Stop the Presses!

By: Robert Goldsborough

Narrated by: Peter Berkrot

Length: 6 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's summary

There are few people Nero Wolfe respects, and Lon Cohen of the New York Gazette is one of them. So when Cohen asks for a favor, Wolfe is inclined to listen.

According to Cohen, someone wants to kill the Gazette's gossip columnist, Cameron Clay. Death threats are a regular hazard for Clay, who's hurled insults and accusations at every bold-faced name in the five boroughs. But the latest threats have carried a more sinister tone. The columnist has narrowed his potential killers down to five people.

When Clay turns up dead, the cops deem it a suicide. The bigwigs at the Gazette don't agree, so they retain Wolfe to figure out which of the suspects had the mettle to pull the trigger.

©2016 Robert Goldsborough (P)2016 Dreamscape Media, LLC

Good book, wrong reader

I like the way the author keeps to the spirit of Nero Wolfe and Archie and the rest of them. He is true to the spirit. Alas the book would have been more enjoyable with a different reader. I swear I heard an occasional Irish lilt in Archie's portrayal..and that's when he didn't sound like Albert Campion or Lord Peter. The reader is perfect for the British cozy. He should stick to that and the publisher should find a reader who can do Archie, Saul, Lon and the rest of the city dwellers in the voice Stout .. And now Goldsborough...meant them to have.

Takes getting used to

This Audible book needs to be played at about 1.2 or 1.3 speed to make the narration acceptable. After that, it’s just a matter of accepting a different reader.

Solid Pastiche Destroyed by Horrible Narrator.

I've really enjoyed Goldsborough's continuation of the Nero Wolfe series even if the narrator of the previous Goldsborough books wasn't as good as Michael Pritchard. It was pleasant to spend time back in the brownstone with Nero, Archie and the rest of the regular crowd. And the narrator of the previous Goldsborough books wasn't Pritchard, but he wasn't terrible either.

But there's a different narrator for this book (Peter Berkrot instead of L J Ganser) and I HATED him. He made both Archie Goodwin and Nero Wolfe sound terrible, like sneering condescending actors who hate the lines they're forced to speak. The narrator drops in and out of a travesty of a southern accent at random and that probably the least objectionable thing in his performance. Perhaps he'd be decent for a different series, but I won't listen to him ever again to find out. The only reason I didn't stop listening to the book and return it was because I was desperate to spend time with Archie and Nero Wolfe, I've already listened to literally everything else Audible has from both Rex Stout and Robert Goldsborough and I didn't have the time to read as opposed to listen to the book.

Don't make the mistake I did. Re-listen to one of Michael Pritchard's masterpieces or revisit earlier books from Robert Goldsborough, but this book with this narrator is not worth your time or your money.

Buy or download the actual book and read it for yourself if you can: the plot is decent and the characters are solid, I loved that we got to spend a bit more time with Archie and Lily Rowan, but don't make the mistake I did. The narrator ruined an otherwise solid book for me.

I'm off to have Michael Pritchard sooth me with the beginnings of Archie & Lily's friendship. I'm going to re-listen to Some Burried Ceasar and then maybe Death of a Dude. Summertime with LaRowan, with Pritchard reading, please and thanks.

Good story, not so good narration (referring to Audio ed.).

The story was nicely done. However the more Nero Wolfe stories the author writes, the further he drifts away from Rex Stout's original books & short stories he gets.

It was the overall atmosphere in the old brownstone that holds the readers attention, &I made them timeless. Mr Goldsborough, in the first few Nero Wolfe books, did a fairly good job recreating that atmosphere. In my opinion he is not even close any more.

SURE DOESN'T SOUND LIKE NERO WOLFE

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

No. The narrator had a strange interpretation of the characters. It was extremely difficult to listen to him.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Archie - he's always good for laughs and snide comments

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

I couldn't tell - I couldn't get past the narrator

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

No. I couldn't stand to listen to the book any more.

Good story, narration...eh.

Goldsborough does a pretty good job bringing back the world of Wolfe, and there were only a few jarring missteps in this one. Here we have 5 major suspects in the death of a much hated newspaper columnist. Often when you have a bunch of suspects, it's hard to keep them apart. (Who's this guy now? Oh yeah, he was the architect.) I'm happy to say you've got none of that here. All the characters were very distinctive, and the story flowed well. I took off a star because the ending, for me, was a little flat. Now on to the narration. No. Peter Berkrot makes Archie sound soft and wistful. The snappy banter comes across as neither snappy nor as banter. And Wolfe? OMG he sounds like a peevish toddler with a mouth full of mashed potatoes. Berkrot's phrasing often makes characters, especially Archie, sound like they're creepy characters in a horror movie. You know, the weird caretaker who tells the hero, "Don't go to the Manor House. Strange things happen there." Most of the characters were great, but he made such bad choices for his Archie and Wolfe voices.

Story was standard fare for the series

Story wss good but this was ruined by the narrater I think I will ask for my credit back ad listening was almost un bearable.

narration is a problem

I have to agree with the other reviewers about the narration. It is all wrong. Archie's voice is almost unbearable.
LJ Ganser is an excellent narrator for this series and I have enjoyed his performances in the other stories.

Lousy Narration

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I have listened to all of the Rex Stout Nero Wolfe books available on audible and all of the rest of the Robert Goldsborough books. I wanted to listen to this one to complete the set. I endured the lousy narration to do this. The story isn't Stout but like the rest it is pretty good, at least worth listening to.

What did you like best about this story?

This book has a very unique ending from all of the other Nero Wolfe stories that I have listened to.

How could the performance have been better?

A totally different narrator is needed. At least five different voices were used for Archie Goodwin, the predominant one being effeminate. At one point in the narration the voice used for Archie was the same one used for a female opera prima donna in the previous scene. It sounds like the narrator was trying to do Sydney Greenstreet for Nero Wolfe.

Do you think Stop the Presses! needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

This is just another book in the series. if another one was written and recorded I would listen to it but another isn't required.

Wrong narrator

Peter Berkrot is a TERRIBLE choice as a narrator for a Nero Wolfe mystery. Berkrot isn’t isn’t in and of himself a poor narrator. He sounds like your favorite elderly neighbor, friendly, cheerful and sweet, there are not characteristics one associates with Archie (the character narrator of all the Wolfe books.) Berkrot also speaks too slowly for the tempo of the book. Having listened to all the available Rex Stout and Robert Goldsborough Wolfe books, this is the only one with a narrator issue. Fortunately, in the next book in the series, LJ Ganser returns as narrator. He isn’t fabulous but he is better than average and his voice is appropriate.