. McDonnell
-
The Very First Damned Thing
- An Author-Read Audio Exclusive
- By: Jodi Taylor
- Narrated by: Jodi Taylor
- Length: 2 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jodi Taylor reads the long-awaited prequel in her Chronicles of St Mary’s series, as Dr Bairstow struggles to set up St Mary’s as we know it in a world still scarred by the ravages of civil war. Ever wondered how it all began? It’s two years since the final victory at the Battersea Barricades. The fighting might be finished, but for Dr Bairstow, just now setting up St Mary's, the struggle is only beginning. How will he assemble his team? From where will his funding come?
-
-
Wait for it on Kindle. Not the best on audio
- By Sheryl on 11-05-15
By: Jodi Taylor
-
The Aeronaut's Windlass
- The Cinder Spires, Book 1
- By: Jim Butcher
- Narrated by: Euan Morton
- Length: 21 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Since time immemorial the Spires have sheltered humanity, towering for miles over the mist-shrouded surface of the world. Within their halls aristocratic houses have ruled for generations, developing scientific marvels, fostering trade alliances, and building fleets of airships to keep the peace. Captain Grimm commands the merchant ship Predator. Fiercely loyal to Spire Albion, he has taken their side in the cold war with Spire Aurora, disrupting the enemy's shipping lines by attacking their cargo vessels.
-
-
A Brave New World
- By Don Gilbert on 10-02-15
By: Jim Butcher
-
The 13th Witch
- The King's Watch, Book 1
- By: Mark Hayden
- Narrated by: Ciaran Saward
- Length: 10 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Conrad Clarke, former RAF pilot and alleged gangster, gets a text – and a visit – from The Allfather. Odin has a challenge for Conrad: Sign up to protect England from wild magick and get a commission in the King’s Watch. All he has to do is find a missing witch. Simple. Conrad never could resist a challenge. Before you can say “Ragnarok”, he’s plunged into a world of gods, mages, witches, dwarves, and one very aggressive giant mole.
-
-
A great story becomes even better
- By Pine wind on 11-09-20
By: Mark Hayden
-
Starter Villain
- By: John Scalzi
- Narrated by: Wil Wheaton
- Length: 8 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Inheriting your uncle's supervillain business is more complicated than you might think. Particularly when you discover who's running the place. Charlie's life is going nowhere fast. A divorced substitute teacher living with his cat in a house his siblings want to sell, all he wants is to open a pub downtown, if only the bank will approve his loan. Then his long-lost uncle Jake dies and leaves his supervillain business (complete with island volcano lair) to Charlie. But becoming a supervillain isn't all giant laser death rays and lava pits.
-
-
Volcanic Lairs, Death Rays & Cats… Oh My! 😼
- By C. White on 09-19-23
By: John Scalzi
-
The Complete Sookie Stackhouse Stories
- By: Charlaine Harris
- Narrated by: Johanna Parker, Brian Hutchison
- Length: 11 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A definitive new collection featuring all of the previously published Sookie Stackhouse stories, along with a new introduction from the number one New York Times best-selling author of the series. Return to Bon Temps, Louisiana, with these listener favorites featuring spunky telepathic waitress Sookie Stackhouse and her paranormal friends.
-
-
it's not a complete series
- By Anonymous User on 10-01-20
By: Charlaine Harris
-
The Stranger Times
- The Stranger Times, Book 1
- By: C. K. McDonnell
- Narrated by: Brendan McDonald
- Length: 11 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A weekly newspaper dedicated to the weird and the wonderful (but mostly the weird), The Stranger Times is the go-to publication for the unexplained and inexplicable. At least that's their pitch. The reality is rather less auspicious. Their editor is a drunken, foul-tempered and foul-mouthed husk of a man who thinks little of the publication he edits. His staff are a ragtag group of misfits. And as for the assistant editor...well, that job is a revolving door - and it has just revolved to reveal Hannah Willis, who's got problems of her own.
