Showing posts with label JULIUS KATZ series. Show all posts
Showing posts with label JULIUS KATZ series. Show all posts
Saturday, October 17, 2015
Wednesday, May 27, 2015
Review: "The Julius Katz Collection" by Dave Zeltserman
After a forward by author Ed Gorman comparing and
contrasting the differences between Julius Katz and Nero Wolf as well as considering
how these short stories relate to Dave Zeltserman’s body of crime novels, it is
on to the stories in The Julius Katz Collection. If you
have never read some of these tales courtesy of his many appearances in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine you are
in for a real treat. Even if you have read them before it is always very
enjoyable to read them again as well as the new tale just for this collection.
In the award winning novelette “Julius Katz” the
latest client for Boston’s most famous and eccentric detective Julius Katz is
the 53 year old Norma Brewer. Accompanied by her slightly younger sister, Helen
Arden, she wishes to discuss a family matter. A family matter she refused to
tell Archie, Julius’ artificial intelligence sidekick, about over the phone
thus preventing any real planning by Julius prior to their meeting.
The issue involves their 83 year old mother, Emma,
who is suffering from the beginnings of Alzheimer’s. While provisions were made
for various things by their father six years ago before he died from cancer,
their brother Lawrence has taken over all of the legal aspects of their
mother’s situation. Julius does not like family disputes and wants no part of
this situation. However, like many a
detective before him, he does need the money and Norma Brewer is willing to
pay. He takes the case with some stipulations including meeting their mother so
that he and Archie can assess her condition. While very reluctant at first,
soon Julius is hard at work in a case that quickly takes a dark and sinister
turn.
Next up is
another award winning story with “Archie’s Been Framed.” As this one opens
Julius has plenty of cash in the bank. That means he is not going to be
inclined to take a new case for several months. What Archie sees as being lazy,
Julius sees as enjoying the finer things of life. Work is not the priority for
Julius, but for Archie work helps him refine his neural network. Improving his ability
to analyze is a constant theme for Archie, a two inch long piece of advanced technology
that appears to be an ordinary tie clip.
With his
current love interest Lily Rosten out of town visiting her parents in upstate
New York. Julius is in a bit of a funk.
A funk that a case would help lift. There is no sign of that until Archie
discovers that Denise Penny, a 27 year old woman Archie has been in contact
with, has been murdered. Unfortunately, Archie quickly becomes a suspect in her
murder. Though he can easily be cleared if the true nature of his existence
were revealed, it can’t be disclosed. Julius does not have a choice – he has to
investigate and clear Archie.
Even Boston’s most brilliant and eccentric detective
Julius Katz has to serve jury duty. In
“One Angry Julius and Eleven Befuddled Jurors” he has had enough with the trial
and the state’s case. Any one paying attention should have come to the same
conclusion and realized the state is going after the wrong person. Fortunately,
Katz and his artificial intelligence side kick, Archie, can fix things
if---allowed.
“Archie Solves The Case” is the title of the next
story. It also happens to be an award winner. Boston’s brilliant investigator Julius Katz does not work
unless he absolutely has to make some money. For his artificial intelligence
sidekick, Archie, this is a frustration. As much as he can feel or recognize
frustration, because Archie uses their cases to build on his neural network.
Archie does not expect Julius Katz to meet with this latest potential client,
Henri Chervil, but Julius surprises him and easily agrees to a meeting.
Julius
soon figures out why the legendary detective agreed to meet Chervil as well as
why Chervil wants him. Since Chervil was arrested by Cambridge Police for
assaulting a fellow chief by the name of Jasper Quayle it seems pretty obvious
what he wants. What Julius wants seems obvious as well to Archie. However, as
Archie soon learns, not everything is in the files and databases and real
people are often far more complex than their fictional counterparts.
Charles Rosten swears he did not do it in “Julius
Katz And A Tangled Webb.” Sitting in the Monro County Jail in Rochester, New
York he faces murder charges in the death of his business partner, George Webb.
The evidence is so stacked against him that Archie has calculated the odds of a
not guilty verdict as being zero. The fact that he is the father of Lily Rosten
who Julius has been dating for six months now means there is a more personal
stake in the case than is often the case.
