Customer Reviews

FINAL DEDUCTION (NERO WOLFE)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Althea Vail, an actress who left the stage to become the trophy wife of millionaire Harold Tedder, was in time left a widow with 2 grown children. A few years ago, she acquired a trophy husband of her own - ex-standup comic Jimmy Vail. When Archie recognizes her on Wolfe's doorstep, he assumes that she's about to try to hire them for divorce evidence, and settles down to watch Wolfe throw her out.

Instead, they learn that Jimmy Vail has been kidnapped, and that Althea is prepared to pay the half-million ransom demanded as the price of his return. But to hedge her bets, she wants Wolfe in reserve, to avenge Jimmy if payment doesn't bring him back alive. Wolfe and Archie aren't to investigate unless Vail is harmed, and he does return home safely - only to be found dead shortly thereafter, crushed by a fallen statue of Benjamin Franklin. A tragic accident, coupled with the murder of Mrs. Vail's secretary...and Mrs. Vail's grown son and daughter aren't interested in hiring Wolfe to investigate it, but rather to recover the ransom money, since their mother will let whichever sibling finds it first *keep* it.

For once, the female characters aren't particularly sympathetic; Archie sympathizes with the son's desire to develop a spine, and can't abide the arrogant foolishness of the daughter. Saul, Fred, and Orrie are brought into play, keeping tabs on various suspects - not to expose a killer, technically - but given the fishy circumstances of the kidnapping, and of the secretary's death, they'll end up solving the murder to find the money. For another not-a-murder-investigation story (but with a wider playing field and more fun), see _Before Midnight_, where Wolfe's goal was to help salvage a contest - where the man bearing the answer sheet had been murdered, putting Wolfe squarely in Inspector Cramer's path. :)

The Final Deduction

Nothing anyone has to say will stop a Nero Wolfe fan from jumping at the chance to get their hands on another Wolfe Mystery and The Final Deduction should be no exception.

While it may lack some of the suspense and surprises of the better Wolfe narratives (The Black Mountain or any of his encounters with Arnold Zeck), The characters we have come to know and love all make an appearance. Saul, Fred, Orrie, are there to give Archie Goodwin a hand with the legwork, Inspector Cramer to harass Wolfe, Doc Vollmer to supply him with a hideout and of course Fritz and Theodore to maintain the all male bastion on West 35th St.

If this is your first Nero Wolfe mystery don't let it be your last. You'll soon be looking to visit the brownstone again and again to see how detective work was done before they all used cell phones and faxes. I'm a second generation Rex Stout fan and I know that if there is a heaven, then Rex is up there writing a new Wolfe Mystery for my mother every week.

When Archie Goodwin ushers former stage actress Althea Vail into Nero Wolfe's office, he assumes she will be dismissed in just a few minutes. Instead, Althea lays out a tale of kidnapping that Nero can't resist.

It seems that Althea's current husband, Jimmy Vail, has been kidnapped. Althea is more then willing to pay the ransom, but she wants to hire Nero in case something goes wrong.

The ransom payment goes fine and Jimmy returns. In fact, everything seems to be going well. Until the police call and ask Althea to identify a body. Nero has put his reputation on the line for this case, so he can't let it go. But what is really going on? Meanwhile, Nero is also hired to find the missing ransom money. Can he do that without leaving home?

This is only my second outing with Nero Wolfe, but I really enjoyed it. Nero is an interesting character. I must admit I tend to like him in spite of his harsh demeanor. I'm sure that Archie really helps in that regard. The plot moves swiftly from one event to another. The solution was obvious yet so covered with red herrings I never saw it coming.

The book was written in the 60's, so that makes the occasional reference dated. On the whole, this is a strong mystery that will please any fan of the genre.

This was my first stab at Nero Wolfe the towering 285lb detective who works out of his West 35th Street brownstone with sidekick and narrator Archie Goodwin, a man gifted with total recall of all he hears, sees or reads. Circa 1961 Althea Vail, widow of super rich Harold Tedder, gets a $500,000 ransom demand for Jimmy her dashing second husband, twelve years her junior. Wolfe interviews Althea's striking and tight-lipped secretary Dinah Utley whom he believes typed the ransom note. Dinah's dead before the next dawn.

