DIANA'S ALTAR Joe Sandilands, Book 13

When a fellow "of interest to the government" is stabbed in a Cambridge church pew, Detective Joe Sandilands is dispatched to the university town to root about. He discovers the beginning of Cambridge University's pre-WWII struggle with "Red sympathizers" and much else besides. Narrator Steven Crossley voices the story with skill and sympathy, if not with his usual brio. The problem may be that this twelfth book in the series lacks the energy of Cleverly's previous novels, and, therefore, so does the narrator. But he never loses the listener during the plot's twists and turns, which is to be applauded. And he shines with the many character parts, so the bland principals don't really matter. A.C.S. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine [Published: NOVEMBER 2016]