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Rex Stout, b. 1886, d. 1975 | ||
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****Hyperlinked titles will take you to our copy on sale or prebuilt searches of copies on sale****
Useful Links: Titles to Look Out For: Nero Wolfe (and Archie Goodwin); also often Inspector Cramer (NY Police); Purley Stebbins (NY Police) Tecumseh Fox [top] Mysteries [top] Novels [top] Rex Stout Collections [top] Anthologies in which Rex Stout stories appear [top] Anthologies (edited by Rex Stout) [top] Non Fiction Works [top] About the Author [top] He published his first story in October 1912 with the story "Excess Baggage" in 'Short Stories Magazine', for which he received a cheque for $25-00. Encouraged by this success, he then wrote a further six stories and submitted them to as many magazines. Incredibly for such a new writer, none was rejected. He then set to work in earnest on his writing career, figuring that he had the necessary to be successful. Over the next four years, he wrote about 24 further short stories and four novels, and was published in Lippincott's, Smiths Magazine, Black Cat, Short Stories, and Smart Set, not forgetting All-Story, which purchased most of his output, notably: He became a literary sensation when his first Nero Wolfe story 'Fer-de-Lance' was published in serial installments in 'The Saturday Evening Post'. It was said that on 18 October every year Rex Stout laid down his rake and hoe and strode indoors to write another novel for his increasing army of fans; conversely in April he used to return to the garden, forsaking literature for lilies, and crime for crocuses. This passion for flowers he shares with his detective, Nero Wolfe. But there the likeness ends, for Rex Stout is thin and incorrigibly active, whilst Nero Wolfe is, well, of larger build. Editions & Storylines Notes: Please note that if you are collecting Rex Stout 1st Editions, there are book club editions which are often advertised as 1st Editions and which are not. One way to identify a genuine first edition is that the dustjacket won't say that it's a book club edition (if you are lucky enough to get a dj); also the book MUST have a list of other Rex Stout books in the front for it to be a 1st Edition. If it doesn't it's a book club edition |
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1997, Caroll & Graf In stock, click to buy for £6.75 (not including p&p) Alternative online retailers to try: Or click here to access our prebuilt search for this title on Alibris Or click here to access our prebuilt search for this title on Ebay |
Storyline: This detective novel, Rex Stout's first foray into this genre follows the fortunes of the pretty, young Lila Williams, a telegraph operator at New York's swank Lamartine Hotel, as she becomes unwittingly enmeshed in the operations of a counterfeiting ring. For nothing here is quite what it seems, not even the safety Lila thinks she finds in the arms of the man who quickens the beat of her heart |
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1986, Penzler Books In stock, click to buy for £12.00 (not including p&p) Alternative online retailers to try: Or click here to access our prebuilt search for this title on Alibris Or click here to access our prebuilt search for this title on Ebay |
Story: The Cave of the Devil. Desirée Le Mire ran into the cave, anxious to explore, tempted by the legends of Inca Gold. Harry Lamar and his brother, Paul, had no choice but to follow. After all, they could not let the beautiful dancer enter the black depths alone. Desirée would not be alone for long, though. She and the Lamar brothers were not the only people in the cave. Others lived there, protecting the gold of their ancestors; others, now misshapen after generations of living underground. They were all that was left of a once proud tribe, and they would defend their realm as their forefathers had tried to do when the Spaniards came with their weapons and their horses. That was why no one who entered the cave ever emerged into daylight. That was why the natives and guides in the Andes stayed away. But no-one who had entered was as beautiful as Desirée...or as determined as the Lamars
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Mysterious Press, 1985, hbk
Mysterious Press, 1986, pbk |
1999, Severn House Publishers In stock, click to buy! Alternative online retailers to try: Or click here to access our prebuilt search for this title on Alibris Or click here to access our prebuilt search for this title on Ebay |
Story: Beautiful and deadly, Aline Solini is a study in pure evil. First encountered in a Balkan convent about to be sacked by marauding Turkish forces, she is rescued by richard Stetton, a wealthy American who becomes totally captivated by her. His wealth enables her to escape from Vasili Petrovich, the husband she tried to poison, and enter the highest social circles in Eastern Europe. There she meets other men of power and influence, and in continuing to ply her sensual talents, she is once more embroiled in deadly intrigue and murder... . Set in 1914, this book concerns Balkan intrigue and is the first Rex Stout novel to broach three subjects associated wih Nero Wolfe: the country where he spent his youth, how his marriage ended, and his feelings for women in general. Nero Wolfe was from the Balkan area, growing up in Lovchen, Montenegro, and he was named after Monte Nero, located there. Referred to as "that most dangerous thing in the world-a woman with the face of an angel and hte heart of a demon," Aline Solini further becomes the example in the extreme of Nero Wolfe's thoughts on women:"the vocations for which they are best adapted [are] chincanery, sophistication, self-advertisement, cajolery, mystification, and incubation...astonishing and successful animals."
