The Battered Badge

A Nero Wolfe Mystery

By: Robert Goldsborough

Narrated by: L. J. Ganser

Length: 6 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's summary

A shake-up in the New York Polic Department's homicide squad following a high-profile murder is bad for business for private investigator Nero Wolfe.

When wealthy and popular crusader and reformer Lester Pierce is gunned down in front of his Park Avenue residence, the public outcry forces the NYPD to restructure its homicide department. As the deceased was highly critical of Inspector Lionel Cramer, the longtime head of homicide is temporarily relieved of his badge. But it seems Cramer was not just a scapegoat. He was seen dining in Little Italy with mob kingpin Ralph Mars.

All of this amounts to little more than conversational fodder for private eye Nero Wolfe and his assistant Archie Goodwin. But if Cramer's provisional replacement, Captain George Rowcliff, becomes permanent, Wolfe's future dealings with the force will be much compromised. Loath to depart from his routine, Wolfe makes the unusual decision to take on a case without an actual client.

His investigation quickly points toward Pierce's organization, Good Government Group, where high-minded idealism is often trampled under the competing ambitions of the staff - several of whom would clearly have benefited from Pierce's demise. Despite the burgeoning list of suspects, Wolfe hasn't ruled out the involvement of the underworld and its connection to Cramer. But in order to untangle an abundance of motives and end the inspector's forced furlough, Wolfe may have to venture out of his comfort zone - and the premises of his brownstone.

Continuing his beloved series, Nero Award-winning author Robert Goldsborough "demonstrates an impressive ability to emulate Rex Stout's narrative voice" (Publishers Weekly).

The Battered Badge is the 60th book in the Nero Wolfe mystery series, but all titles can be enjoyed in any order.

©2019 Robert Goldsborough (P)2019 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

one of the better Goldsborough stories

While this is one of the better Goldsborough Wolfe stories, it suffers from anachronistic language. Ganser does a reasonable job reading the story but I missed the interpretations on the A&E video by Hutton, Chakin, and Dunn or even that by reader Pritchard.

First time with Nero

Totally enjoyed the writing and especially the performance by Ganser. He made the book -
I doubt anyone could come close in delivering the characters and tone of the author.

Not one of his best

I am a big fan of Robert Goldsborough. He has done a great job of recapturing the Stout
style of story lines and characters.

Unfortunately, this was not one of them. The story is weak at best. Some of the characters
are almost comical when they should not be. The discussions be between Archie and Lon,
his newspaper buddy, are just terrible - nowhere near the fun banter you expect from other
stories.

This was great premise - Wolfe and Crammer working together. But their grudging respect
was lost in a badly told story.

However, it is after all a Wolfe story so it is worth reading.

One of the best NEW Nero Wolfe mysteries

This is an especially good audiobook due to the superb narration by L. J. Ganser.

Easy Listening

Very enjoyable. The author has continued Rex Stout"s formular for Nero Wolfe books. it is like being back with an old friend.

Ok but not Rex stout

Sorry but there’s just so much lead up in this story and little plot. The voice actor really needs to listen to the old books and get a sense of the time and way of talking that the characters have. His portrayal of one of the main characters was so out of sync with the way he was written for decades that it was distressing to listen to. I think he can do the job but didn’t realize that anyone cared about how he portrayed the characters.

I miss Rex Stout

Gainsborough does ok, but he’s turned Nero Wolf mysteries into cosy stories. So much repetition from story to story gets to be an irritation too. I’ll listen or read them for free but I’m not paying for anymore of them. Still enjoyable for all that.

onto the next

All these novels are addictive. Very well structured and much fun. I dont think Rex would be disappointed.

My first Nero Wolfe book

The new Nero Wolfe series by RG is my first introduction to Wolfe and Archie. It sparked my interest enough to try out the original series written by R Stout. I’ve now read two from each series and enjoy them both. Not being an original Nero Wolfe aficionado, I find the two similar in style and enjoy them both. I’ll be able to better distinguish the differences between the writers as i read more from the original series. For k now I like the narrator Ganser because he captures the tone and style of the period.

Too much rehashing

Decent story but the conversations between Archie and Lily, Saul and Lon are too long and too smarmy by at least half.
Presumably Wolfe/Stout aficionados are reading these and the explanation of their backgrounds is cloying. Ganser does not do all that well in distinguishing characters, much like Michael Prichard. I have to wonder what Ray Porter would do with these, and the Stout, stories. As others have said, better to re-read the originals.