Death of a Dude (Nero Wolfe Mysteries) [Paperback]

Rex Stout (Author)

Book Description

Series: Nero Wolfe Mysteries | Publication Date: January 2, 1995

Sedentary sleuth Nero Wolfe and his sidekick, Archie Goodwin, leave West Thirty-fifth Street for a Montana dude ranch to clear an innocent man of a murder charge. Reissue.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

The mountain couldn't come to Wolfe, so the great detective came to the mountain--to Lame Horse, Montana, to be exact. Here a city slicker got a country girl pregnant and then took a bullet in the back. Wolfe's job was to get an innocent man exonerated of the crime and catch a killer in the process. But when he packed his silk pajamas and headed west, he found himself embroiled in a case rife with local cynicism, slipshod police work, and unpleasant political ramifications. In fact, Nero Wolfe was buffaloed until the real killer struck again, underestimating the dandified dude with an unerring instinct for detection. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 204 pages
• Publisher: Bantam (January 2, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553762958
• ISBN-13: 978-0553762952
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.4 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #70,166 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of my favorites, November 25, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Death of a Dude (A Nero Wolfe Mystery) (Mass Market Paperback)

A later Nero that holds up very well. For dialogue between Wolfe and Archie it is one of the best and could be the funniest of them all. I have reread it several times and it is always fun.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The huckleberry murder, June 25, 2002

By 

Michele L. Worley (Kingdom of the Mouse, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Death of a Dude (A Nero Wolfe Mystery) (Mass Market Paperback)

Despite the title, this story has (slightly) more to do with _The Father Hunt_ than with _Death of a Doxy_; the research compiled by Amy Denovo on Lily Rowan's father is now being turned into a book. One of Archie's fellow guests during his vacation at Lily's ranch in Montana (the Bar JR) is Wade Worthy, the biographer who's working on James Rowan.

However, the dude of the title was Philip Brodell, who had returned to the area after seducing Alma Greve the year before - Brodell was found dead from a shot in the back on a huckleberry-picking expedition. Alma's father Harvey is now in jail, charged with murder, but Lily and Archie are convinced he's innocent, since they've both known him for years (see "The Rodeo Murder" in _Three at Wolfe's Door_). Archie takes an unpaid leave of absence from Wolfe until the case is finished. Wolfe, of course, isn't prepared to have Archie gone for an open-ended length of time, so after pulling a few strings to find out exactly what the case against Harvey is, he appears unannounced at the Bar JR soon after receiving Archie's letter, and he and Archie get to work on the investigation.

It's cool to see Wolfe loosen up a little; as a guest in someone else's domain, he'd be violating his personal standards if he took his eccentricity too far. (Archie, after watching him a little, says it's obvious Wolfe promised himself not to complain about the food no matter what.) Archie, for his part, has made friends over years of vacation visits to Lily out here: to name two, Woody, who runs what he calls the Hall of Culture (the dance hall and cinema pieces of it support him) and can hold his own in dinner conversation with Wolfe, and Carol, the wife of the accused and an ex-rodeo performer herself, who doesn't have a bible in the house to swear on, so she uses a saddle she won at the height of her career.

Some other neat touches include, but are by no means limited to: the guests at the dude ranch where the victim was staying; checking up on the alibi of Brodell's would-be rival for Alma Greve's affections, involving a history teacher, some chickens, and a roofing company; and a hilarious little passage wherein Archie takes time out to discuss censoring one of the wranglers' commentary on Brodell, a deserving victim if ever there was one.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars DUDE! This is fun!, May 13, 2010

By 

Miz Ellen "all the letters of my real name" (Bovine Universe) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Death of a Dude (Nero Wolfe Mysteries) (Paperback)

DEATH OF A DUDE shows why the Nero Wolfe mysteries by Rex Stout remain classics. Stout was a competent journeyman who consistently delivered easy to read prose, enjoyable puzzles and interesting characters. The heart and soul of the appeal of these books lies in the contrast between the characters of the quintessential legman Archie Goodwin and his brainy boss Nero Wolfe.

The contrast between Archie's energy and Wolfe's laziness and the tension between the two as Archie subtly spurs Wolfe into working is great fun in their normal milieu of New York City but elevates to a new level whenever Wolfe is forced out of his comfort zone, which is basically the armchair in his office.

In this book, Archie was on vacation at Lily Rowen's ranch in the Rockies when a guest of a dude ranch down the road is murdered. Everyone thinks the Lily's foreman has done the deed because Phil Brodell got the foreman's daughter pregnant. Archie and Lily are sure the foreman would never shoot a man in the back like that but Archie is going nowhere in trying to find the real culprit.

Here is where the real fun begins: Archie writes to Wolfe, taking an unpaid leave of absence and assuring his employer that he's sure to be back by the World Series...or maybe by election day.

Wolfe doesn't think he can do without Archie that long so he makes the trek to Lame Horse, Montana.

There he's in a place that for eccentricity beats him hollow. The pleasure of Nero Wolfe adapting to his Wild West environment is matched by the clever solution to the crime.

This is a great book for a summer reading program. It was first published in 1969.