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2007, Carroll & Graf, pbk 2002, Wildside Press, hbk |
1931, Morley & Mitchell Kennerley In stock, click to buy for £325.00 (not including p&p. Price reflects scarcity) Alternative online retailers to try: Or click here to access our prebuilt search for this title on Alibris Or click here to access our prebuilt search for this title on Ebay |
Main characters: Storyline: Coming soon... |
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1992, Bantam, pbk Sorry, sold out, but click image to access prebuilt search for this title on Amazon Alternative online retailers to try: Or click here to access our prebuilt search for this title on Alibris Or click here to access our prebuilt search for this title on Ebay |
Story: It all began when a dark-eyed Italian miss tried to charm Wolfe into finding her missing brother, only to discover it took more than charm to trigger Wolfe's genius-at least a thousand dollars more. But that was a pittance compared to what was to come. When the brother turned up dead, the case took on another, much wealthier corpse-a present from a monstrously ingenious murderer. Solution of the crime would fatten Wolfe's bank account, put his detective prowess to the ultimate test and place the entirety of his enormous person in the most dangerous position of his career. This happens when someone makes a surprise present of a fer-de-lance to Nero Wolfe (as any herpetologist will tell you, the fer-de-lance is among the most dreaded snakes known to man). But this incident means that Wolfe and Archie Goodwin know they're getting dreadfully close to solving the devilishly clever murders of the Italian immigrant and the college president. |
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1992, Scribners, hbk Sorry, sold out, but click image to access prebuilt search for this title on Amazon Alternative online retailers to try: Or click here to access our prebuilt search for this title on Alibris Or click here to access our prebuilt search for this title on Ebay
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Storyline: Having worked for Nero Wolfe for nine years, there are a few things about him that Archie Goodwin is no longer sceptical about: that he is the best private detective north of the South Pole; that outdoor air is apt to clog his lungs; and that it short circuits his nervous system to be jiggled and jostled. It is therefore no surprise to Archie that when the bumptious Mr. Frost pesters Wolfe to travel to the fashion house where a model has been murdered, Wolfe will have none of it. It is on because the fat detective is passionate about orchids that he is finally persuaded, and then it is only for ten minutes. So, it is more than unfortunate that this visit leads directly to another murder -player out in Wolfe's own home. Wolfe finds himself with three murders to solve and a growing list of the most unlikely clients. By this point, it is clear to all that a mysterious red box holds all the clues to the murders. The trouble is...no-one has seen it... Characters: |
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1972, Fontana, pbk Sorry, sold out, but click image to access prebuilt search for this title on Amazon Alternative online retailers to try: Or click here to access our prebuilt search for this title on Alibris Or click here to access our prebuilt search for this title on Ebay
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Storyline/Synopsis: Recipe for murder... Take 15 master cooks...place them in a hotel in West Virginia called Kanawha Spa...sprinkle with professional jealousy and stir till trouble thickens. Twenty-four hours later: serve one dead body, well chilled...add a purple-eyed dish called Constanza, one overheated Corsican, one hard-boiled widow and a Chinese girl in a pickle. Give the ingredients to Nero Wolfe and allow them to come to the boil.... Wolfe will present the solution on a plate! Main characters: Verdict: 7/10. Not the best Nero Wolfe story, but still very good. Unusual in that Nero Wolfe is firstly outside of his brownstone house in New York, and secondly he's travelling on a train. His utter dislike of travelling on trains provides some of the humour of the book. Nero of course has been lured out of his refuge by the sheer weight of top chefs coming together in one place - irresistible! Witness the determination with which Wolfe goes after Berin's saucisse minuit recipe for his own benefit! He has been invited as a guest by Marko Vukcic (master chef) and gives a speech 'Contributions Américaines a la Haute Cuisine' (American Contributions to Haute Cuisine) There are some uncomfortable passages where Wolfe is talking to the black workers in the hotel complex and he tries to address racial questions and issues. Even bearing in mind that this was originally written in the 1930s, doesn't make this particular bit any easier to read. |
