THE NAMING OF THE DEAD

Tom Cotcher has a mix of rumbly Scots accents with which he colors this 18th installment of Ian Rankin's John Rebus series. In this episode, the Edinburgh-based inspector is determined to investigate the mysterious death of a Scots delegate to a world summit, even when the powers-that-be would rather he stay out of the situation. Cotcher aptly captures the stubborn aspects of Rebus's personality and has fun with some of the other characters' accents, making them thick but understandable. It's occasionally hard to differentiate the female characters from the male, but that's a quibble in this well-read production. A.C.S. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine [Published: FEB/ MAR 08]