Death of an Art Collector

The Nero Wolfe Mysteries, Book 14

By: Robert Goldsborough

Narrated by: L. J. Ganser

An art hoarder’s suspicious death paints a nasty picture for Nero Wolfe.

No matter how fabulously he’s being courted, infamously dour “art hog” Arthur Wordell isn’t keen on favoring the new Guggenheim Museum with his extensive collection. Even at the urging of his beloved daughter, Nadia. Then, the night after the museum’s fête, Arthur takes a 20-story plunge from the window of his Times Square office. Nadia thinks it’s no mere coincidence.

Eccentric, yes. Suicidal, no. Private Investigator Nero Wolfe and his assistant, Archie Goodwin, agree. Especially after eyeballing Arthur’s enemies and sycophants, including his ex-wife, a covetous curator, a troika of obsequious advisors, and an outré Greenwich Village artist anxious to see her work out of storage and on the walls of the “Guggie".

For Wolfe, there’s a problem: Arthur didn’t leave a will. Without a beneficiary, not a soul in Arthur’s circle is set to benefit from his death. Nor do they show any customary indication of guilt. If anybody can solve a seemingly unsolvable masterpiece of murder, it’s Wolfe. Unfortunately, this time, New York’s artful investigator is, admittedly, stumped.

©2019 Robert Goldsborough (P)2021 Blackstone Publishing

Book Sequence

I made an effort to listen to these books in order, which is a mistake. I suppose they’re ordered according to the Audible publication! Much earlier in the series, Archie’s mother died but in the book after this, she’s very much alive. Also, earlier on, Archie had a computer instead of a noisy typewriter! Would it be too much to ask, Audible, to number these books in actual chronological order?

Another Nero Wolfe That I Enjoyed

Found the story interesting with Archie, Nero, Lily Rowan, Lon Cohen, Fritz and Inspector Cramer playing their usual roles in the Nero Wolfe defective stories.

Only thing disappointing was Saul Panzer was not in the book.

Interesting and good

Story was very good. Narrator was excellent. Goldsborough is very good but he isn’t Rex the king. Appreciate his good work though.

Narration not the best

I usually enjoy Nero Wolfe books.
For this book I found the narration to be exaggerated and distracting. I thought about retuning this book but stuck with it. It wasn’t my best decision.

weakest story line

Most of this series have excellent plots and clues. This is the exception--I literally went "huh" when the killer was exposed.

Story weak

The performance of this audiobook was fairly good.

The story was very weak with a very weak in the end of all of the Nero Wolfe books written this is probably my least favorite.

Repetitive

The repeated use of the same conversations between characters, such as references to Archie’s vocabulary, are getting old

Narrator gets worse and worse

If I had any self control, I would never get another book in this series -- but the lure of something that might be sort of like a real, Rex Stout, Nero Wolfe mystery is irresistible despite constant disappointment. I guess the plots aren't actually getting worse, although the writing is -- but not to compare with the narration. L. J. Ganser seems to have come to believe that Ohio is in the deep south.