A Killing on Wall Street: An Investment Mystery [Hardcover]

Derrick Niederman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 15, 2000

PRAISE FOR A Killing on Wall Street
"Derrick Niederman brings special qualities to his novel: He is funny, smart, and imparts to A Killing on Wall Street a wicked, jaundiced eye and an insider's ability to both educate and amuse."
-John Spooner
investment advisor and bestselling author of
Confessions of a Stockbroker
"Derrick Niederman's A Killing on Wall Street is at the same time an absorbing whodunit and a textbook for Investment Finance 101, written with witty dialogue, and not without puns, anagrams, and one or two references that escaped this reader who remembers 1929."
-Charles P. Kindleberger
Ford International Professor of Economics, MIT Emeritus;
author of Manias, Panics and Crashes: A History of Financial Crises
"A Killing on Wall Street grabs you from page one and won't let you go until the final word. Intrigue, insight, and passion combine for a rocketship read. If Derrick Niederman were a stock, I'd be buying."
-Keith Ablow author of Denial and Projection

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A clever plot helps offset the so-so writing of this debut novel by a professional securities analyst, who here combines a primer on investing in the stock market with a whodunit that could only happen in that rarefied world. Cliff Cavanaugh is a day trader and former investment analyst with a taste for solving mysteries. When portfolio manager Kyle Hooperman is shot to death at home, Cliff's old firm, Rutherford and Hayes, hires Cliff to figure out what happened and to see that their reputation remains solid. Cliff's assistant in sleuthing is Tracy deGrandpre, a luscious Broadway star-in-waiting, who earns extra money by playing Archie Goodwin to Cliff's Nero Wolfe. As they pursue a thorny trail of IPOs gone wrong, Cliff explains to Tracy (and hence the reader) some of the basics of investing, like stock splits, options, company valuation and bonds. Cliff even mentions an outdated investment guide, This Is Not Your Father's Stockpicking Book, "by someone named Derrick Niederman." Niederman, who's written a guide titled The Inner Game of Investing, spends a bit too much time telling, instead of showing through action and dialogue. More grievously, he violates a cardinal rule of fair play: his his killer never appears onstage. Some readers may find this highly annoying. (July)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

This unusual hybrid incorporates a primer on investment into a standard whodunit, as a mathematics professor-turned-securities-analyst-turned-YA author introduces Cliff Cavanaugh, securities analyst-turned-daytrader-turned-detective, called in by his former employers at Rutherford & Hayes to solve the murder of portfolio manager Kyle Hooperman. As Cliff, along with his comely assistant, NYU student Tracy deGrandpre, confront suspect after suspect, each interview serves to illustrate a specific investment concept. Tracy's report on Hooperman client Lila Fitzpatrick, a PepsiCo investor before Warren Buffett made his first dime, gives Cliff the chance to explain the effect of multiple stock splits over time. Tracy's chat with Ginny Truesdale, who takes over the lion's share of Hooperman's clients, turns into a lesson on price/earnings ratio. A background check on investor Milton Koenig helps illustrate the difference between full-service and discount brokerages. And so forth. Niederman's portraits are razor-sharp--he describes manager Fred Gletz as so unoriginal that the only way Gletz could have killed Hooperman is if someone else killed him first--but one-dimensional. What emerges instead of a full-fledged mystery is a gallery of snapshots, with just enough information to determine whether the subject can be eliminated from the suspect pool. Minimal background and no chance for the reader to see the characters in action--all you know is what Cliff and Tracy tell you about them--keep the story from ever gathering a full head of steam. Niederman is a very good writer who may be carrying too much baggage from his earlier careers to be an effective storyteller. Here's hoping he travels lighter next time. -- Copyright © 2000 Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 198 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (June 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 047137458X
• ISBN-13: 978-0471374589
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,624,558 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Clever was never better, June 21, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: A Killing on Wall Street: An Investment Mystery (Hardcover)

A Killing on Wall Street is cleverly written and hard to put down. Author Niederman makes investing an easy read by bringing its lessons alive in a murder mystery that abounds with subtlety, wit and -- surprise! Not since Highsmith has a writer pushed so far beyond the conventional limits of the mystery genre to challenge the reader while also entertaining. It's like nothing you've read before.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hilarious, Educational and on the Money, August 22, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: A Killing on Wall Street: An Investment Mystery (Hardcover)

Niederman's book is riveting. In addition to providing an entertaining plot, the author continuously weaves in amusing pop culture references. I finished the book three days ago and I still can't get the Joey Buttafuoco reference out of my head.

"A Killing on Wall Street" also manages to explain, in an entertaining way, the basic workings of public investments and Wall Street. Furthermore, the book provides a cynical but basically correct picture of the real motivations of the analysts, investment bankers, money managers, public company presidents and the other Wall Street characters.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Need I Say More?, January 29, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: A Killing on Wall Street: An Investment Mystery (Hardcover)

One of the poorest excuses for a novel I've ever read. I would've given it a two or three based on the merits of the sound financial background the author possessed, but it was so awful a piece of fiction I couldn't do it.

The dialogue was awful, as was the plot. The characters were shallow and boring, especially his main characters. But worst of all was its conclusion. For example, you learn on the last page of the book that the killer wasn't really a woman, or a man, I forget because I was rushing to the bathroom to gag.

A truly awful book. Don't waste your time or money on this one.

P.S. I just thought of one good thing: at least it was relatively short.