Nero Wolfe as Umpire?

Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin tackle the murder of a New York state senator who was shot while attending a ball game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants at the Polo Grounds in Manhattan.

If that sentence doesn't make sense to you, let's start with a bit of semi-ancient history (which I, fortunately or not, am old enough to remember) - a time when there were only 16 major league baseball teams, three of which - the Dodgers, Giants and Yankees - all played in New York. I am told by reliable sources that the Dodgers and Giants continue to play baseball somewhere out west, but I cannot prove it.

At any rate, readers of the Nero Wolfe mysteries will want to know that there is a new book coming out at the end of January, written by Robert Goldsborough, called Murder in the Ball Park. It is a continuation of the series written by Rex Stout featuring the irascible, largely immobile Nero Wolfe, and his assistant, Archie Goodwin, and it appears with the blessing of the Stout estate.

The story deals with the shooting of state senator Orson Milbank in the middle of a ball game, where Archie Goodwin is in attendance. The senator's widow tries to persuade Archie to investigate the murder, and Archie, in turn, must persuade Wolfe to get involved - no easy task.

As readers of this blog probably know, I am an enormous fan of the original series of books and novellas to feature Wolfe, Goodwin and the rest of the 35th Street crew. So how is this continuation?

I must say I have mixed feelings.

I'm not a huge fan of continuations, especially of books featuring characters I know as well as I know Wolfe and Goodwin. I do think Goldsborough's last book, Archie Meets Nero Wolfe, worked very well. It dealt with the meeting of Wolfe and Goodwin; as a result, I was more willing to suspend my disbelief in any details that might seem jarring to a regular reader of the series - the inevitable passages where a reader might say, "That doesn't sound like the Nero Wolfe (or Archie) that I know." It worked because it was set at the time when the two first met so the characters really hadn't formed their familiar speech and behavior patterns.

Murder in the Ball Park, on the other hand, doesn't have that grace. And, yes, I did find myself frowning occasionally and saying "That doesn't sound..." or "Wolfe (or Goodwin) would never do/say that."

But if I were a new reader? If I didn't come with my own preconceptions of the characters? Well, in that case, I'd probably enjoy Murder in the Ball Park a lot more - perhaps enough to want to go back and read some of the Rex Stout originals. And I think that's a good thing. The story is clever and Goldsborough certainly makes it clear that he respects the characters and Stout's legacy. With that in mind, I'd say, yes, you're likely to enjoy Murder in the Ball Park. 

Comments

[Margot Kinberg]

Les - I have to say I agree with you about the Robert Goldsborough books. I haven't read this particular one, but the Goldsborough I have read is not Stout. I enjoyed the plot and so on well enough; I did. But it didn't have that special something that set Rex Stout's work apart.

[Les Blatt]

Whoops. I should have noted in the post that Murder in the Ball Park is being published (January 28th) by MysteriousPress.com and OpenRoad Media, which provided me with an advance review copy.

[Les Blatt]

I pretty much feel that way about all continuations, Margot. It's one of the reasons why I'm not at all sure how receptive I am to the forthcoming "new" Hercule Poirot book coming from Sophie Hannah. I do try to keep an open mind on these.