BONES OF THE BARBARY COAST

The lives of two women, past and present, intersect when a human skeleton-presumably a victim of the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake-is unearthed in the foundation of a Victorian home. In present time, Cree Black's forensic and research abilities are challenged by the skeleton-which apparently walked on all fours. Going back in time, Lydia Schweitzer's 1906 diary exposes the degradation of the Barbary Coast, which serves as backdrop for the victim's life. Anna Fields's narration precisely delineates these two women. She slips into working-class Brooklynese when Cree is angry and effectively expresses Lydia's incredulity when she enters a brothel where patrons are entertained by deformed humans fighting feral dogs. When Fields narrates Black's own encounter with the dogs, her reading is haggard, gasping, and entirely believable. K.A.T. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine [Published: FEB/ MAR 07]