FELIX IN THE UNDERWORLD

A mild-mannered English writer is first accused of fathering a love child and then of murder. Like most of John (RUMPOLE OF THE BAILEY) Mortimer's fiction, this mystery contains a great deal of satiric whimsy, detail about lawyers and an undertone of melancholy. Uncharacteristic are the touches of bawdry and vulgarity, necessary to contrast society's brutality with the hero's sensitivity. Michael Pennington gives a poker-faced rendition of the narrative, while pulling out the stops on the dialogue----an interesting acting choice and quite effective, though it means that some very British humor zooms past American ears too quickly to register. Y.R. ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: MAR/APR 98]