TAKEDOWN TWENTY AUDIO EDITION by Janet Evanovich, read by Lorelei King

While I realize that gifted narrator Lorelei King has not read all of the Stephanie Plum series for my ears she simply is Stephanie’s voice.  She’s an accomplished British actress whose versatility shines in Takedown Twenty as she takes on the voices of “Uncle Sunny,” Grandma Mazur and others.  As fans of this series know there are always heaping servings of suspense and humor in each novel and the ante is upped in Evanovich’s latest.

This time out Stephanie, a New Jersey bounty hunter, and her pal former hooker, Lula, are tracking a scary mobster, Salvatore (Uncle Sunny” Sunucchi, who seems to have disappeared somewhere in Trenton.  The charge against him is murder for running over a guy (twice).  Yet no one is inclined to turn him in and some are even trying to throw Stephanie off his trail.  Even her boyfriend, Trenton cop Joe Morelli, isn’t on her side as this godfather is also his real godfather.  And, Joe’s grandmother is also on Uncle Sunny’s side.

As if all this were not conflicted enough security specialist Ranger also needs Stephanie’s help in finding the killer of a client’s mother who used to play bingo with Stephanie’s Grandma Mazur.  (Never knew that Trenton was such a small town!)

Evanovich’s dialogue continues to be snappy and she doesn’t fail to create comical scenes (think a giraffe running down the street), but this is the twentieth in her series which began in 1994, so for this listener the characters could use a bit of updating as their personalities and actions tend to become a tad predictable.

Nonetheless, this is the redoubtable Stephanie Plum and fans will welcome her.

- Gail Cooke

DEXTER'S FINAL CUT AUDIO EDITION

Who doesn’t love Dexter whether between the pages or on the hit TV series inspired by the novels?  We’re not quite sure exactly who he is or what he’ll do next, but that’s a great part of his charm.   Called Lindsay’s “most masterful creation” the 7th in this runaway popular series Dexter’s Final Cut is read by who else but Lindsay himself.  Who better understands the doughnut loving blood spatter analyst than the fellow who created him?  It’s a stunning narration, and terrific listening.

Things really heat up in already hot Miami with the arrival of TV’s top star Robert Chase.  Known for immersing himself in his roles Chase is there to film a new police procedural.  And who immediately catches his eye, his co-star?  No none other than publicity shy Dexter Morgan.  “Catches his eye” may not be the proper description - Chase all but becomes obsessed with Dexter as he follows him around, scrutinizes his every move, tries to thoroughly understand him.

However, as we know Dexter’s pet projects cannot bear scrutiny lest Dexter be in more than deep trouble.  Speaking of which a woman is in more than that - her body is found in a dumpster.  Hollywood types are agog at the thought of a real crime, and police investigate.  Dexter has some interesting thoughts about the killer.

In addition to those musings he finds himself attracted to Jackie Forrest, the beautiful woman cast in the film as a tough detective.  He’s also drawn to the life these actors lead while listeners wonder who or what he really is.

Another suspenseful, surprising tale from the estimable Jeff Lindsay.  Enjoy!

- Gail Cooke

THE RATHBONES by Janice Clark Audio Edition

A dazzling, mythic tour de force The Rathbones is read by a cast of four estimable actors resulting in audiobook entertainment of the highest order.

Erin Spencer is a multi talented performer - actress, voice performer, dancer.  She has toured extensively throughout the U.S. and Europe.  Noted for her TV performances she also toured with Broadway show Chicago.  She brings both strength and a fey awareness to her voice performance on The Rathbones.

Cassandra Campbell is an actress, director and teacher who has performed in New York at the Public Theatre, the Mint Theatre and the Clurman.  AudioFile Magazine has several times named her Best Voice in Non-Fiction and Culture and Best Voice in Fiction.  She has been praised for the honesty and clarity of her narrations.

Delivering more than competent support and ably assisting in bringing this stellar debut novel to vibrant life are Malcolm Campbell and Gabrielle DeCuir.

Now a writer and designer living in Chicago author Janice Clark grew up in Mystic, Connecticut so she knows her territory well.   Fortunately for us she also has a vivid imagination as she limns the story of a whaling family with gusto and nods to Herman Melville and Edgar Allan Poe.

