AN EXPERIMENT IN TREASON

Surely eighteenth-century Brits spoke with the sonorous tones with which narrator John Lee imbues this well-written historical mystery. In the ninth of Bruce Alexander's acclaimed series, blind Judge John Fielding and his assistant, Jeremy Proctor, investigate how a packet of letters stolen from a prominent London residence ends up in the Colony of Massachusetts. Could the visiting Benjamin Franklin have anything to do with it? Lee's Judge Fielding is wise and reflective, his Franklin an amusing mix of charm and petulance, his Jeremy a naively enthusiastic young man. The female characters, too, are believable--an achievement that's always tough for a male narrator. Lee's measured reading pace seems just right for the horse-and-coach gait of the Georgian period. A.C.S. (c) AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine [Published: JUN/JUL 03]