NERO WOLFE

THE MISSING CHAPTER

by

ROBERT GOLDSBOROUGH

BANTAM BOOKS (1994)

CONDITION:  VERY GOOD or better, with minor shelfwear on jacket.  No markings, except for lots of tiny light tan dots on the sides of the pages, suggesting that this copy might have been a remaindered copy.

This book looks to me like a book club edition, but it does have the ISBN’s listed.

Goldsborough expertly revives the grand Rex Stout tradition with his vivid, exciting portrait of Nero Wolfe. Nero and Archie are plunged into the high-stakes, highly-charged world of publishing when they investigate the death of a well-loved mystery author.

Commentaries on line:

Plenty of twists and turns before Wolfe gets to gather all the suspects together. I’m happy to say that I found it (in Wolfe’s terminology) “satisfactory.”

If you are a long-time reader, as I am, of the Stout books, The Missing Chapter is a worthy addition to the Nero Wolfe canon. If you've come more recently to the Goldsborough books, you may find this book surprising in its deftness, and a welcome entryway to the older Wolfe books.

This was again one of the best of the non-Rex Stout Nero Wolfe books. This one is especially fun since the whole premise was based on an author who was picked to continue writing mystery stories after a more famous author died. It was presumably written with Goldsboroughs own experience in mind. I'm sure he had fans of the origial who were thrilled by the continuation and fans of the original who think the new one an impostor ruining everything they love. 

In this case, an author has been murdered, although the police initially conclude it was death by suicide. It’s a fine read as clues are slowly revealed by the investigated legwork of Archie Goodwin and interpreted by Nero Wolfe. So, sit back and relax while you enjoy reading a mystery plot with several twists and turns before all is revealed by Nero Wolfe.

The main story line is about the death of an author who takes up the writing of a popular mystery series after the original author passes away (similar to Mr. Goldsborough continuing Nero Wolf after the passing of Rex Stout). If you are a fan of Nero Wolf books you will like this one. If you are new to Nero Wolf, I hope you enjoy it. All the series main Characters are in the story: Nero Wolf, Archie, Saul, Felix, Theodore, Lon Cohen, Inspector Cramer, Purle Stebbins, and Lily Rowan, plus the characters involved in this mystery. Follow the clues . . .

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