Nero Wolfe is a fictional character, a brilliant, oversized, eccentric armchair detective created in 1934 by American mystery writer Rex Stout. Wolfe was born in Montenegro and keeps his past murky. He lives in a luxurious brownstone on West 35th Street in New York City, and he is loath to leave his home for business or anything that would keep him from reading his books, tending his orchids, or eating the gourmet meals prepared by his chef, Fritz Brenner. Archie Goodwin, Wolfe's sharp-witted, dapper young confidential assistant with an eye for attractive women, narrates the cases and does the legwork for the detective genius.
Mystery fiction is a genre of fiction usually involving a mysterious death or a crime to be solved. Often with a closed circle of suspects, each suspect is usually provided with a credible motive and a reasonable opportunity for committing the crime. The central character will often be a detective who eventually solves the mystery by logical deduction from facts presented to the reader. Sometimes mystery books are nonfictional. "Mystery fiction" can be detective stories in which the emphasis is on the puzzle or suspense element and its logical solution such as a whodunit. Mystery fiction can be contrasted with hardboiled detective stories, which focus on action and gritty realism.
A novella is a text of written, fictional, narrative prose normally longer than a short story but shorter than a novel, somewhere between 17,500 and 40,000 words.
Lucy Hazen has a preemptive confession to make to Nero Wolfe – having come to despise her husband Barry, a cruel public relations counsellor, she has recently become plagued by thoughts of shooting him with his own gun. In order to deter herself from following through on this impulse, she has decided to confess this to Nero Wolfe, knowing that if she did commit the crime he would reveal the act to the police. Although bemused by the meeting, Wolfe humors her and agrees to show her his orchid collection, but while they are upstairs Archie Goodwin hears on the radio that Barry Hazen’s body has been discovered in an alley, shot in the back.
Despite Lucy’s confession, Archie is convinced by her reaction when he informs her of her husband’s murder that she is innocent of the crime. Wolfe and Archie learn from Lucy that she last saw her husband at a dinner party held the previous evening for a group of his clients – Mrs. Victor Oliver, Anne Talbot, Jules Khoury and Ambrose Perdis – and his copy-writer Theodore Weed, whom Lucy clearly harbors feelings for. Although similarly convinced of her innocence, Wolfe is reluctant to accept Lucy as his client and sends her away, though he keeps the gun in his possession for safe-keeping. Using an old mattress, Archie acquires a fired bullet from the gun and turns it over to Inspector Cramer for comparison.
Lucy is detained as a suspect in her husband’s murder, and hires Wolfe to exonerate her. Theodore Weed approaches Wolfe, also offering to hire him. He admits that he is in love with Lucy Hazen and that Barry Hazen knew this, taking pleasure from his discomfort about the situation when in her presence. He reveals his suspicions that his employer was extorting money from his clients. Via Nathaniel Parker, Wolfe’s attorney, Lucy gives Wolfe a key to her apartment, and informs him that her husband had given her instructions in the event of his death; she was to locate a metal box hidden in their home, empty the contents, and destroy them.
Archie Goodwin is dispatched to acquire the box, but on arriving at the Hazen residence discovers that the guests from the dinner party are already there, clearly searching the apartment. He manages to hold them at gunpoint, and – after locating the box – brings them to Wolfe’s brownstone. The guests confirm that Hazen was blackmailing them, and inform Wolfe that he took sadistic pleasure in taunting each person with hints about what they had done. Wolfe and Archie open the box only to discover it is empty, but Wolfe nevertheless claims to each guest that he will sell them the contents of the box for $250,000 each.
Inspector Cramer arrives at the brownstone in a gloating mood, revealing that the police have discovered the gun that Lucy Hazen apparently used to murder her husband – a pistol that her father used to commit suicide. The gun is of the same make as the one Lucy brought to Wolfe, however, and the bullet from the first gun did not match the bullet that killed Barry Hazen. This leads Wolfe to a conclusion, which is further confirmed that evening when, alone of the others, Jules Khoury refuses to give Wolfe any money for the contents of the box.
Wolfe reveals that the box was empty and accuses Khoury of murdering Barry Hazen. He admits that he has no evidence, but argues that Hazen’s hints and the specific gun used strongly imply that Khoury’s secret was that he actually murdered Lucy’s father, his former business partner. Furthermore, Khoury’s refusal to pay Wolfe suggest that he knew all along that the box was empty, having located and destroyed the evidence after murdering Hazen. His use of the duplicate gun was an attempt to frame Lucy for the crime. Khoury is arrested and evidence is discovered tying him to both murders, and Lucy and Theodore admit their feelings for each other.
