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+

Two Rex Stout Novels

.Book #94: A Right to Die by Rex Stout is the rare Stout novel that really seems pigeonholed into a specific, very bleak time in history. A black man attempts to hire Nero Wolfe to dig up dirt on his son’s white fiance, all in an attempt to discredit her and nix the marriage (he and his wife are angered and disgusted by the prospect on an interracial marriage). The fiance turns up dead, the son is charged with the murder, and before it’s all through we have a very awkward mix of racists on both sides of the color barrier competing for attention. Putting all that aside (it was published in 1964, when it was probably spot-on), it is a good yarn told by a master of the written word, even if the clue by which Wolfe ID’s the killer is goofy and unrealistic. Given the dated nature of the book, I have to grade this only a C.

Book #97: Might as Well Be Dead by Rex Stout is a swell Nero Wolfe mystery centered around a young man who, for misguided reasons of love, refuses to help prove his innocence when charged with murder. Lucky for him Wolfe and Goodwin are around to ignore his wishes, and along the way there are plenty of twists and the trademark Stout style. I loved it. Grade: A

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.