The House of Green Turf

Maggie Tressider is a world-famous singer haunted by a conviction she cannot explain: somewhere in her past, she was responsible for a death. Her psychiatrist's suggestion does not suit her; instead, she hires private investigator Francis Killian to find her an actual answer. His investigation takes him from England to Austria, where the trails of the past and present converge in a mountain setting that proves as dangerous as any city underworld.

Simon Prebble narrates the Felse Investigations series with the atmospheric authority that Ellis Peters' plots require, giving the European settings their proper texture and the ensemble of investigators the kind of warm familiarity that comes from spending many hours in their company. His performance of the Austrian locations in the final act demonstrates his ability to render setting as atmosphere, making the mountains feel both beautiful and genuinely threatening. The series' gentler pace rewards Prebble's measured delivery.