Customer Reviews

Three Trumps; A Nero Wolfe Omnibus: The Black Mountain/ If Death Ever Slept/ Before Midnight

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

 

 

This omnibus edition of _The Black Mountain_, _Before Midnight_, and _If Death Ever Slept_ is titled _Three Trumps_ only because three cases are covered, and because somewhere along the line Stout and his publishers got into the habit of naming his omnibuses (omnibi?) in a card-playing style, even though few if any of the stories therein had any significant connection with cards.

_The Black Mountain_ (1954) was the 24th Wolfe book, and is one of the few cases Wolfe concerned himself with solely for personal reasons: the story opens with Archie answering the office telephone, then breaking the news to Wolfe that Marko Vukcic - Wolfe's oldest, closest friend - has been found murdered. Marko, it turns out, had been supporting the resistance movement against the Communist regime back in Montenegro. Wolfe had warned Marko of the risks he was running with his high-profile activities, and the dangers appear to have come home to roost. Even Wolfe's adopted daughter (introduced and last seen in _Over My Dead Body_, so if you haven't read that book, her appearance here may be a bit of a shock) turns up to berate Wolfe a little for not helping the resistance more, and soon she, too, is found dead. By the time Wolfe identifies the murderer, the killer has already fled the country for Montenegro - Wolfe receives a cryptic message to that effect, stating that the killer is within sight of 'the Black Mountain' from which the country takes its name.

Wolfe very nearly refuses to take Archie along, because for once *Archie* will be a fish out of water; his street smarts and better physical condition notwithstanding, Archie only speaks English, and Montenegro is completely alien to him. Archie, however, isn't about to let Wolfe traipse off into Montenegro alone, of course.

_Before Midnight_ (1955) was the 25th Wolfe book, with no mention of the Montenegrin adventures of the previous book or the fallout from Marko's death, although other stories set in the 1950s mention Wolfe's duties as an executor, and his insistence that Marko's restaurant, Rusterman's, be kept up to standard while he acted as trustee. By contrast, Wolfe is in _Before Midnight_ solely for the money. His client is the advertising firm LBA (Lippert, Buff, and Assa); the rising star running their biggest advertising campaign - a gigantic cosmetic historical trivia contest launching Pour Amour perfume - has just been murdered. (Some of the contest questions are sprinkled through the book, including the corresponding answers, although not usually together; the later ones should give the reader a run for his/her money.)

Not, you understand, that the partners really *care* who killed Louis Dahlmann; the real problem is that a few hours before he was murdered, he passed out the tie-breaking contest questions to the 5 finalists, then brandished a piece of paper from his wallet, saying it held the answers. When Dahlmann's corpse was found, the paper was missing, and LBA wants to be able to point to the thief, disavow that set of questions, and keep the contest from turning into a nightmare. Of course, as Inspector Cramer points out, it'll be tough for Wolfe to find the thief without fingering the murderer. :)

_If Death Ever Slept_ (1957) was the 28th Wolfe book, and like _Too Many Women_ before it, begins with a cold war in the brownstone, which results in Wolfe accepting a job that involves Archie taking an undercover assignment - in this case, one that involves having Archie move out for the duration to take a job as Otis Jarrell's private secretary, as a cover for finding out how his daughter-in-law has been sabotaging his business interests. (Jarrell doesn't like Susan for various personal reasons, and would really like Wolfe and Archie to break up his son's marriage, but Wolfe draws the line at that sort of thing.) The puzzle is more fair to the reader than that in _Too Many Women_, although there's a large lump (fortunately just one lump) of timetable information that makes unexciting reading. On the plus side, the stormy atmosphere in the brownstone has more interesting causes and side effects than that in _Too Many Women_. :)

For more detailed discussion of the individual works herein, see reviews of the 3 separate books; no changes were made to include them here. They have few points in common, not even being 3 back-to-back books in publication order. While they're no worse here than taken separately, this omnibus edition provides no added value.

