Fer de Lance [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Rex Stout (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1982

As any herpetologist will tell you, the fer-de-lance is among the most dreaded snakes known to man.  When someone makes a present of one to Nero Wolfe, Archie Goodwin knows he's getting dreadully close to solving the devilishly clever murders of an immigrant and a college president.  As for Wolfe, he's playing snake charmer in a case with more twists than an anaconda -- whistling a seductive tune he hopes will catch a killer who's still got poison in his heart.

--This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

I've promised myself for the past decade that, when I finally retire, my first major project will be to reread the entire Nero Wolfe canon in chronological order, a worthwhile occupation if ever there was one.

Although entirely different and not nearly as literary as Ross Macdonald's Lew Archer series or the Philip Marlowe novels of Raymond Chandler, the Wolfe saga deserves to be ranked with them as among the finest series of detective stories ever written by an American. Fer-de-lance introduces the brilliant, idiosyncratic, and obese armchair detective to the world and, while it may not be the best book of the series, it provides a wonderful murder set on a golf course and a cast of characters and laundry list of eccentricities that are an integral part of each novel and novella.

Rex Stout has managed to pull off a feat unparalleled to this day: the perfect combination of deductive reasoning--as exemplified by the classic Golden Age writers such as Christie, Sayers, Van Dine, and Queen--with the hard-boiled attitude and dialogue of the more realistic tough guy writers such as Chandler, Macdonald, Hammett, and Robert B. Parker.

The toughness is brought to the books by Wolfe's leg man and amanuensis, Archie Goodwin. The structure and ambience of the books is, quite deliberately, very much like the Sherlock Holmes stories that Stout so admired. The house on West 35th Street is as familiar as the sitting room at 221B Baker Street; his cook Fritz pops up as regularly as Mrs. Hudson; and his irritant, Inspector Cramer of the NYPD, serves the same role as several Scotland Yard detectives, notably Inspector Lestrade, did for Holmes. Fair warning: It is safe to read one Nero Wolfe novel, because you will surely like it. It is extremely unsafe to read three, because you will forever be hooked on the delightful characters who populate these perfect books. --Otto Penzler --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

Review

"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." -- The Midwest Book Review, May 1997

"I've noticed books by Rex Stout (1886-1975) for many years but never have purchased or read one. You know, so many books, so little time. I've been missing the company of the ever-eccentric Nero Wolfe and his faithful legman, Archie Goodwin...I don't want to tell you too much about this classic tale and spoil your fun. This version is expertly performed by Michael Prichard, who has also brought novels by Clive Cussler and Tom Clancy to life." -- Jim Clark, Publisher

"In the annals of eccentric private detectives, one of the most famous is Nero Wolfe. Wolfe is an obese, misanthropic, arrogant orchid fancier who solves mysteries while never leaving his New York brownstone. His eyes and ears to the world is Archie Goodwin, the narrator of the books. In this well-read audio edition of Stout's first Wolfe novel, Goodwin is asked to find out who murdered a young Italian immigrant. The path leads to upscale Westchester County and to the body of a recently deceased philanthropist who has a crazy wife, a jealous son, and a beautiful daughter. Throw into the mix an attempt on Wolfe's life using a poisonous snake and the listener is entertained with a 1934 period mystery that is remarkably fresh." -- The Roanoke Times, November 16, 1997

"It is always a treat to [hear] a Nero Wolfe mystery. The man has entered our folklore." -- The New York Times Book Review

Originally published in 1934, Fer-de-Lance is the first mystery novel ever written by Rex Stout. This classic crime story (complete and unabridged) introduces one of the great fictional detectives, Nero Wolfe. Wolfe, the arrogant, gormandizing, sedentary sleuth who raises orchids in his Manhattan brownstone, solving his case with help from his assistant, Archie Goodwin, was to become one of American literature's most recognizable charecters. When a fer-de-lance (one of the most deadly snakes know to man) is delivered to Nero Wolfe, Archie knows he is getting very close to solving the clever murders of an immigrant and a college president. The denouement brings forth all of Nero Wolfe's talents as he gathers the suspects together. Fer-de-Lance will be welcomes by the legions of Rex Stout fans, and serve as welcome introduction to a whole new generation of mystery buffs. -- Midwest Book Review --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 472 pages
• Publisher: G. K. Hall & Company; Large type edition edition (February 1982)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0816132224
• ISBN-13: 978-0816132225
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,649,569 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nero and Archie are always worth a visit, November 22, 2000

By 

Orrin C. Judd "brothersjudddotcom" (Hanover, NH USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fer-de-Lance (Nero Wolfe Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

Compose yourself, Archie. Why taunt me? Why upbraid me? I am merely a genius, not a god. -Nero Wolfe

Rex Stout was in the midst of an unusually interesting life (including being a child math prodigy and serving on President Theodore Roosevelt's yacht) when he created one of the great detective series of all time, introducing Nero Wolfe for the first of 72 adventures in Fer-de-Lance. The brilliance of Stout's creation lies in the blending of Wolfe--an eccentric, elephantine, misanthropic, misogynistic, beer guzzling, gourmand--and his footman, Archie Goodwin--a classic, wise cracking, hard boiled dick. The combination, sort of like teaming Mycroft Holmes and Sam Spade, allowed him to use the best elements of both the British drawing room mystery and the American private eye novel. The result has enchanted readers for almost 70 years. Fans include everyone from Oliver Wendell Holmes to PG Wodehouse, James M. Cain to Kingsley Amis.