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1971, Fontana In stock, click image to access Amazon listing for this book Alternative online retailers to try: Or click here to access our prebuilt search for this title on Alibris Or click here to access our prebuilt search for this title on Ebay
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Story: A Classic Case... When someone renders Caesar rather more than his due, and Nero Wolfe is called in, there are all the ingredients for an imperial mystery. But Rome wasn't built in a day, as even the emperor of detection discovers, caught up in the rivalry between the Osgoods and the Pratts. When a second body is discovered and Wolfe confesses to having no evidence against the perpetrator, Archie Goodwin is afraid his master's powers have suffered a decline and fall. But Nero shows himself to be a true Colossus Don't be put off by the farming element in this book -it trully is one of the best Rex Stout mysteries with a lot of humour in it Main Characters: Verdict: 9/10. Excellent fun this story and the relationship between Archie and Lily Rowan is fun and interesting, but DON'T read this without reading some other Nero Wolfe mysteries first because you just won't get the most out of the Nero-Archie relationship, nor what Archie's character is like. The Archie-Lily relationship works really well because Lily's quite obviously "stuck" on Archie despite her reputation for leading men on and then dropping them for something more interesting. Archie is also quite obviously keen on Lily, but keeps giving her the brush off and treats her mean (not too mean, but still mean - at one point he addresses her as '"Hello Plaything'"), which perversely serves to keep her interested in him and she seems to be quite willing to accommodate his plans at the expense of her own. Look out for the bit where Archie is in jail and Lily out of the blue comes to visit him. He gets her to phone Nero Wolfe late at night to wake him up, pretending to be Archie's mother who has flown out to Virginia to come and find her son who she hears has been imprisoned. Lily is more than happy to do this... Nero darkly tells Archie later that they will have to discuss that episode when they get back to New York... |
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1994, Bantam, pbk In stock, click to buy for £2.85, not including p&p Alternative online retailers to try: Or click here to access our prebuilt search for this title on Alibris Or click here to access our prebuilt search for this title on Ebay
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Story: When a Balkan beauty gets in trouble (in New York) over some missing diamonds belonging to a student at the Miltan's fencing school she teaches at, whom else can she turn to but the world-famous Nero Wolfe? Especially since she claims to be Wolfe's long-lost daughter! The stakes are suddenly raised when a student at this woman's fencing school ends up dead after a pointed lesson. As Wolfe and his sidekick, Archie, thrust and parry into a tangle of documents, identities, and international intrigue, another student's body turns up, expertly skewered through the heart. Is Wolfe's long-lost daughter the black sheep of the family - a hot-blooded mistress of murder? Main characters: You begin to realise that characters in the story are up to much shadier dealings than first suspected and the book makes a big play of the fact that Neya and Carla are from the Balkans and therefore cannot be trusted. At one point, Cramer in all of this remarks that he's just a New York cop, which stops you with a jolt and makes you realise that the murders are different in this Rex Stout mystery. You suddenly realise that Cramer is feeling overawed by the greater circumstances - almost saying that he's at their mercy. These are murders generated by international intrigue; and the reasons for them and the ramifications of them lie beyond US borders and far beyond the law-enforcement powers of a New York cop trying to do his job. An alleged daughter of Wolfe provides comic fodder, which Rex Stout could probably have made much more of. Archie's up to his normal tricks of winding Wolfe up; and he straight away plays the 'how about I marry your daughter [Neya]?' card with predictable irritation from Wolfe: '"When I marry her I guess it will be unavoidable for me to call you Dad." |
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1992, Bantam, pbk In stock, click to buy for £5.00, not including p&p Alternative online retailers to try: Or click here to access our prebuilt search for this title on Alibris Or click here to access our prebuilt search for this title on Ebay
