THE BIG DIG

It isn't easy for an attractive six-foot tall redhead to go undercover. So it's no surprise that when part-time blues singer/cab driver/private eye Carlotta Carlyle goes to work for a contractor of Boston's Central Artery/Tunnel Project to uncover fraud, the bodies start piling up. Barnes's style is tight, smart, and darkly funny, and Bernadette Quigley's reading matches Barnes in tone and intensity. Easily and believably, her voice glides from tough construction workers to the Beacon Hill elite. But most important, she becomes Carlotta Carlyle, narrating this adventure filled with action and twists and a tough and intelligent female protagonist. S.E.S. (c) AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine [Published: APR/MAY 03]