Read Series: Nero Wolfe
by Author Rex Stout
Trio for Blunt Instruments (1997)
If Nero Wolfe and his sidekick, Archie, would ever admit to an Achilles' heel-which they wouldn't-it would be a weakness for damsels in distress. In these three charming chillers the duo answer the call of helpless heroines with nothing to lose-except their lives. First a beautiful young Aphrodit...
Too Many Clients (1955)
In Rex Stout's novel, Too Many Clients, a man approaches Archie, introduces himself as the vice president of a large company and asks Archie to follow him to a certain address at a certain time that night, in order to determine whether or not he, the vice president, is being followed by someone e...
Three Witnesses (1994)
Three Nero Wolfe Mysteries1) The Next Witness - Confound it! Nero Wolfe is stuck sitting in court, waiting to be a witness for the prosecution along with Archie Goodwin. But it wasn't the perfumed woman he had to sit next to that made him get up and leave, even with the threat of being in contemp...
Three Men Out (1991)
The anthology consists of three novellas. Invitation to Murder.A man who is entirely dependent on his uncle to provide for his living (at least he is honest about it) was worried that one of the three young women working for his wealthy relative his matrimonial plans for the latter which would pu...
Three for the Chair (1994)
One thing is certain to distract Nero Wolfe from his culinary and horticultural pursuits: murder. This time Wolfe and his able assistant, Archie Goodwin, are put in the hot seat when they are called upon to investigate three different murders.
The Second Confession (1995)
When a millionaire businessman hires the sedentary detective to snoop on his daughter's boyfriend, Wolfe finds himself caught in a labyrinthine case involving drugged drinks, murderous debutantes, and a gangland boss.
The Red Box (1983)
The Red Box was the fourth of the Nero Wolfe novels and begins somewhat abruptly in the middle of the initial interview with Wolfe’s client. With a desperate need for a client, Archie connives with a potential client to get Wolfe to leave his house to travel down to a fashion firm several blocks ...
Plot it Yourself (1977)
The heavyweight champion of detective genius is confronted by a bloody series of brilliant murders and an uncatchable killer who terrorizes New York's literary world.
The Mother Hunt (1993)
When an abandoned baby is left on her doorstep, the young socialite widow knows only too well the identity of the father: her deceased philanderer of a husband. But who is the mother? The case seems like child's play to Wolfe, until the first dead body. While the police nurse their grudges agains...
The League of Frightened Men (1995)
A hazing prank on a Harvard freshman sends a brilliant young man, Paul Chapin out on a high window ledge. His fall shatters his body but not his mind. It sobers the hazers and they vow to make it up to the cripple by atoning for it the rest of their lives. But pity can curdle and nurture resentme...
In the Best Families (1995)
Aging millionairess Mrs. Rackham asks Nero Wolfe to find out where her penniless husband has suddenly been obtaining mysteriously large sums of money, a request that leads to murder and to threats against the master detective himself.
Homicide Trinity (1993)
"Eeny Meeny Murder Mo"Bertha Aaron, the secretary to the Senior partner in a lawfirm comes to Wolfe's office because she suspects one of the other partners of colluding with an opposing client against the interests of the firm. Because the opposing client is involved in a divorce case, Archie kno...
The Final Deduction (1995)
When the seemingly safe return of an abducted millionaire ends in his murder in his own home, Nero Wolfe sends Archie Goodwin to do his usual legwork, while Wolfe uncovers corruption and greed among Manhattan's elite.
The Father Hunt (1995)
Hired to locate Amy Denovo's long-lost father, Nero Wolfe and his assistant, Archie Goodwin, discover that the missing man has a deadly and dangerous secret to hide. Reissue. NYT.
Death of a Dude (1995)
Sedentary sleuth Nero Wolfe and his sidekick, Archie Goodwin, leave West Thirty-fifth Street for a Montana dude ranch to clear an innocent man of a murder charge.
Death of a Doxy (1990)
Handsome Playboy Orrie Cather, one of Nero Wolfe's operatives, usually has women falling at his feet. But they usually don't fall all the way to dead. Has he set up Archie Goodwin, Wolfe's right-hand man to be the one to find her that way in her rosy bower, a love nest maintained by another man, ...
Curtains for Three (1995)
Curtains for Three was published in 1951 and featured three Nero Wolve novellas published from 1948-50. As usual, we’ll review the individual story and then include an overall rating for the book:"The Gun with Wings": The title sounds similar to a Father Brown story (”The Dagger with Wings”) but ...
Champagne for One (1995)
Faith Usher talked about taking her own life and even kept cyanide in her purse. So when she died from a lethal champagne cocktail in the middle of a high society dinner party, everyone called it suicide—including the police. But Nero Wolfe isn’t convinced—and neither is Archie. Especially when W...
Black Orchids (1992)
This one's actually a twofer. In the first novella ('Black Orchids'), an obnoxious young gardener is murdered at a flower show, where Nero Wolfe just happens to be on hand, having made one of his once-in-a-blue-moon excursions out of doors to ogle the world's only black orchids, which are on disp...
