AN UNPARDONABLE CRIME

It is Regency England in 1819. Our narrator, Thomas Shield, is a schoolmaster who becomes tutor to a pampered English banker's son and an American named Edgar Allan Poe. Soon a stranger accosts the boys, the banker appears to have been killed, a mysterious American appears, and Shield must save himself while protecting those he cares for. Although the references to Edgar Allan Poe are gratuitous, the atmospheric mystery is lots of fun. Simon Vance does a lovely job of making the complex sentences and bygone words of the period writing style easy to listen to. Both his English and his American characters sound right, which is an impressive feat. And the large cast, from English boys to East End women to a middle-aged black Canadian servant, are believable. Entirely involving. A.C.S. © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine [Published: JUN/ JUL 04]