Customer Reviews

Plot It Yourself

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

 

 

This is later Nero Wolfe, written in the 50s, filled with references to the Eisenhower administration. And this is noteworthy because I've always found the later Wolfe adventures lacking in charm and energy. Not this one. Archie finds himself in the publishing world, helping Wolfe sort out scandals, plagarism and murder. The setting is unique, the plot is engaging, Wolfe is his familiar old idiosyncratic self, and Archie is as witty a narrator as you could ask for. I was pleasantly surprised and delighted by this work.

Archie Goodwin (with his endless battles with the forces of crime, law, and Nero Wolfe) is the chief joy of a Wolfe novel. In this instance, a case of wholesale plagiarism turns into murder, and while there are flaws in the handling of the supporting players and in some details of the investigation, we're given a few spectacular bouts of Wolfe-temperament in compensation, and some clever touches in the construction of the crimes.

In the past 4 years, starting in February 1955, four unsuccessful authors have accused 5 bestsellers of plagiarism, usually settling out of court. Amy Wynn's new bestseller, her first, is now a target, and the BPA (Book Publishers of America) and NAAD (National Association of Authors & Dramatists) have had enough. A joint committee, including some of the victim authors, has approached Wolfe, who accepts partly because Philip Harvey, the chair, wrote a book rating an A. (Archie opens the story explaining how he gauges Wolfe's opinion of a book.) You'll note that I don't name all the committee members; most are stage props, even those relevant to the investigation. Wolfe doesn't pep things up with opinions of their work.

Alice Porter's manuscript was found by a cleaning woman in Ellen Sturdevant's summer home. Simon Jacobs' 'What's Mine Is Yours' was sent to Echols' agent long before Echols' story came out, but nobody can prove whether the forgotten original tallies with the version brandished by Jacobs after the fact. After Marjorie Lippin's case, Jane Ogilvy's manuscript was found in her attic. (Ms. Lippin's heirs not only fought the suit, but demanded an autopsy, striking out on both.) Mortimer Oshin, having heard of the other cases, searched his own premises thoroughly once the accusation was made - only to have Kenneth Rennert's play outline turn up in the files of his ex-agent. Porter is the only repeat; she's making the current accusation against Amy Wynn. In an unrealistic scene, Wolfe undertakes the vaguely defined job without even a signed memo to back it up - and the committee accepts Wolfe's position that he can't say beforehand what his fee might be. They briefly discuss relative proportions of expenses and offer and advance against *that*, but even that isn't documented - and these are supposed to be grown-ups, in the *publishing* industry, dealing with plagiarism.

Wolfe is the first person to handle all the accusers' material - and says that the writing style marks them as coming from the same person, although the typewriters don't. (Given that by the time of the Oshin incident, the pattern was well known and several lawsuits had occurred, it shouldn't have taken Wolfe to begin a competent investigation.) Comparing the writing styles to the individual accusers' known work, though, *all* of them appear to have been cats'-paws - only Porter's 2nd effort matches her own style. Physical evidence is downplayed, even where a *lack* of fingerprints would be *something* in a plagiarism suit. (If it's been in our files for all those years, ma'am, why don't any of the pages bear our readers' prints? Or your typist's? Weak, though.) Archie even seems to be the first to ask the accusers to produce the typewriters used.

Wolfe is ready to bow out, once further investigation requires only brute manpower and luck. However, one committee member asks Archie to nominate one catspaw as a target for bribery. Since 2 claims are in litigation and Ogilvy is a flake, Archie suggests Jacobs, as the poorest candidate with the largest family. When Archie meets Purley of Manhattan Homicide on Jacobs' doorstep, accusations of bungling singe the air - not least, Wolfe's against himself. Thanks to loose-tongued committee members, at least 50 people knew about the bribe offer, and nobody thought to protect Jacobs. (However, Archie remembers the lesson in later years during _Death of a Doxy_.) Naturally enough, the other plagiarism claimants are also dropping like flies. However, given that Archie *cooperated* with Purley, the cops would have been *fools* to take so long to check on the other corpses-to-be. (Not that they could have prevented the deaths, but they certainly ought to have beaten Archie to the bodies.)

On the plus side, when Archie reports murder #3 to Wolfe, Wolfe is beside himself to the point that he not only cusses in Serbo-Croat, but forswears both beer and meat until the culprit is in the bag. :) When Wolfe also voluntarily leaves the brownstone to confront his clients, Harvey is one of the few who ever had sense enough to balk at interfering in a police inquiry. The final confrontation is unusual in that the cops aren't invited, and there is no epilogue after the showdown - Stout experimented a little with that style in the late 1950s and the 1960s. Another feature of that phase of Wolfe's career is that Dol Bonner and one of her assistants join Saul, Fred, and Orrie in the legwork, to Fritz' dismay at the presence of women in his domain.