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About this book/synopsis: Why did the late multimillionaire Noel Hawthorne leave his sisters April, May and June, a peach, a pear and an apple? And why did he will the bulk of his considerable estate to a woman who was most definitely not his wife? Nero Wolfe takes on a task to investigate a will, but it soon becomes clear that his investigative forté at investigating murder will be needed instead and as the victims stack up, Nero's genius quietly puts itself to work, and a solution and credible explanation of circumstances and guilt becomes apparent. Main characters: Verdict: 6/10 Stout could have made a lot more out of June Hawthorne's daughter, Sara Dunn. The character is brash, young, inexperienced and innocent - she has lots of potential to be a semi-irritating, overly helpful and comic character, set against the background of an irritable Archie and silent, sombre straightman Wolfe. The book is historically interesting in itself in that it refers to the news from Europe not being good right at the very start of the book (i.e. the Second World War getting into stride) |
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1973, Hamish Hamilton (Fingerprint) In stock, click to buy for £6.00, not including p&p Alternative online retailers to try: Or click here to access our prebuilt search for this title on Alibris Or click here to access our prebuilt search for this title on Ebay |
Story: 'Poison in the Paté' was the agonised message that brought production at Tingley's Titbits factor to a halt. The doses were not lethal to the customers, but they would be to Tingley's reputation if the sabotage did not stop. It looked like a case of cut-throat competition until Tecumseh Fox began to investigate. In no time at all, a throat was really cut and Fox finds that his own client is the prime suspect. Nor was he much helped by Amy Duncan, herself a private investigator who had bungled her first important assignment and been fired in disgrace. Then Amy finds a body-and is herself neatly framed for murder... |
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Finger Print Books, Hbk, 1973: |
1994, Bantam Sorry, sold out, but click image to access prebuilt search for this book on Amazon
Alternative online retailers to try: Or click here to access our prebuilt search for this title on Alibris Or click here to access our prebuilt search for this title on Ebay |
Story: Nero Wolfe is back! And hard at work...if you can call it work...dividing his time between the orchid room upstairs and the custom-built armchair in the study downstairs...lubricating his mental processes with a steady stream of iced beer...and keeping Archie Goodwin and twenty other trained detectives dashing around town doing the dirty work! When a powerful government bureau director, scheduled to speak to a group of millionnaires, turns up dead, with his head smashed in by a demonstration monkey wrench, it is an event worthy of the notice of the great Nero Wolfe. Balancing on the edge of financial ruin, the orchid-loving detective grudgingly accepts the case working his way through the twisted trail of hatreds and jealousies, public and private....needless to say Inspector Cramer is not amused to find Wolfe sniffing around the case. Soon a second victim is found bludgeoned to death, a missing stenographer's tape causes an uproar, and the dead man speaks, after a fashion. While the business world clamors for a solution, Nero Wolfe patiently lays a trap that will net him a killer worth his weight in gold. |
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Not in stock. Click to access prebuilt Amazon search for this title! Alternative online retailers to try: Or click here to access our prebuilt search for this title on Alibris Or click here to access our prebuilt search for this title on Ebay |
Storyline: When Priscilla Eads, heiress to cotton-towel millions, first pleads for Nero Wolfe's assistance, the portly detective decides to wash his hands of a case that has more than its share of dirty laundry. Just hours later Miss Eads and her maid are found strangled to death under circumstances that don't quite wash. Now, to the dismay of a greedy board of directors and a fortune-hunting South American ex-husband, the astute Wolfe feels, on second thought, a certain responsibility to dip into Priscilla's case and scrub away the stain-of murder! |
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1970, 4th printing, pbk In stock, click to buy for £15.25 Alternative online retailers to try: Or click here to access our prebuilt search for this title on Alibris Or click here to access our prebuilt search for this title on Ebay
