This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Remains Series: Galaxy’s Edge #14 Author: Jason Anspach & Nick Cole Rating: 2.5 of 5 Stars Genre: Military SF Pages: 281 Words: 123K
This was exactly the same as the previous book, in that we get one chapter with some of the space opera element and the rest of the book is a Legionnaires military science fiction novel. Not at all what I signed up for. So I’m downgrading my rating because I felt very generous last time. I’m not feeling that way at all any more.
Anspach and Cole made an unspoken compact with the readers in the first series. This was Star War’esque in both it’s tone and story line. That compact has been broken, most thoroughly now, by them in this second series. I wish they had never started this and once I’m done with this series, I’ll be done with them as authors.
Once again, Indie authors disappoint me and let me down. How typical.
★★✬☆☆
From the Publisher
The Legion has landed…
The Republic world of Kima has fallen with shocking speed to the renewed forces of the Mid-Core Rebellion, and General Chhun must lead the rebuilt and enhanced 131st Legion-along with Marines, Dark Ops, Navy, and Kimbrin Resistance-onto the planet to violently check their assault.
But timing is of the essence, and Chhun can’t do it alone. Bear, working undercover, unearths the treachery of a resurgent Nether Ops still working their dark influence from the shadows. Masters has his hands full just staying alive while he evades deadly pursuers. And Keel finds himself swept up in intrigues that may make the planetary takeover of Kima all but insignificant.
The battle is fierce and hard, but VICTORY is always within reach so long as the Legion-remade to its initial purpose-remains to fight.
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Life, the Universe and Everything Series: THGttG #3 Author: Douglas Adams Rating: 2 of 5 Stars Genre: SF Pages: 126 Words: 53K
This was stupid. It wasn’t funny, it wasn’t amusing, it didn’t tell a story. It was simply stupid and Adams completely wasted my time with this utter piece of drivel.
Don’t be like the Chartreuse Emperor and read this book, or you’ll go insane. That’s a DoUbLe BoBa FaCt PrOmIsE!
★★☆☆☆
From Wikipedia
Synopsis – Click to Open
After being stranded on pre-historic Earth after the events in The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, Arthur Dent is met by his old friend Ford Prefect, who drags him into a space-time eddy, represented by an anachronistic sofa. The two end up at Lord’s Cricket Ground two days before the Earth’s destruction by the Vogons. Shortly after they arrive, a squad of robots land in a spaceship in the middle of the field and attack the assembled crowd, stealing the Ashes before departing. Another spaceship arrives, the Starship Bistromath, helmed by Slartibartfast, who discovers he is too late to stop the theft and requests Arthur and Ford’s help.
As they travel to their next destination, Slartibartfast explains that he is trying to stop the robots from collecting all the components of the Wikkit Gate. Long ago, the peaceful population of the planet of Krikkit, unaware of the rest of the Universe due to a dust cloud that surrounded its solar system, were surprised to find the wreckage of a spacecraft on their planet. Reverse engineering the vessel, they explored past the dust cloud and saw the rest of the Universe, immediately taking a disliking to it and deciding that it must be destroyed. They built a fleet of ships and robots to attack the rest of the Universe in a brutal onslaught known as the Krikkit Wars, but were eventually defeated. Realizing that the Krikkit population would not be satisfied alongside the existence of the rest of the Universe, it was decided to lock the planet in a Slo-Time envelope, to be opened only after the Universe has ended so that the planet can exist alone. The Wikkit Gate, shaped exactly like a wicket used in the sport of cricket, is needed to unlock the envelope. However, one ship carrying a troop of robots from Krikkit avoided being sealed in, and these robots began to search for the pieces of the Gate after they were dispersed about space and time.
