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Mystic River by Dennis Lehane
Reader: Scott Brick
Short Review: A well-read, strong mystery with one major flaw.
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Rag and Bone Shop by Robert Cormier
Reader: Scott Shina
Short Review: Cormier’s final novel, published posthumously, read by the talented Scott Shina. It’s disturbing, and upsetting, and good despite its flaws. -
Dead Until Dark (Southern Vampire Mystery #1) by Charlaine Harris
Reader: Johanna Parker
Short Review: Well read first installment of the Southern Vampire Mysteries series (better known now as the books that inspired HBO’s TrueBlood series). Sookie Stackhouse is a telepathic waitress in a world in which vampires have “come out of the coffin”, and her world is getting more dangerous with each passing the day.
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Skinny Dip by Carl Hiaasen
Reader: Stephen Hoye
Short Review: An engaging, funny, environmental crime novel set in the Florida Everglades. Hiaasen is a gem, and Hoye is good but doesn’t shine quite as brightly.
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The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Reader: Neil Gaiman
Short Review: Neil Gaiman reads his Newbery Medal winning book beautifully. His nod to Kipling’s The Jungle Book is just scary enough, intriguing, inventive, well-written, enchanting . . . it’s downright wonderful. I loved Bod, Silas, Scarlett, Liza, Miss Lupescu, and the rest of the graveyard’s denizens and rooted for them throughout the story. I miss them. I’ll return to this book again and recommend it to adults and kids.
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The Likeness by Tana French
The Likeness
Available from Audible.comAuthor: Tana French
Reader: Heather O’Neill
Short Review: Tana French’s strong second novel read beautifully by Heather O’Neill. In this sequel to In the Woods, we follow Cassie Maddox in…
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The Yiddish Policemen’s Union by Michael Chabon
Reader: Peter Riegert
Extra features: The audiobook includes an interview with Michael Chabon about his inspiration for the book, his favorite books and genres, and his writing process.
Short Review: Chabon’s Hugo and Nebula award-winning alternate history of a world without Israel but with a temporary Jewish homeland in Sitka, Alaska. Hard-boiled detective Meyer Landsman investigates the murder of a junkie chess-player with his partner and cousin Berko Shemets, a half-Tlingit, half-Jewish cop who is a good father, a good Jew, and a good partner trying to save Landsman from himself. As the case progresses, more and more connections to organized crime, shady US government machinations, separatist Orthodox communities, and zealotry reveal themselves. Riegert is an ideal reader, comfortable with accents, Yiddish, noir, and sadness.
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Thud! by Terry Pratchett
Thud! (A Discworld Novel)
Author: Terry Pratchett
Reader: Stephen BriggsShort Review: This fun, funny, and often thoughtful story follows Sam Vimes as he investigates the murder of dwarven leader Grag Hamcrusher. Vimes is a father…
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Storm Front (Dresden Files, Book 1) by Jim Butcher
Storm Front Audiobook by Jim ButcherBook 1
Author: Jim Butcher
Reader: James MarstersShort Review: Down on his luck detective Harry Dresden also happens to be a real, live wizard. This introduction to Harry’s world includes magic, potions, a talking skull named Bob, werewolves – and of course a murder mystery. James Marsters is brilliant.
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In the Woods by Tana French
Author: Tana French
Reader: Steven Crossley
Short Review: This Edgar Award winning novel traces a murder in Ireland, following the detectives investigating the case and flashing back to an earlier, similar unsolved case. It…