Fifteen-year-old Mercy Rathbone is the last in what appears to have been a fated dynasty.  Her father, a whaler, has been lost at sea for seven years, yet Mercy holds out hope for his return.  A lonely young one Mercy whiles away hours in the attic of her uncle, Mordecai.   A surprising sight and an unexpected visitor prompt Mercy and Mordecai to run away.  So, as they sail from island to island along the Connecticut coast they are also discovering secrets long hidden in the Rathbone family.

Alternately along with Mercy’s travels readers will find flashbacks to earlier Rathbone family days.   Beginning in 1761 we are introduced to Moses Rathbone who had a unique gift - he could spot a whale before any physical sign of it was visible.

Janice Clark has given us an amazing debut and the cast has delivered award-winning performances -  don’t miss it.

- Gail Cooke

TELL ME by LISA JACKSON Audio Edition

As a former child actor Julia Whelan brings a ton of experience to her TV roles and audio narrations.  She’s an Earphones Award winner and rightly so.  I found her work particularly impressive in Tell Me by Lisa Jackson because for this listener/reader Jackson’s prose tends at times to ramble yet Whelan’s sparked delivery brought the story right along.

 Jackson fans will welcome her third romantic/suspense novel set in Savannah, Georgia.  The story opens with a shocker - one of the most despised women imaginable is about to taste freedom.  Some 2 decades ago Blondell O’Henry was tried and convicted of cold bloodedly killing her older daughter and wounding her two other children.  It was the prosecution’s claim that she wanted to be rid of them to be with her lover.  Her children had testified against her but recently her son, Niall, recanted his testimony which sabotaged the whole case.

For professional and personal reasons reporter Nikki Gillette wants to know the truth.  It seems that Amity, Blondell’s daughter had once been Nikki’s friend.  Further, on the night Amity died she had asked Nikki to meet her - Nikki ignored Amity’s request and the secret she had to tell.  It seems that most of Savannah had been involved in this once headline crime - Nikki’s uncle was instrumental in saving Blondell from the death penalty.  Gossips claim he was one of her many lovers.

Detective Pierce Reed, Nikki’s fiancé, has been instructed to review the evidence.  He worries not only for Nikki’s  safety but that she may be muddying the case because of her persistent digging into it.  Then suddenly there is more murder.  Could a killer still be at large?

- Gail Cooke

BLOOD & BEAUTY AUDIO EDITION

Gifted actor Edoardo Ballerini has the perfect voice to vivify the story of one of the most famous (or infamous, if you prefer) families in history - the Borgias.  Ballerini has received numerous Earphones Awards and has a list of outstanding screen credits including The Sopranos and Boardwalk Empire.   Few can bring history to life on the page as splendidly as Sarah Dunant, and few can give voice to it as compellingly as Edoardo Ballerini.  This audio edition of Blood & Beauty is a rare treat.

Now, some may think they’re familiar with the story of the Borgias but Dunant has a gift for catching revealing details oft overlooked by other authors, thus her story becomes an upclose and personal account - one that totally captures us.

We are transported to Rome at the end of the 15th century - it is a city marked not only by beauty but by corruption.  Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia has bought his way into the papacy, and he is a man of unbridled lust and greed.  He is Spanish in a city run by Italians, and he well knows it.  So he uses every tool at his command to gain what he wants, all the while involving and using his children in his machinations.

His eldest son, Cesare, and his daughter, Lucrezia,  are of the greatest use to him.  Cesare is a particularly compelling, haunting figure.  He does not stop at manipulating his own sister to gain his ends.  Lucrezia is a 12-year-old child when this story opens and we watch her  innocence fade, marry three times, and lose all traces of naivete.

Beauty & Blood is a remarkable literary achievement, thoroughly researched, beautifully presented.

- Gail Cooke

THE HEIST AUDIO EDITION

The estimable Janet Evanovich who gave us so much pleasure with her Stephanie Plum stories as well as a slew of other writings teams up with screenwriter Lee Goldberg who wrote the Monk series to introduce a new adventure series starring FBI Special agent Kate O’Hare.  As if that weren’t incentive enough to give a listen to this audio book it’s read by a narrator without compare - Scott Brick.  This gentlemen has received so many awards that his mantle sags.  Our prediction?  The Heist is going to be verrrry popular.