“Julius Accused” opens with Archie informing Julius
that 39 year old Linds Harnsworth is publicly trashing Julius again. This time
he is doing it via reporter for Channel Four News. In one of several interviews
he gives to local media he claims that Julius threatened him the night before. Archie
can’t prove Julius didn’t since Julius went out for the evening and left Archie
at home.
While Julius seems unconcerned about the public
media bashing and refuses to discuss the matter, Archie thinks something has to
be done and begins investigating on his own. Archie knows that Linus Harnsworth
is, at best, a liar. Proving it as well as a few other things is going to take
some time.
Wine and food are frequent items in these stories as
Julius does love the finer things of life. In the novella “Julius Katz And The
Case Of A Sliced Ham” both are very much present as is a murder. The murder of Arthur Trewitt when someone
stuck a twelve inch chef’s knife into his chest has rocked the local theater
world. It has been three weeks since the murder and things have reached a
crisis point for those involved in a play that the actor was to appear in any
day now. The man in charge of putting on the play, Theodore Dreckle, is
desperate for Julius Katz to take the case and identify the murderer.
Archie knows that Julius is not eccentric though he
might very well be brilliant. He also knows that Julius hates working and with
his bank account doing just fine right now he has zero motivation to take the case.
Soon, Julius has his reason and before long he and Archie are hard at work
trying to figure out who did it among a cast of folks that have considerable
acting skills. They might be better off trying to herd stray cats.
As Ed Gorman noted in the forward, the tales in The
Julius Katz Collection often hint at the darkness that is far more prevalent
in the author’s crime novels such as Pariah,
Small
Crimes and Bad
Thoughts among others. These tales also often feature humor which
is in short supply in those books. Both are often depicted through the
interplay between Julius Katz and Archie. Like many with are artistic temperament, Julius is often a
bit prickly at times, but he gets the job done in always enjoyable ways.
That coupled
with intriguing cases featuring complex mysteries, plenty of multi-dimensional characters
and an artificial intelligence becoming more and more human like make these
stories a lot of fun. The Julius Katz Collection
features a lot of good reading and is well worth your time.
The
Julius Katz Collection
Dave
Zeltserman
Top
Suspense Books
November
2014
ASIN:
B00P8EDITI
E-Book (also available in paperback)
352 Pages
$4.99
The author
provided me a e-book review copy quite some time ago in
exchange for my objective review.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2015
Friday, April 18, 2014
Sunday, April 06, 2014
Tuesday, April 01, 2014
Per Dave Zeltserman--Julius Katz Is Back!
Julius Katz and Archie are back and Dave shares the excellent news here.
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
Review: "Archie Solves The Case" by Dave Zeltserman
Boston’s brilliant investigator Julius Katz does not
work unless he absolutely has to make some money. For his artificial
intelligence sidekick, Archie, this is a frustration. As much as he can feel or
recognize frustration, because Archie uses their cases to build on his neural
network. Archie does not expect Julius Katz to meet with this latest potential
client, Henri Chervil, but Julius surprises him and easily agrees to a meeting.
Julius soon figures out why the legendary detective
agreed to meet Chervil as well as why Chervil wants him. Since Chervil was
arrested by Cambridge Police for assaulting a fellow chief by the name of
Jasper Quayle it seems pretty obvious what he wants. What Julius wants seems
obvious as well to Archie. However, as Archie soon learns, not everything is in
the files and databases and real people are often far more complex than their
fictional counterparts.
Another good in one the series featuring Julius
Katz. As always the dialogue between Archie and Julius runs true along with the
occasional flash of humor. Like many with are artistic temperament, Julius is often
a bit prickly at times, but he gets the job done in always enjoyable ways.
The tone of the book radically changes with the
other stories in this book. Dave Zeltsman has a tendency to go to the horror
genre as evidenced by Monster, The Caretaker of Lorne Field
(which still hits me as more science fiction than horror in a view not shared
by many) and other works. That tendency is quickly evidenced here in the short
stories “Pink Wiggly Things” and “King” and is at times present in the other stories
as well.
“Pink Wiggly Things” is told from the perspective of
something under a bed that is looking for food. What that thing is under the
bed is left somewhat open to reader interpretation as are a couple of other
elements.
