Fer-de-Lance/The League of Frightened Men [Paperback]

Rex Stout (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 24, 2008

A grand master of the form, Rex Stout is one of America’s greatest mystery writers, and his literary creation Nero Wolfe is one of fiction’s greatest detectives. Here, in Stout’s first two complete Wolfe mysteries, the arrogant, gourmandizing, sedentary sleuth and his trusty man-about-town Archie Goodwin solve their most baffling cases.

Fer-de-lance
The fer-de-lance is among the most deadly snakes known to man. When someone makes a present of one to Nero Wolfe, his partner, Archie Goodwin, suspects it means Wolfe is getting close to solving the devilishly clever murders of an immigrant and a college president. But this is a case with more twists than an angry rattler...and if Wolfe doesn’t handle it with extreme care, he’ll be the next one struck by a killer with poison in his heart.

The League of Frightened Men
Paul Chapin’s Harvard cronies never forgave themselves for the hazing prank that left their friend a cripple. Yet they believed that Paul himself had forgiven them—until a class reunion ends in death and a series of poems promising more of the same. Now this league of frightened men is desperate for Nero Wolfe’s help. But can even the great detective outwit a killer smart enough to commit an unseen murder…in plain sight?

Editorial Reviews

Review

Praise for Fer-de-Lance


“Fer-de-Lance will be welcomed by the legions of Rex Stout fans, and serve as welcome introduction to a whole new generation of mystery buffs.” —Midwest Book Review

“A 1934 period mystery that is remarkably fresh.” —Roanoke Times

About the Author

Rex Stout, born 1886 in Indiana/USA, worked at thirty different professions until he earned enough money to travel. In 1932, he began to write thrillers focusing on the famous detective Nero Wolfe. Nero is a gourmet weighing more than a hundred kilos, and moving as little as possible. Rex Stout finished more than fifty novels and received the "Grand Masters Award". He died 1975.

Rex Stout,1886 in Indiana/USA geboren, soll ca. dreißig Berufe ausgeübt haben, bevor er mit einem von ihm selbst konzipierten Sparkassensystem so viel Geld verdiente, daß er ausgedehnte Reisen unternehmen konnte. 1932 begann er, Kriminalromane zu schreiben in deren Mittelpunkt fast immer der berühmte Privatdetektiv Nero Wolfe steht. Dieser ist eine über hundert Kilo "schwergewichtiger" Gourmet, der sich so wenig wie möglich bewegt und leidenschaftlicher Orchideenzüchter ist. Rex Stout wurde für seine über fünfzig Romane mit dem "Grand Masters Award" ausgezeichnet. Er starb 1975.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 608 pages
• Publisher: Bantam (June 24, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553385453
• ISBN-13: 978-0553385458
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 1.3 x 8.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #249,227 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Quick, fun read, July 13, 2008

By 

C. Bayne "katluvr_1" (Phoenix, AZ United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Fer-de-Lance/The League of Frightened Men (Paperback)

I've grown up knowing about Nero Wolfe. I remember the TV show when I was a kid, and there's also a more current TV series that looks pretty good, though I have to admit I don't remember watching any of the episodes of either series. I worked in a library for several years, shelving books for a living, and it seems like there were an awful lot of Rex Stout books to put away. But I hadn't read any of them at that time either.

So I was pleasantly surprised when I finally sat down to read these two novels. Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin are a fascinating team. Portly, orchid-loving genius Wolfe and tough guy Goodwin are polar opposites, but they work together well. Though these are the first two books in the series, Stout keeps dropping hints that the characters have a long history together.

Fer-De-Lance has Wolfe and Goodwin hunting for the murderer of an immigrant and a college professor. The League of Frightened Men has them hunting for a killer who seems to be bumping off members of a group that had hazed a fellow college student decades ago resulting in his permanent injury.

One of the things I thought was kind of fun with these stories is how un-PC they are. For example, Archie refers to the victim of a hazing prank as "cripple" frequently. No, it's not sensitive, but Archie isn't a sensitive guy. Besides, these were written 70+ years ago. People talked that way then. I'm fascinated by how culture has changed over the years, and because of that, these two books are a blast to read.

Oh, and the mysteries are interesting and well written, too. :)

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The First Wolfe Novels--Among the Best, April 19, 2010

By 

Lazy reviewer (Phoenix, AZ USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fer-de-Lance/The League of Frightened Men (Paperback)

I love almost all the Nero Wolfe novels [none of the imitators or TV shows match up]. The early novels are usually more complex and well-developed than the later ones. These are the first two, I think, and the first is among the best, the second in the top half of Stout's works. Fer-de-Lance is great; the characters aren't fully grown here, but you can see where Stout started in honing in on the archetypal characters Wolfe and Archie. Wolfe deduces one surprise after another; the chains of subtle reasoning are close to being implausible, but are amazing and convincing anyway, more than in almost any of his other novels. The villain is impressive, almost as smart as Wolfe.

I didn't like 'The League...' as much. It's more far-fetched, indulging Stout's interest in almost psychotic characters. It's still complex, and has some entertaining deductive twists, as well as neat confrontations among characters. But Stout shouldn't have started breaking the rules governing his characters so early [Wolfe leaving the house].

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Great writing marred by typos, September 20, 2010

By 

Dennis M. Southwood - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Fer-de-Lance/The League of Frightened Men (Paperback)

This Bantam edition of Rex Stout's first two Nero Wolfe novels is littered with typographical errors. They are not arcane errors that only grammar geeks would care about; they are careless errors in which words are misspelled, the wrong words used, or entire phrases seem to be missing. A competent proofreader would have caught the typos. Any reader is likely to be annoyed by them.

The pity of it is that the stories themselves are wonderful, but they need a better setting than this. It's like seeing Wolfe's orchids displayed in a cracked, dime-store vase. Don't miss the stories, but choose a different edition.