It is the story of a happy Captain of a sinking ship. It is the story of Chernobyl, afterwards. It is the story of provisional investigators, provisional policemen, provisional scientists who are provisionally accepted as the mad inhabitants of a zone officially uninhabited, in which no crime officially occurs. TheWolves Eat Dogs by Martin Cruz Smith

Arkady, the permanently grim, dejected, despondent Moscow cop wants another autopsy done on the body of a prostitute and finds his old friend Willie at the morgue, having moved in. Immense and unshaven, Willie Pezenko shuffled around the morgue like a wooly mammoth in an operating gown. A cigarette hungThree Stations by Martin Cruz read by Ron McClarty

She sounds like your high school Home Economics teacher, or the Hall Mother in your college Dormitory, or your new semi-retired accountant: clear, crisp, well organized and about 23 pounds overweight. She sounds pretty and pinkish and lipsticked. She is in her mid fifties and owns a Needlework ShopHanging by a Thread by Monica Ferris read by Susan Boyce

On the sidewalk outside of The Kitchennette on West Broadway, the old men are debating the apologetics of New York Liberals bending over to receive  Islamic sensitivity training. One famous lawyer takes out the day's NYTIMES,  which reports that: "The Islamic Society of America is complaining that television shows portray Moslems asEscape by Robert Tanenbaum read by Mel Foster

Hitachi's beautifully directed High Definition video series called True Stories features a segment on "Coal's Comeback". A bunch of old em·phy·se·mic grandpas are fishing, muttering into the wind, when the voice of Bruce No of Hitachi America announces that Supercritical Technology is the new generation of Coal, the cleanSister Mine by Tawni O'Dell read by Renee Raudman

And it occurred to him that the most important thing about Rode was that he had no friends. Smiley was reminded of Buchner's fairy tale about the child left alone on the Earth, who  finding no one to talk to  went to the moon because it smiled atA Murder of Quality by John Le Carre read by Keith Lloyd

"Poker was second only to pool in Michael Dempsey's skills his children should have." How can you not lose your shirt to the writer of such a genealogy? This is Crusie as good as she was inTemptation read by the unrememberable, unpronouncable name who does Marilyn Monroe better than MM, and twirlsJennifer Crusie read by Aasne Vigesaa: Faking It

Ethically demented, seriously ambitious police detective brutalizes innocent, unthinking little boy. Heartwrenching. A must for prosecutors.The Rag and Bone Trade by Robert Cormier

Wonderful, well developed characters modeled on silly, overchewed, Oprah-certified victim-types. The victim of an alcoholic, depressive, schadenfreude-mother, the victim of a childhood kidnapping by a pedophile, the victim of an unforgiving corrections system, the victim of overwhelming emotions, overwhelming fears, overwhelming doubts, of poor parents, poor teachers, poor morals, poorThe Neighbor by Lisa Gardner

Death Match is the Beta version of Google Dating Search. Consider it:a small exclusive matchmaking service run by a brilliant lonely Geek charges 25,000 dollars per search. It mixes men, women and algorithms. It finds: perfect couples. The metallic, mechanical voice of Barrett Whitener engineers the sounds of Miss Google.New! Dating is a search problem. Solve it with Google Romance.

This is so well read, so well thought out, so well organized that it stands out as a motherlode of precious advise for anybody who wants to work better, be better, CHANGE. Remember your fifth grade teacher? The one that was a little pretty, a little strict, a little scary? TheBernadette Dunne reads Work Less Make More by Jennifer White

A happy surgeon falls over face down into an open gall bladder and is exiled from his caste of four: the AMA, the Hospital, the HMO, the elite medical partnership operating out of Boston. The sad misadventures of a circus of medical accountants, gatekeepers, technocrats, and insurance agents sets theThe Society by Michael Palmer read by J. Charles

L.A./Hollywood relived by a suicidal ex-husband ex-producer ex-Jew with a  screenplay.  The screenplay is  fresh off the bus from New Jersey, delivered to Charlie (post suicide) by his 21 year old nephew, Lionel. It is about Disraeli but that doesn't matter.  The screenplay is his property, and all Charlie needsThe Deal: A Novel of Hollywood by Peter Lefcourt read by William H. Macy

Think about a perfect sandwich. A happy assemblage of fresh food: bacon, lettuce, tomato. Good and familiar characters, pretty or restful setting, easy, recognizable relationships. Funny dialogue. Simple white or brown bread. A little bit of mayo.  There's a singular and single female divorce lawyer with a very hungry sexBetween Sisters by Kristin Hannah read by Laural Merlington

Four narrators read back to back the recollections of five 'Angry Housewives' in Minnesota. Each voice adds to the prism of personalities which reflects how different five women sound from one another, even when they are reading the same books. Unlike the women in Mary McCarthy's The Group,  which was perhapsAngry Housewives Eating Bon Bons by Lorna Landvik Performed by Ruth Ann Phimister, Christine Mcmurdo Wallis, Christina Moore, Kate Forbes and James Jenner