Customer Reviews

Three Strikes You're Dead (A Snap Malek Mysteries)

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1 star:		(1)

 

 

Every now and then you pick up a novel and start to read and know after only one page that the book is going to be a winner. "Strike Three You're Dead" is one of those books. Chicago, 1938: Capone is in prison, the Cubs are in third place, and Steve Malik, Chicago Tribune police reporter, has a handle on his drinking, mostly.

They say location is an important element in any mystery and that is certainly the case with this one. You walk the streets of the nation's second largest city blanketed by the shadow of the Tribune Tower, feel the breeze coming off Lake Michigan, and hear the rumble of the El as you sense the cold tension in the air caused by the remnants of Capone's organization, old time gangsters still at war with the cops and politicians.

Baseball plays a supporting role in this tale. Dizzy Dean and his Cubs teammates pop in and out, frequenting Malik's hangout, Kilkenny's Bar and Grill, as they struggle to capture the National League title and ultimately face the Yanks in the '38 World Series.

There's a smidgen of a romance that goes nowhere, maybe to be rekindled in a sequel, and there are walk-on parts played by the famous and near famous of the times peppered throughout the book. But this is a crime novel. The murder of a leading Republican mayoral candidate is front and center. Steve Malik must solve the crime, and find the true killer, not the suspect the cops have hung it on, before he too is another static buried in the legacy of the era.

Robert Goldsborough is a writer. His diction, prose, and style reflect the many years he spent in professional journalism as a reporter with the Chicago Tribune and other prestigious publications.

If you enjoy well written, intriguing mystery novels order "Three Strikes You're Dead." You won't be disappointed.

1938 World Series. The Depression. Capone. Chicago. Robert Goldsborough fills the novel with a real world. A realistic, gritty, world of cops, crime and angry editors. If he writes his Nero Wolfe novels as well as he writes his own original creations I have more books of his to buy.
Plot, simple. Goodie-goodie two shoe is killed. Everybody blames the Mob. Mob goes to Steve Malek, Tribune police reporter, with the news that they didn't do it. He decides to go with that angle and solve the mystery on just who DID kill the victim. Interesting. Feels like you are in 1938 Chicago which has more to worry about outside of one lone murder - things are happening in the background even while Steve runs about, trying to find clues.
Get it used or new, but pick it up. If you are a fan of Nero Wolfe or just love historical mysteries, get this book.

I might have given this four stars except for that undeserved, in my opinion, one star review by Annie. As others have said this really has that authentic "classic mystery" flavor. I don't think this is as good as his (R.G) Nero Wolfe "continuations", which are exceptional, but then that may be just a matter of taste since Snap is Goldsborough's own creation and not a convincing re-creation a Stout character (Remarkably convincing!)

A very entertaing "read" with interesting use of several historical characters. There are occasional gratuitous "cuss" words that seem to jar with the otherwise pleasant "thirtyish" style narrative.

Thanks again Mr. Goldsborough!

Save your money and don't buy this book. It was poorly written and boring.