Review: Stop the Presses! by Robert Goldsborough

A Mysterious Review of Stop the Presses! by Robert Goldsborough. A Nero Wolfe Mystery.

Review summary: For Nero Wolfe fans, there is a lot right here. The characters, time and place are spot on. What's missing is a compelling mystery for Wolfe to solve, especially one where the outcome is obvious early on. Recommended for the faithful, if only because, well, it is Nero Wolfe, but not so much for casual readers. (Click here for text of full review.)

Our rating:

Stop the Presses!
Robert Goldsborough
A Nero Wolfe Mystery
Mysterious Press (March 2016)

Publisher synopsis: There are few people Nero Wolfe respects, and Lon Cohen of the New York Gazette is one of them. So when Cohen asks for a favor, the famously brilliant — and notoriously lazy — detective is inclined to listen. According to Cohen, someone wants to kill the Gazette's gossip columnist, Cameron Clay. Death threats are a regular hazard for Clay, who's hurled insults and accusations at every bold-faced name in the five boroughs. But the latest threats have carried a more sinister tone.

The columnist has narrowed his potential killers down to five people: an egomaniacal developer, a disgraced cop, a corrupt councilman, a sleazy lawyer, and his ex-wife. But when Clay turns up dead, the cops deem it a suicide. The bigwigs at the Gazette don't agree, so they retain Wolfe and his indefatigable assistant, Archie Goodwin, to figure out which of the suspects had the mettle to pull the trigger.