WWW.WEDNESDAY

WWW. WEDNESDAY asks three questions to prompt you to speak bookishly. To participate, and to see how other book lovers responded, click here. 

PS I no longer participate in WWW.WEDNESDAY via that link because her blog won't accept Blogger comments. I mention this only to save you the frustration I experienced trying to link up.

1. What are you currently reading? Laura by Vera Caspary. It's a miserably hot summer day. Most fashionable New Yorkers have skipped town for the weekend, escaping to the beach or the country. Yet it seems one of the city's popular women changed her mind at the last minute and didn't go to Connecticut, after all. That change in plans was deadly because Laura Hunt's maid unlocked the front door to discover a corpse was found just inside her front door, the face viciously blown off by buckshot.

In order to find who killed Laura Hunt, Detective Mark McPherson spends time with those closest to her: fiance Shelby Carpenter, mentor and confidante Waldo Lydecker and Laura's elegant aunt, Susan Treadwell. McPherson also goes through her diary, appointment calendar and bank books. He finds the victim to be so much more than the frivolous party girl he initially thought and becomes obsessed with finding her killer.

I've read this book before and seen the movie Laura more times than I can count. Yet I'm still enjoying this immensely. The writing transports me back to the 1940s and the plot delivers some most satisfying twists.

 

2. What did you recently finish reading?  Murder Stage Left by Robert Goldsborough. A successful Broadway producer can't shake a sense of foreboding about his latest hit. He's convinced something backstage is very wrong and if he doesn't put an end to the backbiting and sniping, the show will close early and cost him millions. The producer consults genius detective Nero Wolfe to investigate the backstage shenanigans of his cast in hopes of solving the problem before it destroys his play. 

 

At first Wolfe doesn't want to do it. After all, no crime is involved. But he is convinced by the promise of something dearer to him than money -- in exchange for this quick, seemingly uncomplicated job he'll get a rare orchid to add to his already impressive plant room. So he takes the case against his better judgement and, much to his chagrin, people start dying.

I always enjoy Nero Wolfe mysteries. This one is no exception. It's set in 1962 -- important to note because one major plot point could have been resolved with a quick Google search. Oh, wait! I forgot! 

I was sure I had it figured out at about the halfway point and was annoyed with Goldsborough (who has taken over the series from its originator, the late Rex Stout) for being so sloppy. Just call me Wrongy McWrongerson. I love to be fooled and once again, Nero Wolfe bested me.

3. What will you read next? Mary Lincoln: Biography of Marriage by Ruth Painter Randall.