DEAD MEN'S WAGES

A lively, albeit overly long, memoir, replete with historical background, details the author's nefarious grandfather and the Anglo-Irish-Italian family she grew up with. Brutal London gangsters and unsuspecting dupes make cameo appearances. Narrator Patricia Gallimore ably voices the writer's sardonic tone. She may be forgiven if she sounds a bit more refined than the prose warrants, but her relentlessly monotonous rhythms suggest that the book is best enjoyed in small doses. Y.R. (c) AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine [Published: OCT/ NOV 03]