The Dog Who Came In from the Cold: A Corduroy Mansions Novel

Simon Prebble delivers a brilliant performance in this audio version of McCall Smith’s second installment in the Corduroy Mansions series. This time around, wine merchant William French lends his heroic terrier, Freddie de la Hay, to MI6 to help infiltrate a Russian spy ring. Meanwhile, literary agent Barbara Ragg is trying to sell an autobiography ostensibly written by a yeti, and New Age practitioners are moving into the mansions and setting up a center for cosmological studies. Prebble’s narration captures the farcical essence of the text, and he deftly portrays the wacky residents of Corduroy Mansion—and the equally wacky supporting characters—with skill and ease. He brings a sense of indecision to French, who wants to be daring but really isn’t all that brave. And Prebble matches art student James’s prim mysophobia with clean—almost antiseptic—pronunciation and delivery. A Pantheon hardcover. (June)