Three at Wolfe's Door (A Nero Wolfe Mystery Book 33)

New book, arrived fast, great price.

Book 33, is my first Rex Stout, Nero Wolfe endeavor, more to surely follow…Quite different than my usual noir readings, I would label this a classic mystery of manners, from a time, a style and place mostly forgotten. Archie Goodwin (story narrator) does most of the lifting, but respectfully defers to the big guy Wolfe to deftly crack the case.I was oddly reminded of PG Wodehouse, clearly a different genre, throughout my reading. I believe it was the respect and fair treatment of the “serving class” exhibited and the loyalty returned for fairness, that the good food, and stylish ladies of the times, presents a world gone by.There’s a lesson there for us to consider. I’ll return to Stout for sure, but now it’s on to Ross MacDonald and more noir…then it will be 2022!

Stout seemed to be endlessly adept at creating new scenarios for Nero Wolfe and Archie to enter — and yet new ways for them to express their eccentricities and catch criminals.The first story in this collection was too complicated for my taste. The second and third I found charming, clever and engaging.In POISON A LA CARTE Wolfe and Archie attend an excellent dinner ruined by one of the guests dying — and Wolfe’s cook becomes his client. METHOD THREE FOR MURDER starts with a corpse in a borrowed cab, and Archie coaches the attractive client on the art of lying successfully. THE RODEO MURDER takes Wolfe to an exotic dinner of rare young blue grouse, another dinner that does not end well.I never cease to be amazed by Stout’s fertile imagination.

The first case, Poison á la Carte, is another instance of Wolfe becoming involved in a case away from home. It started out as a favor to Mr. Hewitt to allow Fritz to prepare a dinner for a group of men. One is poisoned during the first course so Wolfe feels he must find the murderer for Fritz's sake.Method Three For Murder becomes the choice for the young woman who is accused of leaving a cab containing a dead body parked in front of Wolfe's house. That method is to use a basic lie and stick to it when dealing with the police. Archie became involved in the case when he quit and was leaving Wolfe's house. It is an exceptional illustration of the relationship between Wolfe and Archie, and how they reconcile their differences. Of course Wolfe comes to Archie's aid to expose the murderer.The Rodeo Murder has Wolfe dining at Lily Rowan's house but not caught up in the murder since he had returned home before the murder was discovered. There are so many lies and accusations flying around that it takes a lot of sorting to get to the truth. Lily hires Wolfe to find who has abused her hospitality. Naturally he is able to fulfil her request.I enjoyed all of these stories because they furnished a more personal level of the relationships between the main characters. I am an avid fan of the Nero Wolfe series so this book is a welcome addition to my collection. I highly recommend it.

Rex Stout published not only novels, but collections of longish short stories, usually in groups of three. In this collection, Wolfe works on a case of poisoning at a dinner of gourmets, a stabbing victim found in a cab, and a strangulation at a party of rodeo cowboys. Stout links them with the device that in all three the reclusive Wolfe leaves his brownstone (in the second story, he gets as far as the front stoop). As usual, the mystery means little to me. Indeed, in the first story (one I'm embarrassed to admit I've known for decades), I can't even follow the basic puzzle, despite a helpful hint from Stout involving arranging pieces of paper. But that matters less to me than the exchanges between the Great Detective Nero Wolfe and his intrepid and breezy legman, Archie Goodwin, as well as the view of a Manhattan long gone -- one with extravagant parties and exclusive clubs, . It's also economically more diverse. Archie is a Midwestern prole wised up after years of observing the movers and shakers. In many ways, the Nero Wolfe series riffs on the screwball comedy, much as the Thin Man (William Powell-Myrna Loy-Asta) movies did. They tend to take place among the glamorous folk or independently wealthy -- a gourmet society, the Ten for Aristology, made up of wealthy men; a penthouse party thrown for the rodeo folk by millionaire Lily Rowan, Archie's number-one girl. But it's Archie's narrative voice that establishes the dash and the relatively light-hearted tone, despite the seriousness of murder. Stout's prose, as usual, moves like gangbusters, his choice of slang classically chaste, his jokes bright and undated.

Rex Stout's 1960 book " Three at Wolfe's Door (A Nero Wolfe Mystery Book 33) " is a compilation of three of his 1960 short stories:1. "Poison a la Carte"2. "Method Three for Murder"3. "The Rodeo Murder""Poison" is a Very Good 4 stars out of 5 short story in good Stout form without any real negative. "Method" is an even better Excellent 5 stars out of 5 short story that's got the added benefit of being even more witty (I'd say humorous if it weren't a murder mystery). But, "Rodeo" is a Not Very Good 2 stars out of 5 short story with horrible characterizations for everyone who isn't a regular. Their behavior is cringe inducing. Averaging those out gives still gives a Very Good 4 stars out of 5, so that's what I'm rating the whole compilation at.

Even average Nero Wolfe is pretty good and, despite having a structure recognisable to those who have read other stories in the canon, these are by no means formulaic. The short story format suited Stout, giving enough space to get in the main tropes (bickering between Goodwin and Wolfe, food, an irate Cramer, the gathering of the suspects in Wolfe's office etc) without padding or repetition.

As Nero Wolfe himself would say, "Satisfactory!"

Great writer & story.