Bury the Lead.

BURY THE LEAD. David Rosenfelt. 2004. Read by Grover Gardner. 5 cds. 6 hrs. Abridged. Listen & Live Audio. 1-59316-025-9. $29.95. Cardboard; plot, author, reader notes. SA

Reporter Daniel Cummings has become a go-between for a serial killer and the homicide detectives searching for him. To protect his reporter and his newspaper from any possible lawsuits, newspaper owner Vince Sanders retains attorney Andy Carpenter. Seems like a simple job to Andy until Cummings is arrested for the fourth brutal murder.

Gardner's reading is excellent. He picks up the personality of wisecracking Andy in the narration of this legal thriller set in northern New Jersey. Gardner doesn't fully voice all the characters but he does a fine job on foreign accents where called for. His emotions seem sincere when Andy talks about the two loves in his life, ex-cop Laurie and his golden retriever Tara. As a defense attorney, affable Andy proves himself worthy of any opponent in this third book in a series, although he'd rather be watching football on TV or running the Tara Foundation, a canine rescue group which is an actual organization run by the author Rosenfelt and his wife. The humorous comments by the main character add an enjoyable twist to the genre. Carol Kellerman, Santa Fe, NM