Jay O. Sanders has a genius for delivering conversation. His performance of Charlie Parker’s first-person narrative is done with superb timing and thoughtful inflection. But it's the nuance of emotion he teases out of the characters’ relationships with one another through which he really shines. The listener is immediately pulled in. Parker may have lost his P.I. license this time out, but that doesn't keep him from investigating his own past demons. After taking a job tending bar in Portland, Maine, he finds he needs answers to his policeman father's suicide when Charlie was only 15 and the haunting murder of two teenagers he confessed to beforehand. There's the usual frisson of the supernatural woven into this beautifully crafted story, made all the more memorable through Sanders’s considerable talent.
Pub Date: June 2, 2009
Duration: 6 hrs
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
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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