(pb; 1939: sixth book in the
forty-six book Nero Wolfe detective series)
From the front page
“THE CASE OF THE BUM STEER
“A foolproof bull
“A foolish young man
“A foolhardy blackmailer
“These were but a few of the
annoyances waiting for the ponderous frame and quicksilver mind of Nero Wolfe
as he ventured upstate to compete in an orchid contest at the Exposition. For a
restauranteur had paid an exorbitant price for a prize bull, intending to roast
him for a giant barbecue. The furor he caused quickly led to a double murder,
and a side case of blackmail for good measure—with the finger of suspicion
pointing straight at Wolfe’s sidekick, Archie Goodwin.”
Review
Caesar is an
especially delightful Wolfe/Goodwin mystery outing, placing Wolfe outside of his cozy
milieu (his brownstone building), with an especially fun, bold, hope-she-sticks-around-in-future-books
love interest for Goodwin (stunningly beautiful and smart bad girl Lily Rowan).
Of course, the sarcastic back-and-forth exchanges between Wolfe and Goodwin are
verbal-spar gem-like here, and the murder set-up (poor Clyde Osgood) and Wolfe’s
solving of it is impressively simple, direct yet similarly clever. At this
point in the series, I’ve come to regard Wolfe and Goodwin as warm-friend-familiar
characters, and this, thus far, is one of my favorite Wolfe books, largely
because of that last feeling.
Followed by Over My Dead Body
(1940).
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