If Death Ever Slept | PI July

[00:00:00]The wealthy businessman, Otis Jarelle, contacts the shut-in gourmand, orchid enthusiast, [music] and private investigator, Nero Wolfe, wanting his help in proving that his daughter-in-law, Susan, is stealing his investment [music] leads and possibly cheating on his son.

[00:00:23]Although Wolfe is barely interested in the case, he agrees to let his assistant, Archie Goodwin, pose as Jarelle's new live-in secretary until evidence can be gathered to corroborate or disprove the assertions against [music] Susan.

[00:00:40]Archie meets the rest of the Jarelle family and some hangers-on and begins building his impressions of everyone while Otis makes overtures, saying he can pay huge sums of money directly to Archie if he'll manufacture evidence leading to his son divorcing and throwing [music] out Susan.

[00:01:02]While Archie doesn't take the bait, it is also revealed that a handgun is stolen from the private office of Otis and shortly thereafter, his previous live-in secretary is found murdered by a weapon [music] of the exact same caliber.

[00:01:18]With police crowding the investigation and their reputations on the line, Wolfe and Archie have to extend themselves to solve the case or risk being drawn even deeper into [music] the lethal eccentricities of the Jarelle family.

[00:01:37]PI July is a reading event created by Jim at Mystery and Mayhem to celebrate all the fiction centered on private investigators.

[00:01:49]In the description, [music] I'll have links to his channel and to the channel of all the other BookTube operatives with him, whether they're licensed or not.

[00:01:59]You can take a moment to like, comment, share, and subscribe to the channel of another YouTube creator you enjoy.

[00:02:07]Let the Gumshoes doing PI July, or the algorithm will throw you into the Hudson River.

[00:02:15]If Death Ever Slept exists more on the cozy end of the spectrum of mystery fiction.

[00:02:23]My tastes are much more to the hard-boiled end of said spectrum.

[00:02:26][music] Nonetheless, I had a fun enough time with this Nero Wolfe novel.

[00:02:33]I suspect that for most fans of the series, the enjoyment of these stories comes from spending time with Wolfe and Archie [music] as their personalities, mannerisms, and banter seem more like an obvious draw than the particulars of the plot.

[00:02:50]They are both interesting characters, and you can get a lot of mileage out of them without a complicated central plot line.

[00:02:59]Ultimately, [music] I appreciate the novel and its characters more than I actually enjoy it.

[00:03:08]The book is solidly done, so if you want a PI novel that simply works on all levels, this will do it.

[00:03:17]And I really like the title.

[00:03:20]As I said before, however, >> [music] >> my personal tastes run more toward the darkness and danger of hard-boiled and noir mysteries [music] like those by Raymond Chandler and Ross Macdonald, which I'm sure you've noticed if you watch some of my previous mystery reviews.

[00:03:39]There really isn't much wrong with If Death Ever Slept. It just isn't to my tastes, and that's okay, too.

[00:03:50]If I have one complaint, it's that Wolfe is pretty inactive in this story, even for someone who essentially refuses to leave [music] his brownstone.

[00:04:02]I expect Archie to do most of the legwork, but a lot of the investigation and evidence gathering >> [music] >> is also done by other private investigators and the police.

[00:04:15]I think this novel and much of the Nero Wolfe series will [music] appeal to fans of Sherlock Holmes, who is probably his closest literary analog.

[00:04:27]I also think fans of Nick and Nora Charles from Dashiell Hammett's [music] The Thin Man will also enjoy time with Wolfe and Archie for similar reasons.

[00:04:39]But what do you, the audience at home, think?

[00:04:43]Are you familiar with If Death Ever Slept or the rest [music] of the Nero Wolfe series?

[00:04:50]How do you think this story compares to others by Rex Stout?

[00:04:55]What are you reading for PI July?

[00:04:59]Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments. [music] Thank you for taking the time to listen to my peculiar notions.

[00:05:09]If you appreciate this channel and want to support it, you know what to do.

[00:05:15]>> [music] >> Until next time, read some good private eye fiction.

[00:05:20]Live and [music] be well.