The Julius Katz Collection

In this fresh and funny collection, Zeltserman (The Interloper) offers seven old-school puzzle stories that follow the exploits of Boston PI Julius Katz, who bears many similarities to Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe, while Wolfe’s singular secretary, Archie, appears here, as Ed Gorman notes in the foreword, as a compact piece of artificial intelligence. It is Archie who lifts these tales into a higher dimension. As he says of himself, “What I am is a two-inch rectangular-shaped piece of space-aged computer technology that’s twenty years more advanced than what’s currently considered theoretically possible.... Julius wore me as a tie clip.” The Shamus Award–winning “Julius Katz,” about an inheritance case, introduces readers to the duo and their methods. “Archie’s Been Framed” provides an original look at the problems of online dating. “Archie Solves the Case” lets the reader in on Archie’s never-ending attempt to refine his neural network, so that he might “someday beat Julius to the punch in solving a case.” There’s good fun to be had along with the brainteasers in this sprightly volume. [em](BookLife) [/em]