-
-
Animal abuse
- By Meep on 10-26-21
By: C. K. McDonnell
-
The Very First Damned Thing
- An Author-Read Audio Exclusive
- By: Jodi Taylor
- Narrated by: Jodi Taylor
- Length: 2 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jodi Taylor reads the long-awaited prequel in her Chronicles of St Mary’s series, as Dr Bairstow struggles to set up St Mary’s as we know it in a world still scarred by the ravages of civil war. Ever wondered how it all began? It’s two years since the final victory at the Battersea Barricades. The fighting might be finished, but for Dr Bairstow, just now setting up St Mary's, the struggle is only beginning. How will he assemble his team? From where will his funding come?
-
-
Wait for it on Kindle. Not the best on audio
- By Sheryl on 11-05-15
By: Jodi Taylor
-
The Aeronaut's Windlass
- The Cinder Spires, Book 1
- By: Jim Butcher
- Narrated by: Euan Morton
- Length: 21 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Since time immemorial the Spires have sheltered humanity, towering for miles over the mist-shrouded surface of the world. Within their halls aristocratic houses have ruled for generations, developing scientific marvels, fostering trade alliances, and building fleets of airships to keep the peace. Captain Grimm commands the merchant ship Predator. Fiercely loyal to Spire Albion, he has taken their side in the cold war with Spire Aurora, disrupting the enemy's shipping lines by attacking their cargo vessels.
-
-
A Brave New World
- By Don Gilbert on 10-02-15
By: Jim Butcher
-
The Wizard's Butler
- The Wizard's Butler, Book 1
- By: Nathan Lowell
- Narrated by: Tom Taylorson
- Length: 12 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For five grand a month and a million-dollar chaser, Roger Mulligan didn't care how crazy the old geezer was. All he had to do was keep Joseph Perry Shackleford alive and keep him from squandering the estate for a year. But they didn't tell him about the pixies.
-
-
I LOVED this book!
- By Kristin Butner on 04-24-21
By: Nathan Lowell
-
Monster Hunter International
- By: Larry Correia
- Narrated by: Oliver Wyman
- Length: 24 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Five days after Owen Zastava Pitt pushed his insufferable boss out of a 14th story window, he woke up in the hospital with a scarred face, an unbelievable memory, and a job offer. It turns out that monsters are real. All the things from myth, legend, and B-movies are out there, waiting in the shadows. Some of them are evil, and some are just hungry. Monster Hunter International is the premier eradication company in the business. And now Owen is their newest recruit.
-
-
Suprizingly entertaining
- By Konstantin on 02-17-12
By: Larry Correia
-
Sealfinger
- Sam Applewhite, Book 1
- By: Heide Goody, Iain Grant
- Narrated by: Matthew Lloyd Davies
- Length: 10 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When a client tells Sam Applewhite she’s seen ghosts in the nearby graveyard, Sam dismisses it as the ramblings of an old woman. She’s got bigger things to worry about. Keeping on top of her job at DefCon4 Security Services isn’t easy - particularly since her manager is a cactus, and no one will tell her what her job actually is. But when the ghost-spotting client goes missing, and only Sam suspects foul play, she is compelled to dig deeper.
-
-
Loved it
- By Beth Swope on 07-12-21
By: Heide Goody, and others
-
Cherringham - A Cosy Crime Series Compilation
- Cherringham 1-3
- By: Matthew Costello, Neil Richards
- Narrated by: Neil Dudgeon
- Length: 7 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jack's a retired ex-cop from New York, seeking the simple life in Cherringham. Sarah's a Web designer who's moved back to the village find herself. But their lives are anything but quiet as the two team up to solve Cherringham's criminal mysteries. This compilation contains episodes 1 - 3: MURDER ON THAMES, MYSTERY AT THE MANOR and MURDER BY MOONLIGHT.
-
-
CLEAN AND FUN
- By Janice Faught on 03-24-17
By: Matthew Costello, and others
-
Doing Time
- The Time Police, Book 1
- By: Jodi Taylor
- Narrated by: Zara Ramm
- Length: 12 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A long time ago in the future, the secret of time travel became known to all. Unsurprisingly, the world nearly ended. There will always be idiots who want to change history. Enter the Time Police. An all-powerful, international organisation tasked with keeping the timeline straight. At all costs. Their success is legendary. The Time Wars are over. But now they must fight to save a very different future - their own. This is the story of Jane, Luke and Matthew - the worst recruits in Time Police history. Or, very possibly, three young people who might change everything.
