PINKERTON'S GREAT DETECTIVE The Amazing Life and Times of James McParland

The title implies that this is a biography, but so little is known for certain about James McParland that the author instead has instead crafted detailed histories of the Pinkerton operative's most famous cases. In general, Andrew Garman does an able job with the reading, keeping the narrative flowing. However, the abundance of backstory can be tedious at times. While Garman doesn't over-emote, his reading is not without appropriate emotion. He doesn't give individual characters unique voices because the author uses partial quotes more than extended passages of dialogue. This last point poses a problem for the listener: Garman tries to pause to indicate quoted material, but partial quotes within sentences make this awkward at best. R.C.G. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine [Published: APRIL 2014]