GARMENT OF SHADOWS Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes, Book 12

Mary Russell, Mrs. Sherlock Holmes, is a feisty little thing. Fearless, inventive, speaks about eight languages, some quite obscure, and is handy with guns and knives. Now, however, she is somewhere in North Africa (Fez, it turns out) with amnesia. “Rare, I know, but it happens,” she explains as she tries to understand where she’s been and who clocked her on the head. Jenny Sterlin performs Russell’s parts of the story with as dazzling an array of skills as Russell’s. French men, English women, threatening Berbers, some with lisps, manifest apparently effortlessly. Robert Ian Mackenzie, who gives us Sherlock’s parts, is an equally gifted chameleon. The story, a fragrant stew of Moroccan atmosphere and politics, European intrigue, and the odd bit of treason, satisfies heartily. B.G. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine [Published: NOVEMBER 2012]