Nero Wolfe, logging in around 280 lbs and quaffing 6 quarts of beer a day, rarely leaves his 35th Street brownstone in Manhattan, preferring to tend his orchids and worry over the exquisite meals prepared by his butler/chef Fritz. To support his high living, Wolfe takes on investigations in a very unofficial capacity, relying on Goodwin to do the physical work and periodically summoning the principals in a case to his home for an exhibition of his deductive genius. His arrogant manner is nicely captured in the following admonition to a sporting goods salesman who has condescendingly demonstrated the proper use of golf clubs:

You know, Mr. Townsend, it is our good fortune that the exigencies of birth and training furnish all of us with opportunities for snobbery. My ignorance of this special nomenclature provided yours; your innocence of the elementary processes provides mine.

Meanwhile, Archie narrates the stories in the familiar sardonic banter of the great noir novels:

When I consider the different kinds I've seen it seems silly to say it, but somehow to me all lawyers look alike. It's a sort of mixture of a scared look and a satisfied look, as if they were crossing a traffic-filled street where they expect to get run over any minute but they know exactly what kind of paper to hand the driver if they get killed and they've got one right in their pocket.

This sets up an amusing dramatic tension between the two, as when Nero tells Archie:

Sit down. I would prefer to have you here, idle and useless...As I have remarked before, to have you with me like this is always refreshing because it constantly reminds me how distressing it would be to have someone present--a wife, for instance--whom I could not dismiss at will.

Lest it seem that Wolfe is to much of an egomaniac to be tolerated, Archie makes it clear that he stays around just for the sheer joy of watching the elephantine savant in action and Wolfe himself acknowledges that much of his facade is mere pretense when a District Attorney commands his presence in Westchester, he tells Archie to refuse, saying "I understand the technique of eccentricity; it would be futile for a man to labor at establishing a reputation for oddity if he were ready at the slightest provocation to revert to normal action." And Wolfe sometimes lets slip his admiration for Archie, telling a witness in the case, "Mr. Goodwin is a man of discretion, common decency and immeasurable valor."

It has long been a theory of mine that if you create characters of sufficient interest to enrapture your audience, you can get away with not always cranking out a top flight story, we'll show up just to spend some time with familiar friends (this carried Magnum PI and Cheers through some mighty lean episodes & even whole seasons). Nero and Archie are always worth a visit, never more so than in this their inaugural case.

GRADE: A

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The first step of a great journey, June 3, 2005

By 

Stephen McLin (Lafayette, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fer-de-Lance (Audio Editions) (Audio Cassette)

Rex Stout wrote 47 Nero Wolfe books. Some are great, some are good, none are bad. You might as well start with the first one -- and if you like it, you will read them all.

I think my main takeaway is how books written 60 years in the past can be so topical. No more 5 cent phone calls, or having to go to a drugstore to make a call, or having Archie gripe about having to pay for two sandwiches costing a total of 95 cents -- yet Rex Stout engrosses you in his mysteries as if they were contemporary.

I read all of them I could get from libraries in the 1960's -- now I have chosen to listen to the whole series read by Michael Prichard. I own them all on tape, and I'm currently on number 18, taking my delicatable time.

The fact that they were written that long ago sets the hook -- this is not a contemporary writer trying to recreate the past, but a writer writing in the here and now, it seems.

Just as we get comfortable with characters in modern TV series, so will you get comfortable with the idiosycracies of Wolfe and Goodwin. You will have a compulsive desire to read them all -- which is why this remains an immensely popular series. Read two or three, and if you think you are a mystery fan ..... and don't get hooked ..... then switch to romance novels.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Introduction to a Great Series, September 5, 2000

By 

A. Wolverton (Crofton, MD United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fer-de-Lance (Nero Wolfe Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

Rex Stout was truly an amazing man. (A brief bio is included in the Bantam Crime Line series.) He published his very first Nero Wolfe novel at the age of 48, after having completed extraordinary careers as a warrant officer on Theodore Roosevelt's yacht, a sightseeing guide, a bookkeeper, and devising a banking system. (Whew!) While "Fer-De-Lance" is not the best Wolfe story, it is the first. I originally read all the novels as I found them and am now reading them in chronological order. It really doesn't matter what order you take them in. Just try one or two. For those who are unfamiliar with the Wolfe novels, Nero Wolfe is a New York private detective who detests work, spends four hours a day cultivating his orchids, drinks gallons of beer, and tolerates women only when absolutely necessary. His assistant, Archie Goodwin, does the legwork for Wolfe. Goodwin is a good looking, wise-cracking, milk-drinking foil for Wolfe. Other assorted characters appear from time to time who are just as colorful. The great thing about the Wolfe novels is the way that Stout brings each character to life. To be honest, you really don't care that much "whodunnit" because the characters and atmosphere are so entertaining. A great, great series. If you've never tried them, what are you waiting for?