Death of a Dreamer

Graeme Malcolm gives a nuanced portrayal of diverse characters inhabiting or visiting a remote village in northern Scotland. Various characters stride across the canvas, and Malcolm essays them all, including a grumpy American, and Englishmen and women from down south. Malcolm succeeds without going into falsetto or mumbling incoherently; it's all in the pacing and accent and cadence. His vaguely Scottish narrative voice binds the story together. Constable Hamish Macbeth, who has starred in 20 previous mysteries, must cope with a delusional female visitor whose fantasies lead to murder. The voice and the setting are so compatible that one settles back and enjoys the story, scarcely noticing the narrator's expertise. D.R.W. (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine