THE SÉANCE

Thirteen-year-old Scooter is the unlikely but entirely believable first-person narrator of this mystery, set in the 1920s. His job is to help his mother, "Madam King," stage séances for a gullible public. The youthful voice Steven Boyer uses for Scooter is in sharp contrast to those he creates for Scooter’s mother and the story’s other adults, including the oily villain Viktor Valerian, as well Harry Houdini. As Scooter works to solve multiple murders, Boyer is at his best with the diverse characters—from the sinister butler to the denizens of a seedy drinking establishment and other entertainments of the era. Fascinating details of the world of spiritualists and their trickery never slow the momentum of the story as Scooter and Houdini work together in the suspenseful final chapters. R.H.H. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine [Published: JUNE 2009]