Despite the handicaps of being a female servant, and an immigrant, Swedish-born Hilda Johansson struggles to solve a murder and kidnapping in early twentieth-century South Bend, Indiana. Although the plot is a bit flat, narrator Kate Reading brings richness with her renditions of the mixed brew of dialects found in turn-of-the-century America. Kate Reading is especially skillful in her interpretations of stress, lapsing from carefully controlled English to an English heavily inflected with the accents of home. While author Jeanne M. Dams focuses on the political climate, including discrimination faced by immigrants from less recent arrivals, it is Reading who enlivens the book with her characterizations.
Pub Date: Jan. 22, 2002
Duration: 7 hrs, 30 mins
Publisher: Books on Tape
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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