With the initial offering in this series Kate is paired with scam artist par excellence Nicholas Fox.  She’s been hot on his trial and finally succeeds in catching him only to have him escape.  Of course, it’s been quite a kick for Fox to have been chased by a beautiful woman, and he’s not about to let their relationship end.  Believe it or not he convinces the FBI to pair him with Kate in order to catch investment banker Derek Griffin who took off with a mere 500 million of his company’s money.  Don’t know where he’ll spend it because he’s hiding out on a private island in Indonesia.

Capturing Griffin is far from a piece of cake but with the help of some able sting-masters who trick Griffin’s attorney into telling where he is Kate and Nick feel like it’s a possibility ...despite the fact that all other FBI agents are hunting for Nick.  So it’s up to Kate not only to get Griffin but also to save Nick from her eager colleagues.  Quite an order!

Now, toss in some heart-stopping chases, pirates, plus a bit of comedy and you have a can’t-stop-listening-to tale.  Kate and Nick are a winning pair, so enjoy!

- Gail Cooke

BOOTSTRAPPER by Mardi Jo Link Audio Edition

A classically trained actress Karen White has distinguished herself as an accomplished narrative artist.  No matter the genre White inhabits the text with ease and elan.  She now has over 100 audio books to her credit and multiple Audiofile Earphones Awards.  Her interpretation of this audio’s lead character is stunning!  The book is subtitled “From Broke to Badass on A Northern Michigan Farm,” and White captures every syllable delivering a can’t-stop-listening-to reading.

    Bootstrapper is a memoir that makes us want to hum “I Am Woman.”  She faced almost insurmountable obstacles, with grace, grit and humor.  In the summer of 2005 Link’s dream of enjoying happy, simple farm life blew up in her face.  She and her husband of 19 years have declared it’s over, which leaves her with three boys and bills, bills, bills.  She decides to remain in the 100-year-old farmhouse in northern Michigan, and raise her boys there.

    Needless to say that’s tough with a capital T.   But Link takes on the task of being farmer, breadwinner and mother, and feeds those growing boys on what grew in their vegetable garden, one hog, and a year’s supply of day-old bread (which she won in a zucchini-growing contest).

    This is a touching account of what one woman can accomplish, of how her strength and stick-to-itiveness saved her home and family.

    Enjoy!

    - Gail Cooke

SOMEDAY, SOMEDAY, MAYBE by Lauren Graham

Charming and funny, warm and authentic.  Authentic should be underlined because the story is about a young woman who dreams of  Broadway.  And the author/reader is an actress who has performed on Broadway and appeared in films.  She knows of what she writes and narrates.  For this listener a story is often greatly enhanced when read by the author, and that is certainly the case with Someday, Someday, Maybe.

In Graham’s debut we meet Franny Banks, an aspiring actress who has set a goal for herself - realize her dream in New York City within three years or take up another profession.  She has come so close but not close enough and there are only a few months left in her self-imposed timeline.

She has strived diligently - acting classes with a well thought of coach and a performance in his showcase that garnered her offers from two agents.  There’s the glib Joe Melville and been-there-seen-it-all Barney Sparks.  Joe has landed her a bit part in a newly revived sit com - problem is it hasn’t aired.

Her love life seems to be doing better than her career - there’s a long distance connection to Clark, a Chicago law student, a what-might-amount-to-something dalliance with a good looking actor, James, and the comfortable comradery of her screenwriter roommate, Dan.

Franny makes do by working as a catering server and cocktail waitress.  Things start to look up when Joe lands a role for her or do they?  It’s in a zombie film and nudity is required.

Someday, Someday, Maybe is a unique coming of age story set in the entertainment industry.  It’s laced with hope, humor and good bits of advice.

Enjoy!

- Gail Cooke

SLEIGHT OF HAND AUDIO EDITION

An audiobook with this title needs a narrator with a little bit of magic in his voice, which is certainly true of San Juan native Jonathan David.  After all, why not?  He tells us that his mother once visited a medium and was told that he would have a career using his voice - and what a voice it is injecting just the right amount of evil into the words of one of the most abhorrent villains to be found.  It may well be that his command of several languages gives him the ability to switch characters in a heartbeat.  Whatever the case 5 stars for this narration.

