NO GOOD DEEDS

Linda Emond does a beautiful Southern accent, even if it sounds more genteel than ghetto. Baltimore P.I. Tess Monaghan's boyfriend, Crow, is on the run with a homeless black teenaged boy he's befriended. Emond is a little wide of the mark on Lloyd, and on some of Maryland cracker types they meet. But this does nothing to slow down the expertly plotted action as Tess tries to stay a jump ahead of the villains and Lippman two jumps ahead of the reader; both succeed handily. I particularly like Emond's Wilma Yousif, grieving widow of a high-profile murder victim, whom you somehow know instantly is mean as a snake. Pace and production are terrific, too. B.G. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine [Published: OCT/ NOV 06]