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Storyline: Set in New York and Montenegro, Black Mountain is the name of a mountain Nero Wolfe first climbed when he was 9 years old back in the country of his birth and childhood, Montenegro, and it sits on the border with Albania, which in this story is a puppet state of Soviet Russia. It's an apt title, for it's from this area that the troubles in this book originate, dragging Nero Wolfe into some unusual and very dangerous situations both for himself and Archie and his contacts in Montenegro. Marko Vukcic is dead; the owner of Rusterman's Restaurant and life-long friend of Nero Wolfe has been gunned down outside his house where he lived alone on the top floor at East Fifty-Fourth Street, NY, by an unknown assailant in a parked car. This is shocking enough news, but for Nero Wolfe it's enough for him to allow Archie to break the rule of not speaking about business during dinner and for Nero to attend the morgue in person - the only time he ever did that. But Marko grew up with Nero in Montenegro and it's natural that Nero should feel a strong loyalty to this man; after all they both kept in touch and shared each other's dinner tables twice a month. This story also marks the first time that Nero Wolfe started a murder investigation by a personal visit to a crime scene... Some suspicion immediately falls upon the six workers at Marko's restaurant - six men who knew that Marko had no close relatives and no relatives at all in New York; six men who knew they would inherit the restaurant if he were to bite the dust. But Felix Martin, Leo and Joe would have happily taken the bullet for Marko, tackled the gunman or called for help - something to stop the murder anyway - and their consciences appear clean. The lead in the case comes from Nero's adopted daughter (now a widow: Mrs. William R. Britton)- she's waiting for Nero and Archie in Nero's brownstone when they get back from the restaurant and discussing the case with Cramer and Felix. Carla reveals that she was working for the freedom of the Montenegrin people alongside Marko and is contemptuous of Nero for not joining and funding the cause. It emerges that Marko was heavily involved in the movement, so much so that supplies had been moved into the country - potentially including weapons. It's only natural therefore that Nero starts thinking along the lines of this being a 'hit' organised by either the Tito government in Yugoslavia or the Russian puppet government in Albania. The weeks progress and Nero and Inspector Cramer get nowhere - nothing cracks the case open, not the women Marko had been involved with, nor the car used in shooting, not the fingerprints recovered. All dead ends, with the press hanging on to the story, sure it had an international angle and loving the fact that Nero Wolfe could not solve it, nor bill anyone for the work; and it being his best friend shot as well! It's with a visit from a Mr. Stahl of the FBI that Nero and Archie learn that Nero's daughter Carla is under investigation, but they also learn from Stahl that she has disappeared. It's not till Wolfe speaks to Bodin in Paris and Hitchcock in London that they learn about a contact in Bario named Telesio. He makes three calls to Nero and Archie after this initial contact is made - the first reporting that Nero's daughter has made it to Bari, leaving hours later in a small boat crossing the Adriatic (to get to Montenegro). The second call they receive from Telesio tells Wolfe that the man they seek is within sight of the Mountain (i.e. the murderer of Marko is in Montenegro); and the third call is bleak - Carla is dead. And so starts the dangerous and exciting journey to Montenegro (via London and Bari, Italy) by Nero and Archie to find the murderer(s) of Marko and Carla, on the way meeting Marko's son Danilo Vukcic and his family; and encountering danger and menace both from locals and officials. With guidance and help from men of The Spirit of the Black Mountain and with Archie Goodwin (armed with his own Marley pistol - at his insistence!) at his side, Nero determinedly strives to identify and snare the culprit(s) Verdict: 6.5/10 - not very gripping, just average and the novelty of Wolfe getting out of his house has worn off (since he has done this on other occasions despite Rex Stout's protestations that Wolfe never leaves the house) even if it's the first time he's going to a morgue, and then abroad, and then up mountains! The all-important banter between Archie and Wolfe is missing, mainly because the two of them spend most of their time in Montenegro in this book and the only one who can speak the language is Wolfe, so Archie merely gets reports of what has happened secondhand. The magic is therefore missing and the story is sluggish and lumpish. An rather horrific comment is made quite early in this story (p.20 in the Bantam 1970 4th printing), horrific in the light of the appalling atrocities committed in the March 1992 - November 1995 Bosnia - Herzegovina conflict; and that of Kosovo in 1995-1999. Nero and Archie are researching and contacting organisations in the phonebook whose name begins 'Yugoslav'. They learn this: that "Serbs don't care for Bosnians and even less for Croats." Chilling stuff. Stout could have made much more of the fact that we end up at Wolfe's birthplace at one point in the story; also the part where the local officials let him and Archie go is incredible and hugely unbelievable. It's almost as if Rex Stout said to himself, "I've got to explore Nero's roots in some way and set a murder mystery in Montenegro - and at the same time get rid of the Carla character I've lumbered myself with", but that his writing skills just weren't up to the task; either that or his heart just wasn't in it. Characters: |
