Customer Reviews

Red Box

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3 star:		(3)
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This is one of my top three favorite Rex Stout Nero Wolfe mysteries! Plot about a murder brought about by eating poisoned chocolates (later, poisoned aspirins), and due to the circumstances, motive is terribly difficult to determine because it's not certain the victim was the intended victim. Very non-cooperative characters - maddeningly so, sprinkled with those telling partial truths and withholding helpful information. The most difficult of clients ever, and the mystery so difficult one fears Wolfe won't pull off another miraculous solution. Many red herrings and twists and turns, very hard to figure out how it's going to turn out. Wolfe, Archie, Fritz, Cramer in their usual entertaining forms; excellent story, enjoyable! If you haven't already read this one, treat yourself to it!

A nice complex mystery, one of Wolfe's better stunts, and Archie in full annoyance mode, makes THE RED BOX a nice addition to the Wolfe oeuvre. Whenever Wolfe leaves the office, bad things are bound to happen, but having to go to a fashion designer's workplace, albeit at the request of some of NY's top orchid growers, to investigate a murder, makes Wolfe more than a little grumpy and things go from bad to worse. As this is an early Wolfe mystery fans will find a few things not in line with the later more polished work; Archie lacks the sophistication we see later in the series and there is particularly unfortunate episode of police brutality that accepted as par for the course by all parties involved. But it is a good mystery with a few more twists than some of the more formulaic Wolfe stories.

This one has been criticized as being "overwritten."

To a degree, this criticism is merited. There is a particularly melodramatic death scene, and that does make this book a little more resemble the crime movies of the era (1936).

However, Stout takes some pains to work against sterotype in this one, and Wolfe actually visits a crime scene for the first time in the series. Archie prefigures his work in "Too Many Women," and the settings are drawn very, very carefully.

I like it, but among the first ten stories, it's one of the most sentimental and romantic. If you like that style, you'll love this book. If you like hard-boiled, there's less of that to be found here.

Stout in his prime with Archie and Nero grooved into their characters, very fast pacing and one of the best plots in the series.

In this Nero Wolfe mystery, the obese detective is cajoled and tricked into taking on a case that he doesn't want to take on. (He seldom wants to take on a case, preferring to drink beer, raise orchids, eat dinner, and read books -- so part of the fun in the series is seeing how Wolfe gets cornered into taking on a case.) Wolfe, with the help of Archie, Saul, Orrie, and others in the crew, must investigate the murder of a fashion model who died by eating candy from a box of poisoned chocolates. Part of the perplexity of the case is that it's not even known if the fashion model was the intended victim. And part of the fun of the case is that Wolfe leaves his brownstone for the first time in the series (this is the fourth book). A satisfying Nero mystery.

This early (1936) entry in the long running Nero Wolfe series opens with Wolfe being manipulated into taking a case. Llewellyn Frost was had to resort to chicanery (and Archie's assistence) to get Wolfe look into the murder of a young model. While Mr. Frost knew the victim slightly his main concern was for his cousing, or ortho-cousin, as he put. Once Wolfe has taken the case the victims and clients began appear. Although Wolfe manages to resist all efforts to disturpt his routine he requires Archie, Saul, Fred and Orrie to seek out the answers hidden in THE RED BOX.

This is a very early Wolfe mystery, and while it would be a good place for someone new to the series to begin, it is a real treat for already established fans. We are treated to glimpses into Wolfe's mysterious past and learn that he is an uncle and that he has a house in Egypt that he has not visited for 10 years. We learn that Fritz, the chef, is Swiss and speaks French and has attempted to teach Archie the language. Many of the long standing routines of the series are described, Wolfe's refusal to live the brownstone, abhorance to cars, reluctance to distrupt his routine, and affection for beer to name a few. As always in this series it is set in the time it is written and gives the reader a glimpse into times long gone. In this one we see a police interrogation in the pre-Miranda days.

The murders are intricately plotted, the clues are all present for the reader to follow but even if the reader is capable of solving some of the puzzles it is unlikely that Nero will not have a surprise or two in store at the end.

An early Wolfe where Stout still hasn't quite got his main character right (I mean Archie Goodwin, not Wolfe). Like its immediate predecessor, The Rubber Band, the story is highly dramatic and over-written compared with later Wolfes. But it's got pace and a memorable baddie.