Michael

Well done, Magistra. If any of you have ever enjoyed Lord Peter and Harriet Vane, you will enjoy Walsh's addition to the genre. We are once more back (albeit post WWII) in the world of Lord and Lady Peter, with their two sons and a world that is progressing (if it is progressing) into the mid-20th century. Yet the author also brings us backwards, evoking tales of Peter's shell-shocked youth as he solves his first case, a case that now echoes -- through multiple murders -- into the present, along with recurrent emeralds, old friends, and new villains. And despite it all, Jill Paton Walsh manages to bring us back in contact with the characters we cherish: Peter, Harriet, and Bunter are unchanged from the Sayers originals. Magisterial, Magistra!

This is a superb Steve Berry title, and Paul Michael, the narrator, does an equally superb job with accents and pacing. This author/narrator combination is strikingly different from the abysmal narration of another (otherwise equally superb) Steve Berry book, the Alexandria Link, narrated by Scott Brick. In the future, I will buy anything with Steve Berry and Paul Michael, but will never waste money on any Steve Berry book if narrated by Scott Brick.

The story is excellent, but almost destroyed by a narrator who is a ham, continually emoting and sounding more like the background voice to Disney's Haunted House than a narrator of a modern adventure novel. He tries to put excitement and emotion into simple declaratory sentences, e.g., "I'M GOING TO DO SOMETHING!!!". This sort of silliness is painful to listen to. I'll buy a Steve Berry book anytime, but will never buy one narrated by Scott Brick.