-
-
Good Teenager Book
- By Brutis on 05-03-20
By: Jodi Taylor
-
A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking
- By: T. Kingfisher
- Narrated by: Patricia Santomasso
- Length: 8 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Fourteen-year-old Mona isn't like the wizards charged with defending the city. She can't control lightning or speak to water. Her familiar is a sourdough starter, and her magic only works on bread. She has a comfortable life in her aunt's bakery making gingerbread men dance. But Mona's life is turned upside down when she finds a dead body on the bakery floor. An assassin is stalking the streets of Mona's city, preying on magic folk, and it appears that Mona is his next target. And in an embattled city suddenly bereft of wizards, the assassin may be the least of Mona's worries.
-
-
A tour de force unimaginably good
- By Joella Berkner on 10-21-21
By: T. Kingfisher
-
An Inheritance of Magic
- By: Benedict Jacka
- Narrated by: Will Watt
- Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Stephen Oakwood is a young man on the edge of this hidden world. He has talent and potential, but turning that potential into magical power takes money, opportunity, and training. All Stephen has is a minimum wage job and a cat. But when a chance encounter with a member of House Ashford gets him noticed by the wrong people, Stephen is thrown in the deep end. For centuries, the vast corporations and aristocratic Houses of the magical world have grown impossibly rich and influential by hoarding their knowledge.
-
-
Great start to new series, content warning
- By patrisi on 10-24-23
By: Benedict Jacka
-
The Final Empire
- Mistborn Book 1
- By: Brandon Sanderson
- Narrated by: Michael Kramer
- Length: 24 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For a thousand years the ash fell and no flowers bloomed. For a thousand years the Skaa slaved in misery and lived in fear. For a thousand years the Lord Ruler, the "Sliver of Infinity," reigned with absolute power and ultimate terror, divinely invincible. Then, when hope was so long lost that not even its memory remained, a terribly scarred, heart-broken half-Skaa rediscovered it in the depths of the Lord Ruler's most hellish prison.
-
-
Prepare for sleepless nights
- By tercia on 10-21-18
-
Rosemary and Rue
- An October Daye Novel, Book 1
- By: Seanan McGuire
- Narrated by: Mary Robinette Kowal
- Length: 11 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The world of Faerie never disappeared: it merely went into hiding, continuing to exist parallel to our own. Secrecy is the key to Faerie’s survival—but no secret can be kept forever, and when the fae and mortal worlds collide, changelings are born. Half-human, half-fae, outsiders from birth, these second-class children of Faerie spend their lives fighting for the respect of their immortal relations.
-
-
Missed Matched Pair
- By G Reinhardt on 11-26-11
By: Seanan McGuire
-
Storm Front
- The Dresden Files, Book 1
- By: Jim Butcher
- Narrated by: James Marsters
- Length: 8 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A call from a distraught wife, and another from Lt. Murphy of the Chicago PD Special Investigation Unit makes Harry believe things are looking up, but they are about to get worse, much worse. Someone is harnessing immense supernatural forces to commit a series of grisly murders. Someone has violated the first law of magic: Thou Shalt Not Kill. Tracking that someone takes Harry into the dangerous underbelly of Chicago, from mobsters to vampires....
-
-
Excellent Story, Distracting Sound Engineering
- By Tom on 05-20-10
By: Jim Butcher
-
Dead Man's Hand
- The Unorthodox Chronicles, Book 1
- By: James J. Butcher
- Narrated by: James Patrick Cronin
- Length: 11 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On the streets of Boston, the world is divided into the ordinary Usuals, and the paranormal Unorthodox. And in the Department of Unorthodox Affairs, the Auditors are the magical elite, government-sanctioned witches with spells at their command and all the power and prestige that comes with it. Grimshaw Griswald Grimsby is…not one of those witches.
-
-
I want to be honest but not hurtful
- By KnowledgeMaster on 11-19-22
By: James J. Butcher
-
By a Silver Thread
- DFZ Changeling, Book 1
- By: Rachel Aaron
- Narrated by: Naomi Rose-Mock
- Length: 11 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the world’s most magical metropolis where spirits run noodle shops and cash-strapped dragons stage photo-ops for tourists, people still think fairies are nothing but stories, and that’s exactly how the fairies like it. It’s a lot easier to feast on humanity’s dreams when no one believes you exist. But while this arrangement works splendidly for most fair folk, Lola isn’t one of the lucky ones.
