HAREM

Barbara Nadel's successful mystery series about Turkish police officer Cetin Ikmen is exotic, well written, and lots of fun, although the plots are becoming more farfetched with each book. That being said, Sean Barrett offers a fine, colorful narration of this story about the apparently unrelated deaths of a teenager who wanted to be a traditional dancer and the American wife of a Turkish-born movie star. As Ikmen investigates, he digs into the underworld of Turkish organized crime and confronts the country's widely varying attitudes toward women. Barrett has fun with several of the volatile personalities and gives sensitive portrayals of women at the crossroads of modernity and traditionalism. He also keeps the multiplicity of characters and plot lines clear, making this entertaining for every mystery-loving listener. A.C.S. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine [Published: JANUARY 2009]