From the opening pages to a couldn’t possibly-guess finish we’re treated to one of the most exciting, fast-moving legal thrillers to be found.  We meet Charles Benedict, charismatic defense attorney, amateur magician and sinister hit man.  Although not a power player among Washington’s wealthiest and most influential he still commands attention when he enters a room with his movie star good looks and the easily imaginable “field of force emanating from him.”  He’s thought of as brilliant but there’s a little something off about the cases he wins - evidence and witnesses have an inconvenient way of vanishing.

However, this time out Benedict may need every trick up his sleeve to frame a zillionaire for the murder of his younger wife.  Almost a decade ago the wife, Carrie, signed a pre-nup agreement that would gross her 20 million dollars if she remained faithful to Horace Blair for the first ten years of their marriage.

At about the same time we again meet Dana Cutler, the sharp private investigator from several of Margolin’s previous works.  She’s hired by a mysterious woman with a French accent who offers more money than Dana cares to turn down to find a stolen gold scepter dating from the Ottoman Empire.  Her search begins and dead-ends on the West Coast’s Isle of Muerta.  She returns home puzzled and disappointed.

Although Dana’s has apparently failed things are heating up in the D.C. area.  An old man’s body is found in a field and Carrie Blair has disappeared.  An anonymous tipster tells the police to look in Horace’s Bentley where a smear of blood, blond hairs (both Carrie’s) and a gun are found.  Horace is soon charged with her murder and he hires Benedict to defend him.

Could there possibly be a connection between the dead man found in a field, a lost scepter, and Carrie’s murder?  What a trip it is to find out!  Sleight Of Hand is one of the most intriguing tale to come my way in a long time - enjoy!

- Gail Cooke

CALCULATED IN DEATH by J. D. Robb Audio Edition

Named 2010 Best Voice in Mystery & Suspense Susan Ericksen has been a standout at narrating the works of three outstanding authors in that genre - Sara Peretsky, J. D. Robb and Meg Gardiner.  Let’s talk about Robb - Ericksen seems to become the characters in Robb’s 37th Eve Dallas mystery.  Ericksen has a love and appreciation for words and praises authors who share this feeling by saying, “"Nothing is more pleasurable than when you know that an author has an ear--that they hear the words, not just write them. As a narrator, you can tell the difference. It's so smooth and lyrical and effortless.”

Such is certainly the case with her narration of Calculated In Death - some of the most pleasurable listening to be found.  This time out Eve Dallas and her partner, Detective Delia Peabody, are looking into the death of an accountant, one Marta Dickenson.  She was found at the bottom of a stairwell in an apartment being rehabilitated by a financial consultant group.  Marta’s neck is broken, her coat and earrings are missing.  Could it have been a random mugging?  Eve and Delia don’t think so as the victim’s very expensive footwear was left behind.

Ah, perfect grist for Robb’s inimitable writing mill!  Marta had been retained as an accountant but her briefcase holding files she’d been auditing is missing.  This leaves an intriguing array of potential suspects - everyone from a woman dependent on a trust fund to a decorator and more.  All of them are wealthy and not one of them wants to be audited, but who doesn’t want it bad enough to kill?

With her usual crisp writing and clever plot development Robb delivers another winner - enjoy!

- Gail Cooke

RAGE AGAINST THE DYING AUDIO EDITION

A standout debut deserves a standout narrator - enter Judy Kaye who gives voice to one of the most disturbing, black-humored, intelligent protagonists around.  Tony Award winner Kaye has an impressive resume and varied professional experience spanning theater, television and opera.  She appeared on Broadway in Grease, Phantom of the Opera, and Ragtime among others.  She has performed with a number of symphony orchestras including the NY Philharmonic and the London Symphony.  And, just in case you think she doesn’t know her way around a thriller she’s the voice of Kinsey Millhone in Sue Grafton’s series.  So, sit back and get ready to meet retired FBI agent Brigid Quinn - one gal you won’t forget.

At home in Tucson Brigid thinks she’s put her days as an undercover agent specializing in catching sexual predators behind her and happily settled down with her husband, Carlos DiForenza, a former priest who is now a professor.   Well, almost - there are memories that tend to haunt.  An especially disturbing one is the disappearance and presumed murder of young Jessica Robertson who had been working with Brigid to catch a sadistic killer.  So, when trucker Floyd Lynch confesses to being the killer who slaughtered 8 women including Jessica it would seem that’s one memory that may no longer bedevil Brigid.

