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Buy or rent from www.recordedbooks.com It's Christmas and solicitor Mark Ankerton is worried about his client, James Lockyer-Fox of the village of Shenstead. A few months before, James's wife was found dead, frozen to death on the terrace of their manor. Though he was home at the time, James had taken a sleeping pill and didn't hear whatever had happened to keep his wife out in the cold that night. Depressed and alone, James is beginning to appear his 80 years of age and Mark visits him over the holiday to see what can be done. When Mark finds out that there is a conspiracy of people making very explicit and accusing phone calls all night long to James, he's furious, but the fury turns to confusion as the elderly James refuses to stand up for himself. Nearby the manor, a caravan of travelers sets up as squatters hoping to use a little-known law that would permit them to claim ownership of unclaimed land. The leader of the group is a man who calls himself Fox Evil. At one point Fox was accompanied by his family but now, for an unknown reason, only his son, a small, underfed, terrorized boy, is living with him and Fox himself is showing more interest in what happens to the Lockyer-Fox family than anyone is comfortable with. Secondary side plots abound, everything from the public protesting of resuming fox hunting, to social climbers and small town scandals, to sex and middle age foolishness. Minette Walters has created a full and detailed small English village community for FOX EVIL. From the travelers to the farmers, from low class to the manor born, every level of the social circle is filled with complete, three dimensional and engaging people. You may not like all the inhabitants in this book but you will believe that every one of them is a real person and as such, each can be the focal point of their own story. She's done a remarkable job. The mystery in FOX EVIL is well thought out with enough clues, red herrings, and dark misdirections to keep any mystery fan on cloud nine. There is not one foolish step taken in this story and it's a joy to experience. This Clipper Audio Edition is made up of nine cassettes, is approximately 12 and a half hours long, and is narrated by Simon Prebble. Mr. Prebble does an absolutely outstanding job of reading this book! He conveys each character clearly and that he manages to execute all the different accents and create voices for men, women, and children is absolutely mesmerizing. His reading makes you "see" what is going on. He's done a phenomenal job. I highly recommend this audio tape. Every day I had it I looked forward -- almost insatiably -- to the time I could spend listening to the story. Get your hands on FOX EVIL, it's extremely enjoyable.
Reviewed by Sharon Katz, December 2003
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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