FOR THE GOOD OF THE FIRM

Short story collections are something Dove usually does well, showcasing a variety of good readers and featuring a clever mix of authors. This anthology, perhaps because of its narrow theme (legal thrillers), is more homogeneous than others. Many of the stories are similarly styled as first-person recollections, ironic in tone, with a predictable twist at the end. The performers contribute to the sameness by reading most of them in the kind of ultra-naturalistic monotones that work on film but not in audiobooks. David Warner and Richard Cox, however, bring color, skill and snap to stories by Arthur Conan Doyle and William Bernhardt, while texts by Richard North Patterson and Lawrence Block have enough spark to shine through merely adequate performances. S.P. © AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: OCT/NOV 99]