Title: Savannah Blues
Author: Mary Kay Andrews
Reader: Susan Ericksen
Audiobook 2006
Unabridged
Length: 12 hours

Ears: 2

Rent:  audiomysteries.com

I may not be the right person to review this sort of book. Savannah Blues is certainly charming loaded with quirky characters and authentic southern atmosphere. In fairness perhaps this isn't a mystery at all but rather a romance novel.

Mary Kay Andrews, the author, does seem to want it both ways. The structure seems to be of a traditional mystery, our heroine, Eloise "Weezie" Foley, finds a body at a most inconvenient time and in a location that will be hard to explain. The body happens to be her ex-husband's mistress and current fiancé. Unfortunately it takes quite awhile to get to this point because Andrews seem a bit distracted from the basic plot.

A large portion of this book is given over to a detailed discussion of antiques, the business of antiques, yard sales, estate sales. all in service of Weezie's profession as a "picker." If you enjoy watching Antiques Roadshow and the various junk in the attic variations on cable television this is the book for you! More time is given to descriptions of furniture, silver, glass ware, china than details of the murder. There is also much time given to the peripheral characters with a whole lot of sub plots involving the ex husband, dishonest antique sellers, a long ago boyfriend who appears on the scene and the obligatory wacky best friend.

All of this is enjoyable but the mystery portion of the book is pretty standard and the author relies on the device of having the murderer decide to explain all when it wasn't necessary except to make it clear to the reader. All loose ends are neatly tied up by the end in ways that you can see coming long before.

Susan Ericksen narrates and gets the southern accents just right. Not making them into back woods types but changing them enough so that each character has his or her own style.

I'm probably being a bit too hard on this book, but Mary Kay Andrews built her reputation on covering Savannah's infamous Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil murder trials, and it is clear she knows how to write. If she can devote as much time to plot development as character and atmosphere she has real shot at writing mysteries in the style of Janet Evanovich or Diane Mott Davidson.

A last point, when I hear the name Weezie I can only think of The Jeffersons on television. I guess I'm showing my age.

Reviewed on 10/28/08 by Robert W. Karp

Title: The Mission Song
Author: John Le Carre
Reader: David Oyelowo
Audiobook 2007
Unadgridged
Length: 12 hours

Ears: 3

Rent: audiomysteries.com

John Le Carre is probably best known for his cold-war spy novels including two of my all-time favorites, Tinker Tailor Soldier, Spy and Smiley’s People. The term mole to describe a double agent planted deep inside an enemy spy service was coined by Le Carre several decades ago. His detailed plots with complex characters and layers of deception are considered masterworks of modern spy fiction.

Now that the cold war is more or less over, the author has turned his eye towards international conflicts whether it is the Middle East as in the Little Drummer Girl, or the disintegration of the Soviet empire in Russia House. The Constant Gardner, published in 2000 and made into a very fine movie is about the tragedy of AIDS in Africa and how global corporate interests are the new threat. Le Carre returns to the topic of Africa in The Mission Song, published in 2007. Unlike The Constant Gardner, this story’s action never leaves the confines of the British Empire, but the actions described have profound effect on people thousands of miles away.

It would be an injustice to call this book a suspense or thriller, rather it is a high quality literary fiction work. Le Carre writes elegant, tight, descriptive prose that creates very real characters. Here our protagonist is Bruno Salvo, the illegitimate son of an Irish missionary father and a Congolese mother an interpreter fluent in English, French, Swahili and several other African languages. There are lots of humorous touches in this book; an early example in Salvo’s narrative is a caustic description of the difference between an interpreter and a translator; a description that seems spot-on to me. However, British humor is just that, an acquired taste. So while many reviews remark on how The Mission Song is Le Carre’s most humorous, I guess I missed a good deal of that light-hearted tone. This seemed to me to be a very serious work about how global interests answer to no one.

The early part of the story is sets up the back story of Salvo, done in beautiful style, with lots of detail that helps you understand some of the character’s choices later on. The real story kicks into gear after disc one when Salvo is hired to do some interpreting of negotiations between business interests and Congolese warlords. It does not end well.

I can think of only one other time that I felt the reader made the audio book. That was Jim Dale’s performance of the seven Harry Potter books. David Oyelowo, someone I’m not familiar with, but is quite well known, reads with such style, simplicity and control that he makes Salvo come to life. He handles the accents perfectly to my ear, and brings quiet intensity to the text.

This book is not for everyone. If you have an interest in quality literary fiction, or have read The Constant Gardner, try this one.

