A TOUCH OF EVIL

Frank O'Brien, former Jesuit seminarian and FBI agent, and now private detective, hates marital infidelity cases. But when a friend of his wife asks for help with a blackmail threat, he can't refuse. She turns up dead, and he must find the killer, no matter the consequences. Edward Lewis gives this nonsensical and underdeveloped story his best shot, but in a plot consumed by detailed menu descriptions from restaurants in Seattle and Louisiana, he receives little opportunity to enliven the characters in O'Brien's three cases. Lewis ploughs through the text with suitable quickening and slowing of pace, clear enunciation, and a great Louisiana accent, doing the best he can with the material at hand. R.P.L. © AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine [Published: OCT/ NOV 02]