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 oftentimes will 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.
Thornton Utz illustrated "The Gun with Wings" for The American Magazine (December 1949)
Margaret "Peggy" Mion, widow of opera tenor Alberto Mion, and Frederick Weppler, the music critic for the Gazette, ask Wolfe to investigate Mion's death from four months earlier. His body had been found in his apartment's soundproof practice studio, shot through the roof of the mouth. The police have ruled the case a suicide, but Peggy insists that Mion never would have been able to kill himself even though she was thinking of leaving Mion for Weppler. She pays Wolfe a $5,000 retainer to find out the truth so that she and Weppler can put their minds at ease and start a life together.
Six weeks prior to Mion's death, baritone Gifford James had learned from his daughter Clara that Mion had seduced her, and he punched Mion in the neck out of anger. The blow injured Mion's larynx, requiring an operation, and he was having trouble regaining full use of his voice. On the day of his death, he held a conference with James and several other individuals who were professionally affected by the incident, to discuss the issue of restitution to be paid by James. Among them was Dr. Nicholas Lloyd, the surgeon who performed the operation. Some time after the conference ended, Weppler and Peggy visited the apartment to confront Mion about their love for each other, only to find him dead in the studio.
The police report states that Mion's gun was found on the floor next to the body, rather than at the base of a bust of Enrico Caruso that was placed across the studio. However, Weppler and Peggy insist that it was not on the floor when they entered. Wolfe believes they are lying, but proceeds with a plan to bring the involved parties to his office by sending out notices that Peggy plans to sue James for damages on behalf of Mion's estate. During this meeting, Clara reveals that she had made up the story she told her father about Mion's seducing her. Lloyd had called on a professional colleague to get a second opinion regarding Mion's prognosis that would confirm his own.
Enrico Caruso was an Italian operatic tenor. He sang to great acclaim at the major opera houses of Europe and the Americas, appearing in a wide variety of roles from the Italian and French repertoires that ranged from the lyric to the dramatic. Caruso also made approximately 260 commercially released recordings from 1902 to 1920. All of these recordings, which span most of his stage career, remain available today on CDs and as downloads and digital streams.
The next day, Inspector Cramer visits the brownstone at Wolfe's request. Wolfe surprises Archie by openly telling Cramer of his belief that Mion was murdered, even though he has no evidence to support it. Cramer is incensed, but reluctantly agrees to go along with Wolfe's suggestion that Weppler and Peggy be arrested as material witnesses. They are released on bail the following day but find themselves being followed by the police, and they come to see Wolfe in a panic. Weppler admits that he had seen the gun at the Caruso bust and put it on the floor to divert suspicion from himself and Peggy, but Wolfe hypothesizes that the gun had originally been on the floor but was previously moved by someone else.
Archie tricks Clara into admitting that she had entered the studio using her own key, arriving just before Weppler and Peggy, found the gun on the floor, and moved it to the bust in order to implicate Peggy. She refuses to sign a statement to that effect brought by Archie, so he instead has her sign a note documenting her refusal. At the brownstone, Wolfe uses the note to forge Clara's signature on the statement and then calls Cramer, Sergeant Purley Stebbins, and everyone involved to his office so he can close the case.
The murderer is Lloyd, who had begun to think that his reputation would be destroyed by Mion's slow recovery and/or an error he might have made during the operation. With assistance from Archie and James, Wolfe demonstrates the manner in which Lloyd could have killed Mion without any resistance. Lloyd had asked Mion to open his mouth for a throat examination; as he did so, his eyes naturally tilted upward toward the ceiling, and Lloyd was able to put the gun in Mion's mouth and fire without being seen. Lloyd runs for the door but is caught by Cramer and Stebbins, and Archie takes advantage of the ensuing chaos to slip out of the office and get himself a glass of milk.
Trivia
In chapter 2, Archie makes either a mistake or a deliberate error in his statement:
"Granted that you're dead right," I observed, "which is not what you call apodictical, someday we ought to make up a list of the clients that have sat here and lied to us. There was Mike Walsh, and Calida Frost, and that cafeteria guy, Pratt — oh, dozens. But their money was good, and I didn't get so far behind with my notes that I couldn't catch up. All that for nothing?"