“King” is the tale of Mary Crowley an elderly woman
known to one and all as “the crazy pigeon lady.” That would have been fine, as bad
as that was, if things had been left alone. Her birds in the park were not left
alone and she has a plan.
Craig and Susan frequently argue in front of others
in “Old Wives’ Tales.” Craig has plans and those are not exactly a secret
either.
“’Til Death Do You Part” features Roy. He is a man
who is intent on being the only one for Charlotte. Or maybe that was really her
plan all along. Hard to tell in this strange tale where nothing is as it seems.
This is a book of serious extremes. One end of the
spectrum represented by the opening story of the book title Archie
Solves The Case where the topic is serious, but there is a light touch
at work throughout the read. A cozy style story that, like other stories
featuring Julius Katz and Archie, plays respectful homage to Nero Wolfe while
creating a thoroughly modern world. The tales may detail some human failings
but the tone overall is light and gentle.
Then you have the rest of the book which has nothing
at all to do with Archie, Julius Katz, or those stories. Nothing on the cover
would indicate to readers that they are getting anything but Julius Katz, but
the rest of the read is filled with stories that are dark and twisted and often
with elements of the horror genre. Even the stories which are not clearly horrific
are very creepy and disturbing at various levels. They serve as quite a clash with
the Julius Katz story and may surprise some readers expecting a read in the
vein of Julius Katz.
Archie
Solves The Case
Dave
Zeltserman
Top
Suspense Books
May 2013
ASIN: B00CRRFPYU
E-Book
78 Pages
$3.50
Amazon advises me I picked this up
last November. The author is very generous in making his titles available as
free reads and I can’t remember now if I got it that way or he sent it to me
directly. Either way it was for my use in an objective review.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2014
Tuesday, January 07, 2014
Review: "Julius Katz Mysteries" by Dave Zeltserman
In the award winning novelette “Julius Katz” the
latest client for Boston’s most famous and eccentric detective Julius Katz is
the 53 year old Norman Brewer.
Accompanied by her slightly younger sister, Helen Arden, she wishes to
discuss a family matter. A family matter she refused to tell Archie, Julius’
artificial intelligence sidekick, about over the phone thus preventing any real
planning by Julius prior to their meeting.
The issue involves their 83 year old mother, Emma,
who is suffering from the beginnings of Alzheimer’s. While provisions were made
for various things by their father six years ago before he died from cancer, their
brother Lawrence has taken over all of the legal aspects of their mother’s
situation. Julius does not like family disputes and wants no part of this
situation. However, like many a
detective before him, he does need the money and Norma Brewer is willing to
pay. He takes the case with some stipulations including meeting their mother so
that he and Archie can assess her condition. While very reluctant at first,
soon Julius is hard at work in a case that quickly takes a dark and sinister
turn.
Also included in this book is the award winning
story “Archie’s Been Framed.” As this one opens Julius has plenty of cash in
the bank. That means he is not going to be inclined to take a new case for
several months. What Archie sees as being lazy, Julius sees as enjoying the
finer things of life. Work is not the priority for Julius, but for Archie work
helps him refine his neural network.
With his current love interest Lily Rosten out of
town visiting her parents in upstate New York.
Julius is in a bit of a funk. A funk that a case would help lift. There
is no sign of that until Archie discovers that Denise Penny, a 27 year old
woman Archie has been in contact with, has been murdered. Unfortunately, Archie
quickly becomes a suspect in her murder. Though he can easily be cleared if the
true nature of his existence were revealed, it can’t be disclosed. Julius does
not have a choice – he has to investigate and clear Archie.
Both award winning stories are good ones and feature
interesting characters and cases. Humor, subtle and overt, is occasionally
present in sharp contrast to the darker side of human nature. The dark side of human nature keeps many a
detective and his sidekick employed and such is the case here in the very
enjoyable Julius Katz Mysteries by Dave Zeltserman.
Julius Katz Mysteries
Dave
Zeltserman
Top
Suspense Group
January
2011
ASIN:
B004KAA9LQ
E-Book
88
Pages
$3.50
A PDF by the author was supplied quite some time ago
for my use in an objective review.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2014
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
