Groucho Marx, Secret Agent: A Mystery Featuring Groucho Marx
This fifth entry in a charming and funny series isn't quite up to its predecessors' standards, but the story is peppered with enough Groucho gags and '30s movie trivia to make it good fun all the same. Scriptwriter Frank Denby, whose cartoonist wife, Jane, is pregnant, joins with his best pal, Groucho, to solve another Hollywood murder. Frank, Jane, and Groucho are attending a studio Halloween party when someone dressed as the Grim Reaper approaches director Eric Olmstead, who passes out after the figure whispers in his ear. The next day, Olmstead is found dead. Olmstead's wife, famous actress Dinah Flanders, doesn't believe the director shot himself and hires Groucho and Frank to find out what happened. The setup grabs our interest, and the pre-WWII era suggests all sorts of intriguing possibilities; unfortunately, Goulart resorts to a weak, cliched story involving Nazi agents. Luckily, Groucho saves the day with his witty comebacks. A slight stumble in a highly entertaining series.Jenny McLarinCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved