D-E-D DEAD!

Listeners will love Alby Murdoch, photographer and secret agent for D.E.D., the Directorate for Extra-territorial Defence, an intelligence-gathering unit of the Australian government. Peter Hosking's performance creates an Alby who's a "dedhead" on a mission, escaping assassination attempts by the seat of his pants and commenting snidely on bureaucrats, love, and life while dodging exploding luggage and menacing gunmen. Hosking's portrayal of Alby offers listeners a wry sense of reality and a photographer's eye for beauty (McGeachin teaches photography in Sydney) as he travels from Melbourne to Sydney to Bali to Australia's Outback. Not quite as bumbling as Maxwell Smart or as urbane as James Bond, Hosking's Alby scores a direct, often hilarious, hit on the self-important stuffiness of the espionage business. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine [Published: JUN/ JUL 07]