BLOOD IN THE WATER

A serial murderer is at large in Edinburgh . . . or are the murders of a physician, two lawyers, and a laborer, in fact, not connected? DS Alice Rice has to sort it all out despite hostility from some of her colleagues. Hilary Neville delivers a good performance except that the listener has no way of knowing that the story is set in Scotland. One or two characters have very subtle Scottish burrs; the rest have very British accents, so the sense of place is diminished. Overall, though, Neville’s narration is natural and dramatic when called for, and the listener will be engaged right from the beginning. This is a police procedural that leaves the listener with some interesting ethical issues to ponder. S.S.R. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine [Published: MARCH 2009]