Murder in E-Minor by Robert Goldsborough

Murder in E-Minor by Robert Goldsborough

I’ve been reading (and in some cases rereading) the Nero Wolfe series by Rex Stout and decided to try one of Robert Goldsborough’s continuations of the series. I started with his first book, Murder in E-Minor. It’s well written and almost feels like Stout wrote it. Goldsborough’s mastery of the characters is absolute and I got all the enjoyment out of this book that I get from a genuine Rex Stout Nero Wolfe story. At the start of the story, Wolfe’s been in “retirement” for two years due to events in the last of Stout’s full novels (more on that later) and a case has finally arisen that Archie Goodwin is desperately hoping can pull Wolfe back into the detective business. It’s a good mystery and lets Wolfe do his thing, although I would suggest that perhaps the true “joy” of the book is getting the cast back together, letting Cramer yell at Wolfe, seeing Saul Panzer make his contributions, getting Archie and Fritz back into their respective grooves.

 

My complaint may not be a fair one. I have not yet read the last of Stout’s Nero Wolfe books, but, thanks to this novel I now know who the killer is and how shocking that was for Wolfe and Archie. I really regret that. I feel like I’ve had that book spoiled for me, although I think that it was not unreasonable for Goldsborough to expect that those choosing to read his new series would be familiar with Stout’s old one. So, unfortunate, but not something I can in good conscious hold against Goldsborough.