Mountain Cat

Mountain Cat
(aka *The Mountain Cat Murders*)
Author	Rex Stout
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre	Detective fiction
Publisher	Farrar & Rinehart
Publication date	July 27, 1939
Media type	Print (Hardcover)
Pages	306 pp.

Last updated April 25, 2019

Mountain Cat (a.k.a. The Mountain Cat Murders) is a mystery novel by Rex Stout, first published in book form in 1939. The story first appeared in the June 1939 issue of The American Magazine , abridged and titled Dark Revenge.

Rex Todhunter Stout was an American writer noted for his detective fiction. His best-known characters are the detective Nero Wolfe and his assistant Archie Goodwin, who were featured in 33 novels and 39 novellas between 1934 and 1975.

This article presents lists of the literary events and publications in 1939.

The American Magazine was a periodical publication founded in June 1906, a continuation of failed publications purchased a few years earlier from publishing mogul Miriam Leslie. It succeeded Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly (1876–1904), Leslie's Monthly Magazine (1904–1905), Leslie's Magazine (1905) and the American Illustrated Magazine (1905–1906). The magazine was published through August 1956.

Plot summary

Delia Brand, the protagonist, is a beautiful young woman living in tiny Cody, Wyoming. Delia is determined to avenge the tragic deaths of her parents; her prospector father's by shooting and her mother's suicide from grief. When she believes she knows the culprit, she buys some cartridges and announces her intention to shoot a man. After discussing her intentions with her uncle Quinby Pellet, the town taxidermist, Delia goes to visit her sister, Clara.

Cody is a city in Northwest Wyoming and the county seat of Park County, Wyoming, United States. It is named after Colonel William Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody for his part in the founding of Cody in 1896.

Clara Brand is secretary to Dan Jackson, who runs a grubstaking business for local prospectors, and has just lost her job. In the middle of Delia's argument with Dan, she hears noises outside the office and discovers that Quin has been knocked unconscious by someone whom he hasn't seen. After dealing with the doctor and the police, Delia returns to her car to find that her gun and cartridges have been stolen.

Dan Jackson's father-in-law Lem Sammis is Delia's godfather, Delia goes to see him and his brassy wife Evelina to get Clara's job back. Lem agrees and gives Delia a note to Dan to say so. When Delia returns to the office to confront Dan once again, she finds him dead and is arrested for his murder, due to her earlier incautious statements.

However, very few people know that, although the late Dan Jackson was no favorite of Delia's, her actual suspicions were of the Reverend Rufus Toale. Other characters of interest include Delia's lawyer and suitor, Tyler Dillon; millionaire playgirl Wynne Cowles, known to all as the "Mountain Cat," who has come to Cody for her second divorce in two years; and illiterate prospector Squint Hurley. Squint Hurley comes up with a document found near Delia's father's body that he's never been able to read, which leads Delia to the identity and motivation of the real murderer.

Literary significance and criticism

Jacques Barzun and Wendell Hertig Taylor, A Catalogue of Crime — A non-Nero Wolfe mystery which is also a Western. The "Mountain Cat" is a wealthy and glamorous woman — is she a villain or not? Other distinctive characters engage our interest, but the book as a whole affords little more than mild pleasure.^[1]
John McAleer, Rex Stout: A Biography — Nineteen thirty-nine was Rex's annus mirabilis as a novelist. From birthday to birthday, in 1938 and 1939, he published five novels — Mr. Cinderella (1 December 1938), Some Buried Caesar (2 February 1939), Mountain Cat (27 July 1939), Double for Death (3 October 1939), and Red Threads (1 December 1939) — in hardcover. Another, Over My Dead Body , the seventh Wolfe novel, appeared in The American Magazine .^[2]

Jacques Martin Barzun was a French-American historian known for his studies of the history of ideas and cultural history. He wrote about a wide range of subjects, including baseball, mystery novels, and classical music, and was also known as a philosopher of education. In the book Teacher in America (1945), Barzun influenced the training of schoolteachers in the United States.

Annus mirabilis is a Latin phrase that means "wonderful year", "miraculous year" or "amazing year". This term was originally used to refer to the year 1666, and today is used to refer to several years during which events of major importance are remembered. Prior to this, however, Thomas Dekker used the phrase mirabilis annus in his 1603 pamphlet The Wonderful Year, "Wherein is shewed the picture of London lying sick of the plague."

<i>Some Buried Caesar</i> book by Rex Stout

Some Buried Caesar is the sixth Nero Wolfe detective novel by Rex Stout. The story first appeared in abridged form in The American Magazine, under the title "The Red Bull", it was first published as a novel by Farrar & Rinehart in 1939. In 2000 it was included in the list of the 100 Favorite Mysteries of the Century by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association.

Publication history

Harold von Schmidt illustrated the abridged version of the novel for The American Magazine (June 1939) Stout-Mountain-Cat-2.jpg — Harold von Schmidt illustrated the abridged version of the novel for *The American Magazine* (June 1939)

1939, The American Magazine , abridged as Dark Revenge, June 1939
1939, New York: Farrar & Rinehart, July 27, 1939, hardcover^[3]
1939, Toronto: Oxford University Press, hardcover
1940, London: Collins Crime Club, March 7, 1940, hardcover
1940, New York: Grosset & Dunlap, hardcover
1943, New York: Dell #28 (mapback by Gerald Gregg), paperback; new edition #D-252, December 1958; new edition #5849, September 1964
1971, New York: Pyramid #T2389, January 1971; second printing, #N3161, May 1974; fourth printing #V3161, February 1977 (as The Mountain Cat Murders)
2011, New York: Bantam Crimeline ISBN 978-0-307-76821-6 August 17, 2011, e-book

Farrar & Rinehart (1929–1946) was a United States book publishing company founded in New York. Farrar & Rinehart enjoyed success with both nonfiction and novels, notably, the landmark Rivers of America Series and the first ten books in the Nero Wolfe corpus of Rex Stout. In 1943 the company was recognized with the first Carey-Thomas Award for creative publishing presented by Publishers Weekly.

Oxford University Press (OUP) is the largest university press in the world, and the second oldest after Cambridge University Press. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the vice-chancellor known as the delegates of the press. They are headed by the secretary to the delegates, who serves as OUP's chief executive and as its major representative on other university bodies. Oxford University has used a similar system to oversee OUP since the 17th century. The Press is located on Walton Street, opposite Somerville College, in the suburb Jericho.

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.

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References

↑ Barzun, Jacques and Taylor, Wendell Hertig. A Catalogue of Crime. New York: Harper & Row. 1971, revised and enlarged edition 1989. ISBN 0-06-015796-8
↑ McAleer, John, Rex Stout: A Biography. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1977, ISBN 0-316-55340-9, page 278
↑ Townsend, Guy M., Rex Stout: An Annotated Primary and Secondary Bibliography. New York: Garland Publishing, 1980, ISBN 0-8240-9479-4, pp. 16–17. John McAleer, Judson Sapp and Arriean Schemer are associate editors of this definitive publication history.

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[COFC-1] Barzun, Jacques and Taylor, Wendell Hertig. A Catalogue of Crime. New York: Harper & Row. 1971, revised and enlarged edition 1989. ISBN 0-06-015796-8

[2] McAleer, John, Rex Stout: A Biography. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1977, ISBN 0-316-55340-9, page 278

[3] Townsend, Guy M., Rex Stout: An Annotated Primary and Secondary Bibliography. New York: Garland Publishing, 1980, ISBN 0-8240-9479-4, pp. 16–17. John McAleer, Judson Sapp and Arriean Schemer are associate editors of this definitive publication history.