-
-
Good, not great
- By Tango on 05-05-23
By: Rachel Aaron
What listeners say about Tales from the Folly
Highly rated for:
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Lotte
- 11-07-23
Keep them coming
I love the rivers of london series and the short stories provide some background or fill gaps between the main stories. Love them.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 06-05-23
More please!
I look forward with longing to every word written in the Peter Grant Rivers of London series, including spin- offs and short stories. Thank you Ben and Kobna
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jennifer Fields
- 02-04-24
Love the character insight
Wonderful read, I highly recommend. I would like more Nightingale stories, and fox stories. I like that the characters have depth.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Alex Sumner
- 10-18-20
Finally!
I've been frustrated over the years, unable to read all the short stories included in the Waterstones editions. Now, finally, here they all are in a neat little package. Woot! And there's the added bonus of the character development shorts Ben Aaronovitch posted on his blog and a previously released novella. This collection is like having been denied opening an interesting door to see what's behind it and not only do you get to open it, you get to walk inside and explore.
I got the ebook first (because it was released before the audiobook) and instead of inhaling it, I decided to listen to (and read) everything in the series again, in chronological order this time. I greatly enjoyed the enhanced understanding the contents of Tales from the Folly gave to each book, filling in any gaps in the storyline as well as clarifying where the characters relationships were at emotionally. When this audio version came out, with everything still fresh in my memory, it would have made my chronological experience even better.
While Kobna Holdbrook-Smith could have done all of the contents, he exclusively narrates Peter Grant's stories...and Nightingale's too. Which, when you think about it, is as it should be. He's their voice. The change to the other narrators initially seemed a bit of a let down, but the truth is they each do a fantastic job and (this was a realization after the fact) _perfectly_ capture that character's voice. Dominic had me grinning, Abigail was very vivid and I was brought up short by Reynolds' soft southern accent, then recollected that, yes, it did describe just that in Whispers Underground. Kobna Holdbrook-Smith made Reynolds sound like an American, which is fine, she is an American. But in Tales from the Folly? Reynolds sounds like she's from her _home state_. How awesome is that! (Pretty awesome as far as I'm concerned.)
The collection is beautifully done and very entertaining. The shorts are touching and poignant, clever and amusing and will leave you wanting more when you're done. Well worth the credit.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
25 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Tim
- 10-16-20
Very good....bit short...but fabulous as always
If you are new to this wonderfully funny and clever urban magic saga...don't start here, start with Midnight Riot and work forwards. At a bit under 5 hrs. this collection of short stories it's a bit pricey...and if you take out the introductions at the start of the book and every separate story...it's closer to 4 hours....but like a fine wine you can't judge by volume. The Rivers series is an emotional warm bath. Beautifully written, witty and spectacularly narrated by Saint Holdbrook-Smith. It reminds me of the London I grew up in. It feels like I might have been elbow to elbow with Ben at the bar of a pub in the early 80’s. I nearly did a spit take when he referenced a late 70’s punk band I’d seen live back in the late middle ages. The magic is structured, almost scientific, the characters are familiar as old friends. The plotting is crisp and detailed. If you are a fan…it’s a must have.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
12 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- sue bowden
- 12-28-20
usual strengths and weaknesses of a collection
enjoyed it but a couple of stories felt unfinished, and the book of cunning device had already been published (and bought!) separately
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
-
Performance
-
Story
- C-Rica
- 10-14-20
too short, great stuff
This is absolutely delightful! It would get 5 stars if it were just a little longer.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Annie Fitt
- 02-09-22
Not enough!
My only complaint is I want more, more, more! If you’re already a fan of The Rivers of London series these further glimpses of characters you love is a delight. I’d suggest waiting to listen to Tales from the Folly until you’ve listened to the novels, though.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Honorable Dorris
- 11-01-20
love it as always
Brilliant as always. One of my favorite narrators. Delightful characters intriguing plot. waiting for the next one.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Alexander Cook
- 10-19-20
All fives
I will never not all 5 a rivers of london book. this world is amazing and I want more of it
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!