Death of an Art Collector

The Nero Wolfe Mysteries, Book 14

De: Robert Goldsborough

Narrado por: 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

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.

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?

Good but Not As Good….

This book is well written and held my interest for the most part. The only downside is just the overall theme of the story itself. A lot of players as usual, and I didn’t have a clue. The most interesting thing about this book is its inclusion of Frank Lloyd Wright as a character. Because of the subject matter, namely, art, it stood to reason he might be mentioned along with the Guttenheim Museum. But Mr. Goldsborough does not cast him in a good light, in spite of all he supposedly accomplished. I wonder what the author knows about him that resulted in his writing Mr. Wright not only into this story but in a not so favorable way? A read of Mr. Wright’s personal “affairs” would certainly indicate the author’s position was warranted. Side note: A little more “language” in this one more than most Nero Wolfe books which isn’t a plus. Will go on to the next in the series.

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

It was goodIt

It was Good. It really was very goy i loved it’s givme more books just. The way Archie taks is great.

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.