A heroin addict reduced to stealing to support her habit is shot during a robbery. A drug dealer is murdered. Vermont Bureau of Investigation Detective Lester Spinney stakes out a house in which his teenaged son might be smoking marijuana. VBI Agent Joe Gunther is called upon by the governor to help shut down the pipeline of drugs flooding into rural New England, and Sammie Martens, an overeager detective, goes deep undercover in an effort to assist. Christopher Graybill handles each case and each character with quiet urgency. His Joe Gunther is plodding, yet oddly soothing. His performance of Martens is properly schizophrenic as she shifts between her police and undercover personas. Graybill's Vermont, New York, and Hispanic accents add credibility to a lesser, but still engrossing, Joe Gunther novel. S.J.H.
(c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine
Pub Date: Jan. 22, 2003
Duration: 7 hrs, 45 mins
Publisher: BBC Audiobooks America/ Sound Library
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Novelist Benet Archdale and housemaid Carol Stratford are two young, single parents who have no reason to know each other. They become tangled in a nightmarish spiral of kidnap, fraud, family violence and death. Ruth Rendell creates psychological suspense in thrillers that are compulsively readable or, in this case, listenable. British actress Imelda Staunton's reading is perfectly paced, and the characters are well defined. You'll have a hard time turning it off.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: 9 hrs
Publisher: BBC Audiobooks America/ Chivers
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Emerson and Peabody are at it again! Uncovering antiquities takes a back-seat as the romantic archaeologists track down the master criminal who is stealing Egypt's ancient treasures. With the help of their precocious son, Ramses, the intrepid pair unravel this mystery in crowded bazaars, desert camps and the heart of the Black Pyramid. Barbara Rosenblat's reading fully measures up to the tale. She is a master of timing and nuance. Rosenblat's power for character interpretation has grown with each book in this amusing series. This is the best one yet.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: 12 hrs
Publisher: Recorded Books Inc.
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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