Ten Book Club Discussion Questions

Adolph’s Gold by Donan Berg

1.  What conflicts protagonist Adolph Anderson other than the fact he doesn’t clip a gold detective shield to his belt?

2.  Was Chief Ron Howard right to pair Adolph and Luann? Was there ever any doubt that Adolph would achieve his gold shield?

3.  Did Adolph follow correct police investigative procedure or fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants?

Does it matter? If not to Adolph, to reality’s criminal justice system?

4.  Adolph finds scraps of poetry, or what ascribes to be poetry. What do they foreshadow?

If someone said it was an author’s trick to advance the story’s plot or to generate artificial suspense, would you agree or disagree?  What other foretelling is there?

5.  Did the locale add significance to the story?

6.  There is a multitude of secondary characters. Are all necessary? Did they distract or become vital to understanding Adolph or his gold shield quest? How important is Officer Finnegan? Rebecca? Dean Wainright? Lt. “Bulldog” Hunter?

7.  Is Adolph’s family important to understanding all sides of Adolph? What significance is his relationship to his wife, his daughter? Does Adolph’s interaction indicate he’s more concerned about his family’s well-being or that Adolph would act as he does for any individual in peril?

8.  Does any character name remind you of an earlier Donan Berg mystery?

9.  Is there a fear, an experience or a contemporaneous event that motivates Adolph to alter or confirm how he reacts the way he does? More than one?

10. Is it important to characterize the novel as a police procedural? Would it fit or cross to other genres? Mystery? Thriller? Literary? Character or family study?