Stop the Presses!

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.

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.