THE BLACKHOUSE

Eilidh Beaton performs the majority of this intense goth mystery. When Maggie was a little girl, she believed she was the reincarnation of a murdered man named Andrew. Years later, she travels to Kilmeray in the Outer Hebrides to investigate Andrew's life and death. Beaton clearly signals Maggie's struggles with bipolar disorder and her grief over her mother's recent death, as well as the islanders' various reactions to her probes into the past, especially a terrible storm that killed two residents. Beaton's well-done accents and pronunciation of Gaelic words help transport listeners to the remote island. Joe McFadden convincingly performs the sections told by one of the storm's victims, a troubled man whose failing sheep farm and unresolved childhood issues led to his mental unraveling. C.B.L. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine [Published: FEBRUARY 2023]