Reviewed on 9/15/08 by Robert W. Karp

Title: Double Cross
Author: James Patterson
Readers: Peter J. Fernandez & Michael Stuhlbarg
Audiobook: 2007
Unabridged
Length: 7 hours

Ears: 3

Rent: audiomysteries.com

The national obsession with serial killers is beginning to wear a bit thin for me. There are countless authors who have gotten rich off of the blood and gore from a homicidal maniac. Television shows such as the very dark and brutal Criminal Minds continue the trend. In fairness to James Patterson, he’s been at the serial killer genre for quite awhile. Some of his earlier works in the Alex Cross series are really very good.

Double Cross has its moments the killer who will become known as DCAK (I’m not going to tell you what that means) is rather interesting and original. The good news, if there is any, is that DCAK is not your overdone serial rapist and torturer of women. So the early part of the book keeps you guessing. The bad news is, as typical for a Patterson novel, one plot is certainly not enough.

The second story involves the reemergence of “The Mastermind”, FBI agent turned serial killer Kyle Craig who has been rotting in a maximum security prison for four years. He has had time to get very angry and hatch a rather preposterous plot to wreck vengeance on those who wronged him, most specifically retired Alex Cross. Craig has appeared in several earlier Alex Cross stories, but you can get a good idea about his ego and capabilities from the overwrought dialog.

Part of the fun of these thrillers is that bad things happen – often and without regard to much logic or coherence. Patterson piles on improbabilities at a rapid rate while keeping the action moving.

I’m not sure which of the readers voiced each part. I’m guessing one reader does Cross and the other our killers. I felt the reading of Cross was a bit to bright and cheerful. But perhaps that is because I recently saw the movie Along Came A Spider which features Morgan Freeman as Cross, a much more restrained version. The reading of the killers involved several accents that helped mask their identities.

Spoiler Alert: [You may not want to read this paragraph – it gives away a minor although obvious plot point.] There’s nothing wrong with a good thriller, and I certainly was kept entertained by this one. I knocked off an ear because Patterson just will not end a book with a good final scene. I’m tired of various bad guys rising to rampage in the future. Come on, put them down once and for all and write something new!

Reviewed on 9/3/2008 by Robert W. Karp

Ears: 3

Rent:  AudioMysteries.com

J.A. Jance must have decided to expand her repertoire from police-based type of detective mysteries into a more contemporary style of dynamic career women who incidentally gets involved in various unsavory events (think Patterson’s Women’s Murder Club). This new series features Ali Reynolds an ex-reporter, who finds herself thrust into murder and mayhem.

Web of Evil is the second in the series, I missed the first, decided to take a listen to this title. I’m a huge fan of Jance and you can read my five ears review of to see just how much I like her. This book is very different than her Joanna Brady and J.P. Beaumont mysteries. The author has included some up-to-date aspects including Ali’s internet blog cutloose.com that features heavily in the plot line. I’m not sure that it works, hearing various emails read and answered isn’t all that exciting and Jance might have missed an opportunity to tie the blog into the story in a more interesting way. Perhaps she’s waiting for a later work in the series.

The story involves the death of Ali’s about-to-be ex-husband, affectionately known as fang on her blog. Unfortunately Ali turns out to be a suspect in the death due to a series of rather contrived circumstances that probably wouldn’t hold up in real life. This leads to her husband’s very pregnant girlfriend, mother and a several other characters.

There is much to enjoy in Web of Evil. While the plot creaks a bit and seems dumbed down for a less discerning audience, there are some wonderful characters including Ali’s mom who gets herself way too involved in her daughter’s dilemma. Karen Ziemba reads with what I think is a little too much upbeat intonation. I sometimes found myself thinking that Ali shouldn’t be all that bright and cheerful even when she was being grilled by the police on more than one occasion.

For those of you who want the more traditional mystery with tight plots, and protagonists who have character and depth I hardily recommend Jance’s other two series featuring Joanna Brady and J.P. Beaumont. But there is a place for these “lighter” works and this series may mature with time.

Reviewed on 7/14/08 by Robert W. Karp

Ears: 4

Rent: audiomysteries.com

Greg Iles is another author that has been writing for a long time that I am now getting around to during my summer reading and listening “vacation.” I had a difficult time picking a category for this book, indeed it has elements of a standard mystery/crime novel as well as a legal thriller, and a police procedural. I will leave it up to you as to which it is and it really doesn’t matter since it succeeds on all levels.

Lawyer Penn Gage makes a repeat appearance in Turning Angel a story of love, betrayal, drugs, crime, politics and race. Iles paints a vivid picture of life in Natchez, Mississippi, a town struggling to stay alive as the South changes. Gage, who had a heroic turn in The Quiet Game is faced with a quandary when a childhood friend, Drew Elliott, comes to him for help when a high school girl is brutally murdered. Once the girl’s body is discovered the political, racial and social conflicts that run deep in Natchez test Penn Gage’s standing in the tight-knit community as he stands by Elliott.

