Impecunious Rider Sandman, a hero of Waterloo and a famous cricket bowler, is asked to investigate a murder for which an innocent man will hang in a week if the investigation fails. In a police procedural before there were such things, Sandman has to invent a profession as well as catch a killer. This is probably fun on the page, but in the ears it’s a complete hoot. As Rider goes swashbuckling across Regency England, Sean Barrett brings his compatriots to life—from Lord Alexander, a rich friend from Oxford days who’s a sort of cricket-mad Bertie Wooster, to the hoydens of the demimonde Rider now inhabits. Love the whining hangman who feels he deserves an assistant. Let’s hope this is the first of many.
Pub Date: Jan. 22, 2010
Duration: 10 hrs
Publisher: AudioGo
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Ayla, one of the "others," is adopted by a clan of Neanderthal cave people. She struggles to conform to their ways, but her advanced human traits overwhelm and threaten their primitive culture in this initial installment of an immensely popular series. Although the story might benefit from abridgment, Rowena Cooper easily carries out the formidable task of enlivening the mostly silent and stereotypical characters with consistent, diverse personalities and human dimension. Through skillful phrasing and inflection, she maintains the reader's interest and suspense, especially with Ayla and her plight, throughout this rambling and imaginative story.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: 22 hrs
Publisher: BBC Audiobooks America/ Chivers
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
This lyrical, sensual novel of woman's lot in Manchu, China, is as well researched as it is well written. Authentic in tone, it's nonetheless written for Westerners by a Western expert on China. Moreover, Susan Clark performs the demanding text superbly, with only occasional signs of fatigue. For the most part she not only sustains the quaint diction and Asian atmosphere, but also, creates whole worlds with her voice. She acts the book, rather than reads it, and, in so doing, turns a pretty trifle into a stupendous beauty.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: 4 hrs, 30 mins
Publisher: Audio Literature
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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