In this second outing for editor-turned-sleuth Susan Ryeland, narrators Lesley Manville and Allan Corduner deliver pleasures galore in this book within a book full of sleight of hand and red herrings. Manville's crisp, warm voice is engaging, and her emotionally attentive performance nicely differentiates between characters in the Ryeland investigation of a hotelier's disappearance and an earlier murder at the hotel. That murder was purportedly fictionalized in a popular mystery, and just like that, we're in the mystery, read by Corduner. Set in the 1950s, it features detective Atticus Pund investigating the murder of a hotel-owning film star. Corduner has a perfect body-in-the-library voice--erudite, trustworthy, slightly superior--and his amusing characterizations sound of the era. Between them, Horowitz, Manville, and Corduner spirit listeners satisfyingly far away.
Pub Date: Nov. 10, 2020
Duration: 18 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9780062955487
Publisher: Harper Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
For someone whose vocal palette contains so few colors, Edward Asner is a surprisingly effective narrator. His familiar, pleasant growl compels attention and bespeaks authority. He has his faults though. As an audiobook performer, he has but one personality, whatever the narrative voice of his text. One gets the impression that he enters the studio underprepared, taking his time to discover the book as he reads it. Thus it is with An Isolated Incident, a taut, suspenseful murder mystery set in Puget Sound. Other readers could better explore all the beats of this rich page-turner, but few could hold an audience as effortlessly.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: 3 hrs
Publisher: Time Warner AudioBooks
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Kay Scarpetta takes on more than routine investigations as her job of medical examiner involves her once again in a search for an unknown killer. The story is riveting from the opening chapters, and Sheila Hart never lets the intrigue subside. However Hart doesn't use enough vocal range, and male voices sound tinny and high-pitched. The dialogues with tough yet, endearing, Lt. Pete Marino have perfect cadence, accent and speech pattern, but sound somewhat thin and insubstantial. Telephone conversations and flashbacks are set off by effective sound enhancement, a useful addition. The overall presentation is very good driven strongly by the author's contribution.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: 9 hrs
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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