However, there are a few road blocks - Laura Coleman, the new FBI agent on the case thinks the confession is phony; Brigid is retired, no longer permitted to investigate, and before long Laura disappears.

Rage Against the Dying is an intense thriller with a dynamite protagonist.  Kudos to Becky Masterson for a stellar debut.

- Gail Cooke

WITH OR WITHOUT YOU by Domenica Ruta

There is something very special about an audio book when it is read by the author.  Somehow, for this listener the author’s voice lends an understanding that an actor no matter how well trained does not provide.  And, when the book is a memoir read by the author there seems to be an even greater connection - one of intimacy, confiding.  That is certainly true in this searing yet redemptive memoir by Domenica Ruta.  

With Or Without You is the candid remembering of a physical and emotionally abusive youth.  Hearing of her early years most would deem Ruta lost, hopeless, a tragic victim of an addicted mother and her own dependence on drugs.  Yet that is not the case as she amazingly works her way from a dark place to good health.  Throughout we are reminded of the unbreakable bond between mother and child.  

Ruta’s mom (Kathi) is so far from June Cleaver that it is ridiculous.  She’s a petite (five foot) bleached blond with an ample bosom and a longshoreman’s vocabulary.  (Apologies here to longshoremen).  Initially Kathi worked lowless jobs, earning enough for pain killers which she generously shared with Ruta.  Then Kathi was able to splurge on heroin after taking over her second husband’s business.  Following an almost parallel path Ruta soon was fueled by alcohol and drugs.

As a young girl she endured much including a mother who used every trick she knew to propel Ruta in the direction she wanted her to go and sexual abuse by one of Kathi’s friends.  Yet something within Ruta wanted to escape from this life and she battled to overcome her devils.  She  recounts that period with honesty and bits of black humor.

In the end this is a true story of recovery, redemption and despite all odds love.

- Gail Cooke

THE PERFECT HOPE by Nora Roberts

Ever notice how some audio book covers state “Read by” while others use “Performed by”?  For this listener there’s more than a nuance of difference.  Most literate folks can “read,” ah, but it takes an actor to “perform.”  And Macleod Andrews delivers a sterling performance of this romance by Nora Roberts.

Andrews is a talented fellow with a baritone voice which he seems to easily switch from playing an adolescent to an apparently tough adult - you can almost hear the swagger in his voice.
He’s also a master of accents - Southern, British, Scottish, Irish, Middle Eastern, Midwest, Australian, German - you name it he can do it.  So, it was easy to sit back and enjoy The Perfect Hope, the final installment in The Inn Boonsboro Trilogy.

The former manager of an upscale Washington, D. C. Hotel Hope Beaumont left her job following an unpleasant breakup with the owner’s son.  She heads for healing and friends in Boonsboro, Maryland where she soon becomes the innkeeper of Inn Boonsboro owned by the Montgomery family.  She’s given a warm welcome by all save gruff but oh-so handsome Ryder Montgomery, son of the inn owner.

Knowing Nora Roberts you can pretty much imagine what happens between Hope and Ryder, but there’s a great deal of good fun, heated liaisons, and ghost sightings along the way.

Enjoy!

Gail Cooke

"ONE SHOT" AUDIO EDITION

Over time many of us have chosen a few fictional characters that we particularly enjoy - we look for the next book featuring one of them very much as we would look forward to a visit with an old friend.  We know who he or she is, we’re familiar with that person’s personality quirks and ideals.  Jack Reacher is a favorite with millions.

For me, it all began with The Killing Floor and I was hooked.  Thanks to British author Jim Grant who writes under the pen name Lee Child I met Reacher, a stoic tough guy who has several uncanny abilities, such as knowing exactly what time it is without referring to a clock.  He’s a former U.S. Army Military Police Major.  He’s a terrific fighter with an immense technical knowledge of weaponry and prefers being alone.

A movie was filmed late last year based on this novel starring Tom Cruise.  My problem with that is I know Reacher is 6' 5" tall, weighs about 250 lbs, has blondish hair and ice blue eyes.  No offense to Mr. Cruise but decided I’d simply listen to Dick Hill’s compelling narration.  What can I say, Hill (yes, the actor with a mantel-full of awards) has narrated 8 Reacher novels - he simply is the voice of Jack Reacher.

