The Providence Journal / Bill Murphy

The Accident Man, by Tom Cain, read by John Lee. Unabridged, 12½ hours. Penguin Audio, $39.95.

The recent inquest into the death of Britain’s Princess Diana and her lover, department-store heir Dodi al-Fayed, has revived the question of just what happened that summer night in 1997 when their car crashed in a Paris tunnel.

The inquest jury blamed the couple’s driver, who was drunk, and the paparazzi who chased their car. Dodi’s father, Mohammed al-Fayed, blamed Prince Philip, who he said ordered the pair murdered to stop her from marrying a Muslim and having his baby.

In this novel, released last year in print form, the pseudonymous Cain — widely reported to be British investigative reporter David Thomas — posits a different theory.

Cain introduces us to Samuel Carver, a former member of a British special-forces unit who now will arrange the deaths of those who deserve it, for a handsome price, and make them look like accidents. Carver believes he’s getting rid of a high-ranking Pakistani terrorist when he sets up the crash in the Alma tunnel. But he’s been set up himself, part of a series of double-crosses meant to end with the deaths of everyone involved. Soon he’s on the run, along with a beautiful Russian woman, trying to figure out who’s behind the mayhem and how he can emerge from it alive.

In interviews, Cain has sworn that this is fiction, but he does have a knack for plausible plotting, and he’s given Carver enough of an inner life that the anti-hero becomes a surprisingly sympathetic figure. Cain is not a fine writer, and a few times too many, phrases like “hit him in the guts” substitute for more-interesting words. But the action drives forward across Europe, without much pause for reflection on literary style.

Lee does a good variety of British and European accents in making these characters as distinct and human as possible.

The View from Saturday, by E.L. Konigsburg, read by Rick Adamson, L.J. Ganser, Agnes Hermann, Aasif Mandvi, Barbara Rosenblat and Jeff Woodman. Unadbridged, 4¾ hours. Listening Library, $28.

This excellent novel won the Newbery Medal in 1997, and it’s easy to see why it merited one of the most prestigious awards in children’s literature.

Konigsburg — also the author of the Newbery-winning From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler — specializes in fully rounded characters who never do things for the author’s reasons, only for their own. Some of them are children, but all of them are people, in the most basic sense of the word.

Here Konigsburg introduces us to four sixth-graders who make up an unusually successful academic-bowl team at their upstate New York middle school, along with their teacher, Mrs. Olinski. The children, who call themselves “The Souls,” have had experiences that both link them with their teacher and each other, and that help explain their success. And if that sounds like the book might be stuffy or metaphysical, rest assured that it’s anything but. Instead, it’s a lively and emotionally involving tale that also involves quirky senior citizens, backstage shenanigans, dogs, turtles, high tea and incipient romance.

Konigsburg’s story is told by a cast worthy of her fine writing. The book’s front cover simply says it’s “performed by a full cast,” and so I was startled — but pleased — to hear the warm tones of Barbara Rosenblat, one of audio books’ finest readers, taking up part of the story. Her fellow readers are nearly as talented, and the result is a book that gives pleasure on many levels.

T is for Trespass, by Sue Grafton, read by Judy Kaye. Unabridged, 13 hours. Random House Audio, $44.95.

Rosenblat is one of those readers whose name on a book jacket always sparks my interest. So is Judy Kaye, a three-time Tony nominee and one-time Tony winner (for The Phantom of the Opera) who’s read all of Grafton’s alphabetical series of mysteries.

These books feature lonely sleuth Kinsey Millhone. Kinsey’s tough and able, but sentimental around the edges, and she’s got a wide following.

This story revolves around a cranky elderly neighbor who needs in-home health care when his health suddenly declines. Unfortunately for him, the woman who answers the ad is Solana Rojas, a sociopathic nurse’s aide who’s stolen a nurse’s identity, and who has no qualms about exploiting and abusing those who fall into her care. Fortunately for him, Kinsey is keeping an eye on his situation, and she’s a dogged investigator.

Grafton handles the story with her usual deftness, and Kaye does an excellent job of rendering both the quirkily warm Kinsey and the deceptively placid Solana.

Alan Rosenberg is The Journal’s South County regional editor.

arosenbe@projo.com