Slartibartfast, Arthur, and Ford transport to an airborne party that has lasted numerous generations where another Gate component, the Silver Bail, is to be found, but Arthur finds himself separated from the others and ends up at a Cathedral of Hate created by a being called Agrajag. Agrajag reveals that he has been reincarnated countless times in a wide variety of forms, only to be killed by Arthur in each life; he now plans to kill Arthur in revenge. However, upon learning that Arthur has yet to cause his death at a place called Stavromula Beta, Agrajag realizes that he has pulled Arthur out of his relative timeline too soon and that killing him now would cause a paradox, but attempts to kill Arthur anyway. In his insanity, Agrajag brings the Cathedral down around them. Arthur manages to escape unharmed, partially due to learning how to fly after falling and missing the ground while catching sight of a bag he had lost at a Greek airport years before. After collecting the bag, Arthur inadvertently comes across the flying party and rejoins his friends. Inside, they find Trillian, but they are too late to stop the robots from stealing the Silver Bail. Arthur, Ford, Trillian, and Slartibartfast return to the Bistromath and try to head off the robots activating the Wikkit Gate.
Meanwhile, the Krikkit robots steal the last two pieces, the Infinite Improbability Drive core from the spaceship Heart of Gold and a peg leg used by Marvin the Paranoid Android. They capture both Marvin and Zaphod Beeblebrox in the process.
The Bistromath arrives too late to stop the robots from opening the Gate, so its occupants transport to the planet to attempt to negotiate with the Krikkit people. To their surprise, they find that the people seem to lack any desire to continue the war, and are directed to the robot and spaceship facilities in orbit about the planet. With help from Zaphod and Marvin, the group is able to infiltrate the facilities. Trillian deduces that the Krikkiters have been manipulated, reasoning that the people of Krikkit could not simultaneously be smart enough to develop their ultimate weapon—a bomb that could destroy every star in the universe—and also stupid enough not to realize that this weapon would also destroy them.
The characters discover that the true force behind the war has been the supercomputer Hactar. Previously built to serve a war-faring species, Hactar was tasked to build a supernova-bomb that would link the cores of every sun in the Universe together at the press of a button and cause the end of the Universe. Hactar purposely created a dud version of the weapon instead, causing his creators to pulverize him into dust, which thus became the dust cloud around Krikkit. However, Hactar was still able to function, though at a much weaker level. Trillian and Arthur speak to Hactar in a virtual space that he creates for them to explain himself. Hactar reveals that he spent eons creating the spaceship that crashed on Krikkit to inspire their xenophobia and incite them to go to war, also influencing their thoughts. However, when the Slo-Time envelope was activated, his control on the population waned. As he struggles to remain functional, Hactar apologizes to Trillian and Arthur for his actions before they leave for their ship.
With the war over, the group collects the core of the Heart of Gold and the Ashes, the only two components of the Wikkit Gate not destroyed by the robots, and returns Zaphod and Marvin to the Heart of Gold. Returning to Lord’s Cricket Ground only moments after the robots’ attack, Arthur attempts to return the Ashes, but is suddenly inspired to bowl one shot at a wicket that is being defended using a cricket ball in his bag. However, during his run-up, Arthur suddenly realizes that the ball was created and placed in his bag by Hactar and is actually the working version of the cosmic-supernova-bomb, and that the defender of the wicket is one of the Krikkit robots, ready to detonate the bomb once thrown. Arthur trips, misses the ground, and flies over the pitch, allowing him to throw the bomb safely aside and behead the robot with its own bat.
Afterward, the group are taking Arthur to a ‘quiet and idyllic planet’ when they come across a half-mad journalist. Some time earlier, he had been reporting on a court case in which a witness named Prak was inadvertently given an overdose of a truth drug. Prak began to tell all truth, horrifying the involved parties so badly that they abandoned the courtroom and sealed it up with him inside. The group find him still there, hoping to learn from him the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything. They are disappointed to find that Prak has told all the truth in existence, but has forgotten it and kept no record. The only information he can provide is that the Ultimate Question and its answer can never both be known about in the same universe. He then attempts to tell Arthur where God’s last message to His creation is, though he dies seemingly before Arthur is able to memorize the location.
Arthur ultimately settles on Krikkit, where he becomes a more skillful flier and learns bird language. He is briefly interrupted by the arrival of an immortal alien who has made it his goal to insult every living creature in the universe, but the alien realizes that he has already done so with Arthur on prehistoric Earth.
