A TOUCH OF MORTALITY

In this 1996 entry in Granger's British mystery series featuring Meredith Mitchell and Inspector Alan Markby, murder disrupts a quiet Oxfordshire village. Add animal right activists, greed, and isolationist villagers to the mix, and Markby has a lot to solve. Judith Boyd is a good narrator with a clear sense of story. She uses intonation and rhythm to keep the listener enmeshed in the action. While her renditions of female characters are telling, she has difficulty with some male voices. In particular, a disdainful male scientist is rendered as a screeching harridan during long stretches of dialogue. It's difficult to listen to, although the rest of Boyd's reading is enjoyable. R.E.K. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine [Published: APR/ MAY 06]