A Prize for Princes (Stout, Rex) [Mass Market Paperback]

Rex Stout (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 9, 2001 | Series: Stout, Rex

In this novel of intrigue and suspense, the masterful Rex Stout follows the fortunes of Aline Solini, whose angelic face hides a demon's soul. It is the face that captivates Richard Stetton, a wealthy young American, when he rescues Aline from a Balkan convent about to be sacked by marauding Turks. Stetton also enables Aline to escape Vasili Petrovich, the husband she tried to poison, and introduces her into society's highest circles. There Aline proves her talents for deceit and chicanery among men of power to be no less formidable -- or deadly -- than her sensuality.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Here is another early Stout novel written before he hit it big with the Nero Wolfe mysteries. This romantic thriller follows love-struck Richard Stetton, who rescues beautiful Aline Solini from certain death. But her angelic face masks an evil soul. Stout is always good fun. Severn House books can be ordered at a discount at 800-830-3044.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

What we have here is that specialty genre: the literary curiosity. Certainly, any previously unpublished novel by the creator of the legendary Nero Wolfe will be of interest to fans, but Stout's name on the title page is all that recommends this potboiler. First serialized in All Story magazine--one can almost imagine the steamy cover with Vargas-like women and leering, bloodthirsty Turks--the tale stars a rich, brave American, Richard Stetton, who rescues the voluptuous Aline Solini from a convent during a Turkish uprising in an unnamed Balkan outpost. He falls madly in love; she exploits his puppylike devotion for her own evil purposes. Encountering intrigue at every turn, they scamper frantically about Asia, always one step ahead of Aline's vengeful ex-husband, Vasili Petrovich. No brief summary can begin to convey the strange twists that litter this plot; keep in mind, though, that the book was published as a serial, requiring Stout to create and resolve crises from the end of one installment to the start of the next. Buy the book for its curiosity value if you must, but don't be fooled about its quality. Wes Lukowsky --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Carroll & Graf; 2nd Edition edition (August 9, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786708824
• ISBN-13: 978-0786708826
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 1.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,129,815 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars More like ersatz Stout --, June 20, 2003

By 

kellytwo "kellytwo" (cleveland hts, ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Prize for Princes (Stout, Rex) (Mass Market Paperback)

Yes, indeed, there are times when reading an early, possibly previously unknown or unpublished work by a favorite established author can be a joyous reading experience. Not so in this particular case, however. This one should have died aborning.

To be sure, anything written by Rex Stout cannot be other than gracefully written, while exhibiting a thorough knowledge of the setting and any other details necessary to the plot. This IS well-written, and as far as I can tell, an accurate recreation of the period of 1914, just before the outbreak of World War I, when there were still myriad little princedoms scattered about Europe, each with their own Prince. Or Duke, perhaps, although here we have a prince.

We have also a Mata Hari type who quite defies description! And a TSTL male lead character. (That means 'too stupid to live' for the uninitiated.) There is an ingenue, and a quite nice young diplomat and a villain who isn't really, plus the aforementioned prince.

Richard Stetton, a wealthy young American afflicted with wanderlust happens on a riot in Fasilica, wherever that is in middle Europe, somewhere, more near the Orient and Asia than the continental areas with which we're more familiar, such as France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and so forth. When he sees the out-of-control troops attack a convent, he rushes to assist anyone he can find. Thus he meets up with a devastatingly beautiful blonde, Aline Solini and her younger, orphaned friend, Vivi Janvour. Better he had run in the opposite direction several hours earlier. But he didn't, and for the next 300+ pages, the reader is treated to the impossible, the improbable, and the unbelievable.

Frankly, I cannot believe that Rex Stout approved this venture--having the 25 chapters put into book form, rather than being spread out over several months in the telling. Perhaps if one were to read it, one chapter per week, it would be more palatable and less laughable. It won't tarnish Stout's brilliant reputation, except to those who've never read the Nero Wolfe books. What a pity if it should discourage anyone from reading those books or the short stories or novellas about Nero and Archie and their cohorts, which are entirely splendid.

This effort, however, reeks of an attempt by someone to generate income using the defenseless author who died several years ago, and is no longer able to defend himself from such nefarious schemes.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars If You Get the Chance, Give This One A Miss!, November 25, 2009

By 

Guy A. Tynes (Memphis, TN United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Prize for Princes (Stout, Rex) (Mass Market Paperback)

I've read Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe stories all my adult life and never regretted a moment spent doing so. His earlier work, though, could have been pruned to the ground and no loss would have ensued. How the author of "A Prize for Princes" and its plummy, purple prose ever made the transition to 35th Avenue and Nero, Archie, Fritz and Theodore is beyond me.
"Her Forbidden Knight", written in 1913, a year before "A Prize for Princes", is somewhat satisfying in a Damon Runyonesque kind of way. "Prize", though, is overblown, overwritten, incessantly stupid, though ultimately rewarding in the double murder of the two main characters at the end. I believe Stout became weary of the machinations that fettered this serial, much later, book. Stout must have been writing to pay the bills in those early years while he was working on his highly successful school banking system. I find it interesting that it was 20 years later when he wrote "Fer-de-Lance" that the Wolfe canon began.
I'll stop searching for early Stout and stay with what worked so well for him and all of us. I suggest you do the same.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars It's not THAT bad, November 16, 2011

By 

KentuckyGirl "KentuckyGirl" (Kentucky USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Prize for Princes (Paperback)

Yes, I bought this book used because I have enjoyed the Nero Wolf series. It certainly doesn't come up to those books. It started really slow for me, but I've become more invested while reading. It's not terrific, but it's not awful. I've certainly started worse books and refused to finish them.