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Another wonderful adventure. Oh, I absolutely ADORE Emily Pollifax. She is the kind of person I wish I could meet more of in real life. She doesn’t ignore the horrible situation that she finds herself in in this story (chased by damned commies, governmental agencies of other countries and a rogue double agent) but through it all, she perseveres. If I had been in her situation, I would have crumbled into a smear of ash and blown away into the winds.
Another thing I appreciate about these stories, at least so far, is that nothing feels outlandish. I don’t feel like Gilman pulls authorial fiat just to increase the drama. Her story telling is real and organic and I could totally see things like this happening. Things go wrong in situations and when you’re dealing with spies, counter-spies and double agents, things going wrong is a very bad thing. It just felt “real”. Doesn’t mean it is, but as a casual reader, I was never taken out of the story. Mrs Pollifax doesn’t jump down a 10 story building, shoot 50 badguys and then flap her magical wings and fly to the moon. She puts her head down, she hides with gypsies and she simply tries to survive and do her best to get the woman she was supposed to contact out of the country. And she does it! Without whining or complaining. Amazing!!!!!! Authors today could take a page from Gilman’s style, that is for sure.
★★★✬☆
From Wikipedia.org
Synopsis – click to open
For this novel, Mrs. Pollifax is tasked by Mr. Carstairs, her CIA superior, to go to Turkey[2][3] and contact Magda Ferenci-Sabo, a known Russian spy and secret double agent[4] who is defecting to the Free World. Emily Pollifax is to give Magda money and a passport which will enable the former spy to leave Turkey. Although Carstairs gives Mrs. Pollifax only 30 minutes to get ready, the plucky widow is ready for another adventure. She flies to Turkey and sees Magda, but is unable to make personal contact before Magda flees. In pursuing her mission, Mrs. Pollifax embarks on a wild ride, matching wits with a diabolical double agent, traveling with Gypsies,[3][5] and again surviving imprisonment. However, characteristically, she befriends unlikely allies along her way.
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPresss & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: The Ghost Makers Series: The Shadow #16 Authors: Maxwell Grant Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars Genre: Crime Fiction Pages: 120 Words: 37K
A bunch of scam artists pretend to be able to talk to the dead and bilk idiots out of their money. This is only possible if you don’t believe in soul sleep. Which I doubt any of you do. So prepare yourselves to get bilked, because the Amazing Bookstoogio will now do something that no one has ever done before.
I will end this review before it even gets started. Tada!
Now give me your money!
★★★✬☆
From Bookstooge.blog
Fake Mystics from India are fleecing the dumb and gullible nitwits here in the United States. The Shadow can’t stand for that, so he steps in and sends his own gullible nitwit against the fakirs, Detective Cardona. The whole gang is wrapped up and Cardona gets the accolades.
Hero was hoping to gain an alliance with the Spirit of the World Garden, who was so powerful that she had kept the Mad Emperor at bay by her simple refusal to have anything to do with him. An act of utter negation as it were. It was through her power that Alpha Prime had been protected. While Hero sought an alliance, to use the Mountains of Night as a base of operations, Emperor Bookstooge had sought a crack into the World Garden. He had found a thread, a crack through Hero’s flight.
It was all a charade. Hero was no more a threat to the Mad Emperor than you or I would have been. The crack into the World Garden had been sought and with Hero’s unknowing aid, it was now found.
Would this spell the corruption of the World Garden? Would its power be co-opted to slake the Mad Emperor’s thirst for conquest of the stars themselves? Or would this attack upon her power simply make her even stronger, more impervious? Destruction, Stagnation or Growth?
Once again, I must apologize dear reader, for your humble narrator has no idea. Is the future safe, are the Stars themselves about to be conquered? We are all on this adventure of discovery together. Until next month, I bid you adieu.
