PAUL TEMPLE: EAST OF ALGIERS

Sophisticate and detective Paul Temple came into being in the late 1930s under the pen of Francis Durbridge and has experienced a glorious career, first on radio, then in books, television, films, and now audiobooks. With his wife Steve, Temple is a crime novelist who also solves cases when he has to—the idea is something like “Murder, She Wrote.” Narrator Anthony Head seizes the characters with his British intonation and gives a lucid and laid-back performance that fits scene and situation. British to the core, he is known for his work on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” and he is also involved in Doctor Who and Star Trek audio incarnations. The plot is a clever one involving eyeglasses and bad guys. And Algiers, of course. D.R.W. © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine [Published: OCTOBER 2010]