CAPE COD RADIO MYSTERY THEATER Vol. VIII

These three episodes of an original radio series begin with a terribly weak story and finish with a brilliant tour de force. "The Case of the Automatic Murders" is a melodramatic, tritely acted story about Cape Cod policeman Waverly Underhill and his friend, Doctor Alexander Scofield. The script sounds like a 1940s program that has failed the test of time, with apparently tongue-in-cheek lines that aren't funny anymore. By contrast, "The Mystery of Anna Gale," also featuring Captain Underhill and Doctor Scofield, is an interesting, well-handled story. "Murdering Dickens" is a masterful reading by George Garland of the "Sikes and Nancy" murder from OLIVER TWIST, recreated as an on-stage reading by Dickens at St. James Hall in 1870. S.E.S. © AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: FEB/MAR 00]