Back before the days of what is now called (with some justification) "the sexual revolution," there were names - frequently hurtful names - used to "define" women like Isabel Kerr. There’s “showgirl” for example – but no, Isabel’s sister objects violently to the use of that word; Isabel, she says, was an “actress.” Archie Goodwin, Nero Wolfe’s right-hand man, looks a little closer:
“Okay. An actress leaves the theater, takes a three-hundred-dollar apartment, has no job, eats well, dresses well, has a car, uses thirty-dollar perfumes. Who wouldn’t know?"
But Isabel Kerr was dead - murdered. And – with the police focused on a suspect who is both a friend and sometime colleague of both Archie Goodwin and his boss, Nero Wolfe, and as there seemed to be no other apparent candidates for the role of first murderer, it was clear that Wolfe and Archie were going to have to get involved in the search for the real killer. It's the story told in Death of a Doxy (1966), by Rex Stout. It's the subject of this week's audio review on the Classic Mysteries podcast, and you're welcome to listen to the complete review by clicking here.
Death of a Doxy begins with Archie Goodwin discovering the body of Isabel Kerr in her apartment. Archie has gone there to try to retrieve some items which have enormous blackmail potential. Instead, he finds Isabel Kerr, done in by a handy blunt instrument. Isabel Kerr, in fact, had two lovers unknown to her family and even to most of her friends. One was really top-secret: a very rich man of power and influence who could easily afford to keep Isabel Kerr in her $300 dollar a month apartment. Her other lover on the side, so to speak, was a private detective who worked often for Nero Wolfe. And as the police found that detective’s fingerprints all over everything in Isabel Kerr’s apartment, and knew nothing about that lover on the side, they not too surprisingly arrested him as a material witness in the case, and seemed quite content to wait for conclusive evidence against him to turn up. But Wolfe and Archie knew some of Isabel Kerr’s secrets – enough to convince them of their colleague’s innocence – and they used their knowledge to bait a trap for a killer and blackmailer.
It's a fast-moving story, with some wonderful and memorable characters, and I think you're sure to enjoy it. It appears to be most readily available (and affordable) as an e-book.
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