Witness in death

It is 2059, and New York City homicide lieutenant Eve Dallas's husband, Roarke, is producing a revival of Agatha Christie's thriller Witness for the Prosecution. On opening night, when the villainous character Leonard Vole gets his just deserts, someone substitutes a kitchen knife for the prop knife, and the actor, Richard Draco, is stabbed through the heart. Trouble is, in time-tested British mystery fashion, everyone in the cast had good reason to despise Richard, a misogynist who seduced and discarded beautiful young women, including one whom he knew to be his daughter. It's up to Eve to solve the case, an emotionally difficult task as she is no stranger to incest herself: she was beaten and raped by her father before she managed to escape him. As Eve fights to keep her head above water, she tries to bond at a deeper level with Roarke, so that her future will heal the pain of her past. Robb (aka Nora Roberts) serves up a welcome mix of edgy, sexy lovers,newfangled gadgets, classic whodunit and noir. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

New York City cop Eve Dallas and her husband, Roark, attend an opening of a performance of Agatha Christie's Witness for the Prosecution at Roark's new theater. Eve is unfamiliar with the classic story, but she responds to it with her cop's instincts and recognizes the perpetrator long before the finale. However, the play ends unexpectedly even for Roark, when the villain is actually killed in the last scene. Eve immediately takes control. With her trusted assistant, Peabody, she must find out who substituted the real knife for the prop and thus caused an actress unwittingly to commit murder. It soon becomes clear that the victim was an evil creep who ruined lives for his own sport. Most of the other actors had reason to kill him, and professional actors are pretty good at playing innocent. Susan Ericksen has become the voice of Eve Dallas for audiobook listeners and continues to delight us with her interpretations-tough, sharp, irritable Eve; warm, melodious Irish Roark; and down-to-earth Peabody. Listeners who are familiar with Christie's work will find Robb's 21st-century version amusing. Recommended for all collections.-Juleigh Muirhead Clark, John D. Rockefeller Jr. Lib., Colonial Williamsburg Fdn., VA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.