Murder in E Minor : A Nero Wolfe Mystery

Rating:
Summary: Murder in E Minor
Review: "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.

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Summary: A conductor who strikes the wrong note with the orchestra
Review: If you aren't already familiar with Archie Goodwin and his employer, Nero Wolfe, this is the wrong place to start, even though it's a good book. Start with one of Rex Stout's original stories instead - go on, shoo. In particular, _A Family Affair_, Stout's final Wolfe novel, lays the groundwork for this book. While one *could* read the two books out of order, _Murder in E Minor_ by necessity gives away the ending of its predecessor. I have avoided giving major spoilers for _A Family Affair_ in this review, but the book itself does so in the first chapter.

Goldsborough makes one deliberate departure from Rex Stout's template for a Nero Wolfe mystery: this story is not set in 1986, when it was first published, but in November 1977, only two years after the end of _A Family Affair_. (Archie provides a forward: Wolfe saw this case as a personal matter, inappropriate for publication, and since he signs Archie's paychecks, Archie went along. Wolfe only gave in after being worn down by much badgering.) _Murder in E Minor_ was written originally for Goldsborough's mother, who missed her yearly Nero Wolfe fix, so Goldsborough otherwise has tried as far as possible to match Rex Stout's storytelling.

As those who have read _A Family Affair_ already know, Wolfe and Archie both had a rough time in that case, although the District Attorney reinstated their P.I. licenses shortly after its conclusion. Since then, Wolfe has not merely resisted going back to work - that would be normal - but has 'withdrawn from practice'. The brownstone is operating on a combination of Wolfe's investments and on previously earned fees being paid in installments. (Fritz's morale, of course, is at an all-time low.) Archie has no lever to get Wolfe to take his brain out of deep freeze...until Maria Radovich requests an appointment.

Archie at first thinks that Maria's mention of her uncle's long-ago acquaintance with Wolfe in Montenegro is a put-up job to get in the door, but Archie admires ingenuity and is willing to at least give her a hearing himself. (And Milan Stevens/Milos Stefanovic *is* receiving anonymous death threats, and Lily Rowan's taken Archie to the New York Symphony enough that the music director's name is familiar.) But Maria has a photograph to back up her story - a group photo including Milos, Wolfe, and Marko Vukcic: a memento of Wolfe's freedom-fighting youth.

Archie, of course, plants the photo in Wolfe's incoming mail and awaits developments, which are not slow in coming. :) Milos and Wolfe were once close friends, and although the friendship has withered and they haven't spoken for decades, Wolfe still feels a debt: Milos once saved his life.

In the course of peeling open the case - which naturally flowers into a murder investigation in the fullness of time - the recurring characters are deployed well. Lon Cohen dines at the brownstone, providing background on the symphony - Milos, who was hired as an antidote to a string of weak conductors, hasn't achieved the desired results: the orchestra's more disciplined, but at the cost of great tension and infighting, so the quality of performance has declined. Rowcliff, unfortunately, runs the crime scene - his clash with Archie isn't *the* most memorable, but leads to Cramer's first visit of the story, which *is* memorable. Various members of Archie's regular poker game appear later, when Wolfe takes exception to the homicide squad's choice of suspect. Lily Rowan not only appears - she pitches in.

Rating:
Summary: No bad for a Continuation first attempt
Review: Two years after the sad events in A Family Affair, Wolfe is still "withdrawn from practice." But then the great-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.