No Rest for the Dead

January 2, 2012
Twenty-six writers and six narrators join forces in the audio edition of this twisted tale of greed, betrayal, and murder. It’s been a decade since Rosemary Thomas was executed for the murder of her husband. But former police detective Jon Nunn—whose investigation led to the arrest and conviction of Rosemary—is still convinced she was innocent. With guilt driving him to the bottle, Nunn sets out to find the real killer, justice for Rosemary, and maybe a little redemption for himself. While employing a variety of writers works well, the use of multiple readers falls flat. Although each narrator delivers a fine performance, the production jumps between readers in a way that can be disruptive to listeners. That isn’t to say this isn’t an enjoyable, fun listen; it is. But the story would flow better if the publisher had stuck with one narrator. A Touchstone hardcover.

June 6, 2011
Twenty-six of the best-known names in the businessâincluding Jeffery Deaver, Faye Kellerman, Alexander McCall Smith, Kathy Reichs, Thomas H. Cook, and Lisa Scottolineâcontribute chapters to this modestly entertaining "who-really-done-it." In 2000, museum curator Rosemary Thomas is executed in California for the murder of her philandering curator husband, whose decomposing corpse was found in an iron maiden shipped from the U.S. to Germany. Police detective Jon Nunn helped convict Thomas, but a decade later he's sure of her innocence and sets out to catch the real culprit by using her request for a memorial service as an opportunity to convene a roster of alternate suspects with a slew of motives. While many readers will enjoy the inventive changes of plot direction and seeing how the next author will deal with them, others may feel a similarity of tone and style is less a sign of creative minds in sync than of bland homogenization.