VERY COLD FOR MAY

This mystery plays out like a combination noir and screwball comedy, and it’s an excellent fit for narrator Stephen Bowlby. It’s the 1950s. May Laval, wartime celebrity hostess to businessmen, politicians, and military men, is going to publish her memoirs, which include all the dirt on people at the highest levels. When May is murdered and her diary disappears, PR exec Jake Harrison investigates. Bowlby sets the tone by creating characters who speak exactly as they should for the period and place. He portrays a religious fanatic, a war profiteer, and May herself and is especially good with the amusing exchanges between Jake and his ex-wife. This is a choice performance of McGivern’s fast and funny dialogue combined with surprising plot twists. Fun listening. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine [Published: SEPTEMBER 2013]