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1980, Bantam, pbk In stock, click to buy for £10.25, not including post and packing Alternative online retailers to try: Or click here to access our prebuilt search for this title on Alibris Or click here to access our prebuilt search for this title on Ebay
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Storylines: Invitation to Murder The background here, as Lewent explains it to the two of them, is that his wayward behaviour caused a rift between him and his father when he was young. Despite this, his father continued to pay him an allowance and never saw him starve. However, when his father died, he left everything to Mr. Lewent's sister Beryl with the proviso that she continue to consider her brother's needs. She honoured her father's wishes and continued to give some financial support to her brother right up until her death; which occurred at a point in time when Mr. Lewent was residing abroad. The multi-million inheritance, which Mr. Lewent so depended (and depends) upon ended up with Theodore Huck, the husband of his late sister; and it was willed to him with exactly the same provision in it about considering the needs of Mr. Lewent. Huck honours the provision and continues to pay Lewent a monthly allowance - $1,000 - the symbolic figure that Lewent puts in front of Nero and Archie. Trouble is, the way Lewent figures it, this allowance is in deep peril. Huck's nephew, Paul Thayer, who is living in his uncle's (Huck's) mansion, has warned Lewent that there are indications that one of the three women Huck employs (the secretary - Miss Dorothy Riff; the housekeeper - Mrs Cassie O' Shea; or the nurse - Miss Sylvia Marcy) is making a concerted play for millionnaire Huck. Lewent is naturally concerned that once Huck and the girl have got together, they'll start thinking of ways to stop paying him any inheritance whatsoever. You might ask why Lewent figures he'd get cut off - fact is, his sister was murdered by ptomaine poisoning from something she ate. Together with the rumour from Thayer that one of the women is after Huck, Lewent reckons that the woman in question is likely to have gone as far as murdering his sister in the first place. Lewent therefore needs Nero and Archie to find out which of the women it is so he can try and win her sympathy to try and insure against his allowance being cut off. Nero's not impressed with this job- he gets up and leaves the room. Archie's then a bit stuck - he can't turn down Lewent's work and continue to ride Wolfe about all the work he keeps turning down (and let's face it, winding up Nero Wolfe is something Goodwin relishes with fanatical zeal!). So Lewent gets Goodwin's talents for his thousand bucks. Little does Wolfe realise that he's going to end up solving the case himself anyway and that of an additional murder! Goodwin might not be able to get a handle on this assignment, but there's one thing this case proves - he sure knows how to manipulate Wolfe into leaving the comfort of the Brownstone and coming to his rescue! The Zero Clue Archie therefore decides to drop in on Heller and, when witnessed setting foot in Heller's building by a selection of his clients, accidentally sets off a whole train of events. Leo gets topped by the client he suspects of committing a crime, but not before leaving a cryptic clue for the cops in the form of pencils left on his desk that say: “N. W.” But what does this mean? Has Wolfe murdered his client? Or is there another explanation? The cops are naturally keen to find out and are rapidly losing patience with Wolfe's protestations that he has a good idea who the culprit is. It's only when Wolfe twigs what the pencils are saying that the inventive murderer is unmasked. This Won't Kill You Archie loves the Giants, but things are going badly for them…and even worse for one of their players – Nick Ferrone. Owner of the Giants, Emil Chisholm, in debt to Nero over a previous case, secured them the all-important tickets for this match; and knowing just how good Wolfe is at solving mysteries, immediately sends for him when things start going wrong. He establishes from the pitiful performance of four of his players that they've been doped. Someone in the know has drugged their Beebright drinks with Sodium Phenobarbital. Not just that, but Nick Ferrone has gone missing. Archie's investigations lead him to stumble upon a body; the police have been called, and the race to identify the killer and the perpetrator of the drugging gets underway: Wolfe needs to get to the answer first; he's got a fat fee to earn! Characters: The Zero Clue This Won't Kill You Verdict: 8/10. Rex Stout on top form - three excellent, fun stories, showing Archie Goodwin at his best winding Nero Wolfe up and lots of appearances by the impatient and bad-tempered Inspector Cramer. The baseball murder mystery 'This Won't Kill You' is the best of the bunch - well written, interesting, funny, tense, and keeps the culprit hidden right to the end. Plus Archie proves to be a key mover in cracking the case on his own initiative. This book will also provide a good introduction to the detective duo to anyone new to Rex Stout mysteries. |
