- Hardcover: 272 pages
- Publisher: St. Martin's Press (Mar 28 1999)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0312198957
- ISBN-13: 978-0312198954
- Product Dimensions: 21.1 x 14.7 x 2.8 cm
- Shipping Weight: 454 g
- Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #747,144 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
When a young singer offers him a fee for his services, Groucho Marx, PI, turns her down. "So far we run our detective agency on a completely altruistic basisAsomewhat in the manner of Robin Hood. If you can envision a middle-aged Yiddish Robin Hood... suppose Rueben Hood would be too obvious a name?" As he did in Groucho Marx, Master Detective, veteran mystery and SF writer Goulart has caught the voice and social conscience of his hero to perfection, even if the mystery plot he's involved him in is a tad shopworn. It's 1938, and the name of the radio show that Groucho is starring in and narrator Frank Denby is writing has been changed to please a new sponsor. A leading plastic surgeon and drug supplier to the Hollywood elite is found shot to death; a faded star named Frances London is arrested for the crime; her daughter, a singer on Groucho's show, asks Groucho and Denby to use their real-life detective skills to clear her name. Some top gangsters are involved, as is the crooked Bay City cop who dogged the duo's heels in their first book. The story may be weak, but Groucho's jokes, some fine period details and guests appearances by everyone from Conrad Nagel to Nathanael West help make this a whole lot of fun.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Kirkus Reviews
His heartless producers have renamed Groucho Marx's radio show, dug him up a new sponsorMullens Pudding, which brags about coming in five flavorful flavorsand stuck him with a horrid supporting actress, Polly Pilgrim, who plays his daughter on the air and his scourge everywhere else. Sadly, Polly's cyanide repartee is swiftly humbled when her actress mother Frances London is picked up for killing her recent beau, Beverly Hills plastic surgeon Dr. Russell Benninger. Will Groucho and his scriptwriter, ex-crime reporter Frank Denby, buck some threatening local mobsters and the equally corrupt Bayside cops and get Frances out of jail? Can a duck walk? In no time at all, Groucho and Frank establish that Benninger was up to his roving eyes in drugs, that he'd run afoul of some pretty tough characters, and that Groucho is perfectly capable of wising off even at gunpoint. (Frank's girlfriend, cartoonist Jane Danner, is just as witty, and Mullens Maiden Victoria St. John's ramblings add a touch of Dada to the proceedings.) As in Groucho Marx, Master Detective (1998), though, the tired, busy plot seems to have come from a bunch of lower-paid writers than the ones who wrote the dialogue, and Goulart's constant habit of splitting up Groucho and his alleged amanuensis seems like a lazy way to get around the problems of first-person narration. Still, it's refreshing to spend another couple of hours in 1938 Hollywood, where the Third Reich is a distant rumble and the most minor characters, from whores to countermen, identify themselves as actors. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
Groucho and Frank are on the case once again,
By Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER) (HALL OF FAME)
This review is from: GROUCHO MARX PRIVATE EYE (Hardcover)
This is Ron Goulart's second mystery featuring Groucho Marx as a celebrity sleuth. I have read the three currently available and this is definitely the weakest of the trio. The Marx Brothers' film career is on hold following "A Day at the Races" and Groucho's radio show has been renamed (to conform with the title of the book). Singing child prodigy Polly Pilgrim comes to Groucho and his faithful sidekick/writer Frank Denby claiming her mother has been framed for the murder of a prominent Beverly Hills plastic surgeon. With Grouch on the case it becomes clear there has been more than one murder and it is just a question of finding out how all the pieces fit together before somebody finally stops missing Groucho with all those bullets flying around in this story. This is not a mystery where you get to figure out the clues along with the sleuth, you just go along with the ride with Groucho. The background of real Hollywood characters from the 1930s is a bit more prominent than Goulart's first effort, and there is more of Groucho's radio show, which is a plus. I also find myself more interested in Frank, especially since he is moving in with Jane (she's a great gal and a fine cartoonist). The running gag of people on the street thinking they recognize Groucho without his moustache is getting a tad old, and we will never know exactly what happened between Groucho and Joan Crawford in that phone booth south of the border, but then these novels are never going to be more than a fun read on the bus or the plane or the beach.
2.0 out of 5 stars
Wears thin,
By
This review is from: GROUCHO MARX PRIVATE EYE (Hardcover)
The first Groucho/detective novel was only so-so, and this second attempt is not as good. It wears a little thin, the mindless wisecracks. The Groucho persona of the Marx Brothers movies was certainly zany, but there was no serious jeopardy implied. It just doesn't work, somehow, in a detective novel, no matter how hard Mr. Goulart tries.
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good but disappointing,
By A Customer
This review is from: GROUCHO MARX PRIVATE EYE (Hardcover)
I anxiously awaited this 2nd book in the Groucho Marx mystery series and only recently found the time to sit down and read it. After 3 or 4 chapters I realized this is not as good as Mr. Goulart's 1st Groucho book-Groucho Marx, Master Detective-every line on every page was golden. This, however, is slow moving and not as well written as the previous book. It's almost as though it was dashed off in a hurry. The editing itself is very poor, I found several typos that made little or no sense. I hope that the 3rd Groucho book brings back that pizazz found in the 1st book. Get it? Got it? Good.
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