Cast of characters
Nero Wolfe — The private investigator
Archie Goodwin — Wolfe's assistant (and the narrator of all Wolfe stories)
Lucy Hazen — Wolfe's client, newly widowed by her husband's murder
Barry Hazen — Public relations counselor, apparent blackmailer, and murder victim
Jules Khoury, Mrs. Victor Oliver, Ambrose Perdis, Mrs. Henry Talbot — Clients of Hazen's firm, who pay him much more than his services are worth
Theodore Weed — Employed as a copy writer by Mr. Hazen
1977, Ellery Queen's Anthology, Fall–Winter 1977 (as "The Gun Puzzle")
1977, Ellery Queen's Faces of Mystery, New York: Davis Publications, 1977, hardcover (as "The Gun Puzzle")
The Saturday Evening Post is an American magazine, currently published six times a year. It was published weekly under this title from 1897 until 1963, then every two weeks until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely circulated and influential magazines for the American middle class, with fiction, non-fiction, cartoons and features that reached millions of homes every week. The magazine declined in readership through the 1960s, and in 1969 The Saturday Evening Post folded for two years before being revived as a quarterly publication with an emphasis on medical articles in 1971.
Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine is an American digest size fiction magazine specializing in crime fiction, particularly detective fiction, and mystery fiction. Launched in fall 1941 by Mercury Press, EQMM is named after the fictitious author Ellery Queen, who wrote novels and short stories about a fictional detective named Ellery Queen. From 1993, EQMM changed its cover title to be Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, but the table of contents still retains the full name.
Homicide Trinity
1962, New York: The Viking Press, April 26, 1962, hardcover[1]:86
Viking Press is an American publishing company now owned by Penguin Random House. It was founded in New York City on March 1, 1925, by Harold K. Guinzburg and George S. Oppenheim and then acquired by the Penguin Group in 1975.
In his limited-edition pamphlet, Collecting Mystery Fiction #10, Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe Part II, Otto Penzler describes the first edition of Homicide Trinity: "Blue cloth, front cover stamped in blind; spine printed with deep pink; rear cover blank. Issued in a mainly blue dust wrapper."[2]:14
In April 2006, Firsts: The Book Collector's Magazine estimated that the first edition of Homicide Trinity had a value of between $150 and $350. The estimate is for a copy in very good to fine condition in a like dustjacket.[3]
1962, Toronto: Macmillan, 1962, hardcover
1962, New York: Viking (Mystery Guild), August 1962, hardcover
The Book of the Month Club is a United States subscription-based e-commerce service that offers a selection of five new hardcover books each month to its members. Books are selected and endorsed by a panel of judges, and members choose which book they would like to receive, similar to how the club originally operated when it began in 1926. Members can also discuss the books with fellow members in an online forum.
The far less valuable Viking book club edition may be distinguished from the first edition in three ways:
The dust jacket has "Book Club Edition" printed on the inside front flap, and the price is absent (first editions may be price clipped if they were given as gifts).
Book club editions are sometimes thinner and always taller (usually a quarter of an inch) than first editions.
Book club editions are bound in cardboard, and first editions are bound in cloth (or have at least a cloth spine).[4]:19–20
Collins Crime Club was an imprint of British book publishers William Collins, Sons and ran from 6 May 1930 to April 1994. Throughout its 64 years the club issued a total of 2,025 first editions of crime novels and reached a high standard of quality throughout. In the field of crime book collecting, Collins Crime Club is eagerly sought, particularly pre-war first editions in dustwrappers with their vivid and imaginative images.
The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a numeric commercial book identifier which is intended to be unique. Publishers purchase ISBNs from an affiliate of the International ISBN Agency.
Adaptations
Nero Wolfe (CBC Radio)
"Death of a Demon" was adapted as the 12th episode of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's 13-part radio series Nero Wolfe (1982), starring Mavor Moore as Nero Wolfe, Don Francks as Archie Goodwin, and Cec Linder as Inspector Cramer. Written and directed by Toronto actor and producer Ron Hartmann,[5] the hour-long adaptation aired on CBC Stereo April 3, 1982.[6]
Related Research Articles
Might as Well Be Dead is a Nero Wolfe detective novel by Rex Stout, published by the Viking Press in 1956. The story was also collected in the omnibus volume Three Aces.
The Golden Spiders is a Nero Wolfe detective novel by Rex Stout. It was first published in 1953 by The Viking Press.
And Be a Villain is a Nero Wolfe detective novel by Rex Stout, first published by the Viking Press in 1948. The story was collected in the omnibus volumes Full House and Triple Zeck.
