Mission Flats.

William Landay. 2003. Read by Ron Livingston, Abridged, 5 cds. 6 hrs. Random House Audio. 0-7393-0784-3. $29.95. Plastic; plot, author notes. A

Far more than a simple murder mystery, this incorporates the internal workings of a big city police department, family relations and several major plot surprises. Furthermore, Livingston reads with just the right rough, unpolished edginess in his gritty tone.

Ben Truman is the rather unlikely and somewhat reluctant chief of police in the small town of Versailles (pronounced Ver-sales), Maine. Ben would rather be a college professor, but he took the job out of deference to his ex-cop father. During a routine check of a cabin, he finds the body of a Boston D.A. The resulting investigation takes him to Boston, and eventually to the crime and drug-ridden suburb known as Mission Flats, and its chief gangbanger, Harold Braxton, who is suspected in the killing of the D.A. Further evidence seems to exonerate Braxton, and the hunt for the killer brings Truman full circle, back to Versailles and a shocking family revelation, followed by an even more shocking act of violence. Everything, including the abridgment, works beautifully in this little gem. Miles Klein, Frisco, TX