David Oyelowo will read TRIGGER MORTIS

Acclaimed British actor David Oyelowo will read the Trigger Mortis audiobook. Oyelowo has played Henry VI for the Royal Shakespeare Company and recently portrayed Martin Luther King, Jr. in Selma.

"I consider it a huge honour to be asked to narrate this wonderful book," said the actor. "Anthony Horowitz has crafted a taut thriller with a fascinating cast of characters and stunning action sequences that I am relishing bringing to life. It is an acting challenge as exciting to me as any I have faced on stage or screen. I get to play James Bond! It doesn't get much better than that."

Author Anthony Horowitz said: "What an honor to have an actor as talented as David to read my take on James Bond. He has a brilliant voice and talent for bringing out the nuances of dialogue and characters. He will do marvels with the audiobook of Trigger Mortis.”

Oyelowo follows in the footsteps of other actors who have narrated 007 novels, including Kenneth Branagh, Hugh Bonneville, Tom Hiddleston and Rosamund Pike.

The media is making much of the idea that Oyelowo is "the first black actor to play James Bond." This is not correct. Hugh Quarshie voiced Bond in the Dr No audiobook, and Paterson Joseph read SOLO as part of BBC Radio 4's book of the week.

The audiobook version of Trigger Mortis will be released on September 8 along with the hardcover and ebook. It can be pre-ordered at Amazon.co.uk.

It's unclear if Oyelowo's reading will also be used on the U.S. audiobook.

Thanks to Lija Kresowaty, Craig Arthur and Lee Wright.