Roseanna

Listening to Tom Weiner's narration of ROSEANNA, one can easily believe one is hearing a gaggle of Swedish policemen. The book is the first in a series of Swedish police procedurals published from 1965 to 1974. This one concerns the murder of an American woman touring Sweden's lake district while on holiday. The story, setting, and characters have a noir quality, and the clipped rhythms of Weiner's reading are just right. In his Everyman baritone, we hear the frustrations of a case for which no solutions can be found for months. When the action heats up, listeners feel the tension rise as the police work round the clock to bring the case to a close. As the story comes to an end, the ragged edge in Weiner's voice helps listeners feel the detectives' mix of sadness and triumph. R.E.K. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine