Black Mask Stories. Vol. 4

This fourth installment of an eventual ten-volume series is a solid follow-up to the initial releases. Along with Walter C. Brown's title story, this outing includes "Bracelets" by Katherine Brocklebank, the series' only female author, and Thomas Walsh's "Diamonds Mean Death." Raoul Whitfield's "Murder in the Ring" and Merle Constiner's "Let the Dead Alone" are the program's standouts. Tackling professional boxing and the crooked owners and promoters interested only in money, "Murder in the Ring" is as gritty a story as you'll ever hear. Narrator Jeff Gurner reads in a perfect clenched-teeth, take-no-crap voice that's nearly lethal. The story follows trainer Gus Monkly, whose big-and-dumb-as-a-slab-of-meat fighter has a title shot. Gus's old gangster pals try to chisel in on the action, but he won't have it. "Dead Alone" finds Atlanta-based investigator Luther McGavick heading to the sticks to unravel a murder with roots 20-years' deep. Narrator Oliver Wyman's reading is as laid-back as a lazy Southern afternoon.