The City Watch series
Jon Culshaw narrates the City Watch series, with Bill Nighy as the voice of the footnotes, and Peter Serafinowicz as the voice of Death.
Terry Pratchett (Author)
,
Ben Aaranovitch (Introducer)
,
Jon Culshaw (Read by)
,
Peter Serafinowicz (Read by)
,
Bill Nighy (Read by)
,
Ben Aaronovitch (Read by)
Brought to you by Penguin.
Over 1 million Discworld audiobooks sold – discover the extraordinary universe of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld like never before
'It was the usual Ankh-Morpork mob in times of crisis; half of them were here to complain, a quarter of them were here to watch the other half, and the remainder were here to rob, importune or sell hotdogs to the rest.'
Insurrection is in the air in the city of Ankh-Morpork. The Haves and Have-Nots are about to fall out all over again.
Captain Sam Vimes of the city's ramshackle Night Watch is used to this. It's enough to drive a man to drink. Well, to drink more. But this time, something is different - the Have-Nots have found the key to a dormant, lethal weapon that even they don't fully understand, and they're about to unleash a campaign of terror on the city.
Time for Captain Vimes to sober up.
The Discworld novels can be read in any order but Guards! Guards! is the first book in the City Watch series.
'This is one of Pratchett's best books. Hilarious and highly recommended' The Times
© Terry Pratchett 1989 (P) Penguin Audio 2023
Terry Pratchett (Author)
,
Jon Culshaw (Read by)
,
Peter Serafinowicz (Read by)
,
Bill Nighy (Read by)
Brought to you by Penguin.
Over 1 million Discworld audiobooks sold – discover the extraordinary universe of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld like never before
'What's so hard about pulling a sword out of a stone? The real work's already been done. You ought to make yourself useful and find the man who put the sword in the stone in the first place.'
The City Watch needs MEN! But what it's got includes Corporal Carrot (technically a dwarf), Lance-constable Cuddy (really a dwarf), Lance-constable Detritus (a troll), Lance-constable Angua (a woman... most of the time) and Corporal Nobbs (disqualified from the human race for shoving).
And they need all the help they can get, because someone in Ankh-Morpork has been getting dangerous ideas - about crowns and legendary swords, and destiny.
And the problem with destiny is, of course, that she is not always careful where she points her finger. One minute you might be minding your own business on a normal if not spectacular career path, the next you might be in the frame for the big job, like saving the world . . .
The Discworld novels can be read in any order but Men At Arms is the second book in the City Watch series.
'Funny, wise and mock heroic . . . The funniest and best crafted book I have read all year' Sunday Express
© Terry Pratchett 1993 (P) Penguin Audio 2023
Terry Pratchett (Author)
,
Jon Culshaw (Read by)
,
Peter Serafinowicz (Read by)
,
Bill Nighy (Read by)
Brought to you by Penguin.
Over 1 million Discworld audiobooks sold – discover the extraordinary universe of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld like never before.
'Sorry?' said Carrot. If it's just a thing, how can it commit murder? A sword is a thing' - he drew his own sword; it made an almost silken sound - 'and of course you can't blame a sword if someone thrust it at you, sir.'
For Commander Vimes, Head of Ankh-Morpork City Watch, life consists of troubling times, linked together by...well, more troubling times.
Right now, it's the latter. There's a werewolf with pre-lunar tension in the city, and a dwarf with attitude and a golem who's begun to think for itself, but that's just ordinary trouble. The real problem is more puzzling - people are being murdered, but there's no trace of anything alive having been at the crime scene.
So Vimes not only has to find out whodunit, but howdunit too. He's not even sure what they dun. But soon as he knows what the questions are, he's going to want some answers.
The Discworld novels can be read in any order but Feet of Clay is the third book in the City Watch series.
'The work of a prolific humorist at his best' Observer
© Terry and Lyn Pratchett 1996 (P) Penguin Audio 2023
Terry Pratchett (Author)
,
Jon Culshaw (Read by)
,
Peter Serafinowicz (Read by)
,
Bill Nighy (Read by)
Brought to you by Penguin.
Over 1 million Discworld audiobooks sold – discover the extraordinary universe of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld like never before.
'Neighbours... hah. People'd live for ages side by side, nodding at one another amicably on their way to work, and then some trivial thing would happen and someone would be having a garden fork removed from their ear.'
When the neighbours in question are the proud empires of Klatch and Ankh-Morpork, those are going to be some pretty large garden tools indeed. Of course, no-one would dream of starting a war without a perfectly good reason...such as a 'strategic' piece of old rock in the middle of nowhere.
It is after all every citizen's right to bear arms to defend their own. Even if it isn't technically their own. And even if they don't have much in the way of actual weaponry. As two armies march, Commander Vimes of Ankh-Morpork City Watch faces unpleasant foes who are out to get him... and that's just the people on his side. The enemy might be even worse.
The Discworld novels can be read in any order but Jingo is the fourth book in the City Watch series.
