Over My Dead Body (Nero Wolfe Mysteries) [Mass Market Paperback]

Rex Stout (Author)

Book Description

Series: Nero Wolfe Mysteries | Publication Date: December 1, 1993

When a Balkan beauty gets in trouble over some missing diamonds, whom else can she turn to but the world-famous Nero Wolfe?  Especially since she claims to be Wolfe's long lost daughter!  The stakes are suddenly raised when a student at this woman's fencing school ends up dead after a pointed lesson.  As Wolfe and his sidekick, Archie, thrust and parry into a tangle of documents, identities and international intrigue, another student body turns up, expertly skewered through the heart.  Is Wolfe's long lost daughter the black sheep of the family, a hot-blooded mistress of murder?

Editorial Reviews

Review

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

"Rex Stout and Nero Wolfe make a combination that is hard to beat." -- The New York Times --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Publisher

When a Balkan beauty gets in trouble over some missing diamonds, whom else can she turn to but the world-famous Nero Wolfe? Especially since she claims to be Wolfe's long lost daughter! The stakes are suddenly raised when a student at this woman's fencing school ends up dead after a pointed lesson. As Wolfe and his sidekick, Archie, thrust and parry into a tangle of documents, identities and international intrigue, another student body turns up, expertly skewered through the heart. Is Wolfe's long lost daughter the black sheep of the family, a hot-blooded mistress of murder?

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Bantam (December 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553231162
• ISBN-13: 978-0553231168
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 0.7 x 6.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #267,696 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Classic Nero Wolfe, November 13, 2003

By 

David Kudler (Mill Valley, California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Over My Dead Body (Nero Wolfe Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

Having read just about all of the Nero Wolfe series, I have to say, this one contains all of the elements that make Rex Stout's detective novels wildly entertaining, without most of the elements that make some of them maddening

In this mystery, the utterly unswashbuckling Wolfe is revealed, in his younger, svelter days, to have been quite a romantic. Not only did he fight on the anti-Imperial side in Montenegro during the Great War, but he adopted and may even have actually sired a young girl.

To his shock, this young Yugoslav maiden--whom he had lost track of--reappears in his life, up to her neck in a particularly messy, intricate affair that may or may not include missing diamonds, a dead body or two, international intrigue, and a bellboy's uniform. For all of the peeks into Wolfe's previously unsuspected soul, he remains as crumudgeonly and as immovable as ever. Archie Goodwin, of course, remains the wisecracking, milk-drinking sidekick, flirting with anything in a skirt and even giving a Nazi agent a black eye just for the fun of it.

The joy of these books is their marriage of the American gumshoe attitude and the British cozy focus on character. Where they generally fall short is their plotting. This entry in the series is, without a doubt, the most successfully rounded out of the lot. Stout manages to keep the mystery truly mysterious, and yet never manages to confuse the reader so thoroughly that s/he can't find the exit. The plot actually ends on the last page--many of the Nero Wolfe mysteries fizzle out, wrapping up a chapter or two before the end, leaving nothing but rumination and grumbling for the final pages. Others seem never quite to wrap up all the loose ends. Here, the conclusion is both inevitable and unexpected--utterly satisfying.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Presenting...Wolfe's Daughter???, April 9, 2002

By 

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

This review is from: Over My Dead Body (Nero Wolfe Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

'Over My Dead Body' finds a young lady who arrives at Wolfe's door claiming to be Wolfe's daughter. Wow! What a way to start the book! Things begin to heat up even more when the young lady is suspected of a murder in a fencing studio.

This is the seventh entry in the Wolfe series, and it is an entertaining one. Wolfe is in his usual beer-drinking, orchid-loving form, using that brilliant mind of his to sort out any difficulty. In this book, we begin to see a little more depth in two of the recurring minor characters in Wolfe's employ: First, Fred Durkin, the lumbering, bumbling guy who is not too bright, but is always there when Wolfe needs him. Second, Saul Panzer, who is probably just as good a detective as Archie (well, almost), but is completely no-nonsense. (And Archie thinks he's better looking than Saul.)

I'd give the book 4.5 stars if I could. The only problem is Wolfe says a few words and lines that really aren't in character for him. This would only distract readers who have read a lot of the books. Since this book is still fairly early in the series, Stout can be forgiven. 'Over My Dead Body' is definitely a Wolfe book not to be missed.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great fun, September 18, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Over My Dead Body (Nero Wolfe Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

Very smooth, fast paced, one of the top ten of the Wolfe opus