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Other Rex Stout Books: Nero Wolfe DVDs American Murder Mystery: |
1972, Fontana In stock, click to buy for £2.75, not including p&p Alternative online retailers to try: Or click here to access our prebuilt search for this title on Alibris Or click here to access our prebuilt search for this title on Ebay |
Story: Pour Amour Ltd. runs a nationwide 'Beauties of History' competition to advertise its exotic new perfume. A million dollars in prize money awaits the lucky winners, but only one man knows the results. When that man is found murdered, with the vital information stolen from his corpse, Pour Amour calls in Nero Wolfe. The great detective, used to putting brains before beauty, is soon on the scent and, after bending the rules a little, eventually comes up with all the answers |
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1996, Bantam Sorry, out of stock, but click to access prebuilt search for this title on Amazon Alternative online retailers to try: Or click here to access our prebuilt search for this title on Alibris Or click here to access our prebuilt search for this title on Ebay |
Story: Faith Usher had a decidedly morbid personality. She talked about taking her life, and kept cyanide in her purse. So when she collapses and dies from a lethal champagne cocktail in the middle of a high society dinner party, everyone calls it suicide-including the police. but Archie was watching it all, and suspects it was murder. So does Nero Wolfe, especially after he's warned by four men against taking the case. For the world's most formidable detective it is a tantalizing puzzle involving an unlikely combination of philanthropy, deception, blackmail, and an unrepentant killer who just may have committed the perfect crime... |
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1973, Bantam, pbk In stock, click to buy for £10.99. Decent reading copy, but vintage Alternative online retailers to try: Or click here to access our prebuilt search for this title on Alibris Or click here to access our prebuilt search for this title on Ebay
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Story: Paul Jerin was a mental freak - one of those eerily brilliant geniuses who could play a dozen games of chess at once and win every one of them and he was setting out to do just this at the Gambit Club, West Twelfth Street, New York. Matthew Blount was a millionnaire fanatic with a fiendishly ingenious plan for beating Jerin at his favourite pastime. At the Gambit Club that Tuesday night, January 30th, there was an event - Jerin, 26 yrs old was to play 12 simultaneous games with twelve of the Gambit Club Members. But there was more, he was going to do it BLINDFOLD. The scene: Gambit Club, 40 members present, all male. Additionally Paul Jerin, the steward Bernard Nash and the cook Tony Laghi were in the club. On the ground floor, there were 12 chess tables in two rows, six tables in each row ranged along the walls. At each table, a club member sat with his back to the wall. In the middle of the room between the tables, the other members could walk around and watch the moves. Four of these club members were messengers between their three numbered tables and Jerin the chess genius, who was in the back of the club in the library. When a man made a move, the messenger would go into Jerin, report the number of the table and the move made. Jerin would give the messenger his move in reply. Jerin was alone in the library except when the messengers came in, who were: Charles W. Yerkes, banker; Daniel Kalmus, attorney-at-law (Matthew Blount's lawyer); Ernst Hausman, wealthy retired broker; and Morton Farrow, Mrs. Matthew Blount's nephew. Matthew Blount played at table 6. 