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4 engaging audiobooks for busy readers

For those who prefer to listen rather than flip the pages of a book, here are four strong titles to put into your car's CD deck or download onto your iPod.

2. 'The Light in the Ruins,' by Chris Bohjalian

  • By Rochelle O'Gorman Contributor

Read by Cassandra Campbell with Mark Bramhall

9 CDs, 11.5 hours

Bestselling novelist Bohjalian has created a successful crime mystery, set in Italy during the 1950s, but leading back to World War II. Then we get to the denouement, which is rather irksome, as it is the weak link in an otherwise engaging tale. The noble Rosati family is living in a beautiful villa in the Tuscan hills when they are swept up in the politics and battles of the time. Ten years later, someone is brutally killing the remaining members and a young female detective, Serafina Bettini, wants to know why. She is the most nuanced character in the novel and it would be interesting to hear of her again in another audiobook in which coincidence did not so entwine her to her case. Narrator Campbell is the stronger of the two readers as Bramhall is over-the-top, sounding almost comically sinister, whereas Campbell has a pretty voice and a natural delivery.

Grade: B+

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Mark Sappenfield
Editor

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