~the mad laughter of a Mad Emperor rolls across the cosmos~
The other Friday Mrs B and I went over to a childhood friend’s house of mine. He and I had literally grown up together and were best friends until my family moved away when we were tweens. We were baptized together. We went to summer bible camp from 1st grade through 12th grade. We attended vacation bible school. The little redheaded girl I liked was infatuated with him. We attended our freshman year of Bibleschool together. Then we went our separate ways. He ended up in the State Department, becoming a globe trotter for years at a time while I became a land surveyor and stayed within 20 miles of where I had grown up 😀
We would meet and catch up over the years. We really caught up at his sister’s wedding but our relationship was still “Oh, we knew each other, that’s nice”. Then she succumbed to Cancer in 2017 and during that time leading up to it, we reconnected as solid friends again. Ever since, we have made it a point to keep in touch and when he is in the North East, to visit for a couple of hours and catch each other up on what’s going on in our lives.
So Friday was such a time. He invited us over to his Mom’s house. I have many wonderful memories of playing at their house and it was great for a 10 year old boy to be out of a suburban area and way into the country. There was a rock by the side of their driveway, that probably came up to just past my knees. But to a 10 year old, it was humongous and we called it “Big Rock”. We played with Muscle Men and GI Joes and had adventures like you wouldn’t believe.
When you are 8 years old, Muscle Men were the coolest thing EVAH!
Then there were the two bad memories. The first one is humorous. I was 5 or 6 and was spending the night away from home for the first time. This was a BIG deal and I was so proud of it. Then that night we had a massive thunderstorm and I was so scared that I couldn’t stop crying and I practically made his dad take me home. How a 6 year old did that, I don’t know, but I suspect a LOT of screaming and fear. The second bad memory was of one of his dogs. I had gone over for the weekend and Saturday we had driven to Maine so his dad could scout out potential Christmas tree sellers. We were gone for like 12hours. We get home and us 3 kids (him, his sister and I) all get out at the bottom of the driveway so we can stretch our legs. The parents drove to the house and let the dog out. Now, this dog absolutely loved him. He was the light of the world to that dog. So to be gone 12hrs was pure hell for that dog. He came tearing down that dirt drive, running as fast as he could. Unfortunately, that dog was particularly stupid too. It was going so fast and only had eyes for his master that he didn’t see me until he was 5 feet away from me. In his defense, he tried to stop, but on a dirt driveway, it wasn’t happening. He bowled me over completely and dragged me a couple of feet. I got a massive cut on my upper leg from a rock cutting into me and I still have the scars from it to this day. I’m kind of surprised I didn’t end up in the Emergency Room. But in those days, you didn’t go to those unless you were dying, or dead. It was too expensive for people like us. So those are some of my memories of the house itself.
We had a wonderful time visiting. We had great food (grilled bbq chicken, light and heavy bbq sauced, grilled chicken sausages, grilled vegetables, potato salad, cole slaw, watermelon and cool drinks) that really hit the spot and it just facilitated us talking. Mrs B and he had never met so it was good for them to see the other. While I don’t talk about him a lot, he still influences my life. And obviously, I DO talk a lot about Mrs B 😀
And now he’s gone globetrotting again. Thankfully, we’ve connected via Whatsapp, so our communications should be more frequent than once every 2-5 years.
To close out this maudlin post, just remember, BBQ Sauce makes everything taste like chicken, even racoon 🦝 Hahahahahahaaa.
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: ‘Til Death Series: 87th Precinct Author: Ed McBain Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars Genre: Crime Fiction Pages: 139 Words: 46K
How does an author manage to pack such an exciting and thrilling story into just 139 pages? Magic. That is the only explanation that I can logically come up with for how McBain tells this taut thriller, keeping me on the edge of my seat the entire time and yet not making me feel like I ever missed out on something.
Part of this is that it is not a “normal” situation for the officers of the 87th Precinct. It’s all off duty, at the wedding of the sister of one of the main characters. Somebody wants to kill the groom and it’s up to the off duty officers to figure out who and prevent it. The kicker is, and while this is a spoiler, none of you are ever going to read this so I’m not too worried, there is actually more than one wanna-be killer. I totally did not see that coming.
