THE RUSSIAN WIFE Brock and Kolla, Book 14

Emily Joyce's smooth, witty, and beautifully calibrated performance makes this Rube Goldberg machine of a plot even more fun than it deserves to be. Inspector David Brock finds himself on the Art Fraud desk, investigating the apparent suicide of a beautiful Russian woman whose British husband owns a famous art collection. Meanwhile, Brock's old partner, Kathy Kolla, is on the run, having been charged (unfairly!) with corruption. These threads are more double helix than related plot lines, and both are pretty baroque, but the art fraud and forgery background of Brock's case is interesting, and Joyce performs with such lively sympathy that you easily forgive the more implausible bits. Her remarkable ease with British, American, German, and Russian accents adds a great deal to the entertainment. B.G. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine [Published: APRIL 2022]