In this third Book Collector outing, Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin are Jordan's role models to solve the mystery of Muriel Delgado, who's swiftly isolating Vera from anyone who could possibly help her. Vera may be without a safety net, but so's Jordan, who's recuperating from a bad accident. The only person who can possibly lend a hand is her Uncle Kevin about whom Jordan says (with great affection and a dusting of fear): "Having Uncle Kev as an ally is like playing catch with a grenade." She needs all the tricks Nero and Archie can teach her in order to save both Vera and herself.

Watching Jordan solving the mystery is a joy, due in large part to the humor in this book. The Wolfe Widow is filled with comedic touches sure to bring smiles to any reader's face. I've also learned while reading this series that one of its bonuses is being so intrigued by each book's featured classic mystery writer (so far we've had Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, and Rex Stout) that I've started sampling-- and enjoying-- books that I normally avoid.

The only thing that bothered me was the character of Muriel Delgado. For me, she was a bit over the top, and I kept envisioning a strange combination of Cruella de Vil and Joan Crawford whenever Muriel had a scene. This woman had some serious issues that her cartoon-like description detracted from. Dial her back a couple of notches, and Muriel Delgado would've been a kickass villain. Hmmm... perhaps too kickass for a cozy mystery? I'll have to ponder this for a while.

In the mean time, it was another wonderful outing with Jordan, and I can't wait to see what she gets up to next!

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I have been enjoying this series due in large part to the intriguing character of Jordan, born to a curiously harmless crime family, but desiring more than anything to go straight. It provides a lot of interesting tension as she tries not to use the criminal assets at her disposal to help with serious situations that definitely need her help.

It also is fun to have the love of classic mystery authors and their books playing into the stories. I am familiar with Sayers and Christie (focus of the first two books in the series), but I am a completist fan of Nero Wolfe. That made this book a bit more fun.

Now, about the book itself. The pressures of life this month did not leave much time for reading, so it took most of a month to finish it. That's never good for a book. At any rate, while reading, the book felt slow and frustrating, as not much progress was being made as the pages slowly went by. When everything was wrapped up in a Nero Wolfe-like scene with all the suspects gathered in a drawing room, it all made perfect sense. So tonight, after finishing it, I feel that there were no problems.

I look forward to the next title in the series!

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