SUSPICIOUS ORIGIN

SUSPICIOUS ORIGIN has a strong protagonist in investigative journalist Britt Anderson and a strong antagonist in her brother-in-law, Alec, now a widower, after a tragic fire took the life of Britt's sister. The clue that the fire moved downwards, not upwards as it naturally does, assures Britt that her sister's death was caused by a fire of suspicious origin. But who was the perpetrator? The compass needle of blame and guilt points so plainly to Alec that it is entirely possible to believe it was he who tossed the accelerant and set a match to it while his wife and child slept. Anna Fields has a voice resonant with intelligence, wit, and compassion, which fits nicely with this constrained New England story of estrangement and loss, murder and madness. As the listener's outrage toward Alex builds, Fields's voice conveys the fragility of the preadolescent who escaped the fire and the defeated rage of the frustration-filled Alec. M.D.H. (c) AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine [Published: DEC 03/JAN 04]