A Textbook Case

In this short story, Lincoln Rhyme faces his toughest case yet when the crime scene of a vicious murder in a parking lot is so contaminated by garbage and fire that gathering forensic evidence seems insurmountable. Edoardo Ballerini delivers the narrative; January LaVoy narrates the dialogue of Rhyme's longtime partner, Amelia Sachs; and Jay Snyder voices the man himself. The additional narrators add little that Ballerini could not have achieved alone. And because he also voices all the other characters, the illogic of dramatizing just the two main characters is jarring. Given that the story is a short one, its tension is difficult to build. This is perhaps a listening experience best left for die-hard Lincoln Rhyme fans. C.A.T. (c) AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine