Silver Spire

✍ Scribed by Goldsborough, Robert

• Book ID: 109019086
• Publisher: Bantam
• Year: 1992
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 232 KB
• Series: Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe Mysteries 6
• Category: Fiction
• ISBN-13: 9781453269015

✦ Synopsis

When a fellow shamus gets charged with murder, Wolfe comes to his rescue

Staten Island would be forgettable were it not for the gleaming Tabernacle of the Silver Spire, where thousands of congregants come every Sunday to hear the sermons of Barnabas Bay. Millions more tune in on television, giving the good Reverend international fame, and a chance to spread the gospel from New York City’s harbor all the way to South Korea. But threatening notes have been appearing in the collection bag, suggesting that one of the faithful has decided it’s time this good shepherd get the hook.

Believing organized religion is nothing more than a scam, rotund sleuth Nero Wolfe refuses to investigate the threats, instead recommending veteran investigator Fred Durkin for the case. But when Durkin is accused of murdering the Reverend’s assistant, Wolfe fights to clear his name. He may not be a Christian, but he will always help a brother in need.

From Publishers Weekly

The West 35th Street regulars return in Goldsborough's ( Fade to Black ) latest Nero Wolfe/Archie Goodwin escapade, the sixth in his continuation of the late Rex Stout's series. The duo are drawn into a murder in the cathedral when Lloyd Morgan, business manager for televangelist Rev. Barnabas Bay of the Tabernacle of the Silver Spire on Staten Island, asks for help in dealing with the Scripture-quoting hate notes found among the Sunday offerings. Considering Bay a "clerical mountebank," Wolfe passes the case to freelance PI Fred Durkin, who is soon charged with the murder of the church's second-in-command, Royal Meade. Wolfe and Goodwin suspect the actual murderer is another member of the organization's inner Circle of Faith: Lloyd, Bay's loyal wife, the paranoid educational director, a bitter minister, even Bay himself. At a final confrontation, Wolfe unmasks the killer by interpreting additional Bible quotes. Wolfe's chef, Fritz Brenner, NYPD homicide detective Lionel Cramer and fully realized minor characters flesh out this brisk and beguiling page-turner. Mystery Guild alternate.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

“Devotees of the late Rex Stout’s bestsellers will be pleasantly surprised.” — Publishers Weekly

“Mr. Goldsborough has all of the late writer’s stylistic mannerisms down pat.” — The New York Times

“Goldsborough does a masterly job with the Wolfe legacy.” — Booklist