''Goodbye Goliath'' is a

detective A detective is an investigator, usually a member of a law enforcement agency. They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. This leads the ...

mystery novel Mystery is a fiction genre where the nature of an event, usually a murder or other crime, remains mysterious until the end of the story. Often within a closed circle of suspects, each suspect is usually provided with a credible motive and a re ...

written by American

Elliott Chaze Lewis Elliott Chaze (November 15, 1915 – November 11, 1990) was an American journalist and novelist. He was known for his crime novels, which have been classified in the noir genre. He won the Fawcett Gold Medal Paperback Award for his third ...

, published by Scribner, New York in 1983. It is the first of three novels featuring three recurring characters in a small Southern town: editor Kiel St. James; Crystal Bunt, Kiel's young photographer girlfriend; and Chief of Detectives Orson Boles.

Plot

In a small

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

town, John Robinson, a disliked general manager of the local

paper Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, Textile, rags, poaceae, grasses, Feces#Other uses, herbivore dung, or other vegetable sources in water. Once the water is dra ...

, ''The Catherine Call,'' is found

murdered Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse committed with the necessary intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisdiction. ("The killing of another person without justification or excu ...

in the news room with a

spike Spike, spikes, or spiking may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Books * ''The Spike'' (novel), a novel by Arnaud de Borchgrave * ''The Spike'' (Broderick book), a nonfiction book by Damien Broderick * ''The Spike'', a starship in Peter ...

through his head. Managing editor Kiel St. James takes it upon himself to solve the crime to help keep the newspaper going.

Reviews

The ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' said "besides being a traditional, cleverly plotted murder mystery, ''Goodbye Goliath'' is an accurate picture of how a small-town newspaper operates. Mr. Chaze, himself a former city editor for a Mississippi paper, knows the ins and outs of the news room. He tells his story with a good deal of sophistication, including some sexual humor that never becomes offensive." Reviewing ''Goodbye Goliath'', along with two other novels by Chaze, ''Mr. Yesterday'' (1984) and ''Little David'' (1985), a reviewer for ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'' described them as "good, down-home fun with much flavorful

redneck ''Redneck'' is a derogatory term mainly applied to white Americans perceived to be crass and unsophisticated, closely associated with rural whites of the southern United States.Harold Wentworth, and Stuart Berg Flexner, ''Dictionary of American ...

talk...plenty of excitement too."

References

Novels by Elliott Chaze American mystery novels Detective novels 1983 American novels {{1980s-mystery-novel-stub