The Red Box by Rex Stout

The Red Box by Rex Stout

Nero Wolfe is browbeaten into leave his home to investigate a case. That little fact alone should be enough to get any Wolfe fan to read this novel, but of course, there is so very much more to this story in which no one—not even the murderer’s intended victim and those who care about him—will reveal the information Wolfe desperately needs to prevent a crime. This is a novel that shows you how very good Wolfe is when the chips are down and he has nothing tangible to move on. It’s especially exciting toward the end when we realize that he had figured out almost everything that was happening in the first couple of chapters and most of the rest of the book is a desperate search for evidence (or, as is often the case in these books, for Wolfe to concoct convincing enough evidence to trick the villain into revealing him or herself. In the last book, I was thrilled to have figured out the bulk of what was happening right from the beginning of the story. This time I had no idea who the bad guy was until Wolfe revealed him or her to the reader. And not having figured it out did not reduce my enjoyment a single iota. The Red Box is simply another great Nero Wolfe mystery.