TIGERLILY’S ORCHIDS

Narrator Nickolas Grace alters his tone and pacing to match each of Rendell’s characters and his or her particular obsession, including an alcoholic widow, a pedophile caretaker, and a bumbling doctor/journalist. Set almost entirely on a single street in a north London suburb, Rendell's latest psychological suspense is informed by the economic recession and environmental change. The residents of Lichfield House, who barely know each other, gather at Stuart Font's flat-warming party, unaware that the evening will start a yearlong downward spiral of exposed secrets, murder, and death. The murder is almost incidental to the stories of the victim's neighbors, but listeners will savor the details as they theorize about whodunit and appreciate how easily Grace handles the challenges of a large cast and changing points of view. C.B.L. © AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine [Published: AUGUST 2011]