THE BODY IN THE CASTLE WELL Bruno, Chief of Police, Book 12

Robert Ian MacKenzie's performance of this Bruno Chief of Police mystery is strangely inert, as if he doesn't understand that lovers of fiction hope to experience the characters as believable fellow humans, not just to receive information. Outstanding as usual, though, is Walker's knowledge of the art world, the people and customs of the Perigord, and the extremely complex social and political history of the region during WWII. These reverberate through the contemporary plot, which starts with a rich and well-connected American art history doctoral student drowned in a well. MacKenzie's French accents seem accurate, but his American voices are ridiculous, and this matters here. At least he's fine on the food and sex scenes; they matter, too, especially in the Perigord. B.G. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine [Published: AUGUST 2019]