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Emma Lathen

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Accounting for Murder (Emma Lathen Book 3) Kindle Edition

by Emma Lathen (Author), Deaver Brown (Editor) Format: Kindle Edition

4.4 139 ratings

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New fully edited version and afterword. 3rd of 37 best selling Emma Lathen mysteries featuring SVP of the Sloan Guaranty Trust, John Putnam Thatcher, who gets to the bottom of things by cutting through various business goings on, a famous accountant who swooped down on a company to examine the books, dissident shareholders, community groups, and others to examine the financial motives in order to nail the killer. A humorous romp for those who like humor and good writing in their mysteries. Called the American Agatha Christie and Nero Wolfe with Portfolio by the New York Times.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B075FH92WZ
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Simply Media; 1st edition (September 5, 2017)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ September 5, 2017
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 687 KB
Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 237 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #672,731 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #1,169 in Financial Thrillers (Books)
- #47,204 in Mysteries (Kindle Store)
- #80,949 in Mysteries (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.4 139 ratings

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Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5

139 global ratings

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John Grimes

Fantastic crime reminiscent of baby boomer period

Reviewed in the United States on September 5, 2023

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Fun to read and relive the world with corporate structure of the 60s with characters that should remind you of where we thought were headed. Structure is still a good mystery . Reminds you of how early science fiction felt except for everyday crimes. Good if you liked Nero Wolfe and LA homicide with Mendoza. Not the same but all were great when we were young.

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Adam Bernard

Great story hampered by grade-school editing

Reviewed in the United States on January 24, 2021

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I read this book years ago from a public library, and wanted to get something I could keep digitally. “Fully edited”? I think not. “Chucked” Instead of “chuckled”, “viola” instead of “voila”, Gabbler instead of Gabler, and Miss Corse instead of Miss Corsa—and that’s just the intro

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anthony b.

As good as any book in the series I’ve read yet except maybe the first.

Reviewed in the United States on April 10, 2021

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This book had everything you could want in a mystery like this. The victim is a well developed and likable sort. It’s genuinely tricky but not impossible to figure out not only the killer but the motive that drives why the company is losing money ins some areas but not others (plus who profits).

The guest cast of characters is more engaging, memorable and well developed that any of the other four books in the series I’ve read.

Thatcher is at his best as a protagonist here, seeming just as practical as usual but perhaps a little more concerned about justice.

This book was fun to read and will probably be fun to re-read some day.

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Janet Nail

... John Putnam Thatcher entered my life--and I was in love! There are plenty of mysteries here

Reviewed in the United States on March 15, 2017

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The first time John Putnam Thatcher entered my life--and I was in love! There are plenty of mysteries here. What is the real source of the profit loss? Why does everything look perfect, yet the company is losing money. It takes a cost accountant--actually THE cost accountant to find the source, but then he is dead. The stockholders want to know why. The police want to know why and who did it. Thatcher wants to know why, who did it and how did the money disappear. Altogether a satisfying mystery with a perfect solution that you probably won't see ahead.

One person found this helpful

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Deaver Brown

Fabulous author & price

Reviewed in the United States on March 11, 2017

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Fabulous book and author. So affordable at only $9.99 delivered. Could never have gotten such a high quality paperback for such a low price and no ad filler. Thank you Amazon!

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Anne Mills

An Old Series, But A Good ONe

Reviewed in the United States on December 6, 2013

This series, featuring Wall Street banker John Thatcher, show us a very different banking world, in which senior bankers concern themselves with real businesses, not derivatives houses of cards. A strong sense of time and place(in this case Wall Street in the 1960's( and an undertone of humor are the main attraction of this series. This time, Thatcher is investigating the murder of an accountant, who has discovered some nasty truths about a data processing company.

3 people found this helpful

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Teri-K

Good Mystery Now for Kindle!

Reviewed in the United States on July 10, 2019

Not many authors could take a mystery based on accounting and make it both intriguing and amusing, but fortunately for the reader, this author did just that. National Calculating's profits are on a downward slump and the stockholders are unhappy. That might not matter too much, except the leader of the Stockholder's Protest Committee is Clarence Fortinbras, author of the famous textbook on accounting, and a man who loves using numbers to ferret out a company's secrets. Fortinbras has turned his sights on Nat'l Calculating, and the company may never recover.

John Thatcher, Senior Vice-President of the world's third largest bank, is unwillingly drawn into this mess but intends to remain out of the fray as much as possible, until someone is murdered. Then he turns all of his curiosity and deductive powers to the situation. Throw in some ineffective leadership, a charming four-star general and a deadly telephone cord, and the reader will be whisked back in time to a delightful 1960's mystery. A solid 3 stars

The Series:
Thatcher is an intelligent, detached, wry observer of human nature; a widower with almost no social life. No profanity, sex or violence here. Instead these books feel to me much like Agatha Christie novels, with a focus on a few likable characters and the mystery itself. All the clues the reader needs to unwind the puzzle are included but they're pretty deftly hidden.

The stories are very well-written, intelligent, and the contain some dry humor. People are presented in all their strengths and weaknesses, but Thatcher's general kindness keeps them from looking ridiculous. Usually, anyway. Another strength of the series is the variety of settings. The mysteries don't actually take place at the bank, but instead in different businesses the bank has an interest in, so later books give the reader an insider's look into aspects of these businesses. I really enjoy these forays, as well as the minor characters we meet as the stories develop.

A possible complaint is that, despite the fact that the author was actually two highly successful professional women, all the MCs are men. The only females here are wives, daughters and secretaries. This never bothered me, I think because when the women do show up they're generally pretty sharp and independent. Also, times have changed enough that these books feel more historical than contemporary to me. Still it's too bad no one broke the glass ceiling at Sloan Guarantee and Trust during this series. (Although, it's not like the men are paragons of intelligence or virtue, either. There's a sweetly cynical cast to everyone in these books that I enjoy.)

I've been a fan of this author for decades - I own all of her (their) books, picked up in pre-Internet days from used book stores and library sales. Still, I'm very happy to see the books available on ebook for reasonable prices. You don't always have access to your books, (mine are in storage in another state right now), and it's easier to recommend books to friends if they're actually available to the reader. So, yeah ebooks! (Some Amazon reviews mention terrible typos and other errors. Apparently these have been fixed in the titles I've purchased so far. You can always try an ebook and return it to Amazon if the typos aren't fixed.)

It's not necessary to read the series in order, as each book is very much a stand alone. My favorites are: When in Greece, Murder to Go, Pick Up Sticks, Ashes to Ashes, Murder Without Icing, Going for the Gold and Right on the Money. This author really deserves to be much more widely read. I hope she soon will be.

2 people found this helpful

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emveejay

The BESt of the BEST

Reviewed in the United States on March 25, 2015

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I cannot praise this author sufficiently! Adult in the sense of mature, experienced, worldly insights--this is the best of mystery, satire & occasionally just wonderful belly laughs at the antics of Americans--be they aristocrats of finance, hustlers in the middle, lowly folk, all pitchforked into delightful inbteractions.

4 people found this helpful

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