This is Nero Wolfe in top form. It's about intrigue in the publishing world, something Rex Stout obviously understood thoroughly. There's plenty of humor, which is a staple of the series, but there's a bit more edge than usual, and the end is rather haunting.

Nero Wolfe has few peers when it comes to figuring out whodunnit. He is without equal in concocting Byzantine plots designed to trick the badguy into a trap. In this book, however, he is as dumb as a doorpost when it comes to foreseeing the mayhem resulting from his activities. As a result, three people die.

Wolfe's self-esteem is so battered, he swears off beer and meat until he lays the killer by the heels. There are zero clues to the killer's identity, and the best efforts of Inspector Cramer, Purley Stebbins, and a host of NYPD officers cannot unravel the mystery. Unable to solve the murders by direct means, Wolfe decides that solving the case he was originally hired to investigate (a serial plagiarism case) will bring the killer to justice.

Wolfe and Goodwin explore the world of authorship and publishing (a world well-known to Stout), both failing to see the obvious key to cracking the case. When Wolfe discovers the key, he sets a plan in motion designed to unfailingly identify the killer. When the plan miscarries, Archie is crestfallen, but Wolfe starts making plans to order a steak. And then . . .

"Plot it Yourself" presents one of Stout's more labyrinthine plots, and some loose ends are still dangling as the curtain falls, but he still serves up a satisfying solution.

With an intriguing plot, summarized elsewhere, this is perhaps the best Nero Wolfe I've read. The characters are wonderful, Archie and Wolfe are in very fine form, and the mystery is superb. You'll be surprised at the killer, and Wolfe actually shows respect for the murderer. You almost think that Wolfe would rather not convict him/her.

Bottom line: Excellent, perhaps the best Stout, with a wonderful killer you almost feel sorry for.

What is plagiarism? How can a responsible editor be assured, in the pre-internet '50s, that he's notpublishing something stolen?

That's only the beginning of this great story. In this case, the plagiarist is so adept at his craft that he can even emulate female writers flawlessly.

And yes, fans of Serbo-Croat get to read or hear some Montenegrin cussing in this story. Who could ask for anything more??

I love Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe series, so the four stars are for this mystery. Four, because (in my opinion) there are better Nero Wolfe stories, although this is solidly good, and still well-worth the read.

However, the translation to Kindle leaves something to be desired. Orrie Cather is almost always referred to as Orrie Gather, with a G. Once, Saul Panzer is called Paul Panzer. There are other scattered errors, which I assume must be caused by a software program choosing the wrong word. It isn't bad enough to spoil the book, but I'd have enjoyed the "Nero Wolfe on Kindle" experience more if at least the names of characters were spelled correctly. Especially the series regulars.

Maybe this isn't the "best" Nero Wolfe novel, but it has all the elements I love. There's Archie, being sassy and frustrated by his boss. There's Nero Wolfe having a mutiny against himself and the boring necessity of doing the work he has promised to carry out. Cramer chomps on his cigar. The client is a committee of writers and publishers, squabbling among themselves. It seems an open and shut case of plagiarism and by examining the manuscripts, Wolfe finds a clue that everyone has overlooked.

But forty seven people know about the plan to expose the crook and suddenly it's a case of murder and the body count goes ever higher...and Wolfe deliberately keeps Archie in the dark.

Rex Stout always tried to keep his characters current. That's one of the charms now of opening and reading this grand master of detection: his books now read like period pieces, glimpses of an earlier America. PLOT IT YOURSELF was written at the height of his powers when his formula was fully established. The puzzle is cunningly constructed and when Wolfe unmasks the villain at the end, one sees a cold-blooded murderer who only regrets being caught...lots of fun! If you've never read Rex Stout, this is a good place to start!

I thought I'd read all of the Nero Wolfe/Archie Goodwin mysteries, even those written by later authors. Then I found this book, whose plot I couldn't recall having read. What a joy.

I find the ambiance of the 1950s as conveyed in these earlier books so enjoyable. Archie's witticisms are so clever, and the petulant behavior of his employer so comfortably familiar that I regret there are no new novels to read. Like my mother, I wish I could just keep reading pages until I reach the author at his typewriter--or word processor these days!

In this book, the accusations of plagiarism leads to murder, and the investigative services of Nero Wolfe are sought to solve both the question of how and by whom the scam against the authors is worked as well as who is killing off the accusers.

Great entertainment by an author who knows how to do it.

Nero Wolfe is hired to investigate several claims of plagiarism against best-selling authors. Many murders ensue.

For the first half of the book, I was frustrated by Wolfe's childish behavior. It seemed Archie Goodwin, not Wolfe, could be the real brains of the operation - he does all the legwork anyway! But toward the end Wolfe came through as the genius he is known to be, and all was right with the world. (This is only my 3rd Wolfe mystery and I have a feeling this might be a recurring theme in this series...) I did guess the murderer early on, but it didn't spoil the effect for me.

The mystery was well done and I enjoyed the books/writing/author setting for the story.