Murder at the ABA

Isaac Asimov

Darius Just is a visiting author at the ABA (American Booksellers Association) convention. He was supposed to speak. Unfortunately the speaking engagement was scheduled earlier and he missed it. That was the beginning of an evening he will not forget. Unfortunately, that incident is the beginning of a group of incidents that may or may not lead up to the death of a fellow author. He is the person who finds the body.

Giles Devore had been a protege of Just's. His novel leaped ahead of anything Just has sold. Devore was leaving their mutual small publishing company. He tended to rub people the wrong way. Yet the public loved his book. Just feels that Devore did not have the a fall in the shower, but instead was killed and put in the tub to give the impression of an accident.

Just digs and probes, talking with all the people who may have had dealings with Devore during that last day. This includes Asimov, who is a minor character in the book. Slowly, the pieces of the puzzle start falling together.

This is a cute book. It is told first person narrative by Just, but acknowledges Asimov as the author. There are a number of amusing footnote anecdotes throughout the book as Just and Asimov poke at each other. Or should I say Asimov is poking at himself? At the end Asimov writes a disclaimer that the events portrayed never really happened other than he attended that ABA convention and the public events occurred. Yet Murder at the ABA reads like the murder happened and names were changed to protect the innocent/guilty.

This is not one of Asimov's great classics, and is no longer in print. Look in your local library.

Murder in Vegas by Steve Allen