At some point while reading this book I started reading the women's dialogue out loud, trying to do the right kind of "sassy, snappy 40's broad" voice you hear in screwball comedies of the era. Not the Marilyn Monroe breathy baby voice, more like the voice Mary Wickes is doing in White Christmas (she's the housekeeper). Eventually I realized I wanted to sound like Rosalind Russell, but I'll never be as good at any of those voices as Paget Brewster is when she's Sadie Doyle in the Thrilling Adventure Hour.
Anyway. Wolfe gets hired to figure out if someone was murdered or just hit by a car by accident, and solving the crime involves Archie going undercover in a business and dating as many women as possible. He also wins a fist-fight at one point, which was when I said out loud to my Kindle, "Boy, Archie Goodwin really is Rex Stout's Mary Sue, isn't he?" But it's cool, I'm in; I'd let him take me to a restaurant and grill me for info on whether or not I'd murdered anyone.
Loved the villain reveal in this one, loved the twist at the end. What a satisfying comfortable read.
Grade: B
#27 in 2016
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