MASQUERADE

Jeff Woodman and Emily Gray reprise their roles as Phil Beaumont and Jane Turner, Pinkerton detectives, in this sequel to ESCAPADE. The scene is Paris in the early 1920s. When a philandering publicist and his mistress are found dead, the police are content to call it suicide, but the man’s mother isn’t satisfied and hires Pinkerton. Though the case is investigated and solved, it isn’t nearly as interesting as what goes on around it--the city, its ex-pat inhabitants, and political intrigues. Both readers shine. Woodman’s part is straight narration; Gray’s takes the form of Jane’s letters to a friend back in England. The two play off each other, as do many of the main characters. Woodman’s take on the French detective with the penchant for gourmet food stands out, and Gertrude Stein, Alice B. Toklas, an Irish bar owner, Hemingway, and Jane’s American charges are convincing as well. Look for more to come in this excellent series. J.B.G. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine [Published: OCT/ NOV 03]