BEWARE THE LAUGHING GULL

This is a thin mystery in which the characters are just characters, and none of them are well rounded. The Olmsted Irregulars should be a lot of laughs, but they aren't. They don't have snappy New York conversations, see themselves as being at the center of the universe, or eat in delicatessens. Norman Dietz does very well with the enigmatic, brilliant sleuth Lucy Wayles, but the men sound pathetic to the point that one wonders why Lucy would have anything to do with them, especially Marcus, who sighs a lot. The mispronounciations by all the characters are also disconcerting. B.H.B. © AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine [Published: OCT/NOV 00]