Only Calida Frost (The Red Box) fit the description. Mike Walsh (The Rubber Band) and Pratt (Some Buried Caesar) had not lied to Wolfe, and as far as the published stories, Pratt had never been to Wolfe's office.
The Red Box is the fourth Nero Wolfe detective novel by Rex Stout. Prior to its first publication in 1937 by Farrar & Rinehart, Inc., the novel was serialized in five issues of The American Magazine. Adapted twice for Italian television, The Red Box is the first Nero Wolfe story to be adapted for the American stage.
The Rubber Band is the third Nero Wolfe detective novel by Rex Stout. Prior to its publication in 1936 by Farrar & Rinehart, Inc., the novel was serialized in six issues of The Saturday Evening Post. Appearing in one 1960 paperback edition titled To Kill Again,The Rubber Band was also collected in the omnibus volume Five of a Kind.
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.
1977, Masterpieces of Mystery: The Golden Age, Part Two, ed. by Ellery Queen, New York: Davis Publications, 1977
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.
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.
Curtains for Three
1951, New York: The Viking Press, February 23, 1951, hardcover[1]:82
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 #9, Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe Part I, Otto Penzler describes the first edition of Curtains for Three: "Gray cloth, front cover printed with red lettering (and decoration on front cover only) and black rules; rear cover blank. Issued in a black, orange and white dust wrapper."[2]:26
In April 2006, Firsts: The Book Collector's Magazine estimated that the first edition of Curtains for Three had a value of between $300 and $500. The estimate is for a copy in very good to fine condition in a like dustjacket.[3]
1951, New York: Viking (Mystery Guild), 1951, 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).[2]:19–20
Curtains for Three is a collection of Nero Wolfe mystery novellas by Rex Stout, published by the Viking Press in 1951 and itself collected in the omnibus volume Full House. The book comprises three stories that first appeared in The American Magazine:
"Method Three for Murder" is a Nero Wolfe mystery novella by Rex Stout, first serialized in three issues of The Saturday Evening Post. It first appeared in book form in the short-story collection Three at Wolfe's Door, published by the Viking Press in 1960.
"Invitation to Murder" is a Nero Wolfe mystery novella by Rex Stout, first published as "Will to Murder" in the August 1953 issue of The American Magazine. It first appeared in book form in the short-story collection Three Men Out, published by the Viking Press in 1954.
"The Zero Clue" is a Nero Wolfe mystery novella by Rex Stout, first published as "Scared to Death" in the December 1953 issue of The American Magazine. It first appeared in book form in the short-story collection Three Men Out, published by the Viking Press in 1954.
"Bullet for One" is a Nero Wolfe mystery novella by Rex Stout, first published in the July 1948 issue of The American Magazine. It first appeared in book form in the short-story collection Curtains for Three, published by the Viking Press in 1951.
"Disguise for Murder" is a Nero Wolfe mystery novella by Rex Stout, first published as "The Twisted Scarf" in the September 1950 issue of The American Magazine. It first appeared in book form in the short-story collection Curtains for Three, published by the Viking Press in 1951.
"Help Wanted, Male" is a Nero Wolfe mystery novella by Rex Stout, first published in the August 1945 issue of The American Magazine. It first appeared in book form in the short-story collection Trouble in Triplicate, published by the Viking Press in 1949.
"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.
"Death of a Demon" is a Nero Wolfe mystery novella by Rex Stout, first serialized 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.
"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.
"Poison à la Carte" is a Nero Wolfe mystery novella by Rex Stout, first published in April 1960 in the short-story collection Three at Wolfe's Door.
"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.
"Die Like a Dog" is a Nero Wolfe mystery novella written by American writer Rex Stout, first published as "The Body in the Hall" in the December 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.
"Blood Will Tell" is a Nero Wolfe mystery novella by Rex Stout, first published in the December 1963 issue of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. It first appeared in book form in the short-story collection Trio for Blunt Instruments, published by the Viking Press in 1964.
"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 Cop-Killer" is a Nero Wolfe mystery novella by Rex Stout, first published as "The Cop Killer" in the February 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.
"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
1 2 Penzler, Otto, Collecting Mystery Fiction #9, Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe Part I. 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. 33
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