THE SWIMMING POOL

Seven years ago, Cecil and Marcella had an affair. On the night Cecil ended it, his wife was murdered; a year later he was dead from a heart attack. Now Cecil’s grown children, Callie and Jed, are at Cape Cod for the summer, along with Marcella’s daughter, Toni, who’s employed as a nanny. Jed and Marcella have an affair. Kathe Mazur plays it straight with this racy tale of lust, illicit sex, murder, and more lust. Mazur adopts authentic accents and tones for essentially unlikable characters—Italian Marcella is aloof and a bit throaty; Southern Jed is lustful and angry a good deal of the time. Minor characters are also distinct—college-age Toni is frustrated with her parents, and Callie is unable to cope with her unsmiling premature baby. A.B. © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine [Published: SEPTEMBER 2010]