Murder at the ABA [Import] [Unbound]

Isaac Asimov (Author)

Product Details

• Unbound
• Publisher: Books on Tape Inc. (1977)
• ISBN-10: 5553681707
• ISBN-13: 978-5553681708
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Fun book but ultimately unsatisfying unless you're a fan of Asimov and Ellison, October 20, 2007

By 

Tim Lieder "Founder of Dybbuk Press" (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Murder at the Aba (Mass Market Paperback)

Actually add a star to my review if you are fan of both writers. This book is not only dedicated to Harlan Ellison but the main character is a rather broad parody of Ellison. Darius Rust is short, angry, sarcastic and funny and if you don't see the parallels to Ellison, you don't read Ellison. Ultimately the enjoyment from this book comes from the background of these two writers - Asimov and Ellison - and their amusing banter. Asimov does such a great job of writing in Ellison's voice that one almost suspects that Ellison pushed him out of the way to add material. More than once I had to make sure that I was reading an Asimov book.

As with most murder mysteries (like The Big Bow Mystery or the Sherlock Holmes series) the enjoyment doesn't come from the mystery but the characters. The mystery in this case is rather pedestrian. Rival to the narrator gets killed. Narrator runs around solving the mystery, however the ultimate denouement is rather obvious given the clues.

So it's an amusing little book and definitely buy if you like either Asimov or Ellison, but don't expect too much.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A forgotten gem, April 10, 2007

By 

Smeddley - See all my reviews

This review is from: Murder at the Aba (Mass Market Paperback)

I love Isaac Asimov, and when I saw this old book at a used book store I couldn't resist! It was interestingly written, with Isaac Asimov not being the narrator - and introducing himself as a character! There are footnotes that will crack you up (the banter between Isaac and the "person" that is the narrator in the book is wonderful) and, best of all, a really great, twisted whodunit. The ending came together beautifully and unexpectedly, all written by a great (fantastic?) writer! I would highly recommend it, as well as his "Black Widower" short stories - if you can find them.

1.0 out of 5 stars Dull, overlong trifle, May 11, 2011

By 

Norman Brenner (Bethesda MD) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Murder at the Aba (Mass Market Paperback)

I have read many books by the esteemed Dr. A, and this is certainly one of the weakest. A none too surprising tour of a book & authors convention with workaday characters presumably based on real people (but who cares). The only lively character is Asimov himself, who is portrayed as lecherous, gluttonous and overbearing, tho still lovable. 90% of the interrogation by the amateur sleuth is dull and irrelevant and serves only as parsley to cover up the (miniscule) actual clues. But even here, the clues are introduced as clumsily as in his Lucky Starr on Mars, where out of nowhere a character flashes what turns out to be the murder weapon. Asimov wrote much better mysteries in ^A Whiff of Death^ and especially ^The Caves of Steel^, not to mention some of his superlative science fiction. Skip this one.