Asimov tries his hand at writing a murder mystery and proves he really is good at everything. This is a fun read. The mystery is well-plotted if nothing special, the narrator (based on real-life author Harlan Ellison) is likable and interesting, and there are moments in the book that are laugh-out-loud funny.

Worth a read if you can find it! ( )

Very interesting murder mystern novel set at a bookseller's convention. Asimov uses his friend Harlan Ellison as a fictitious author named Darius Just and introduces himself as a 3rd person character along with other real-life authors of the day. ( )

A murder mystery set at the American Bookseller's Association conference of 1975, and told from the point of view of a small, insecure, misanthropic author. It is clever and entertaining, as you'd expect from an Asimov mystery, and it's fascinating to see even an outdated look inside the publishing industry; but the book gets an added fillip of the surreal from the inclusion of Isaac Asimov as comic relief, and he and his protagonist taking potshots at each other in the footnotes.

Quote: "And [Asimov]'ll sign anything, hardbacks, softbacks, other people's books, scraps of paper. Inevitably someone handed him a blank check on the occasion when I was there, and he signed that without as much as a waver to his smile — except that he signed: 'Harlan Ellison.'" ( )

This book serves only one good purpose: it's a winking nod to the Asimov fan. The author includes himself in the story, uses footnotes to hold a humorous debate with the protagonist, and offers a very simple puzzle of a mystery. If you love Asimov and wish you could have hung out with him at a bookseller's convention, you'll want this. If you want a mystery with depth, look elsewhere.