Stephen J. Puetz

Michael Druxman wrote this entertaining audio-book in a lively style, and Fred Frees narrated it with a wide variety of tones and voices. The title may be somewhat misleading because the Dracula/Jack-the-Ripper story is just 1 of the 6 short stories in this sequence. In fact, most listeners may do what I did - only listen to one story at a setting.

One of my favorite stories in the sequence was "The Old Coot" - which had a Tom Sawyer/Huckleberry Finn type of atmosphere. In this story, a young mischievous boy who idolizes Jesse James ran into an old coot who seemed to know quite a bit about Jesse. You must listen to the story, as the old coot tries to persuade the boy that Jesse's life may not have been as thrilling and desirable as legend portrays.

Another of my favorites was "Napoleon Brandy" - with a science fiction setting. This story involves a brilliant professor who invents a time machine and bringing Napoleon Bonaparte back to modern day America. In an amusing manner, Napoleon causes as much trouble to modern American generals as he did to European generals two centuries ago.

My other favorite short-story was "Bugsy's Boys" - a skit that reminded me of the movie "Analyze This" with Robert de Niro playing a mobster and Billy Crystal playing his psychiatrist. However, in Bugsy's Boys, the man who murdered Bugsy Siegel draws an unwilling writer into trouble with some of Bugsy Siegel's old associates.

Mostly, in addition to proceeding at a lively pace, the stories made me chuckle here and there -- as I thought about the various situations the characters put themselves into, and how I might have reacted in the same situation.

In all of these stories, an interesting tale along with an assortment of well-played voices from the narrator made me feel like I was right there with these adventuresome characters. You will enjoy listening to this audio-book in your leisure time.