THE MANUAL OF DETECTION

If Kafka had a sense of humor, he might have written THE MANUAL OF DETECTION. Pete Larkin's performance takes Jedediah Berry's absurd and fantastical situations and his tightly controlled, intelligent, and downright funny writing, and turns the plight of hapless Charles Unwin into a rollicking audio romp through surreal chaos. Unwin is a simple clerk in an ultrasecretive detective agency who is mysteriously (possibly erroneously) promoted to detective. As Unwin deals with cases like "The Man Who Stole November 12th" and "The World's Oldest Murdered Man," Larkin wisely keeps things low-key yet unmistakably sardonic, especially his tongue-in-cheek handling of separated conjoined twins, a mountain of missing alarm clocks, a criminal mastermind dream thief, and the seductress Cleopatra Greenwood. High marks for a spectacular narration of Berry's unadulterated nuttiness. S.J.H. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine [Published: MARCH 2009]