The Nero Wolfe stories by Rex Stout are timeless. Nero Wolfe is a fat, bad-tempered genius detective who almost never leaves his brownstone mansion in New York. The stories are told through his self-styled man-Friday, Archie Goodwin. Archie is Wolfe's foil: witty, active, and charming to the ladies.

In "If Death Ever Slept" Archie leaves the brownstone to go undercover as a secretary to a rich and important financier. It's classic mystery stuff -- a house full of suspects, some of whom get killed off as the story progresses and enough clever banter to keep you interested between the murders.

And that's exactly what I want in a mystery. Mysteries are supposed to be about clever people. There should be someone clever enough to think they can get away with murder. And there needs to be someone cleverer than that to catch them. Clever people should have clever dialogue. I'm not much a spine-tingling suspense mystery buff. I read mysteries for the fun of it. There has to be humour. Murder should be a funny business.

The other important characteristic of a good murder is that it should be a struggle to figure out who did it. All the clues should be there to find but it should be far from obvious.

If Death Ever Slept has the humour but it only partially succeeds on the mystery/clue front. I enjoyed the ride to the end. But once I'd finished the book I realised that for the last third of the book I had paid only scant attention to who the murder might be. When it came I wasn't surprised or gratified because I wasn't really interested any more.

I think I just like being in the comfortable brownstone with Wolfe and Archie eating good food, sitting in comfortable chairs and discussing the intriguing business of murder. In this book, I had absolutely no connection with either the victims or the killer.

Still, I enjoyed it as I enjoy almost all Nero Wolfe books.

Just finished this book and my overall reaction was ... yawn. All the elements are there -- Archie, Fritz, Wolfe, beer, orchids, etc. But this is one of the later books in the series and there's a certain ennui evident. The mystery seemed over plotted, the characters under developed, and any genuine charm was missing. Of course even subpar Nero Wolfe is entertaining, so I'm not sorry I read it. I just enjoyed the earlier books so much more, and seeing the series go downhill is depressing.

Unlike Archie's last such assignment (in _Too Many Women_, written 10 years before this book), this case gives the reader a decent chance to solve the puzzle.

Ordinarily, Wolfe wouldn't ask where Archie's been when he comes in at 2 a.m. But when Archie walked out on Lily Rowan's party because she'd invited some people he didn't like, she started calling the brownstone, starting at 8 p.m. and ending at 1:30 ("So I, not you, have spent the evening with her, and I haven't enjoyed it.") The conversation went downhill from there, so when Otis Jarrell appeared for his first appointment with Wolfe the next day, he got the benefit of a rather stormy atmosphere, with Wolfe exerting himself to be pleasant, just to show that nothing's wrong with *him*. (To be fair, the brown envelope with $10000, cash, offered as a retainer, might have helped.)

Unfortunately for the exchequer, what Jarrell wants is to break up his son's marriage: Wyman married "a snake", and Jarrell believes that Susan has leaked damaging business information to his competitors several times. He wants to pass Archie off as a replacement for his own newly fired secretary, Jim Eber, until Wolfe and Archie come up with the goods. Archie's beginning to feel sorry for the rejection Jarrell has coming at this point - not only a near-divorce case, but depriving Wolfe of his services indefinitely - when Wolfe responds, "You realize, Mr. Jarrell, that there could be no commitment as to how long he would stay there." Archie, always a quick thinker, runs with this rather than squawking, and "Alan Green" becomes Jarrell's secretary.

Archie's new assignment palls very quickly. But matters become deadly serious when someone bypasses the security cameras in Jarrell's office to steal Jarrell's own gun, and Jarrell is too fixated on Susan as a suspect to get serious about finding it. Then matters escalate to plain deadly...

