DEATH DEPARTMENT

James Bryce's light Scottish accent adds realism without making this Glasgow police procedural difficult to understand for American listeners. A department store's theft rate has risen sharply in recent months, so Inspectors Thane and Moss are called in to investigate. Even though most of the characters are male, Bryce ably distinguishes each one using pacing, volume, and enunciation. When a murder victim is discovered, the hunt leads Thane and Moss into Glasgow's underworld and back. Bryce dramatizes the anger, fear, sadness, and disgust at "man's inhumanity to man" as motivated by greed. This top-notch detective fiction is well written and well presented. S.C.A. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine [Published: FEB/MAR 01]