Three Men Out [Mass Market Paperback]

Rex Stout (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1991 | Series: The Rex Stout library

Nero Wolfe and sidekick Archie Goodwin attempt to solve three puzzling cases of murder: in one, a person's questions lead to his death; another finds a man killed in a soundproof office; and in the last, a baseball rookie is removed from the lineup through murder. Reissue.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 204 pages
• Publisher: Crimeline (June 1, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553245473
• ISBN-13: 978-0553245479
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #526,879 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars An aging playboy, a probability wizard, and the World Series, May 9, 2002

By 

Michele L. Worley (Kingdom of the Mouse, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Three Men Out (Mass Market Paperback)

The cases herein occurred in October 1952 and late May 1953, which is odd, because while those were Wolfe's glory days, the collection is rather weak.

"Invitation to Murder" - a.k.a. "Will to Murder" - Aging rake Herman Lewent was disinherited by his father; his sister Beryl was left with instructions to 'consider his needs', and made him an adequate allowance for many years. After she died a year ago of ptomaine poisoning, her husband Theodore Huck was left with similar instructions and nothing changed. But Lewent believes that Huck is considering remarriage, and wants to identify the lady and ingratiate himself without being obvious about it. There are only 3 candidates: Huck's housekeeper, nurse, and secretary; they're all young and attractive, and Huck's bad arteries keep him housebound in a wheelchair. All Lewent wants are a few hours of Archie's time and maybe 10 minutes of Wolfe's. Wolfe refuses the job on those terms - so Lewent changes the proposal: discover which woman could have helped poison his sister Beryl. If no poisoning occurred, he's got his original answer; if it was murder and Huck was involved, Lewent will finally get a lump sum under his sister's will upon her husband's death.

Whether or not Beryl was murdered, Lewent certainly was shortly after Archie started on the case. Unfortunately the story develops problems at that point - Archie, after discovering the body, opts not to report it to the cops for reasons that seem half-baked, and things go downhill from there. Although it's interesting to read, it's enough to make me question Archie's sanity.

"The Zero Clue" - a.k.a. "Scared to Death" - Dying-clue mystery, far more typical of Ellery Queen than Stout, in which probability wizard Leo Heller apparently left a clue to the identity of the person who killed him, but naturally it's not intelligible to anyone but the master detective. On principle I generally rate this kind of thing at the level of a crossword puzzle than a story - the more convoluted the "obvious" clue is, the more tortured the rationale behind it. (Dannay & Lee got the hang of putting acceptable rationales behind such clues for Ellery Queen, but it takes practice.)

"This Won't Kill You" - As Wolfe says, a guest is a jewel on the cushion of hospitality, so when one such jewel - Pierre Mondor, one of the great chefs of the world - wanted Wolfe to take him to a baseball game, Wolfe feels obligated, and Archie has to tag along. Archie would ordinarily love attending a NY Giants game during the World Series, but he has a terrible day, what with 2 companions who know *nothing* about the game - and picture Wolfe in an ordinary stadium seat. So when the part-owner of the Giants who arranged their tickets calls Wolfe to the clubhouse in the 6th inning, neither he nor Archie argues, even when Chisholm's problem is that somebody's been doping the soda in the players' cooler...

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Distinguished By Numbers, Locales and Crimes, October 12, 2004

By 

John P Bernat (Kingsport, TN USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Three Men Out (Hardcover)

In the early 1950s Nero Wolfe was famous. His stories had become so well known that, as is depicted in two of the three in this collection, Archie is instantly recognized on the street as a celebrity (in one of them he's asked for his autograph).

This collection represents, then, "middle Wolfe." He was franchising by then: radio plays, a short-lived TV show, and even a Nero Wolfe comic strip. Nero Wolfe chewing gum? Nero Wolfe frozen dinners?

The collection, three stories originally published in the "American Magazine," ties together by hand gestures and symbols.

One of them, "The Zero Clue," is distinguished by at least one attribute which is startlingly fresh today: terrorism and mass murder. Mostly, Rex Stout's work could be called modified "murder in a teacup:" the victim's body is found in the vicar's rose garden and the brilliant detective, through daring deduction, exposes the killer.

Wolfe's work differed in a few ways: Archie leaned toward the "hard boiled" school, and setting these in New York introduced a little grit.

The Zero Clue involves a bombing in a hospital - shocking ideas in any time period, but particularly heinous in early 1950s America. Wolfe figures out whodunit, all right, but what is almost more shocking is the motive.

This book is hard to find; the stories are classic, if a little outlandish, pieces in the whole Rex Stout puzzle. Last point: A&E would have a hard time staging these stories - when you read them you'll know why.

4.0 out of 5 stars Archie & Me, February 14, 2012

By 

Orionboc (Greensboro) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Three Men Out (Mass Market Paperback)

Something strange is going on in Rex Stout's THREE MEN OUT: His clever gene is on vacation. While it is always fun to follow the adventures of Archie Goodwin and to see how Nero Wolfe puzzles things out, THREE MEN OUT is about as disappointing a Stout collection as you are going to get.

I just read THREE MEN OUT for the first time and I only have a handful of Nero Wolfe stories and novels I have not visited yet. Nearly 70 tales into the catalog, I have seen a couple of stumbles before, but not three in one set that have little energy or zest. Among the let-downs, in "Invitation To Murder", Archie finds himself in a mansion with three attractive women and gets nowhere with any of them. (Say it ain't so, Arch!). Leo Heller's dying clue in "The Zero Clue" is so convoluted that it stretches the 'suspension of disbelief' beyond reasonable limits. Finally, my favorite in the set, "This Won't Kill You" is interesting for getting NW in a seat at the Polo Grounds (and I am a sucker for anything baseball), and it is generally well-written, but the conclusion is fairly trite.

Now, don't get me wrong: a weak Nero Wolfe story is better than 99.9% of what is out there, but it was a bit of a shock to see that the great Rex was human after all.