It is amazing how McBain can turn little circumstances at a wedding into incidents that hold a lot more meaning. And the obsessed ex-boyfriend? Whoo boy, that guy kept getting worse and worse through the story and by the end, I had to wonder how he had avoided doing something before this that landed him in jail. He would be every girl’s nightmare and the kind of guy a big brother would have to squash to make him leave his sister alone. It was sad to see him living in such a delusional state, convinced the bride should be his and that she would be happy with him instead of with her fiance. And he’s not the guy who is trying to shoot the groom either!
See what I mean about McBain packing stuff in? It was fantastic.
★★★✬☆
From the Publisher
Synopsis – Click to Open
The wedding day of Detective Steve Carella’s sister Angela should be the most romantic, special day of her life. But it might turn out to be the worst if her brother can’t figure out which man on the guest list has come to murder the groom.
Carella and the men from the 87th Precinct find themselves on the clock as they desperately hunt amongst the name cards and catered dinners for the would-be assailant. Trouble is, the crowd has numerous people with viable motives: the best man who stands to inherit everything the groom owns, the ex-boyfriend with a homicidal crush, and even an ex-GI with a score to settle. But time is ticking, and if they don’t act fast, Angela will become a bride—and a widow—on the same day.
Another riveting installment of the 87th Precinct series, ‘Til Death is one of bestseller Ed McBain’s finest, an intense, life-and-death nerve-wracker hailed by the Literary Review as “zestful, inventive, and utterly compulsive.”
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: The Pinhoe Egg Series: Chrestomanci #6 Author: Diana Jones Rating: 4 of 5 Stars Genre: Middlegrade Fantasy Pages: 231 Words: 88K
This is the final Chrestomanci novel, as far as I know. I believe there are some collected short stories, but I will be passing on those. Jones’ story telling ability really goes up and down over this series and it mirrors my experience with the rest of her writings. It’s easy to see why she never became a famous “Go on tv and do interviews for years on end” kind of author. She’s decent and when she hits her stride, she really tells a good story. But there is something that keeps that from consistently happening. So I think I’m done with her as an author now. Ok, on to this particular book.
Once again, I found this quite an enjoyable story. Cat is a great main character and I enjoyed watching him and Marianne (a local witch) begin the growing up process and the self-assuredness that goes with that. My only issue is, and this pretty much applies to the whole series, is that not one adult can be trusted by the children. Chrestomanci is completely trustworthy, but the kids simply don’t trust him because he’s an adult. Even Roald Dahl always had one sympathetic and understanding adult in his stories, even if the children ended up taking care of everything. I really don’t like the message that anyone in authority is to be automatically distrusted. That is a terrible thing to tell children.
Because this was short and Jones really packs things in, it felt like a whirlwind, in a good way. If it wasn’t Cat learning about his own magic, it was Marianne chasing down Nutcase the cat who can walk through walls or Chrestomanci getting trapped by the combined magic of the Pinhoe’s and Farleigh’s or Joe (Marianne’s brother) and Roger Chant working on combining magic and mechanical engineering to create a flying machine. It was fun, crazy and enchanting.
Speaking of Nutcase the cat. All of the Chrestomanci books have showcased a cat, usually ones that are psychically linked to one character or another. That isn’t the case here. Nutcase is just a big tom who goes where he wants, when he wants and eats the same way. He’s a great way to get Marianne running all over the place trying to catch him and he definitely had attitude for the whole book.
I mention this because Mallika is running #ReadingtheMeow2024 this week and this book slips right into that, nice as pie. If you happen to like cats, please check out her Introductory Post from this past Sunday and see all the posts people are including. Apparently, people like cats. Who knew?
★★★★☆
From Fandom.com
Synopsis – Click to Open
The plot revolves around Marianne Pinhoe and Eric “Cat” Chant.
Marianne’s family are witches who mostly live in Ulverscote, 10 miles from Chrestomanci Castle and do not want Chrestomanci finding out about them and preventing them using magic. The book begins with Gammer Pinhoe, Marianne’s grandmother, having a terrific row with the heads of a rival witch family. Afterwards she is unable to speak coherently and the family believes her mind has gone due to old age, though Marianne believes that Gaffer Farleigh cast a spell on her. The family decides to move Gammer into the home of one of her sons and sell Woods House, the family home.
Meanwhile at Chrestomanci Castle Janet and Julia Chant have persuaded Chrestomanci that they must have a horse, whilst Roger Chant gets a new bicycle. Cat isn’t interested in either of these things until he meets the horse, named Syracuse, and discovers that he has a sort of psychic connection with him. As Cat explores the countryside with his new friend he discovers that the roads are bespelled to send him back to the castle, and meets the terrifying Gaffer Farleigh who warns him off.
When Marianne returns to Woods House to look for Gammer’s cat Nutcase she meets Cat as well as Jason and Irene Yeldham who are looking to buy the house. Cat notices that Marianne is easily put down by her relatives so he tells her that she has strong magic. They search for Nutcase in the attics and find a mysterious object to which Cat is strongly drawn. Marianne agrees to let him keep it. Meanwhile, Marianne’s brother Joe, who has been working as a boot boy in the Castle, has made fast friends with Roger and they are trying to invent a flying machine together.
There is trouble at the Castle when Chrestomanci disappears. No one will listen to Cat when he tries to help so he goes off to find Chrestomanci by himself. On the way he meets a mysterious man with a unicorn in the woods. Chrestomanci has been trapped behind a magical barrier and it takes all of Cat’s strength as well as Chrestomanci’s to get free. There is trouble in Ulverscote as well, and it appears that someone has put an ill-chancing on the Pinhoes. Marianne becomes convinced that the Farleighs have done it, but only because Gammer Pinhoe has been setting terrible spells on them. She tries to tell her family but no one will believe her, and she gets into a fight with some righteously angry Farleigh girls. Then her father finds out that she gave Cat the mysterious object, which was a griffin egg, and is very angry.
Marianne flies to Chrestomanci Castle by broomstick at night to ask for Joe’s help, but finds Cat instead. She tells Cat everything, and asks him to help. She also meets the griffin Klartch who hatched from the egg. Cat promises to find a way to help, but struggles to think of anything. They agree to meet at Woods House the next day. On his way Cat meets Gaffer Farleigh who is very angry about Cat getting through the misdirection spells and threatens to shoot Klartch. Cat stops him, but then Roger and Joe’s flying machine appears in the sky and Gaffer Farleigh shoots at that. Cat turns Gaffer Farleigh into a stone tree and sends him away.
Cat takes Marianne to the mysterious man in the woods, who turns out to be her grandfather, Gaffer Pinhoe, who she had believed was dead. He tells them that there is a barrier keeping all the magical creatures trapped, and Cat and Marianne pull it down together.
The story ends with a battle between the Farleigh and Pinhoe families which is stopped by Chrestomanci, who was injured when Gaffer Farleigh shot at the flying machine. Chrestomanci takes away the Farleigh family magic and makes a deal with the Pinhoes that they can keep their magic if they allow his staff to study dwimmer. Marianne and Joe agree to go to Chrestomanci Castle to be educated and teach Chrestomanci about dwimmer.
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: If Death Ever Slept Series: Nero Wolfe #29 Author: Rex Stout Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars Genre: Mystery Pages: 171 Words: 60K
This was fun even while Wolfe has only a tiny part. Most of it is Archie running around and “detecting” unsupervised. Wolfe ends up catching a murderess but because of her looks and personality he knows she won’t get the electric chair. Too bad.
It’s very hot while I’m writing this review, so that is draining my desire to write. So that’s all she wrote folks!
★★★✬☆
From Wikipedia:
Synopsis – Click to Open
Millionaire Otis Jarrell offers to hire Wolfe to get his daughter-in-law Susan out of his house. He is convinced that she has ruined several of his business deals by leaking confidential information to his competitors, and he suspects her of infidelity toward his son Wyman. Wolfe refuses to get involved in what he sees as a marital disagreement, but accepts a $10,000 retainer from Jarrell to hire Archie as a live-in secretary. Taking the alias “Alan Green,” Archie is to replace the previous secretary, whom Jarrell had fired one week earlier on suspicion of being the source of the leak.
Arriving at the Jarrell penthouse on the following Monday, Archie meets the rest of the family and associates, including Jarrell’s wife Trella; his grown children, Wyman and Lois; Wyman’s wife Susan; Trella’s brother, Roger Foote; and Jarrell’s stenographer, Nora Kent. Over the course of the week, Archie learns from Trella that Jarrell had made a pass at Susan but was rejected; he also encounters James L. Eber, Jarrell’s former secretary, having a private conversation with Susan. Nora explains that he had visited the penthouse in order to retrieve some papers from his desk.
Shortly after Archie sees Eber, Jarrell discovers that someone has sneaked into his library and stolen a .38 revolver from his desk, holding up a rug to foil a security camera at the doorway. Jarrell believes that Susan is responsible for the theft, but Archie reports to Wolfe the next day and is dispatched to investigate Eber’s apartment. There he finds Eber’s body, shot in the head; news of the murder reaches Jarrell the following morning, throwing him into a panic that the police may begin digging into his private affairs. Archie learns from Lon Cohen that the fatal bullet is a .38, and Wolfe has him bring everyone involved to his office that evening. Included in the group is Corey Brigham, a rival of Jarrell who benefited from the information leaks and who had been to dinner at the penthouse when the gun was stolen.
Nora arrives by herself, well ahead of the scheduled meeting. With Archie observing through the office peephole and Orrie Cather posing as him, Wolfe tries to allay Nora’s suspicions that Jarrell hired Archie to investigate the family. During the actual meeting, Wolfe appeals to the group to produce the gun, without success. Over the weekend, Inspector Cramer visits the brownstone demanding to know why Archie is working for Jarrell under an assumed name. Wolfe tells Cramer nothing except that he had not been hired by Eber, but Cramer questions the family and learns about the arrangement. With the pretense dropped, Archie is called in for questioning by the district attorney; not long after he returns to the penthouse, a news report announces that Brigham has been found dead, shot in the chest.
Returning to the brownstone, Archie is soon called in for another round of questioning, during which he learns that Brigham was also killed with a .38. This fact prompts Wolfe to summon the principals to his office again and question them about their movements over a time period covering both murders. He returns Jarrell’s retainer, then calls Cramer to get permission for Archie to copy the statements they have given the police, reassuring him that Wolfe does not currently know the identity of the murderer. Lois tries to persuade Archie to corroborate a claim that she took Jarrell’s gun and threw it in a river in order to prevent anyone from using it, but he quickly realizes that she is not telling the truth.
Once Wolfe has the statements, he sends Archie, Orrie, Saul Panzer, Fred Durkin, Dol Bonner, and Sally Colt to investigate every location visited by the principals. Four days later, a man delivers a small package to the brownstone; it proves to contain a spent .38 bullet, which Wolfe turns over to Cramer for testing. Following a night of repeated attempts by the police to call Wolfe or gain entry, Wolfe learns from Cramer that the bullet came from the same gun that killed both Eber and Brigham. He announces that he is ready to deliver both the weapon and the murderer and has Cramer bring everyone to his office.
The group is joined by Cramer, Sergeant Purley Stebbins, and all five free-lance detectives. Dol hands over the missing gun, which she found in a locker at a women’s health spa and test-fired in order to obtain the bullet that was delivered to Wolfe. The locker belongs to Susan, who tries unsuccessfully to get Wyman to back her claim of being with him at the time the gun was stolen. Based on Jarrell’s testimony at her trial, the prosecution theorizes that she had persuaded Eber to steal information which she then passed on to Brigham. After Eber was fired, he learned of Brigham’s profit on the deal and realized what Susan had done; she killed him to keep him quiet, then did the same to Brigham. She is convicted, but Archie expresses doubts as to whether she will receive the death penalty.
As he pays Wolfe’s fee, Jarrell reiterates his belief that Susan is a “snake,” but Wolfe does not share it.
