title: The Missing Chapter
author:  Robert Goldsborough 
description: Life imitates art imitates life. In his seventh Nero Wolfe/Archie Goodwin caper, the writer responsible for continuing the noted series after the death of originator Rex Stout plots a case around the corpse of an author who has continued a mystery series after the original writer's demise. A publisher hires Wolfe and Goodwin to investigate the death, labeled a suicide, of Charles Childress, an ill-tempered author who had recently angered several people, including his agent, his editor and the possibly corrupt reviewer who had lambasted the latest Childress novel. Yet for all that, Childress also had a pretty fiancee, a loyal friend in a fellow author and the devotion of many fans. Goldsborough carefully draws Wolfe and company into the '90s (computers figure in the plot and hold records of Wolfe's beloved orchids), yet the corpulent sleuth still abandons himself to Fritz Brenner's high-fat meals. As always, Archie does the legwork, which in this instance takes him to rural Indiana, Childress's home state, to unearth secrets that Wolfe pieces together in an assured and effective conclusion. Goldsborough ( Fade to Black ) may not recruit new fans to the anachronistic and bulky Wolfe, but he's likely to satisfy the old Rex Stout faithful. <br />Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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  # Exit the Skeleton
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ### Herbert Adams
  
  
  This page formatted 2005 Munsey's.
  
  
  http://www.munseys.com
  
  CHAPTER I. MOTHER AND DAUGHTER
  
  
  CHAPTER II. THE CLAIM
  
  
  CHAPTER III. UNCLE ROBERT
  
  
  CHAPTER IV. DISAPPEARANCE!
  
  
  CHAPTER V. ROGER BENNION'S CALL
  
  
  CHAPTER VI. “I KNOW WHO DID IT!”
  
  
  CHAPTER VII. S.O.P.
  
  
  CHAPTER VIII. REPORTS AND RUMOURS
  
  
  CHAPTER IX. MR. PURSEY IS NOT SYMPATHETIC
  
  
  CHAPTER X. VALERIE MEETS HEDLEY
  
  
  CHAPTER XI. BRUCE INVESTIGATES
  
  
  CHAPTER XII. VADNY
  
  
  CHAPTER XIII. BYNG PLACE
  
  
  CHAPTER XIV. JUST IN TIME
  
  
  CHAPTER XV. DOMESTIC INTERLUDE
  
  
  CHAPTER XVI. BEN'S HERO
  
  
  CHAPTER XVII. VADNY AT HOME
  
  
  CHAPTER XVIII. BABY FOUND!
  
  
  CHAPTER XIX. MR. PURSEY UNBENDS
  
  
  CHAPTER XX. BEN GETS BUSY
  
  
  CHAPTER XXI. BEN ORGLES UNMASKED
  
  
  CHAPTER XXII. JUDGMENT OF SOLOMON?
  
  
  CHAPTER XXIII. BRUCE'S CLUE
  
  
  CHAPTER XXIV. BEN'S GOOD WORK
  
  
  CHAPTER XXV. ANOTHER LETTER
  
  
  CHAPTER XXVI. PEGGY'S STORY
  
  
  CHAPTER XXVII. MARRIAGE BY BLACKM