Fat Cats and Recipe for Murder

It was the end of the day and I decided to relax with the newest audio drama from ZBS Foundation.

I dimmed the lights, stretched out on my bed and slipped into my headphones. In about 45 minutes, I found myself in that comfortable twilight zone between sleep and wakefulness, thoroughly enjoying the hero's efforts to balance his girl friend, his growing attraction for a famous wet t-shirt model and the uncomfortable feeling that his new employer was a little shady.

When goons crashed through the door, I almost injured myself rolling out of bed in panic. I did manage to jerk a short into my headphones.

This is no book on tape with a narrater reading the text. ZBS assembles a full cast of characters to produce a full-fledged radio play, complete with sound effects so eerily real, they'll astound you.

The secret is in the binaural recording technology used by ZBS. It results in true three-dimensional sound. Listen to these mysteries through headphones and you'll hear the characters moving around you. Close your eyes and you won't be able to distinguish what's happening on the tape from what's happening in real life.

Thus my unfortunate encounter with that opening door sound effect.

ZBS Foundation is known for meticulous attention to detail when producing audio plays. Often, Meatball Fulton and Tim Clark will hit the streets of their chosen locations to record ambient sounds and effects before Fulton begins penning the script.

"Fat Cats" and "Recipe for Murder" are no exceptions. The sounds background sounds bring the Hudson River, Saratoga Springs and Montreal to life as the stories progress.

"Fat Cats" is the most ambitious of the new offerings from ZBS. The two-CD set provides more than two hours of entertainment in a single story.

Millionaire Lucas Trust buys an island in the middle of the Hudson River, builds his dream house, haggles with the contractor to get every detail just right, then selects the paint over the phone.The result, world renowned wet t-shirt model Christy St. Nichol points out, is Johnny Reb Ochre Yellow walls that made her teeth itch. It doesn't help that they're in a room that should be the most relaxing in the house. Thus Willie Wilson finds himself repainting the interior of the Trust mansion just outside of Saratoga Springs, New York, in "Fat Cats," the newest audio drama from ZBS Foundation.

Later when Trust is blown up in his car, Willie draws on years of experience in reading paperback detective novels to solve the case. Of course, Willie has a little help as his fictional hero Short Top Detroit slowly seems to possess him.

Longtime ZBS fans will recognize the town and the hero from ZBS' earlier work, "Saratoga Springs." Smooth-talking demolition expert and former drug dealer White Boy Rick also puts in a comeback appearance. Even Short Top first appeared in "Dreams of Rio," an installment in ZBS's long-running Jack Flanders series.

Don't think this is a reunion album, though. It's not. "Fat Cats" is perfectly capable of standing on its own. Author Meatball Fulton has deftly weaved old and new characters into a totally original and self-contained story.

The other new title from ZBS is "Recipe for Murder." This is also a two-CD set, but instead of a single story, it's composed of four short mysteries. All four stories are set in Montreal, Canada, and feature a student chef as the amateur detective.

The cooking motif flows throughout all four stories as each mystery draws it inspiration from a different type of cooking. Not surprisingly, poison often figures into the plot. One tale centers around chocolate and sweets, another around sushi and yet another around traditional Jewish cooking. The most exotic draws its inspiration from the use of insects in cooking.

The hero is likable, more the guy next door than the daring adventurer. Usually he's drawn into the mysteries more by circumstance than intention. The stories also manage to transcend the mystery genre as the young hero learns a few universal truths about himself at the end of each tale.

Again, the potent mixture of sound and storytelling is masterful. At times, the scent of warm kitchens filled with delicacies really does seem to emanate from the CD player.

You can get more information about ZBS titles by visiting them on the World Wide Web at zbs.org, calling 1-800-662-3345 or by sending a catalog request to:

ZBS Foundation
174 North River Road
Ft. Edward, New York 12828

You can also order the titles from Amazon by selecting the cover art on this page.