A Great Find!

My first thought when I bought it: I can't wait to post it on the Wolfe Pack FB site! Lol 66 likes/ comments from my fellow fans of Stout!

Quote

 "No man should tell a lie unless he is shrewd enough to recognize the time for renouncing it, if and when it comes, and knows how to renounce it gracefully." - Rex Stout, Before Midnight

If Death Ever Slept by Rex Stout

If Death Ever Slept is another Nero Wolfe mystery by the masterful Rex Stout. Archie is sent undercover into the home of a millionaire who suspects his daughter-in-law of being a ‘snake’, and before too long there’s a body or two laying around to get the plot rolling. Few complaints here, as Stout is rarely off the mark as a writer and his prose zings as expected, and the plot was sharp, *but * I do think they wrapped this one up at warp speed and without making a convincing case for guilt. Grade: B+

Quote

"A pessimist gets nothing but pleasant surprises, an optimist nothing but unpleasant.” 

― Rex Stout, Fer-de-Lance

Stick to the Story

If I were asked to name the . . . writer who I think has stuck most closely to that idea—STICK TO THE STORY, STICK TO THE GODDAMN STORY—it probably would be James M. Cain. There’s not a word in Cain that does not apply to the story he’s telling you - Rex Stout

The Doorbell Rang

If you want an example of smooth, flawless writing that drops you into the story with panache, look no further than Rex Stout. I loved the opening of 'The DoorBell Rang', a Nero Wolfe mystery from late in Stout's career, when he went all lefty-loosy. Here he paints the FBI as a group of murdering fascist thugs. IIRC the book cost Stout many fans, inc. John Wayne. Not a great bk, but not a bad read, ideology aside.