Field of Darkness
Cornelia Read
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Buy *Field of Darkness* by Cornelia Read, narrated by Hillary Huber in abridged CD audio format online

Field of Darkness
Cornelia Read
narrated by Hillary Huber
Blackstone Audiobooks
9 CDs
May 2006
rated 3 of 5 possible stars

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In Field Of Darkness, the debut murder-mystery from Cornelia Read, the protagonist is one Madeline Dare, a cynical freelance writer of fluff pieces who comes from a wealthy family from Long Island. She is married to Dean, a railroad worker in Syracuse, New York, a place Madeline loathes - her WASP-ish ways don’t quite mesh with the local white trash.

The mystery aspect comes into play when Madeline attempts to solve a murder from twenty years ago. The bizarre case was dubbed the “Rose Girls,” because the victims were found with thorny crowns around their heads. In a very contrived manner, Madeline is handed her father-in-law’s dogtags, found at the murder scene and just happening to belong to her cousin Lapthorne Townsend ,who just happened to be in Syracuse twenty years prior. Madeline becomes completely enthralled with the case, retracing the victim’s final hours at the state fair in an effort to clear her cousin’s name.

Read's debut is one of those cases where you have to break the whole down into parts and discuss them individually. First off, this is really a character-driven mystery piece more than anything else. If you like the protagonist, you are more apt to let narrative weaknesses slide. If you don’t like Madeline Dare, you most likely won’t make it very far without throwing your hands up in anger. For me, Madeline got to be extremely irritating if not outright obnoxious as the story went along. You could make the argument that the novel is quirky and stylish, but there is only so much some listeners can handle.

That’s not to say there isn’t strength in the material. Irritating or not, Madeline and the cast of oddball characters are well-drawn. The snappy dialogue and keen insights might be entertaining, but the mystery becomes lost in an abundance of esoteric facts. The other strong point is the audio production – excellent – as is the performance by Hillary Huber. Mystery buffs will find this runs more in the vein of Janet Evanovich than Michael Connelly.



Originally published on Curled Up With A Good Book at www.curledup.com. © Bobby Blades, 2006

Also by Cornelia Read:

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