One Shot is aptly named - six shots have been fired but only five fatalities.  Well, the cops are on top of these slayings and within hours the shooter is behind bars claiming his innocence and hollering for Reacher.  Well, Reacher knows this shooter and doesn’t hesitate.  Did I mention Reacher’s intelligence?    Not only does he know the shooter but is aware that the man is a trained military sniper and would not have missed a shot.

One Shot is another pulse-pounding trip to an explosive finish enjoy!

- Gail Cooke

NOTORIOUS NINETEEN AUDIO EDITION

Remembering with pleasure Smokin’ Seventeen, Sizzling Sixteen and other Evanovich audio editions read by Lorelei King - For this listener she simply is Stephanie Plum.  Hearing her voice deliver one of these stories is very much like hearing the voice of an old friend on the phone - enjoyable, rewarding and somehow just right.  So it is with Notorious Nineteen.

This time bounty hunter Stephanie Plum has her eyes out for an unusual and lucrative catch, namely Geoffrey Cubbin.  He’s an embezzler who’s about to be tried for filching millions from an assisted living facility.  Problem is he disappeared from a hospital after an emergency appendectomy.  (Ouch!)  There are no clues to his apparent vanishing into thin air so did someone help him pull this off or is he really still alive?

When Stephanie comes up with nothing her Grandma Mazur goes into the facility undercover to see what she can find out.  But there’s little time as another crook has disappeared from the same hospital.  So Stephanie hooks up with great looking cop Joe Morelli to try to solve the mystery.

As if this weren’t enough to keep her busy (plus she needs the money) Stephanie takes on another case that involves protection from a Special Forces enemy who is out not to capture but to kill.

There’s never a dull moment when Stephanie is around, so enjoy as she almost goes from the frying pan into the fire.

- Gail Cooke

"SLEEP NO MORE" AUDIO EDITION

Elisabeth Rodgers is an ultimately accomplished voice performer who has narrated a number of stories by this popular author, and she stars again in this tale of nightmares that may come true.

This, the 14th Eve Duncan novel takes a bizarre turn when she learns that she has a half-sister, Beth Avery, who has been incarcerated in a Santa Barbara, California, mental hospital.  Actually, Eve has been institutionalized for most of her life and only recently escaped.  But why now, to what end?

A forensic sculptor Eve takes her lover, Atlanta Police Detective Joe Quinn, along with her to try to not only locate Beth but find answers to a number of questions.  After some digging they discover that Beth is connected to a very powerful family and there is an assassin after her.  As Eve begins to make progress in unraveling the life of Beth she also becomes a target.  The Avery family proves to be a dangerous enemy that will not stop at either mayhem or murder.

Fans of the unparalleled Eve Duncan will welcome her return.

- Gail Cooke

BEAUTIFUL RUINS AUDIO EDITION

It won’t come as a surprise to anyone that I’m a huge fan of audio books.  Many are so well done that it is very much like hearing a finely tuned performance.  Such has been the case with actor Edoardo Ballerini and is again with his amazing narration of Beautiful Ruins in which he speaks flawless Italian and also voices “the clumsy speech of Americans with an uncertain grasp of the language.”  Salon deems his narration the best heard all year, so don’t miss it.

An experienced performer Ballerini has a host of awards on his mantel including an Audie Award and a handful of Earphones Awards from AudioFile Magazine.  Plus, he is well remembered for his work in TV and film - The Sopranos, Boardwalk Empire, etc.  Beautiful Ruins is sure to garner him one more award.

This surprising, inventive, spacious tale opens in 1962 when gossip mongers are thriving on the romance between Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton on the set of “Cleopatra.”  A blonde, beautiful American starlet, Dee Moray, who has been cast as La Liz’s lady in waiting arrives at the Hotel Adequate View on the Italian coast.  She, too, has been involved in a tryst or two on the movie’s set and now believes she is dying of stomach cancer.  Pasquale Tursi, the young proprietor of the hotel immediately falls madly in love with Dee.

In a short while we meet a motor mouthed young publicist along with Richard Burton who is a bit in his cups.  Pasquale has no idea what to think of this pair.

