William Hootkins read the first Akunin thriller, The Winter Queen, superbly, revelling in its colourful cast and crisply intelligent as the dapper young Fandorin, who changed from a keen police cadet to a detective of Sherlock Holmes calibre. Hootkins narrates the Gothic horrors of its sequel, Murder on the Leviathan (Orion, 7 hrs, 4 tapes, £12.99, offer £10.40), with equal gusto, presenting a newly mature, elegant Fandorin. But he produces a relentlessly harsh snarl for Fandorin’s rival in detection, Commissioner Gauche, that grates upon the ear. The denouement of the story explains the decision to over-egg the self-important Gauche, but I would question the need to do so, given Akunin’s skilful plotting. Still, Murder remains excellent entertainment, redolent with the period atmosphere of a luxury steam liner on its way to the Far East in 1878.

Roddy Doyle’s prose has a musicality to it which made the audiobook of The Woman Who Walked Through Doors feel as if you were thinking the thoughts of its much-abused heroine in your own head. His prose sings along as well as ever in Oh Play That Thing (Random House, c 6 hrs, 4 tapes, £13.99, offer £10.39), but its cross-cut, flashback story was confusing until I downloaded an internet summary of A Star Called Henry, which introduced its Irish nationalist hero Henry Smart. Niall Buggy’s voice has a soft Irish edge for Henry’s thoughts, and trumpets just fine for Louis Armstrong’s cameo appearance, but his yowling as the Brooklyn-born heroine frays the nerves.

Ben Miles’s reading of the latest Ben Elton novel Past Mortem (Random House, c 6 hrs, 3 CDs, £13.99, offer £11.19) is, by contrast, flawless. The book is a taut thriller with a semi-comic romance as a subplot. The idea of a serial killer using Friends Reunited is ingenious, and Elton adds a topical twist by making the homicides a crusade against former bullies that would be almost forgiveable if it wasn’t for the grotesque sadism of the murders. Be warned that the details of the wounds inflicted and an unpleasant sex scene are not for family listening.

Books First: 0870 1608080

Christina Hardyment

AUDIOBOOKS
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