And Four to Go (1992)
Nero Wolfe must track down a killer who murders his victims only during holidays and who, so far, has left Wolfe with four puzzling cases to unravel.
The Black Mountain (2011)
Marko Vukcic is dead. Nero Wolfe is extremely displeased by the murder of his oldest and dearest friend, and is even more displeased when, after weeks of effort, he is unable to locate or identify the murderer. Marko, it seems, was involved in international intrigue in their native Montenegro, an...
Fer-de-Lance (2010)
I was excited about reading Nero Wolfe. Not only is he a classic detective, but a favorite writer, Philip Jose Farmer, admired Wolfe enough to include him in the Wold Newton family. Unfortunately, Fer-de-Lance was a disappointment, likely my first and last foray into the series. Not because o...
The Silent Speaker (1994)
When a powerful government official,scheduled to speak to a group of millionaires, turns up dead, it is an event worthy of the notice of the great Nero Wolfe. Balancing on the edge of financial ruin, the orchid-loving detective grudgingly accepts the case. Soon a second victim is found bludgeoned...
Three Doors to Death (1995)
What is better than finding an unread title of a Nero Wolfe volume by Rex Stout? It's finding three, all consolidated into one volume entitled Three Doors To Death. The three novellas were published in magazines in the late '40's, but Stout's writing ability and clever plotting is as fresh as eve...
And Be a Villain (1994)
Nero Wolfe needs a case and fortunately a murder occurs right on the radio for Wolfe to solve. One of the guests on the Madeline Fraser radio program has been poisoned. At first it looks like the murderer may have killed the wrong person but Wolfe isn't so sure. So he offers the host, the station...
Might as Well Be Dead (1980)
In Might as Well Be Dead, Wolfe is hired by a Nebraska businessman to find his son, Paul Herald. The older Herald had exiled his son eleven years earlier on the belief his son had stolen $11,000 from the business but had since learned that someone else committed the theft. He turns to Wolfe as a...
Prisoner's Base (1992)
Under normal circumstances, a woman showing up on Wolfe's door looking for a place to stay would be unceremoniously bounced. But if the woman shows up when Wolfe and Archie are in the middle of a standoff, she may end up being escorted inside so Archie can use her to antagonize his employer. The ...
Not Quite Dead Enough (1992)
Another two-in-one book, like Black Orchids before it. This time, the unifying thread is not Wolfe's rare flora, but his work for the United States Army during World War II. In 'Not Quite Dead Enough', Archie, now a major and working in domestic counter-intelligence, is sent to recruit Wolfe's he...
Please Pass the Guilt (1973)
Reading Please Pass the Guilt right after The Silent Speaker provided quite an interesting contrast. Both cases involve Archie and Wolfe drumming up business, but the times have changed in 25 years.In the first place, technoligically things are quite different. In, The Silent Speaker, recording c...
Too Many Cooks (1995)
Nero goes to West Virginia for a gourmet dinner. If you can swallow that one impossible premise, and some overt racist language and stereotypes, then this book is enjoyable and a certain classic of the Wolfe series. It is hard to discuss this book without addressing how remarkably different the w...
The Rubber Band (1995)
Nero Wolfe's former client, Mr. Anthony D. Perry, President of Seaboard Products Corporation shows up with a problem. Miss Clara Fox, an employee and possibly more to Mr. Perry, is accused of stealing $30,000 from the company. Later that same day, Clara Fox herself shows up and wants to hire Wolf...
If Death Ever Slept (2006)
I read all, or almost all the Nero Wolfe mysteries when I was in junior high, having finished reading Nancy Drew. I found this title in a box of old paperbacks, and decided to re-visit the old brownstone on West 35th Street. Somehow, the edition I happen to have is a British printing - which wa...
Gambit (2004)
In the early 2000s there was a show on A&E called A Nero Wolfe Mystery (or sometimes just, Nero Wolfe) starring Maury Chaykin and Timothy Hutton. I was a loyal watcher of the show, not only for the acting and writing, but also because of the general look of the show. The costumes and sets were a...
The Doorbell Rang (1992)
Rex Stout. Un tiempo para los actores secundariosLo cierto es que nunca había leído nada de Rex Stout. Y también: Nero Wolfe era uno de esos nombres que nos suenan, que creemos haber escuchado alguna vez, y cuyas portadas un poco pop habíamos visto alguna vez en los puestos de libros de ocasión. ...
Death Times Three (1985)
I would not call this anthology shameless cash grab after Rex Stout's death; cash grab - yes, shameless - no. I will try to explain below. The anthology consists of three novellas: Bitter end.Wolfe's personal cook extraordinaire Fritz was sick, so the detective had to cook for himself with really...
Murder by the Book (1995)
When everyone who has read Leonard Dykes's unpublished manuscript--including the author himself--is found dead, Nero Wolfe, along with his sidekick, decides to set a trap.
The Golden Spiders (1995)
The Golden Spiders finds Wolfe and Archie in ill-temper. Archie decides to admit a neighborhood boy who comes to Wolfe because of Wolfe’s antipathy to police and the fact that he saw a woman in a car apparently in trouble. Wolfe handles the boy well and agrees to help by tracing the plate of the ...