The Rex Stout Reader.The Rex Stout Rex Stout, full name Rex Todhunter Stout, (December 1, 1886 - October 27, 1975) was an American writer best known as the creator of the larger-than-life fictional detective Nero Wolfe, described by reviewer Will Cuppy as "that Falstaff of detectives. Reader Introduction by Otto Penzler Carroll & Graf 245 W. 17th St., 11th fl., NY, NY 10011 0786718625 $16.95 www.avalonpub.com 800-788-3123 Nero Wolfe Nero Wolfe is a fictional detective, created by the American mystery writer Rex Stout, who made his debut in 1934. Wolfe's assistant Archie Goodwin recorded the cases of the detective genius in 33 novels and 39 short stories from the 1930s to the 1970s, with most of them set in New fans beware: this volume contains two novels and a short story that preceded Rex Stout's creation of the armchair detective Armchair Detective is a term used for a fictional investigator who does not himself (or herself) visit the crime scene or interview witnesses; instead, he or she either reads the story of the crime in a newspaper, or has it recounted to him by another person. . Her Forbidden Knight, Stout's first novel, was serialized in 1913, and not published in book form until 1997. A Prize for Princes, his third, was serialized in 1914 and published in book form in 1985. It wasn't till 1934 that Nero Wolfe was born, but not before Stout had authored other novels, honing his craft. The two novels in this volume are a product of the times, heavily influenced by 19th century writing and the demands of the reading public of the times. Much of the writing, by modern comparison, could be called stilted stilt·ed adj. 1. Stiffly or artificially formal; stiff. 2. Architecture Having some vertical length between the impost and the beginning of the curve. Used of an arch. , but it is in keeping with the style of the publication, and characters and story lines. Forbidden Knight follows the fortunes of a pretty telegraph operator in a New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. hotel under the "protection" of several hangers-on in the lobby. She falls in love with a stranger who is under a cloud in his hometown and is passing bogus currency in the Big Apple. It is more of a romance than a crime story. Prize, while full of romance, comes with murder and mystery and intrigue. A young American rescues two women amid a brutal Turkish assault on a convent and falls in love with one, a beautiful but dangerous woman who is accused of poisoning her husband, unbeknownst to him. She schemes and plots to rise to marry the Prince of Marisi, poisoning two others along the way. The short story, Out of the Line, is more modern and is a tale of pathos. A bored woman, widow of a rich man to whom she was married for seven years, celebrates her birthday by giving money to homeless men on lower Broadway Lower Broadway is a street that is a focal point of Nashville, Tennessee. The street runs east and west between Interstate 65 and the west bank of the Cumberland River. . One of the men is a former lover who she presumably pre·sum·a·ble adj. That can be presumed or taken for granted; reasonable as a supposition: presumable causes of the disaster. wronged. Invited to visit her, he rejects her in no uncertain terms. It was interesting reading Stout's early works even if it does not appeal to the modern eye. As a forerunner of his later accomplishments, the novels and short story certainly are indicative of what was yet to come. If only for that reason they are worth reading. But there is another: they are well-written and enjoyable |
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