I'm always slow to start in the new year. Mysteries on tape give a great jump start whether you're ridding the house of holiday clutter, beginning to exercise, or commuting in heavy traffic.

Ridley Person, Middle of Nowhere, read by the author, (Brilliance Audio, unabridged, 7 cassettes, $32.95)

This was my first introduction to Seattle police detective, Lou Boldt, and I'm intrigued enough to hunt down more novels. The book takes place during the middle of a "blue flu" and in this unofficial strike, officers turn against each and the stress mounts as a skeleton force tries to cover the city's needs. Anger increases after a series of burglaries occur and there's a sociopathic killer on the loose. Boldt gives a real sense of the step-by-step methodical plodding it takes to solve a mystery and the sense of discoveries along the way. The author's reading conveys the tensions as Boldt juggles professional and personal crises.

James Patterson, Roses Are Red, read by Keith David and Jason Culp (TimeWarner Audio, $24.98; 3 cassettes, abridged)

It's great to check-in with your favorite sleuths. In his most recent adventure, Alex Cross, African-American Washington detective, is destroyed when his girlfriend Christine refuses to see him any longer as a result because she was kidnapped in the last Cross case . Worse yet, she's borne Alex a son. In addition to these personal troubles, he's facing a ruthless robber, the Mastermind, who lives in an insane asylum. As in past tapes, two readers take different parts. David reads Cross and Culp narrates the Mastermind. Again, this technique and their excellent readings add drama to an already edge-of-your-seat mystery.

Steve Martini, The Attorney, read by Chris Meloni (Simon and Schuster, $25.00; abridged, 4 cassettes)

Madriani is an attorney-sleuth and a single father with an eleven year old daughter. All of these things make him sympathize with a wealthy client whose granddaughter has been abducted by her mother, a woman with a history of drug addiction. Frustration at blocked paths are complicated when Jessica's feminist ally is murdered. Meloni's reading is calm and this is a perfect match for an unflappable hero who adjusts to all surprises and twists.

Phillip Margolin, Wild Justice, read by Margaret Whitton (HarperAudio, $25.95, abridged, 4 cassettes)

This mystery has a little bit of everything-- a grisly psychopathic killer, several likely suspects, sleuthing, suspense, court room intrigue..all of which kept me glued to my cassettes . Amanda Jaffe, the daughter of a top criminal defense attorney, is new to her father's legal practice when she becomes involved in a series of murders involving a killer who has surgical knowledge and applies it to torturing his victims. The plot flies and the moral questions come thick and furious throughout. Whitton's reading skillfully differentiates a large cast of characters with subtle accents and intonations that turn her rendition into a dramatic presentation.

Mary and Carol Higgins Clark, Deck the Halls, read by Carol Higgins Clark (Simon and Schuster, $25.00; unabridged, 4 cassettes)

Two award winning mystery writers, a mother-daughter duo, team up and so do some of their characters. When Reagan Reilly, Carol's sleuth, comes to New York to care for her injured mother, her father is kidnapped. Regan solves the mystery only with the help of amateur detective and lottery-winner, Alvirah Meehan, Mary's character. Skillful plotting and touches of humor give a sense of how much fun these authors had during the work's creation. This holiday-set mystery will be enjoyed year round, and the pre and post discussions by the writers add a special glow.

Caleb Carr, Killing Time, read by the author (Simon and Schuster, unabridged, $39.95; 6 cassettes)

I thoroughly enjoyed this tape, even though it uses my two least-liked literary elements. First, it has a futuristic setting (2023 AD) and second, it's premise driven. It succeeds because Caleb Carr does such an excellent job of "historical" detailing that I believed I was in the future looking back and viewing why the Information Age has been and continues to be the undoing of civilization. Part of the success comes also from the reactions of the book's hero,Dr. Gideon Wolfe, a New York psychiatrist, criminal profiler and historian. He fights everything from his aggressive "smart apartment" vacuum cleaner to the technological rumors and threats that are manipulating mankind. I love the premise, "information is not knowledge", especially the way Carr dramatizes it. As in most of Carr's work there is a mystery; who really killed the president is the foreground mystery, while in the background, listeners wonder how all this will end. The author's reading is a bit flat, but this may have been intentional. At any rate, it's a perfect expression for the dullness that information overload imposes.

E.L. Konigsburg, Silent to the Bone, read by Howard McGillin (Listening Library, 4 cassettes, unabridged, $25.00; ages 10 and up)

Mystery drives Konigsburg's newest book for young adults. At first, I admit, Howard McGillin's reading seemed too quiet, but it wasn't long before I realized this was the perfect vehicle for reading a story about a young boy who is struck dumb on the day that his infant half-sister goes into a coma. The theme of silence threads its way through the story and my second hearing helped me see even more of Konigsburg's genius. With a poetic minimum of words, Konigsburg conveys the complexities of relationship within family, friendship, and self. She captures the confusions and shames of adolescent sexual stirrings. Konigsburg does all these things with grace, tossing them off in the scheme of a fast moving mystery.