Starred review from January 4, 2016
Goldsborough’s outstanding 11th Nero Wolfe pastiche provides a sedate contrast to the previous volume, 2015’s Archie in the Crosshairs, which opened with a bang, as someone shot at Archie Goodwin, Wolfe’s leg man, on his way home. Lon Cohen of the New York Gazette asks for Wolfe’s help after his paper’s most-read and most-notorious writer, Cameron Clay, receives death threats. Since Clay’s column routinely ruffles feathers, that’s not an unusual occurrence, but the writer views the current threats as more serious. Wolfe agrees to meet with Clay and gets a list of the five people most likely to pose a danger to him, including a real estate magnate and Clay’s diva ex-wife. But after the columnist rejects protection, he’s found dead of a gunshot wound, and the Gazette’s publisher asks Wolfe to challenge the police’s verdict of suicide. Offering one of his most surprising solutions, Goldsborough again demonstrates an impressive ability to emulate Rex Stout’s narrative voice. Agent: Erik Simon, Martha Kaplan Agency.
February 15, 2016
The New York Gazette's popular columnist Cameron Clay is getting anonymous death threats. Fortunately, Lon Cohen of the Gazette is one of the very few people legendary private investigator Nero Wolfe respects. As a favor to Cohen, Wolfe agrees to see Clay, even though no violence has occurred. The irascible Clay, who has scores of enemies as a result of both legitimate investigative journalism and mean-spirited innuendo, supplies Wolfe with the names of five suspects. Shortly thereafter, Clay is found dead. The police say suicide, but the Gazette doesn't buy it and engages Wolfe to investigate. Archie Goodwin, Wolfe's indefatigable assistant, arranges individual meetings with the five suspects, who range from a Trump-like developer to a celebrated opera singer who happens to be Clay's ex-wife. This is the eleventh Wolfe mystery written by Goldsborough. He scrupulously re-creates all the details of the classic Rex Stout series: Wolfe's epicureanism, orchids, beer, and intractable routine, as well as Archie's bemused narration. Add in consistently clever plots, and Goldsborough shows again why he was the perfect man to continue the Nero Wolfe legend.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)
October 31, 2016
The latest of Goldsborough’s add-ons to the late Rex Stout’s chronicles of gigantic genius crime-solver Nero Wolfe finds the plus-sized gourmet investigating the death of Cameron Clay, the New York Gazette’s ultrapopular but reviled gossipist. Wolfe sends his assistant, Archie Goodwin, to woo each of the five main suspects into meetings at his brownstone. And the deductive magic begins. Reader Berkrot provides Wolfe with a properly deep, fleshy voice, impatient within a razor’s edge of rudeness. The detective’s friendly enemy, NYPD Inspector Cramer, who believes Wolfe’s probing is an attack on the police investigation, is pulsating with indignation and belligerence, and maybe a hint of concern. The five suspects include a sexy, flirtatious ex-wife, a Southern-accented silver-tongued politician, and a growly, low-voiced disgraced cop, who sounds as if he’s speaking through clenched teeth. All of Berkrot’s vocal matchups work well, with the exception of the most important—the book’s narrator, Archie Goodwin, who’s intelligent and clever, but he’s also tough. Here, his affected British delivery might be more suitable to a gentleman detective like Philo Vance. A MysteriousPress.com paperback.