ASHES TO ASHES

Another serial killer is on the loose, this one a maniac who murders, then burns, his victims. But he is observed in the book's opening, and it becomes the job of heroine Kate Conlan to protect the uncooperative witness and to find the murderer before he finds the witness and Kate herself. Reader Carrington McDuffie takes getting used to; her breathy dramatics are sometimes overwrought, her variations in volume sometimes puzzling, her characterizations sometimes inconsistent. But for fans of this genre, Hoag's writing and McDuffie's reading will prove compelling and satisfying. T.H. © AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine [Published: OCT/NOV 00]