The Forgers

The macabre mutilation-murder of a rare book dealer at his beachfront cottage in Montauk, Long Island, kicks off this sly, artfully limned crime novel. Will, the narrator, has a shady past that threatens to catch up with him. He begins receiving letters that were seemingly written by long dead authors but are really from someone with a vendetta against him and knowledge of the murder. Reader Bray finds appropriate voices and attitudes for the relatively small cast of characters—including Will’s girlfriend, Meghan, bereft after her brother’s death; Atticus Moore, the New England–accented avuncular book dealer; and Will’s blackmailer, whose overdone civility, in the course of a short conversation, quickly gives way to cold fury. But Bray’s strongest contribution is his rendering of Will, through a performance that adds dimension to the purposefully undefined narrator. Bray presents Will as urbane but with a touch of raffishness, someone whose dispassionate view of the world is just short of sociopathy. It’s a striking example of how audio can successfully embrace and enhance an author’s intent. A Mysterious Press hardcover. (Nov.)