Red harvest

An unnamed detective arrives in Personville (nicknamed "Poisonville" by its residents) too late to help his client, who lies shot dead in an alley. It doesn't take the detective long to figure out that this murder is the least of Poisonville's problems, and he decides to stay and clean up the nasty company town on his own. Despite this somewhat confusing story line, Richard Ferrone provides lucid and compelling narration and perfectly captures Hammett's tough guy wit. His rendition of gangster Max "Whisper" Thaler is among the many highlights: he provides a voice that is clear but hoarse and totally lives up to the character's name. Ferrone also gives Whisper's girlfriend a classic bad dame voice that all but invites trouble, and provides corrupt police chief Noonan with a jovial Irish brogue that masks evil intentions. Although the tale is hopelessly convoluted and overpopulated, listeners will have great fun rooting for the unnamed detective to get out of town alive. A Vintage paperback. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

The Continental Op, hero of this mystery, is a cool, experienced employee of the Continental Detective Agency. Client Donald Wilson has been killed, and the Op must track down his murderer. Personville, better known as Poisonville, is an unattractive company town, owned by Donald's father, Elihu, but controlled by several competing gangs. Alienated by the local turf wars, the Op finagles Elihu into paying for a second job, "cleaning up Poisonville." Confused yet? This is only the beginning of an incredibly convoluted plot. Hammett's exquisitely defined charactersDthe shabby, charming, and completely mercenary lady-of-the-evening; the lazy, humorous yet cold and avaricious police chief; and especially the tautly written, gradual disintegration of the Op's detached personalityDmake this a compelling read. In addition, William Dufris's performance is outstanding. Each character has his/her own unique vocal tag composed of both tonal inflections and speech patterns suited to his/her persona. Wonderful! The only flaw is the technical difficulty of cueing the "track book marked" CD format. An exceptional presentation of a lesser classic from the golden age of the mystery genre. Recommended for all but the smallest public and academic libraries.DI. Pour-El, Des Moines Area Community Coll., Boone, IA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.