Double for Death [Mass Market Paperback]

Rex Stout (Author), Robert Stanley (front cover) (Illustrator)

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback
• Publisher: New York: Dell # 495 2nd Printing 1951 (reprints # 9); . edition (1951)
• ASIN: B001NRSJRA
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,929,847 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Introducing Tecumseh Fox, August 12, 2002

By 

frumiousb "frumiousb" (Amsterdam, the Netherlands) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Double for Death (Mass Market Paperback)

_Double for Death_ is the first of the Tecumseh Fox mysteries. Tecumseh Fox is a detective of an entirely different breed than Nero Wolfe. The opposite of fastidious and antisocial Wolfe, his farm is a collection of oddballs and drifters and Fox is famous for his inability to turn anybody away. While as smooth and cool in deduction as Wolfe, Fox's weakest links are his less-than-perfect lieutenants.

In _Double For Death_ we have a corpse that may or may not be who it appears to be, a girl who keeps being revealed as a liar only to be found to be telling the truth, a detective with a disregard for the finer points of due process, and a man who has many reasons to be murdered. Fox needs to sort the strange double death of the murder victim and find the identity of the killer.

Stout considered this his best detective novel, and who am I to argue with the great man himself?

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Stout's somewhat snobbish bypath, December 18, 1997

By 

[e-mail] (Espoo, Finland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Double for Death (Mass Market Paperback)

In this book Stout presents his other notable character besides Nero Wolfe: Tecumseh Fox, a self-made man who is quite a benefactor for a detective. Double for Death does not quite match the well-balanced rhythm and urban atmosphere of his better known Wolfe series. This book underlines a little bit too much how its plot relies on the nuances of the English language. The solution is obvious if the reader happens to have an eye for spellathlons; if not, too bad. Still, the story is readable, and definitely a must for any serious Stout fan just in order to help appreciate the discreetly designed Wolfe-Goodwin setup in most of his books.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Read This AFTER You've Read All The Nero Wolfes, September 20, 2005

By 

Chris Ward (Costa Rica) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Double for Death (Crime Line) (Paperback)

I love Rex Stout. He wrote the best mysteries, bar none, ever written: the Nero Wolfe series. They crackle with wit and originality, and the plots are beautiful little puzzle-boxes of logic. What Wodehouse was to the comic novel, Stout was to the mystery.

Stout himself felt that his best-plotted novel was this one. Featuring Tecumseh Fox, it's longer than most of the Nero Wolfes, and (for me, anyway), not as much fun by a long shot. It's still enjoyable, but should not be put before the dozens of novels and short stories featuring that "mere genius" Wolfe.

I won't be rereading this one-- but look forward to the passage of a decade so I can begin rereading all the Wolfe canon with a fresh palate....