Implausible.. But Enjoyable

Robert McCracken fashions a twisty-turny investigation into the murders of graduates of Latimer College at Oxford University. The vocabulary/prose is capable, the description is adequately vivid, and the pacing of the story is reasonable. The suspects are out-of-nowhere, however, and the premise that a pretty obvious murder was ruled an "Accident" and completely ignored by Law Enforcement is hard to swallow.
Likewise unfortunate, the author writes distinctly unlikable characters: His protagonist (Detective Inspector Tara Grogan) is combative, self-absorbed, and shallow. Her supposedly sympathetic college friends are interfering and overly opinionated. Even bereft witness/suspect 'Callum' - understandably completely fallen apart after the death of his wife & child - is annoyingly near-catatonic (despite being described as a genius bench scientist). The guy is hard to believe. I couldn't get invested in *any* of the dramatis personae.

Henrietta Meire is undeniably professional: reading with outstanding diction and a comfortable cadence & timbre - but her voice-acting betrays subpar male character interpretations and over-the-top performances of emotional dialogue. Altogether, Tantor Audio did well to cast Meire on this project.. but could have gotten equally effective results with a different narrator. This is a capable - yet unspectacular - presentation.

In toto, 'An Early Grave' is entertaining and worth your time if you can get it as a 'Plus' selection. Should Audible ask for a Credit, however, you should spend it elsewhere (unless you are dead-set enamored with McCracken's chief character).

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