cover image Elementary My Dear Grouc

Elementary My Dear Grouc

Ron Goulart. Minotaur Books, $23.95 (272pp) ISBN 978-0-312-20892-9

Puns abound as Goulart teams garrulous Groucho with the comedian's writing partner, Frank Denby, for another Hollywood caper (Groucho Marx, Private Eye, etc.). When the two go to the set of a Sherlock Holmes movie, they find German director Felix Denker dead in the detective's armchair on the set of 221b Baker Street. Having already solved a number of murders, Groucho and Frank again decide to play detectives, especially since Miles Ravenshaw, portraying Holmes in the Mammoth Studios production, has issued a publicity challenge declaring he can nab the killer before they do. The duo discover that Denker fled his native country in 1934 with his wife, a former professor of history now working in Mammoth's historical research department. She admits that their marriage wasn't ideal: she and her husband had separated because Felix had had a series of affairs, the last of which ended a few days before his death, when his lover accidentally drove off a cliff. When Groucho and Frank visit Denker's trysting spot, they find Nazi tomes, odd keepsakes for a man who was active in the Anti-Nazi League. Then a friend of Denker's lets on that the director had a secret he was about to make public--but what was it? In order to best the sham shamus in solving the case, Groucho and Frank must dodge bullets while testing the theory of mind over matter. Chance meetings with celebrities and Groucho's constant wordplay keep the action light and snappy. (Nov.)