Customer Reviews

Three for the Chair

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The cases herein occurred in late summer and autumn of 1955, and early 1956.

"A Window for Death" - a.k.a. "Nero Wolfe and the Vanishing Clue". No relation to "Door to Death". Two members of the Fyfe family, father and son Bertram, 20 years apart, died of pneumonia - but it seems to have been murder in both cases, since a window was deliberately left open each time to sabotage the patient's recovery. But Bertram Fyfe died with a half-share in a big uranium strike - which now reverts to his young partner Johnny Arrow rather than his family. Arrow, his executor as well as his friend, says that Fyfe had returned to New York because something was eating him from his past, andnot just a desire to reconcile with the relatives who nearly pinned his father's murder on him. The family wants Fyfe's death investigated, some with an eye on the lion's share that went to Arrow, but Arrow has an ironclad alibi. The 'vanishing clue' mentioned in the alternate title is the key to discovering what really happened, if the reader can deduce its existence. Wolfe handles the final confrontation by dictating a letter to Cramer in front of the suspects - Cramer himself doesn't appear.

"Immune to Murder" - Adapted for A&E's 2nd Nero Wolfe season. Ambassador Kelefy, whose country is being courted for favors by the U.S., has eaten Wolfe's recipes at restaurants all over the world, and Asst. Secretary of State David Leeson has persuaded Wolfe (against Archie's counter-efforts, who has to put up with Wolfe grousing about imaginary lumbago after the long drive) to visit O.V. Bragan's fishing lodge in River Bend and cook brook trout for his country. When Archie joins in the trout-fishing efforts, he hooks not only a granddaddy fish, but the body of David Leeson. The situation is interesting, but the local law enforcement types are portrayed as somewhat fumbling - although that could be attributed to the sheriff & the DA trying to run things directly instead of leaving it to the real experts. Good story, nice change from Wolfe's usual habitat.

"Too Many Detectives" - Thanks to a big wiretapping scandal, the state of New York has noticed the licensing process, such as it is, for private detectives, and all 590 licensed by the state of New York have been summoned to testify. Wolfe, Archie, Dol Bonner, and Sally Colt are among those on the day's lineup in Albany when a former client of Wolfe's - who provided a false name to dupe Wolfe into an illegal wiretap - is found murdered at the hearings. Several of the other detectives have had (or claim to have had) similar experiences. Wolfe and Archie, under arrest as material witnesses, don't trust the Albany cops to uncover the truth, and all the P.I.s want to keep their licenses, so a massive cooperative private investigation is undertaken.

I just finished this book, but could have recommended it before opening it. As a long-time reader of Stout, I can tell you that his plotting is impeccable, his denouements unfailingly surprising and his command of the language masterful. The first story, "A Window for Death," has long been one of my favorites, featuring as it does Stout's usual suspects--class, money and sexual tension--in the story of a black sheep returning to the fold and mysteriously dying. The other two tales are tasty, too; in "Immune to Death," Stout's lazy and unwilling detective, Nero Wolfe, gets involved in an international fight over oil rights, and in "Too Many Detectives," he is caught in an investigation regarding illegal wire tapping. I will read a Stout--any Stout, even the occasional romance novel--again and again, whenever I get my hands on one, and I always pass them around to anyone who loves a mystery. They're fast, hilarious, arrogant, profoundly unrealistic and fun, with the air of an old comic thriller movie, like Hitchcock's "The Lady Vanishes" or one starring Edna Mae Oliver. Don't be put off by the undercurrent of misogyny, I'm a flaming, old-school feminist and if I can laugh at such sheer ridiculousness, so can you.

Rex Stout didn't write a bad Nero Wolfe/Archie Goodwin (let's not forget Archie Goodwin!)novel. Some are just more excellent than others.

Three short stories in this collection.

"Immune to Murder" was scripted into the A&E series, and the adaptation was visually wondserful. U.S. diplomats are trying to wheedle the ambassador of a "third world" country to secure oil resources. To that end, the American diplomat talks Wolfe into traveling to a hunting lodge to cook this man a meal of fresh brook trout for his country.

The collection's common thread is that all three of these cases have Wolfe outside his home, breaking an inviolable rule.

"Too Many Detectives" has Wolfe, as a licensed private detective, testifying in Albany about licensing practices.

"A Window for Death" Never leave a window open if you're touchy about pneumonia, I guess.

These last two were good enough stories, but it can be deduced why A&E did not option them for broadcast. Despite being located away from the brownstone, they do not have a lot of visual appeal. And, interestingly enough, given limitations of time and space, Timothy Hutton was described as a very visual executive producer and director...

Boy, I sure wish they'd made more of those A&E episodes...

Three "fish out of water" Nero Wolfe tales, each having to do with an occasion that brings Wolfe out of his comfortable brownstone and out to the scene of the (eventual) crime. The individual stories are fine ones, but the combination robs the oddity of ... well, its oddity.

Still, a decent Wolfe book is always worth it. Good stuff.

I have never found a Rex Stout book that I didn't like. And the service was so prompt in getting my book to me. Thanks