Nick, a former detective, is spending the Christmas and New Year's holidays in New York with his wife, Nora. While waiting for Nora to finish her shopping, Nick is having his drink in a speakeasy where he bumps into the daughter of an old client of his, Clyde Wynant.
Wynant has been missing for quite some time and coincidentally, Julia Wolf who is his secretary and mistress, was murdered. Wynant's daughter, Dorothy hopes that Nick can help to look for his father but he is no longer in the detective business and prefers to stay away from the case. Unfortunately, Wynant's family, his lawyer and the cops, think that Nick is on the case. So Nick helps the New York police to solve the murder case and start questioning Wynant's money loving ex-wife, Mimi. As there are more different versions of stories circulating around, anyone could be the murderer. Could it be Mimi, Dorothy or Wynant's son, Gil? Could it even be the lawyer, Herbert Macauley?
No one will know who the murderer is, until you finish the book. Classic detective stories seem to have more suspense, plot twists and is more dramatic. I'm wondering whether it's just this story, or most classic mystery novels were written in such way. I should read more classic novels to affirm this. Also, maybe due to the reason that I rarely read classic novels, it's slightly difficult for me to grasp the indirectness. I have to admit, this story really fits into the mystery-thriller genre with a lot of suspense; although in contrast, the story contains hilarious characters.
Rating: ★★★
More reviews can be found on Goodreads: The Thin Man.