'Hidden Depths’ by Joyce Holms
Published by ISIS Audio Books.
ISBN 0-7531-1880-7 (7 Cassettes)

£18.99 Read by James Bryce

Tam Buchanan watches in humble amazement as his golf ball slices 273 yards through the air, on the brink of an eagle, could anything in life be sweeter, just a putt- - take your time, Tam. ‘Yoo-hoo’ The ball leapt like a startled gazelle and shot six inches past the pin. Fizz! It seems to Tam that just when he was on the brink of something promising, Fizz always appeared - put paid to his ideas, and deftly substituted something she wanted him to do for her. And this was no different.

Irene Lloyd, a friend of Fizz’s from art school, who has been living and working with her partner Kerr Gilfillan at Abbeyfield owned by Sir Douglas Fergusson, has disappeared, and so has a valuable Rubens painting worth £1.5 million. Despite the evidence Fizz is convinced that Irene is innocent and so drags Tam into proving it. While Fizz is busy using her baby-doll demeanour to ensnare Sir Douglas Fergusson, Tam finds attraction elsewhere on the Abbeyfield estate, until Fizz catches him, that is.

As with previous book in the series the mystery is tantalising and meticulously plotted, keeping you guessing, even though if you look the clues are there, you just have to be clever enough spot them. Of course you have to keep your mind on the detecting element and not be side-tracked by the fascinating chemistry between Fizz and Buchanan which continues to bubble. As always the writing is impeccable and the story just flows. The only problem is I read them too quickly. Sigh!

James Bryce as in all the previous adventures brings exactly the right flavour to Buchanan and a credible job to Fizz. I just suspect he likes Buchanan better. But then Fizz is a rather acquired taste - one, I might add, I have acquired.
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Lizzie Hayes