In the Best Families is a Nero Wolfe detective novel by Rex Stout, first published by the Viking Press in 1950. The story was collected in the omnibus volumes Five of a Kind and Triple Zeck.
Prisoner's Base is a Nero Wolfe detective novel by Rex Stout, first published by Viking Press in 1952.
Too Many Women is a Nero Wolfe detective novel by Rex Stout, published in 1947 by the Viking Press. The novel was also collected in the omnibus volume All Aces.
If Death Ever Slept is a Nero Wolfe detective novel by Rex Stout, published by the Viking Press in 1957 and collected in the omnibus volume Three Trumps.
Too Many Clients is a Nero Wolfe detective novel by Rex Stout, published by the Viking Press in 1960, and collected in the omnibus volume Three Aces.
The Final Deduction is a Nero Wolfe detective novel by Rex Stout, published by the Viking Press in 1961 and collected in the omnibus volume Three Aces.
Death of a Doxy is a Nero Wolfe detective novel by Rex Stout, first published by Viking Press in 1966.
The Mother Hunt is a Nero Wolfe detective novel by Rex Stout, first published by Viking Press in 1963.
"Instead of Evidence" is a Nero Wolfe mystery novella by Rex Stout, first published in the May 1946 issue of The American Magazine under the title "Murder on Tuesday". It first appeared in book form in the short-story collection Trouble in Triplicate, published by the Viking Press in 1949.
"Eeny Meeny Murder Mo" is a Nero Wolfe mystery novella by Rex Stout, first published in the March 1962 issue of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (#220). It first appeared in book form in the short-story collection Homicide Trinity, published by the Viking Press in 1962.
"Counterfeit for Murder" is a Nero Wolfe mystery novella by Rex Stout, first serialized as "The Counterfeiter's Knife" in three issues of The Saturday Evening Post. It first appeared in book form in the short-story collection Homicide Trinity, published by the Viking Press in 1962.
"Murder Is Corny" is a Nero Wolfe mystery novella by Rex Stout, first published in April 1964 in the short-story collection Trio for Blunt Instruments. It was the last Nero Wolfe novella to be written, and the last published in Stout's lifetime.
"Murder Is No Joke" is a Nero Wolfe mystery novella by Rex Stout, first published in the 1958 short-story collection And Four to Go.
"When a Man Murders" is a Nero Wolfe mystery novella by Rex Stout, first published in the May 1954 issue of The American Magazine. It first appeared in book form in the short-story collection Three Witnesses, published by the Viking Press in 1956.
"Easter Parade" is a Nero Wolfe mystery novella by Rex Stout, first published as "The Easter Parade Murder" in the April 16, 1957, issue of Look magazine. It first appeared in book form in the short-story collection And Four to Go, published by the Viking Press in 1958.
"Home to Roost" is a Nero Wolfe mystery novella by Rex Stout, first published as "Nero Wolfe and the Communist Killer" in the January 1952 issue of The American Magazine. It first appeared in book form in the short-story collection Triple Jeopardy, published by the Viking Press in 1952. This novella and the 1949 novel The Second Confession are notable expressions of Stout's contempt for both Communism and McCarthyism.
"The Squirt and the Monkey" is a Nero Wolfe mystery novella by Rex Stout, first published as "See No Evil" in the August 1951 issue of The American Magazine. It first appeared in book form in the short-story collection Triple Jeopardy, published by the Viking Press in 1952.
References
1 2 Townsend, Guy M., Rex Stout: An Annotated Primary and Secondary Bibliography. New York: Garland Publishing, 1980. John McAleer, Judson Sapp and Arriean Schemer are associate editors of this definitive publication history. ISBN0-8240-9479-4
↑ Penzler, Otto, Collecting Mystery Fiction #10, Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe Part II. New York: The Mysterious Bookshop, 2001. Limited edition of 250 copies.
↑ Smiley, Robin H., "Rex Stout: A Checklist of Primary First Editions." Firsts: The Book Collector's Magazine (Volume 16, Number 4), April 2006, p. 35
↑ Penzler, Otto, Collecting Mystery Fiction #9, Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe Part I. New York: The Mysterious Bookshop, 2001. Limited edition of 250 copies.
↑ MacNiven, Elina, "Nero Wolfe: Wolfe's verbal coups rendered on radio"; Globe and Mail (Toronto, Canada), January 16, 1982.
↑ Hickerson, Jay, The Ultimate History of Network Radio Programming and Guide to All Circulating Shows, 1992, Box 4321, Hamden, CT 06514, p. 6; The Thrilling Detective, Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe
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