Reader's Guide to Murder: A Sergeant John Bogdanovich Mystery [Hardcover]

H. P. Jeffers (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1996

Sgt. John Bogdanovic of the NYPD must solve a seemingly unrelated series of murders, each of which seems like it is lifted from the plots of some of history's most famous mystery novels.

Editorial Reviews

From Kirkus Reviews

Calling all Agatha Christie fans: Somebody with an impish sense of humor and an encyclopedic knowledge of Christie's corpus is bent on creating ten murders more or less (mostly less) in the image of her stories and novels, and tweaking Chief of Detectives Harvey Goldstein, NYPD (A Grand Night for Murder, 1995), with his knowledge. Fortunately, Goldstein is as well-read in the classics as the killer is; so is his distinguished visitor, retired Chief Inspector Colin Whicher; and even Goldstein's skeptical deputy, Sgt. John Bogdanovic, is putting in his hours at Agatha's shrine. The resulting puzzle, which cheats by ending with still another literary borrowing, may be paradise for Christiephiles, but the lamentable lack of real ingenuity (not to mention the unthinkable virtues of realism and emotional engagement) should warn off the less devoted. -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 210 pages
• Publisher: St Martins Pr; 1st edition (December 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312144008
• ISBN-13: 978-0312144005
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,599,726 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars Immature mystery story, September 3, 2000

By 

Author Bill Peschel "Writers Gone Wild" (Hershey, PA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Reader's Guide to Murder: A Sergeant John Bogdanovich Mystery (Hardcover)

Calling "Reader's Guide to Murder" a classic mystery would be like calling an Edsel a classic car. Technically, you're correct, but classic can also imply that it's timeless and valuable, and that would not accurately this book.

"Reader's" is a classic mystery in that it resembles the immature side of the genre, where the characters are cardboard cutouts mounted on sticks, moved hither and yon in order to solve a series of murders that are puzzling, but, in this case, are not very engaging. The murders are recreations of those found in classic mysteries, complete with taunting notes sent to the department's chief of detectives, Harvey Goldstein. Since Goldstein is accompanies by a visiting British police officer, and both are mystery fans, the murders become springboards for discussions of the genre with Goldstein's assistant (and mystery-free) Sgt. John Bogdanovich.

It is possible to write a contemporary mystery with references to the genre; Peter Lovesey's fine "Bloodhounds" comes to mind. Considering the flood of books coming out every month -- 52 during February according to the Cluelass Internet site -- there seems little reason to pick this one out of the morass.

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars If you love classic who-done-it, you'll love this! Excelent!, January 26, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Reader's Guide to Murder: A Sergeant John Bogdanovich Mystery (Hardcover)

To me this was a well thought, well in-depth mystery based on the most clasical mysteries and their authors. Fictional characters like Holmes and mystery writers like agnatha christie. This novel is a real treat of fans of those novels and myster fans in general. H. Paul Jeffers outdid himself and did justice to the authors his book protrays and their creations. Murder never has been so much fun, and entertaining, with his charm and wit and the side of humour is mixed well with the story line and theme.