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Set in the fifteenth century, this intriguing tale takes listeners along as Johanna and her mistress, Dame Margery, leave England and join a group of pilgrims walking across Europe (including the Alps) on their way to Rome. Narrator Susan Duerden handles all the voices with panache—from Latin-speaking students to the group bully to snooty Dame Margery—while putting listeners... Read More

Mitchell selects readings from Lao-Tzu's disciple Chuang-tzu and from Tzu-ssu, the grandson of Confucius, and provides commentary on each reading. Approaching each reading with a tone of respect and reverence, he offers clear commentary that is simply presented. Sometimes he asks questions and relates the readings to modern life. Each of the 64 chapters is short and can be... Read More

This unusual and thoughtful contemporary fantasy features A. Hu-Li, an ancient werefox in the shape of a teenage girl who works in Russia as a prostitute. She creates erotic, hypnotic illusions for her clients with her tail and feeds off the sexual energy they generate. Cassandra Campbell deftly inhabits the character of the sensual, cynical, playful, and lonely A. Hu-Li as she... Read More

The irrepressible sales expert's latest "little book" is a gold mine of insights and strategies for developing high-quality relationships. Made more accessible by straight-ahead introductions to each section, his clever lists sparkle with motivational energy and serve as reminders that helping others opens doors to endless opportunity. Gitomer's speaking style is one of the... Read More

This sequel to THE EXPECTED ONE further explores the cult of Maryology, and the theory that Jesus Christ was married to and bore children with Mary Magdalene. Protagonist Maureen Pascal, one of their descendants, finds information suggesting a gospel written by Christ himself. This "Book of Love" points to the Holy Spirit being God's wife in heaven. Linda Stephens narrates in a... Read More

Graduate student Connie Goodwin stumbles upon a seventeenth-century manuscript belonging to the enigmatic Deliverance Dane. Goodwin's focus on New England witchcraft in her graduate studies at Harvard provides a platform for listeners to understand the cultural nuances behind Dane's mysterious narrative. Katherine Kellgren has a timeless voice that makes her a good choice to... Read More

Robin Miles's calypso lilt gives listeners an immediate sense of this novel’s setting: an eighteenth-century Jamaican sugar plantation. Just as quickly we get a strong sense of the lyrical voice of the author as Miles's cadences play up the imagery and poignant dialogue that threads through the story. It doesn't take long before we realize we'll need the poetry to carry us... Read More

Raúl Esparza gives a thoroughly engrossing performance, understated and subtle, with nuance to spare, in Elle Newmark's fantastical exploration of life in Venice at the end of the fifteenth century. Luciano, a cunning street urchin, finds his luck changed when he becomes an apprentice chef in the doge's palace. An accomplished eavesdropper, Luciano learns that prominent men are... Read More

Neville Jason is an acoustic acrobat and ideally suited for the diverse cast of T.H. White's retelling of the Arthurian legend. He deepens Guinevere's voice to show her maturity. King Arthur's querulous speeches evoke the good-hearted old cuckold's weakening body. Mordred sounds nasty enough to be X-rated, but this is a children's book, so Merlyn uses expletives like... Read More

Bestselling author Brad Meltzer delivers an entertaining story that asks the question: What does Cain have to do with Superman? This imaginative story establishes a link between Cain’s murder of his brother, Abel, and the 1932 murder of the father of Superman’s creator, Jerry Siegel. To reveal more than that is do listeners a disservice, except to say that the world's first... Read More

Meltzer’s novel is an intriguing collection of overlapping stories and themes. It attempts to tie together the biblical story of Cain and Abel; the unsolved murder of a man whose son created Superman; and the attempts by Cal Harper, a modern-day former police officer, to solve a mystery involving his estranged father and a deadly organization called the Leadership. Helping... Read More

Sam's father has been mysteriously missing for 10 days, and in his search for clues to his disappearance Sam discovers an ancient stone that sends him careening through time on a series of adventures. Holter Graham skillfully employs a wide range of voices to keep the many plot elements sorted out. In addition to the earnest voices of Sam, his aged grandparents, and his... Read More