Fast forward fifty years when an elderly Italian comes to the office of the publicist who has become an important producer.  The Italian is seeking information about Dee who came to his hotel many years ago, and so begins a big screen story of those who have populated Hollywood during the past half century.  Their stories are fascinating, lush with hopes, dreams, disappointments and humor all related with Walter’s flawless eye and satirical bent.  He brilliantly explores our common humanity, the joys and sorrows we share as revealed through the lives of the people in the remarkable Beautiful Ruins.

- Gail Cooke

"WIDOWS" by Ed McBain Audio Edition

 


     Oh, the weather outside is frightful, the fire is so delightful and Ed McBain's 87th Precinct novel Widows performed by Dick Hill is totally absorbing.

     True to his form McBain has created realistic, believable characters in suspense filled situations leaving us hanging on uber narrator Dick Hill's every word.  As Publishers Weekly wrote, "McBain is so good he ought to be arrested."

     And for this listener Dick Hill is so good that he deserves even more awards than he already has on his mantel (3 Audie Awards and a Voice of the Century and a Golden Voice from AudioFile magazine.)

     With Widows it's more than business as usual at the 87th Precinct as Detectives Carella and Brown are called upon to investigate the murder of a young mistress in a penthouse apartment.  Enjoy!

"VENGEANCE" AUDIO EDITION

If the setting is Ireland and the author is Benjamin Black, the voice performer simply has to be John Keating who masterfully captures the accents, nuances, the very timbre of an Irish voice.  Few have forgotten his superb rendering of Black’s A Death In Summer and he brings the same skillful delivery to Vengeance.

The fifth novel in Black’s popular Quirke series is outstanding.   Consultant pathologist at the Hospital of the Holy Family Quirk is a fascinating character.    He drinks far too much, easily beds women when so inclined, isn’t much of a father but when Inspector Hackett has a case making him feel “like a monkey with a coconut and no stone to crack it on.” he turns to Quirke.  And the pathologist is easy to find - “perched at the bar in his usual spot....a glass of Jameson’s at his elbow.”

The case that so puzzles Hackett involves the death, an apparent suicide, of Victor Delahaye.  If suicide it was it was an odd way to go about it.  Delahaye, an accomplished sailor, takes Davy Clancy, the son of his business partner, out for a sail.  Davy dislikes water but believed he could not reject Delahaye’s invitation. After going out a fair way and engaging in very little conversation save for a story about how his father thought to teach him self-reliance, Delahaye pulls out a pistol and shoots himself.  Knowing absolutely nothing about boats Davy is left at sea in more ways than one.

Delahaye’s suicide is a conundrum for all as his garage business is doing well, he has recently married a young, beautiful woman, Mona, and is a well placed member of Dublin society.  When Delahaye’s partner and Davy’s father, Jack, is also found dead it becomes clear that something is very much amiss, but what?  It’s up to Hackett and Quirke to untangle the lies and deceit in which the Delahayes and Clancys have hidden themselves.

In addition to being a terrific whodunit Vengeance is gloriously atmospheric, rife with the sights and sounds of 1950s Dublin.  It’s another winner from Benjamin Black and John Keating.

- Gail Cooke

THE MARSEILLE CAPER AUDIO EDITION

Though I’ve said it before I’ll say it again - Mr. Mayle is always a witty, convivial, boon companion.  More years ago than I care to mention he hooked me with “A Year In Provence,” and don’t believe I’ve missed an outing with him since.  Granted, I wasn’t always totally enthusiastic about each title, but thoroughly enjoyed each just the same.  His breezy, entertaining tales always leaves me smiling as does his latest The Marseille Caper.  It’s one more dream of a trip when one can just sit back, not think too deeply but simply enjoy.

This time we’re in Marseille where Sam Levitt makes his second appearance and with his lady friend, Elena, put their sticky fingers in the real estate pie.  Of course, they’ve come up with a scheme to make their zillionaire client even wealthier but for this reader that is an aside as I’m sighing contentedly when treated to visions of local scenes plus chatter re wine and local cuisine.

Mayle is the ultimate host, full knowing what his guests will relish and ladling it out generously.  Love the voice performance of stage, screen and television actor Robin Sachs - totally beguiling.  Lucky for us he came over from the UK some years back and has created an impressive body of work since his arrival.  He’s the perfect guide for this romp through Southern France.

- Gail Cooke