Goldsborough, Robert 1937–

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Goldsborough, Robert 1937–

(Robert Gerald Goldsborough)

PERSONAL: Born October 3, 1937, in Chicago, IL; son of Robert Vincent (an architect) and Wilma (Janak) Goldsborough; married Janet Elizabeth Moore, January 15, 1966; children: Suzanne Joy, Robert Michael, Colleen Marie, Bonnie Laura. Education: Northwestern University, B.A., 1959, M.S., 1960. Religion: Presbyterian.

ADDRESSES: Office—740 Rush St., Chicago, IL 60611. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Echelon Press, 9735 Country Meadows Ln., Ste. 1-D, Laurel, MD 20723. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Associated Press, New York, NY, reporter, 1959; City News Bureau, Chicago, IL, reporter, 1959; Chicago Tribune, Chicago, reporter, 1960–63, assistant editor of Sunday magazine and TV Week, 1963–66, editor of TV Week, 1966–67, assistant to features editor, 1967–71, assistant to editor, 1971–72, Sunday editor, 1972–75, editor of Sunday magazine, 1975–82; Advertising Age, Chicago, editor, 1982–88, special projects director, beginning 1988. Military service: U.S. Army, 1961.

MEMBER: American Association of Sunday and Feature Editors (past president), Arts Club.

AWARDS, HONORS: Love Is Murder (LIM) Readers' Choice Award for best historical mystery, 2006, for Three Strikes You're Dead.

WRITINGS:

"NERO WOLFE" MYSTERY SERIES

Murder in E Minor, Bantam (New York, NY), 1986.

Death on Deadline, Bantam (New York, NY), 1987.

The Bloodied Ivy, Bantam (New York, NY), 1988.

The Last Coincidence, Bantam (New York, NY), 1989.

Fade to Black, Bantam (New York, NY), 1990.

Silver Spire, Bantam (New York, NY), 1992.

The Missing Chapter, Bantam (New York, NY), 1993.

OTHER

(Editor and author of introduction) Great Railroad Paintings, Peacock Press/Bantam (New York, NY), 1976.

The Crain Adventure: The Making & Building of a Family Publishing Company, NTC Business Books (Lincolnwood, IL), 1992.

Three Strikes You're Dead (mystery), Echelon Press (Laurel, MD), 2005.

SIDELIGHTS: Journalist and novelist Robert Goldsborough has been a longtime fan of Rex Stout's "Nero Wolfe" mysteries. Goldsborough told CA: "After Stout's death in 1975, I wrote a Wolfe novel, Murder in E Minor, as a gift to my mother who introduced me to the Wolfe stories when I was a teenager." Once written, it took eight years for Goldsborough to get permission from Rex Stout's estate to use his characters and settings in a published work. Murder in E Minor features Stout's famous character, detective Nero Wolfe, along with his sidekick/narrator Archie Goodwin, as they solve the murder of a world-renowned but disliked maestro of the New York Symphony Orchestra. At first loath to break away from his beer, gourmet feasts, and the enjoyment of his orchids, Wolfe finally succumbs to the pleas of the victim's niece and comes out of retirement to catch the killer. David Lehman commented in Newsweek that Goldsborough "handles the puzzle element adroitly."

In Death on Deadline, Goldsborough's second mystery novel, Wolfe and Goodwin become enmeshed in an attempt by an unscrupulous investor to take over Wolfe's favorite newspaper. The Bloodied Ivy, another Wolfe and Goodwin story, concerns the untimely death of an outspoken academic. Writing in the Chicago Tribune Books, reviewer Phil Vettel called The Bloodied Ivy "a classic Wolfe mystery."

The Last Coincidence finds Goodwin coming to the aid of a friend's niece who is victimized by a rapist. When the rapist is found murdered shortly thereafter, the woman comes under suspicion and Wolfe's inestimable powers of detection come into play. Goldsborough continued the series with Fade to Black, Silver Spire, and The Missing Chapter.

In addition to the Wolfe books, Goldsborough is the author of the stand-alone mystery Three Strikes You're Dead, a story that includes in its list of characters mob boss Al Capone. The protagonist, Steve Malek, is a reporter investigating the murder of a contender for Chicago's mayoral seat—a steel tycoon whose platform is based on eliminating organized crime. Malek visits Capone at the Illinois State Penitentiary at Joliet to find out if the mob was involved in the hit. A subplot involves the Chicago Cubs and the 1938 World Series, and other real-life characters include pitcher Dizzy Dean, actress Helen Hayes, and Mayor Richard Daley. In a Booklist review, Wes Lukowsky described Golds-borough's Chicago as "at once sinister and appealing…. An enormously entertaining caper."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, June 1, 2005, Wes Lukowsky, review of Three Strikes You're Dead, p. 1761.

Library Journal, April 1, 1986, review of Murder in E Minor, p. 164; April 1, 1987, Jo Ann Vicarel, review of Death on Deadline, p. 168; July, 1988, Rex E. Klett, review of The Bloodied Ivy, p. 97.

Newsweek, June 9, 1986, David Lehman, review of Murder in E Minor, pp. 76-77.

Publishers Weekly, February 28, 1986, Sybil Steinberg, review of Murder in E Minor, p. 119; April 10, 1987, Sybil Steinberg, review of Death on Deadline, p. 85; October 7, 1988, review of The Bloodied Ivy, p. 88; September 22, 1989, Sybil Steinberg, review of The Last Coincidence, p. 41.

Tribune Books (Chicago), August 28, 1988, Phil Vettel, review of The Bloodied Ivy, p. 6.