Bruce Von Stiers

Ron Goulart has a neat little hook for the mystery novel field. He writes about Groucho Marx. It is from Ron’s imagination that we get to read about Groucho Marx being a budding amateur detective. The latest in this delightful series is titled Groucho Marx and the Broadway Murders. It was published by Thomas Dunn Books.

The central character, and narrator, is Frank Denby. He had been a crime reporter for the LA Times. Some twists and turns later, Frank ends up writing for Groucho Marx’s weekly radio show. Through some more twists of fate, Frank and Groucho begin solving murders.

Now, as this fourth book in the series begins, Frank is set to travel to New York for a short while. Frank’s wife, the cartoonist Jane Danner, has to make a trip to New York to talk to the syndicators of cartoon strip about a radio show based on it. Frank is tagging along for moral support and possibly a job writing the show. They will be traveling by train to New York. It seems that Groucho will also be making the trip. He has signed up to do a bit in The Mikado on Broadway.

But before they leave LA, Frank is treated to an audience with a local mobster. It seems one of the guy’s associates had been murdered. Who was the killer? Frank has no answers even though he’s expected to.

Frank and Jane begin their travels on the train and discover that there are a whole group of actors on board. Producer Daniel K. Mannheim had several actors with him, including his protégé, Dian Bowers. He was touting Bowers as a fresh faced unknown. We find out later that isn’t quite the case. There is also a seasoned actress and a whole bunch of wannbes. Then of course, there was Groucho. In typical Groucho style, Goulart has Marx spout off one liners and sarcastic wit throughout the story.

By the time Frank, Jane and Groucho have reached New York, the reader has been introduced to a whole slew of characters. There are actors going to Chicago for a show and others that are part of Manheim’s new show, Make Mine Murder.

The real detecting part of the story comes after reaching New York. During a performance of Make Mine Murder, Manheim is murdered. Who is the killer? Is it the protégé? The veteran actress that Manheim threw off to take on Dian Bowers? Or was it Dian’s husband, who was hanging around? And what did Manheim’s murder have to do with the gangster’s death back in L.A.? Frank and Groucho are sure to find out through whatever means necessary.

There has been a trend in mystery fiction to include famous, albeit dead, celebrities as central characters in stories. Stuart Kaminksy does a wonderful job with his Toby Peters stories, including people such as Charlie Chaplin, Howard Hughes and W.C. Fields. Ron Goulart, in this series, takes things a step further and places Groucho Marx at the center of the stories. With his wise cracks and arcane behavior, Groucho Marx makes for a strange and hilarious amateur detective. Frank is there to play straight man and keep things on track when they go astray.

As I commented earlier, I found Groucho Marx and the Broadway Murders to be a delightful murder mystery. You get a mystery with a whole bunch of quirky actors, clueless radio executives, gangsters and, of course, Groucho Marx After reading the book, it makes you want to see if one of the Marx Brothers movies are playing on television somewhere so you can get some more of Groucho’s wise cracks.