Iles has an eye for detail, bringing Natchez to life with vivid descriptions of the town, its inhabitants, and their daily interactions. The politics of crime from the rivalry between the Chief of Police and Sheriff to petty politics of the judicial system all come in for vigorous examination. Parents will feel a sense of familiarity about the complex social structure that teenagers build to survive the rigors of life in high school. Indeed you might be shocked as is Gage about just what really goes on when parents aren’t around. And that turns out to be very important.

The plot is fairly straight-forward leading through several twists and red herrings. Nothing wrong with that, the best writers have done it. However, I found a couple of situations rather far-fetched and the destination is a bit of a copout, picking the one person as the killer who perhaps is the least interesting.

Dick Hill is probably the most prolific audiobook reader around. His performance in Turning Angel shows why publishers and authors demand his service. He has just the right tone, pacing and ability through voice control to portray a wide range of characters giving each a distinct personality. This story requires him to provide voices to a teenage girl, grown men, a teenage boy from Serbia and a several African-American gang members. Hill never falters and never stoops to stereotypical portrayal.

The Turning Angel of the title refers to a statue in the town cemetery that seems to follow the viewer as they drive by. It’s another one of the author’s details that gives this story the depth that makes this an enjoyable 16 hours.

Reviewed on 6/26/08 by Robert W. Karp

Length: 13 hours

Ears 5

Dick Pender is a former employee of the White House press office and he is considered an expert in what is known as perception management. His personal and business motto is simple: "Why waste any time by trying to discover the truth, when the truth can be so easily created?"

In The Whole Truth, written by David Baldacci, some highly placed and influential people pay Pender a lot of cash to bury their inconvenient secrets and then manipulate public opinion.

Reading the audio book is Ron McLarty, a talented actor and author, he stands out as one of the best book narrators of this day and age. McLarty reads the book with Baldacci's voice, perfectly conveying all meaning and tension from the pages of "The Whole Truth."

Through McLarty's clear and concise diction and his low resonant tone that easily shifts from tender to tough, we root for a mysterious character called A. Shaw and a female journalist who try to stop Creel in his tracks.

Baldacci provides thriller after thriller with his smart and political novels. He is clearly a leader in his niche and wants nothing more than to entertain. From his first novel Absolute Power to one of his latest books Stone Cold, Baldacci takes us on more political theories and conspiracies.

For a tale full of twists, turns and suspense, "The Whole Truth" by David Baldacci is one political rollercoaster you will not regret joining.

Reviewed on 5/26/08 by S Folly

Ears: 3

Rent: audiomysteries.com

The Appeal by John Grisham, read by Michael Beck, is not a challenging work of fiction but the novel marks Grisham's long-awaited return to both the American South and legal drama. The book begins with a verdict after a lengthy trial between the cancer-stricken citizens of a small Mississippi town and the chemical company accused of poisoning their water supply. The real drama is only starting and Wall Street heavyweight Carl Trudeau is determined to reverse the decision against his company through an appeal to the Mississippi Supreme Court. Dirty politics abound and the plot to plant a corrupt justice to reverse the verdict is underway.

Though the book is filled with stereotypes, the narrator gives each character a unique and convincing voice. His pacing and soft, natural Southern accent make for an easy listen, inviting you to stick it out even when the plot does not. Grisham is obviously cynical of the elections process and is perhaps strategic in releasing such a critical work during a presidential election year, but vanishing subplots dull his message with distraction.

Despite not his being his best - Grisham's earlier work, titles like The Firm or A Time to Kill, deserves more attention - The Appeal makes for an entertaining audio book, thanks to its delivery. I rate it 3 ears.

Reviewed on 05/14/08 by Jen Dixon

Ears: 4

Rent: audiomysteries.com

Sue Grafton has been writing Kinsey Millhone detective stories for over 20 years. In this, her 20th in the alphabet series, Grafton continues to experiment with changes to her distinctive style. In the immediate predecessor, S is for Silence, Grafton uses two narratives almost thirty years apart to find the answer to a decades old missing person case.

In T is for Trespass the author pushes even further; using two first person plots that slowly meet with terrible consequences. We get all that we have come to expect in the opening chapters featuring Kinsey, lots of detail and a wry eye about the daily life of a private detective working in the late 1980s before cell phones, the internet, and all that information floating around that makes it so much easier today. I particularly enjoyed Kinsey’s take on computers. Kinsey is doing some grunt PI work, process serving as well as investigating a traffic accident that has resulted in a lawsuit.

