Audiobooks
Eighteen

by Jan Burke
Brilliance Audio, 11 CDs, 12.5 hrs, unabridged, May 2014, $29.99

Fans of Edgar-winner Jan Burke will be happy to know that her excellent 2002 collection of short fiction, originally published in a limited trade edition, is now available in audio format.

Included among the 18 stories are: “Unharmed,” winner of both the Macavity and Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine Readers Awards; “The Man in the Civil Suit,” an Agatha Award recipient; “The Abbey Ghosts,” an Edgar nominee; “Devotion,” an Agatha nominee; and “A Fine Set of Teeth,” a tale featuring Burke’s beloved series heroine Irene Kelly.

The first-mentioned, told by a would-be murderer who’s looking for a way to get rid of his overbearing housemate, is given a nice, nasty rendition by Peter Berkrot, who also narrates “The Muse,” a clever mystery-romance in which a knowledge of Hitchcock movies plays a key role, and “Devotion” a sort of sequel to the author’s Edgar-winning novel, Bones, featuring Irene Kelly’s husband, Frank, and Ben Sheridan and his cadaver dog Bingle.

The New Delhi-born, British-accented Ralph Lister handles several stiff-upper-lip historicals, “A Man of My Stature” and “An Unsuspected Condition of the Heart,” as well as “The Haunting of Carrick Hollow,” a vampire story co-written with Paul Sledzik. Among Amy McFadden’s vocal contributions are “The Mouse,” a non-mystery that nonetheless does feature a unique funeral, the witty “White Trash,” in which an imaginative homeowner finds a way to take care of next-door neighbors from hell, and the previously mentioned Irene story.

As satisfactory as McFadden’s rendition of “Teeth” is, it’s a pity we’re not given the opportunity of hearing the audio version mentioned in Edward D. Hoch’s introduction. Burke read that one herself, backed by her musician husband, Tim.

 

 

Dick Lochte

burke eighteen audioThe author's excellent 2002 collection of short fiction, originally published in a limited trade edition, is now available in audio format.

Teri Duerr
4629
Burke
May 2014
eighteen
29.99
Brilliance Audio, 11 CDs, 12.5 hrs, unabridged