'Generous, amusing and the ideal boarding point for those who have never visited Discworld' Sunday Telegraph
© Dunmanifestin Ltd 1997 (P) Penguin Audio 2023
Terry Pratchett (Author)
,
Jon Culshaw (Read by)
,
Peter Serafinowicz (Read by)
,
Bill Nighy (Read by)
Brought to you by Penguin.
Over 1 million Discworld audiobooks sold – discover the extraordinary universe of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld like never before.
'Well, he thought, so this is diplomacy. It's lying, only for a better class of people.
They say that diplomacy is a gentle art. That mastering it is a lifetime's work. But you do need a certain inclination in that direction. It's not something you can just pick up on the job.
A few days ago Sam Vimes was a copper - an important copper, true - chief of police - but still, at his core, a policeman. But today he is an ambassador - to the mysterious, fat-rich country of Uberwald. Today, Sam Vimes is also a man on the run.
At some point during his ambassadorship, things went very wrong. It's snowing. It's freezing. And if Vimes can't make it through the forest, with only his wits and the gloomy trousers of Uncle Vanya (don't ask), there's going to be a terrible war.
There are monsters on his trail. They're bright. They're fast. They're werewolves - and they're catching up.
The Discworld novels can be read in any order but The Fifth Elephant is the fifth book in the City Watch series.
'Precisely balanced . . . a cracking comic thriller' The Times
© Terry and Lyn Pratchett 1999 (P) Penguin Audio 2023
Terry Pratchett (Author)
,
Jon Culshaw (Read by)
,
Peter Serafinowicz (Read by)
,
Bill Nighy (Read by)
Brought to you by Penguin.
Over 1 million Discworld audiobooks sold – discover the extraordinary universe of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld like never before.
'Don't put your trust in revolutions. They always come round again. That's why they're called revolutions. People die, and nothing changes.'
For a policeman, there can be few things worse than a serial killer loose in your city. Except, perhaps, a serial killer who targets coppers, and a city on the brink of bloody revolution.
For Commander Sam Vimes, it all feels horribly familiar. Caught on the roof of a very magical building during a storm, he's found himself back in his own rough, tough past without even the clothes he was standing up in when the lightning struck. Living in the past is hard, especially when your time travel companion is a serial killer who knows where you live. But he must survive, because he has a job to do: track down the murderer and change the outcome of the rebellion.
The problem is: if he wins, he's got no wife, no child, no future...
The Discworld novels can be read in any order but Night Watch is the sixth book in the City Watch series.
'The best Discworld book in the whole world ever. Until next time.' SFX
© Terry and Lyn Pratchett 2002 (P) Penguin Audio 2023
Terry Pratchett (Author)
,
Jon Culshaw (Read by)
,
Peter Serafinowicz (Read by)
,
Bill Nighy (Read by)
Brought to you by Penguin.
Over 1 million Discworld audiobooks sold – discover the extraordinary universe of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld like never before.
'Beating people up in little rooms . . . he knew where that led. And if you did it for a good reason, you'd do it for a bad one. You couldn't say 'we;re the good guys' and do bad-guy things.'
Koom Valley, the ancient battle where the trolls ambushed the dwarfs, or the dwarfs ambushed the trolls, was a long time ago.
But if he doesn't solve the murder of just one dwarf, Commander Sam Vimes of Ankh-Morpork City Watch is going to see it fought again, right outside his office.
With his beloved Watch crumbling around him and war-drums sounding, he must unravel every clue, outwit every assassin and brave any darkness to find the solution. And darkness is following him.
Oh . . . and at six o'clock every day, without fail, with no excuses, he must go home to read 'Where's My Cow?', with all the right farmyard noises, to his little boy.
There are some things you have to do.
The Discworld novels can be read in any order but Thud! is the seventh book in the City Watch series.
'Imaginative, witty and consistent' SFX
© Terry and Lyn Pratchett 2005 (P) Penguin Audio 2023
Terry Pratchett (Author)
,
Jon Culshaw (Read by)
,
Bill Nighy (Read by)
Brought to you by Penguin.
Over 1 million Discworld audiobooks sold – discover the extraordinary universe of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld like never before.
Winner of the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction
'The jurisdiction of a good man extends to the end of the world.'
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a policeman taking a holiday would barely have had time to open his suitcase before he finds his first corpse.
Commander Sam Vimes of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch is on holiday in the pleasant and innocent countryside, but not for him a mere body in the wardrobe. There are many, many bodies - and an ancient crime more terrible than murder.
He is out of his jurisdiction, out of his depth, out of bacon sandwiches; and out of his mind. But never out of guile. Where there is a crime there must be a punishment.
They say that in the end all sins are forgiven.
Vimes is about to uncover the exception.
The Discworld novels can be read in any order but Snuff is the eighth book in the City Watch series.
'Snuff is entertaining, with all Pratchett's genius on display' Sunday Express
© Dunmanifestin Ltd 2011 (P) Penguin Audio 2023
