Pamela Barnes, the amateur sleuth in this first book of a series of cozy mysteries, solves crimes with her knowledge of sound--that is, acoustic technology. I've always been interested in sounds--particularly human vocal sounds--and I'm intrigued by ways that investigators (professionals as well as amateurs) can use sound to identify criminals and solve crimes. In "Sounds of Murder," Pamela finds a recording that is accidentally made during the course of a strangulation--and she uses it to track down a rather clever killer.