Review : Fade to Black (The Nero Wolfe Mysteries # 5) by Robert Goldsborough

SiriusB Reviews Category / B- Reviews / Book ReviewsClassic MysteryNo Comments

A soda war explodes into murder for Nero Wolfe, “one of the two or three most beloved detectives in fiction” (Publishers Weekly).

For the men of Madison Avenue, the battle between soft-drink giants Cherr-o-key and AmeriCherry seems heaven sent. For years now, the firm of Mills/Lake/Ryman has fought to help Cherr-o-key become the nation’s favorite fizzy cherry soda, but each time they come up with a new slogan, mascot, or jingle, AmeriCherry somehow beats them to it. There’s a mole inside the agency, and only Nero Wolfe can ferret him out. Although he’s as round as a cherry himself, Wolfe has no taste for soft drinks. But the question of industrial espionage is too sweet for him to resist, and so with assistant Archie Goodwin at his side, he sets out to end this vicious corporate feud. Only when the first adman dies does he realize that a marketing war can be just as dangerous as the real thing.

I GOT THE BOOK FROM THE LIBRARY.

Review:

Dear Robert Goldsborough,

I think that Amazon bots probably decided that I have read and reread the original Nero Wolfe series enough times and need the “authorized sequels” to read. I was skeptical because as much as I love Rex Stout’s books (only the Nero Wolfe ones, I have not read his stories featuring other characters at all), I did not think that these series would do well in fanfiction. I know because I tried a couple of fanfiction stories in this universe in the past.

These stories seem as if they would be actual mysteries so I decided to try and three books later I decided to bring this book (random selection) here just to let people know that these exist. Although honestly, I would not recommend these books unless you are someone (like me!) who really loves the originals.

Why? I think these books are well written and good copies – meaning that the writer got the original characters and their manners pretty well, but I did not think that the mystery plots were very strong, so far at least.

Also, while overall I think these are good copies, and while I am able to borrow the books from the library I will continue reading them, I feel that Archie’s humor is not quite there. I mean there is a spark here and there, but this is one of the main reasons why I was reading, because Archie’s narration always made me smile and sometimes even giggle and I feel like I wanted more than the writer provided in these books.

The blurb describes the set up pretty well. The advertising executives from a relatively small agency which is trying to make it big, come to Wolfe and Archie asking Wolfe to figure out who may be leaking their ideas to a competitor. And of course there is a murder along the way.

As I mentioned, I feel that the murder plots by this author are not as strong and I think this book was a good example. I mean when everything was explained I did not see a problem, but I feel as if Wolfe did not really do much investigation before he had his revelation after hearing some facts.

I am not sure when the story takes place. I know this is kind of the point with the originals – Stout’s stories took place from early 1930s to late 1940 – 1950s at least and there are markers of different times, but neither Wolf or Archie ever age and I am perfectly fine with it, I am just saying I would like to be more sure when any of these books take place. I think the second one of the sequels takes place in the late 1950s but the later books may take place in the 1990s. I am not sure.

Grade: B-

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