1946, the first post-World War II year, finds Tribune police reporter Snap Malek hip deep in a murder case. Someone has stabbed his cousin's British war bride to death in their Bohemian neighborhood home in Pilsen. As the prime suspect, the meek and self-effacing man is jailed, and Malek, convinced of his innocence, begins a dogged hunt for the murderer. Snap's rogue investigation takes him into the shadowy blue-collar saloon world of Pilsen, where he encounters a mélange of characters, including cynical and hard-bitten factory workers, a tragic war widow, and a former professional prizefighter--all "bar friends" of the murdered woman. Despite objections from the police, Malek presses on, incurring the anger of one of the bar's habitués, and fighting for his life in a bare-knuckle slugfest in a Pilsen street. Determined, Malek hires the city's best defense attorney, encounters legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright, and deals with the traumatic emotional distraction of reporting on one of the nation's worst-ever train wrecks that rocked the western Chicago suburb of Naperville. Finally, when Snap turns his attention back to the murder case, he finds multiple surprises and an unexpected and tragic resolution.
A Death in Pilsen (Snap Malek Mysteries)
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Robert Goldsborough does a great job at including both an entertaining story line as well as some great historical facts…very well written and entertaining to read…a unique style for dialoguing in his writing. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is a mystery fan and looking for a good, quick read. --Frotn Street Reviews
About the Author
In his early teens, Robert Goldsborough began reading Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe mysteries. It was during his tenure with the Chicago Tribune that the paper printed the obituary of Rex Stout. On reading it, his mother lamented that "Now there won't be any more Nero Wolfe stories." "There might be one more," Goldsborough mused, and began writing an original Wolfe novel for his mother. As much as he enjoyed writing these books, Goldsborough longed to create his own characters, which he has done in Three Strikes You're Dead, set in the gang-ridden Chicago of the late 1930s and narrated by a Tribune police reporter. Goldsborough, a lifelong Chicagoan who has logged 45 years as a writer and editor with the Tribune and with marketing journal Advertising Age, says it was "Probably inevitable that I would end up using a newspaperman as my protagonist."
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Fun Forties Mystery,
By Cindy Chow (Kaneohe, Hawaii) - See all my reviews
This review is from: A Death in Pilsen (A Snap Malek Mystery Book Three) (Paperback)
After working as a foreign correspondent in London Tribune reporter Snap Malek is back in 1946 Chicago investigating the latest murder of a war bride who just happened to have been married to his cousin. Since Snap grew up with and cared for the introverted young man who had been virtually abandoned by his mother Snap believes that Charlie Malek is incapable of committing murder. To prove his cousin's innocence Snap begins by visiting a local tavern where the London bride earned a reputation for attracting suitors with shady reputations. Aided by an attractive war widow Snap tracks down four men who were lured into the web of Edwina Malek, a beautiful woman who was one of the many women who married in order to gain entry to the States.
A veteran Chicago Tribune reporter and editor as well as the author of seven Nero Wolfe novels, Goldsborough successfully recreates the post-war era in the third entry of this series featuring Snap Malek. In contrast to the grittier noir novels of this era Snap is happily married to his second wife, has a loving relationship with his grown son who hopes to work with Frank Lloyd Wright, and maintains a cordial working arrangement with the police. Never fear, though, Snap still manages to get into his share of bar fights and disagreements with the cops heading the investigation. Still, Snap is a pleasant contrast to the emotionally and often physically tortured detectives of the forties and fifties and A Death in Pilsen is an enjoyable, witty read. My only complaint is that the resolution comes a little too abruptly, although this is remedied by a surprising last-minute twist. This is a fun, fast read that vividly recreates the atmosphere of a bygone era.
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