Wolfe is arrogant, overbearing and unapologetic about how little he has to actually do for his outrageous fees. Both he and Archie are keenly insightful, precise and direct in anything they say though not particularly forthcoming. So they don't tell the police about the kidnapping, their suspicions of Dinah or how it ties to her death until the proscribed time two days later.

In the intirim Jimmy is found dead in the Howard F. Tedder library under a bronze statue of Ben Franklin. Noel Tedder Althea's son comes to Wolfe to recover the ransom money. Wolfe accepts his proposal and declares the murderer is one of those in the library with Jimmy - Althea, her children, her brother or her lawyer.

The story then follows a path that only the genius Wolfe can foresee until the murderer is finally exposed. Enjoy the nostalgia of an Underwood with multiple carbons instead of Microsoft Word and postal zones not zip codes, but don't expect anything logical or realistic in the plot. Michael Prichard, audio book reader, projects the bulk and arrogance of Wolfe in a delightful narration. This was an entertaining story to listen to, though I suspect it would have been somewhat tedious to read.

"Age doth not wither nor custom stale" our friends at the brownstone on West 35th Street, New York. Literally. Part of Rex Stout's genius in his Nero Wolfe mysteries is that the seventh-of-a-ton sleuth and his indispensible agent (and our narrator) Archie Goodwin truly are ageless. No forced retirement to beekeeping (or in Nero's case, orchid-keeping) for these two. Lucky for us! If you haven't made their acquaintance, this novel is perfectly good place to start and should keep you coming back for more. Indeed, as Wolfe might (and, as Archie tells us, does) say, it's "subdolous."

If you are not familiar with the rotund armchair detective Nero Wolfe, here would be a good place to start. Nero is a gourmand who grows orchids, and happens to solve mysteries for a living. He and his wonderful sidekick Archie Goodwin are always in on the best cases! The setting is early sixties New York City, and the nostalgia alone makes each book worth it. In this book a very rich woman comes to Wolfe to have help getting her husband back who was kidnapped. Of course Wolfe does not understand women, but he makes his own deductions anyway. Archie and Wolfe find there is murder running alongside this kidnapping, and Wolfe needs to figure out what is going on. These books are great. They are intelligent mysteries with a lot of black humour to help them go down.

Althea Vail is used to getting her own way, after all she usually got it. When she arrived on the doorstep of the brownstone though she found that she would not be catered to just because she was attractive and rich. Archie let her in only to annoy Wolfe. When the allure of both a large check and an intriguing problem was dangled in front of him even Nero Wolfe fell to the temptation. Althea's husband had been kidnapped and although she was determined to follow the kidnappers' instructions and deliver the ransom she wanted Wolfe to expose the kidnappers if her husband is not returned unharmed. Lured by the prospect of remaining at leisure for most of the year Wolfe agreed to take on the task. Little did he realize that he would soon be put to a great deal of inconvenience and acquire far more clients - and retainers - than he ever imagined.

The Nero Wolfe series bridges the gap between a straight detective story and the cozy genre. The problems are complex and intriguing, laid out fairly so the reader has as much chance as Archie to beat Wolfe to the solution while incorporating the cozy elements of recurring secondary characters, ongoing subplots and humor.

This is a usual Nero Wolfe adventure, we are treated to several rounds of verbal sparring between Archie and Wolfe, witness Orrie, Saul and Fred in action and even to see Wolfe forced to leave his house on a moment's notice. Fans of the series will delight in Wolfe forced out of his routine as much, if not more, than the intriguing problems that Wolfe and Archie are faced with in this one. Those who are new to the series would be able to enjoy this one but those who have at least a passing familiarity with this series will enjoy it more.

Rex Stout is a prolific mystery writer and is quite popular. I read one of his books some time ago and decided to read another one. I chose Final Deduction. Maybe just a bad choice, but I found his famous dectective, Nero Wolfe, to be a rude, arrogant jerk. The story itself is routine, if not boring, centering around a dysfunctional rich New York family. Who cares? I am sure there are better choices among the Nero Wolfe series and certainly there are better mystery writers.

Rex Stout's THE FINAL DEDUCTION receives Michael Prichard's warm recording - indeed, Prichard's narrated all the title by Stout featuring the Nero Wolfe protagonist, which lends a wonderful uniformity to this mystery revolving around a high-society kidnapping and murder.

Another in fine line of Nero Wolfe mysteries. I first met Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin on the A&E TV series and I have enjoyed all of the stories.