cover image The Blood Spilt

The Blood Spilt

Asa Larsson, , read by Hillary Huber. . Blackstone Audio, $29.95 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-7861-6181-2

Huber's slightly nasal, vaguely Middle-American drawl is a strange fit for a murder mystery set in northern Sweden. I The strategy is mostly effective, though, rendering Larsson's novel about the puzzling death of a priest more familiar to American listeners than it might otherwise appear. In her reading, Sweden is just next door to Michigan, and the aggressive normalcy of Huber's no-nonsense voice brings the terrible conundrum of lawyer Rebecka Martinsson, embroiled in guilt and anger and a desire to understand after an accidental death, to life. Huber makes no effort to sound Swedish, other than pronouncing names and places properly, and in the end, this gives Larsson's mystery a familiar, well-worn feel it might otherwise lack. Simultaneous release with the Delacorte hardcover (Reviews, Nov. 20). (Feb.)