Meanwhile we get a glimpse into the life of Sonja Rojas a nurse who is much more (actually much less) than she seems to be. In fact Rojas isn’t her name at all, but a stolen identity. Grafton uses the early chapters to show us the mechanics of identity theft and its disturbing implications.

Rojas and Millhone cross paths when an elderly neighbor of Kinsey’s takes a fall and needs home care. What happens next is certainly a cautionary tale about what can go horribly wrong when an infirm senior with no close family is put in the care of strangers. I do have a problem with the Grafton plots which almost always end with a big violent confrontation that puts Kinsey in mortal danger. The moment Kinsey had to give up her guns because of a restraining order I knew that she would desperately need one very soon. In this story, Kinsey has two battles, the final one with Rojas ending rather pedestrian fashion. The author then wraps up all the various plots very quickly.

Judy Kaye has been reading the Kinsey Millhone stories for years. She knows the character and gets it all just right. In this audio version Kaye gets to stretch by creating a detached and chilling portrait of a sociopath through a restrained performance.

T is for Trespass is more than just a mystery detective novel. We have had the “ripped from the headlines” stories on television about elder abuse, and Grafton seems to have taken heed; writing a terrifying tale of what can and does happen to the helpless when someone truly evil enters their life under the guise of caregiver. You will most definitely think about that when and if the situation crops up in your own life.

Reviewed on 4/12/08 by Robert W. Karp

Ears: 4

Rent: audiomysteries.com

I recently had some extra time on my hands between new arrivals and decided to sample some popular authors that I have missed in the past. First up was John Lescroart who has a very successful series featuring San Francisco attorney Dismas Hardy.

The First Law is not the first in the series, although I thought it might be because of the title, I guess I’ve read too many James Patterson books, (and I guess Sue Grafton as well). Actually, it is the eleventh featuring Hardy and police lieutenant Abe Glitzky. The storey involves the death during a robbery of a close friend of Abe’s father. What at first seems to be a simple robbery gone bad quickly becomes much more. Glitzky is begged and quilted into looking into the crime even though he no longer is the head of the homicide unit.

What he finds with the help of a few friends in the department, is the seeming indifference to mounting evidence pointing at a prominent local businessman who has direct tires to the police. As the deaths mount and the investigation focuses on one of Hardy’s clients, the stakes are raised considerably when Hardy, Glitzky and their families are threatened.

From alibis that should be rock solid but are not, to evidence that would blow the case wide open that never gets to the right people, the author piles on the plot contrivances. So what! I enjoyed the variety of characters, the intense action, and the satisfying conclusion. The author knows how to construct an action thriller.

The audio version requires a reader who can handle different accents. Robert Lawrence gets ethnic accents as well as an interesting lisp just right. He has some trouble with the female characters and the kids who seem to blend together a bit. The performance is good and it helps give the main players distinct personalities.

Lescroart is worth the visit for those of you who like legal & police thrillers.

Reviewed on 3/18/08 by Robert W. Karp

Ears: 4

Rent: audiomysteries.com

In the 18^th in the series, The Naming of the Dead by Ian Rankin, Edinburgh Inspector John Rebus investigates the murder of Cyril Colliar a recently released sex-offender while a G8 summit attended by Bush, Blair and other heads of state is about to take place nearby. Rebus doesn’t get along well with his superiors and lately he has been sidelined away from the action. A supposed suicide at the site of the summit by well-regarded member of parliament Ben Webster attracts Rebus’ attention and creates conflict with just about everyone from his boss to the head of the British homeland security (or whatever they call it.) In classic style for this sort of story, Rebus is strongly warned off the case; but his sense of justice and fairness to the deceased only furthers his resolve to find out the truth.

Several plots intertwine in this complex story. The trail of the murderer of Colliar leads to a website called Beast Watch and those running it that tracks rapists and other sexual predators. Also a local crime boss crosses paths with Rebus who has to choose sides in a struggle between crime and politics. While all this happens, Rebus’ partner Siobhan Clarke parents come to town to protest at the G8 summit.

Rankin paints a vivid picture of the chaos surrounding a monumental event such as the meeting of world leaders. He manages to throw in a subway bombing by terrorists to give the story even more currency. The ending was unexpected and had a real punch to it. While there is a large cast of characters, they all are well placed in this compelling story.

The audio book version is abridged and I and many others have an aversion to abridged works. However, this is a case where it has not been possible to get an unabridged version of any of his books. I really like this author who writes about contemporary Scotland . These are gritty stories about police work far removed from the niceties of many of the British writers. If you like the Frost series by R.D. Wingfield you will probably enjoy Rankin.

This book requires a close listening as you may have some trouble with the various accents that mix Scottish, Welsh, and British inflections. But I think the result is well worth the effort.

Reviewed on 2/18/08 by Robert W. Karp