THE TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD, a traditional Buddhist scripture, is read to the dead or dying to facilitate liberation during the process of death. Both print and audio versions of the translation are included in this production and should be well received by scholars and experienced practitioners. In the introduction Fremantle explains that anyone listening with an open heart... Read More

Narrator Edwina Wren is an Australian, as are this book’s author and its heroine, Hannah Heath. So that’s a match. Hannah is flown to war-torn Sarajevo to restore an ancient, priceless Haggadah. The sacred manuscript has been sent like a cork down the bloody torrent of history. The story’s characters and accents vary widely, and Wren rises magnificently to the challenge. The... Read More

Do-it-yourself home repair can be a killer, but this eleventh addition to Graves's popular Home Repair Is Homicide series is a delight. Narrator Lindsay Ellison infuses each colorful Maine character with just the right amount of moxie and charm. Jacobia "Jake" Tiptree escapes Manhattan and her former life of laundering "dirty" money to purchase a fixer-upper in Eastport,... Read More

Wangerin's allegory of good and evil pits Chauntecleer, the mighty rooster, against the nefarious and serpentine Wyrm. In a time before humans, Chauntecleer is the only one who stands in the way of Wyrm as it breaks free from its earthly prison and enacts its devious influence upon the innocent animals of the world. Wangerin's prose proves enjoyable despite a heavy-handed... Read More

This audio begins, proceeds, and ends with an intrusive narrator who delays the story, delivers misinformation, and tries to manipulate listeners. David Pittu minimizes the annoyance factor and maximizes a story made exciting by mysteries and puzzles. Even though the narrator refuses to name the characters, we get to know the incessantly talking Max-Ernest through Pittu's... Read More

There's no faulting the messenger in Patricia Cornwell's latest thriller. Actress Mary Stuart Masterson renders the latest adventure of forensic pathologist Dr. Kay Scarpetta quite perfectly. What Masterson can't do is save the novel, a pale imitation of a once robust franchise. Masterson breathes life into the colorful cast of characters that inhabit the Scarpetta world,... Read More

Kate Reading draws listeners into this Kay Scarpetta mystery, involving them in the characters' lives. Her voices are distinct and unique--even the bit part of the deaf girl is perfectly rendered. Unfortunately, the story is not typical Scarpetta, though the ever-present details of the postmortems are still fascinating. There are a number of subplots about the recurring... Read More

Stephen Hoye takes a calculated, possibly fatal, risk in his approach to narrating this thriller about a lost Shakespeare manuscript. His portrayal of the protagonist, Jake Mishkin, a self-loathing intellectual property lawyer, is arid to the point putting off the listener. It's a reasonable choice for a character we are not meant to like but does not create a person one looks... Read More

This primer from the founder of the Vanguard Mutual Fund Group, the father of the index fund, provides a relatively simple discussion for mutual fund investors. John Bogle is considered a hero by many investors, small and large. Thom Pinto's reading makes us feel like we're taking personal instruction from our "Uncle Jack." Pinto's pacing is just right for this sometimes... Read More

This primer says that instead of buying stocks for the short-term, when prices have been run up for capricious reasons by the herd, invest for value by buying solid companies that are cheap relative to their book value, earnings, business performance, and other rational factors. The author comes from a lineage of money managers that includes Warren Buffett's partners and... Read More

Steven Crossley's soothing, precise voice leads us gently into the life of young David, whose dying mother tells him that stories are alive. David remembers this after her death when his father remarries and they move into his stepmother's home. There the strange books in his room begin to murmur, and he's lured into a dark fairy tale world by his dead mother's voice.... Read More

A complicated international doomsday scenario is capably read by Christopher Graybill, who easily handles accents from Yiddish to African to Italian. David, a Jewish professor, has the key to a plot by the evil Dark Angels to kill off all the world's good people and then repopulate the earth in their own images. David's efforts to stop the angels end in a tumultuous scene in an... Read More

This is a fleshed-out story of Samson that you won’t find in the Bible. Believing that he is a messenger of God, Samson slaughters and maims hundreds of the enemies of his people and sleeps with countless women as the body count rises. Delilah’s persistent attempts to get Samson to reveal the secret of his strength give an appreciation for why he eventually gives in to her... Read More