Friday, May 29, 2015

The Bloodied Ivy by Robert Goldsborough review

After Rex Stout's death, his estate allowed Robert Goldsborough to continue with the Nero Wolfe/Archie Goodwin series.  This is the third that Goldsborough has written.

The feel of the original series is here, and it features a pretty good plot.  I don't think it is quite as good as the best of Stout's Wolfe, but it fits in the series.

Keeping in mind this was written in the 1980s, it does feel a little dated.  But then, so do the other books in the series.

The story begins with Prescott University Professor Walter Cortland asking Wolfe to investigate the death of his friend and collegue, Professor Hale Markham.  He had fallen down a ravine and died, and the police feel it was an accident.  Cortland is sure Markham has been murdered, as he was a famous right-wing conservative on a liberal campus.

As is usual, there is there is the byplay between Goodwin and Wolfe, and at the end of the book Wolfe has determined what had really happened.

The book was a pretty good read, although I thought the portrayal of Cortland was a bit overdone, with his usage of long words when short ones will do, so he didn't quite come across as a real person.

This is the 8th of 48 books I've committed to reading for my Mount TBR challenge.


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