Leavening the mix of emotional relationships and industrial espionage are several timetables distilled from police reports, but they're provided in one big block so that you can ignore them at your own peril if you prefer. (Personally, I can enjoy this one just fine without worrying much about trying to work out the puzzle.) More interesting points include: Jarrell's daughter Lois, who (despite writing the poem from which the book's title is taken) is one of the 3 best dancers Archie's ever escorted; the measures taken by Archie to appear as Alan Green when the group is interviewed by Wolfe; and how Wolfe manages to escalate their quarrel to a new and more frightening level. :)

"If Death Ever Slept" is a Nero Wolfe novel by Rex Stout. This book was written in 1957. As in all the Wolfe books it is narrated by Wolfe's assistant, Archie Goodwin. Otis Jarrell hires Nero Wolfe to find something that can get his daughter-in-law, Susan, out of his house. Archie goes undercover at the Jarrell house posing as Jarrell's new secretary under the name of Alan Green. Archie interviews everyone in the household to find anything on Susan that would get her out. While he is still investigating, Jarrell's former secretary, James Eber, is found murdered with a .38 revolver. Jarrell discovers that his gun which is also a .38 is missing. Two days later, Corey Brigham, a business associate of Jarrell's is found murdered also with a .38 and is presumed by the same gun that killed Eber. Nero Wolfe, with the aid of Archie and other detectives, solves the case is his usual fashion by assembling all the suspects as he announces the murderer. The title comes from a poem written by Lois Jarrell, the daughter of Otis. She has killed a squirrel and wrote the poem in remorse. A strange title, but a very good Nero Wolfe novel. I really enjoyed reading it.

Okay, some of the elements of this book are a little silly -- like the dead squirrel poem -- but again, I'm trying to get into the Nero Wolfe fan mind, and this book pushed me just a wee bit closer. I find Wolfe just plain irritating, but the star of the show for me continues to be Archie, who really does underestimate himself. Well, this was book 3 for me; on to book 4.

When Otis Jarrell came to see famed detective Nero Wolfe he did not realize that his cause was hopeless. He wanted Wolfe to investigate a domestic matter, the fact that Jarrell's problem was his daughter-in-law rather than his wife did not impress Wolfe. When Jarrell suggested that Archie move into his penthouse undercover though Wolfe decided to accept the case because he and Archie were annoyed with each other. The ten thousand dollar retainer didn't hurt either.

Needless to say shortly after Archie took up his post in the Jarrell household things began to get complicated, first a break-in and theft, then a murder leading Nero to disrupt his routine, call in all the troops, join forces with a FEMALE colleague and leaving Fritz to guard the brownstone's door for the night. In the end of course, Wolfe triumphs.

This is one of the later entries into the series. The situations have all occured before, the banter between the detectives has become a bit worn, life at the brownstone has been examined many times in the past and the action in this one is a bit slow. Even with all of this a visit to the Wolfe establishment is not to be missed. This is a must for fans of the series and not a bad place to start for anyone new even if it is not one of the best.

What I ordered was acknowledged almost immediately. I received the order in a timely manner and the service was great. Yes. I will order books again through Amazon.com

If you are new to Nero Wolfe then I suggest you read some of his best such as "Too Many Cooks", "Some Buried Caesar", "The Golden Spider" ,"The Doorbell Rang" and "The Silent Speaker" because you shouldn't make a decision based on a lesser work. I always enjoy the banter between Wolfe and Archie and in this book we see how far both are willing to take an argument. I try to solve the mysteries but that is not my primary reason for reading Nero Wolfe. Stout writes well; his characters are often eccentric if not downright bizarre; even the secondary recurring characters are interesting and he writes about a New York City I would have loved to know. Nero Wolfe and Stout are both class acts and should be savored just as Wolfe savors Fritz's meals.

Nero Wolfe is hired to get the dirt on the daughter-in-law of a multimillionaire, and Archie is pressed into undercover service at the millionaire's home. Archie meets an interesting cast of family, friends and servents, and then the fun starts when a gun is missing. Then bang - a murder. Then bang - another murder. Wolfe uses his wit and the motion of Goodwin, Panzer, etc to gather evidence and solve the crimes. I especially enjoyed Wolfe's wit when it came to his exchanges with Inspector Cramer. Stout writes in a very interesting style, unlike most popular fiction.