Bad Blood

The ninth in the Alexandra Cooper, Manhattan assistant D.A., mystery series tries hard to please and causes pulses to beat harder in places but, overall, is forced and obvious--and a jumble of two plots. A rising young businessman's murder of his wife and an explosion underground in one of the city's water tunnels are connected. Blair Brown sounds like she doesn't have much enthusiasm for the plot or characters, though she fares better with the men than the women, managing to give them body, volume, and energy. Also, she has a habit of dropping her voice at the ends of sentences, which is frustrating to the listener. One plus is that author Fairstein, an ex-prosecutor, offers fascinating insider tidbits in legal maneuvering. M.T.B. (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine


Barbara Rosenblat has a field day with this entertaining thriller, the ninth installment of Fairstein's series featuring Alexandra Cooper, New York prosecutor. Mike Chapman (Cooper's beloved colleague) is particularly funny; Rosenblat plays him like a good-hearted thug from "The Sopranos." Cooper is prosecuting businessman Brendan Quillian for murdering his socialite wife when an underground explosion unexpectedly links Quillian to a very rough family of "sandhogs" and a very old murder. Fairstein lards in plenty of New York City lore, plenty of action, and a boffo underground finale in the decommissioned City Hall subway stop. Rosenblat does tough Irish, black street cop, girl prosecutor in jeopardy, and flibberty gibbet Nantucket bride with enthusiastic finesse. Great fun. B.G. (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine