Blood Trail

Box's disappointing eighth installment of the celebrated Joe Pickett series is a suspenseful journey which casts our hero in a brutal murder investigation that may lead to his own demise. David Chandler reads with great dedication and clarity to the tale, but he is simply not Joe Pickett. Chandler's voice is that of a Broadway star, not a Wyoming game warden, and the story suffers because of it. There is no attempt at even the slightest mid-western dialect here; Chandler drones on and on in a monotone voice that is more likely to put listeners to bed than at the edge of their seats. When the narrator seems less than enthused with a story, the audience stands no chance. A Putnam hardcover (Reviews, Mar. 17).