8.40 pm. Play Starts. A pot of hot chocolate is taken in to Jerin (he always drinks this), but at 9.30, Jerin heads downhill fast and says he can't carry on. Dr. Avery is called, but can't save him. Suspicion points at the chocolate - Matthew Blount carried it in to Jerin and is prime suspect. His daughter, Sally Blount, has $22,000 (twenty-two thousand) she's collected together to hire Wolfe to prove he's not guilty and get him out of custody. So, it was up to Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin to prove that Blount's plan had not included murder... But if it wasn't him, who was it? Especially since the case against Blount looked pretty open and shut. Possibly Nero's toughest case yet, he steps up to the plate and provides the goods for a great mystery! Characters: Verdict: 9/10: But fundamentally you know that Nero is a nice guy - he might be bad tempered (irritable is probably better) fussy and work-shy, but once he's used to a new situation, he makes the most of it. In this story, for example, after his dictionary ripping exercise (we find Nero doing this at the start of the book -he's taken offence at Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language-and decides to feed the fire with it), he finds the client has been reading Voltaire from his library and proceeds to rip into Voltaire as well with discussion stretching from lunch to dinner for this topic...not a topic many dinner tables would take on I suspect. |
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More Nero Wolfe Books on Amazon: African Genesis: |
1993, Bantam In stock, click to buy for £1.99, not including p&p Alternative online retailers to try: Or click here to access our prebuilt search for this title on Alibris Or click here to access our prebuilt search for this title on Ebay |
Story: When an abandoned baby is left on her doorstep, the young socialite widow knows only too well the identity of the father: her deceased philanderer of a husband. But who is the mother? The case seems like child's play to Wolfe, until the first dead body. While the police nurse their grudges against him, and the widow nurses Archie, the genius sleuth and his sidekick look for the hand that rocked the cradle. But nothing can pacify the killer, who's found the formula for murder-and is determined to milk it for all it's worth. |
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1973, Bantam, pbk In stock, click to buy for £1.85, not including postage and packing Alternative online retailers to try: Or click here to access our prebuilt search for this title on Alibris Or click here to access our prebuilt search for this title on Ebay
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Storyline: Many clients had tried or ordered Nero Wolfe to pay them a visit and the answer was usually a resounding "No." Nero didn't leave his brownstone in New York - he didn't see why he should-and he didn't travel far when he did. So persuading Nero to travel halfway across the United States to get to Montana to help with a case was going to take some careful crafting of the wording in the letter Archie was addressing to Nero from Lily Rowan's ranch in Montana. But this was going to be a cinch - Archie was well aware of how to push Nero Wolfe's buttons and get a reaction and here would be no different. After all, if Archie couldn't solve this case he'd taken on in Montana, it would delay even further his return to the brownstone in New York and this in itself would nag at Nero, a man who hates uncertainty. When Nero received the letter, Archie knew very well he would glare at Archie's chair...Archie's been trying to solve the murder of Philip Brodell, a dude shot in the back while picking Huckleberries. Trouble is Lily Rowan's ranch manager Harvey Greve has been arrested for the crime and put in the County Jail and whilst both Lily and Archie are convinced he didn't do it most of the townsfolk, including his own daughter, do. Archie - due to stonewalling by the townsfolk - has reached a dead end. No-one will talk and he's at a loss to know where to proceed from here. All the townsfolk see Archie and Lily as out-of-towners (dude and dudine) and the shooting of a Brodell is their fault. Of course it doesn't help that Archie's favourite for the crime is Gilbert Haight, who works at the Presto Gas Station and is the sheriff's (Morley Haight's) son. Anyway, you'll have to read the book to find out if Nero gets involved or if Archie solves it on his own... Characters: Verdict: 7/10: Lending credibility and edge to the story are the problems Nero and Archie experience with the local Montana officers, here the sheriff Haight and the county attorney Jessup, where political machinations get in the way of the murder investigation, but it's nice to see Wolfe outside of his brownstone and up against different officers of the law and different sets of problems. Overall, this story doesn't shine and it's not remarkable; but it's still good writing and still very enjoyable, even if just for adding to the Nero and Archie story; and the Archie and Lily story |
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Other Rex Stout Books: |
1965, Viking Press, hbk In stock, click to buy for £12.00, not including p&p Alternative online retailers to try: Or click here to access our prebuilt search for this title on Alibris Or click here to access our prebuilt search for this title on Ebay |
Contents:
Each story in this collection features a witness, not to a murder but to the events leading to it.
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