DOIN’ DIRTY

A lovelorn Dallas cop, who is a recovering alcoholic, investigates the murder of an obnoxious reporter, in which one of Texas's richest and most lethal families is implicated. Richard Ferrone keeps the listener absorbed in the action throughout. He is very good, but one wishes for a little more. Authentic local color elevates this page-turner above the routine, but Ferrone doesn’t give us much of it. For instance, only with some of the ancillary characters does he go for even a vaguely Southern accent. He gives the hero, an East Texan born and bred, a generic tough-cop growl. Sloth or artistic choice? Y.R. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine [Published: AUG/ SEP 01]