Murder in E Minor [Mass Market Paperback]

Robert Goldsborough (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 1987

Murder in E Minor: A Nero Wolfe Mystery by Goldsborough, Robert

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Devotees of the late Rex Stout's bestsellers will be pleasantly surprised by Goldsborough's first story about Nero Wolfe. Related by the elephantine genius's faithful assistant Archie Goodwin, this mystery starts when Maria Radovich asks him to intercede for her with Wolfe. She's worried over threats against her great-uncle Milan Stevens, controversial new director of the New York Symphony. Since Stevens, ne Mikos Stefanovic, had saved the detective's life years earlier in Montenegro, Wolfe agrees to take the case. Before he can act, however, someone stabs the musician fatally in his apartment. The police arrest Jerry Milner, a violinist with the orchestra and Maria's fiance, but Wolfe demolishes the evidence against him. While his boss remains sedentary, Archie obeys orders to go looking for information about other suspects: the victims's sponsor who regrets his choice of director; musicians whom the maestro had publicly insulted; the glamorous society woman who had been his frequent companion. As always, Wolfe solves the puzzle without moving from the famous brownstone on 37th St.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback
• Publisher: Bantam (February 1, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553261207
• ISBN-13: 978-0553261202
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,108,769 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not bad for a Continuation first attempt, September 2, 2001

By 

Michael Talley "Hitchhiker" (Carrollton, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Murder in E Minor (Paperback)

Two years after the sad events in A Family Affair, Wolfe is still "withdrawn from practice." But then the grand-niece of Milos Stefanovic, one of Wolfe's old guerrilla band from Montenegro, arranges to see Archie Goodwin. She brings news that not only is Stefanovic still alive, but has been conducting the New York Symphony under the name of Milan Stevens for the last two years. And, he has begun receiving death threats. When the inevitable murder finally happens (as you knew it would), once again Wolfe is forced to "go to work" and Archie renews his position as a "man of action".

All the old favorite characters are here, with one exception of course. The story is good as is the style but, since this is a Nero Wolfe continuation story from the Rex Stout books, it also doesn't ring quite true. I think where Mr. Goldsborough falls down is that he hasn't yet learned Mr. Stout's economic usage of words. Some of the catch phrases are almost lifted right out of earlier books while others seem to have been a bit more contrived. They're close, but no cigar.

Still, it's nice to revisit the old brownstone again, and Mr. Goldsborough does manage to capture the essence of what we love most about a Nero Wolfe mystery.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Murder in E Minor, June 11, 2004

By 

Ricky N. "Ricky C. Nelson" (Commerce, GA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Murder in E Minor (Paperback)

"Murder in E Minor" is the first Nero Wolfe novel written by Robert Goldsborough, who continues the famous series created by Rex Stout. The book begins in 1977, two years since Stout's last novel "A Family Affair" was published. Nero Wolfe has not taken a case since then and Archie wonders if he will ever work again. Maria Radovich asks Wolfe's help in finding who is sending her uncle Milan Stevens, the conductor of the New York Symphony, threatening notes. Wolfe agrees to take the case because he knows Milan Stevens as Milos Stefanovic, the man who saved Wolfe's life in Montenegro many years ago. Before Wolfe makes much progress on the case, Milan Stevens is found murdered in his apartment. Gerald Milner, Maria's lover, is charged with murder because he was seen leaving Stevens' apartment the night of the murder. Wolfe believes he is innocent and solves the case. I read that Goldsborough wrote this for his mother who wanted "one more Nero Wolfe" story. I think he does a fantastic job of creating the atmosphere of the brownstone. All the Stout regulars are there such as Inspector Cramer, Fritz, Fred Durkin, and Saul Panzer. "Murder in E Minor" is a very good novel.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Murder in E Minor, June 11, 2001

By 

"byrkit" (Portland, OR United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Murder in E Minor (Mass Market Paperback)

Robert Goldsborough has captured most of the elements necessary to write a good Nero Wolfe book. The dialog between Archie and Nero is not up to Rex Stout's standards, but it's not bad. All the regular characters show up as scheduled, and the plot is pretty good, though a bit contrived in its motive for murder. Certainly a good read for any Wolfe fan who is missing their "favorite fatty."