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The Nero Wolfe Primer
Three Stories. And Be a Villain, Black Orchids and Champagne For One
452 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1952
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About the author
Rex Stout
844 books1,034 followersRex Todhunter Stout (1886–1975) was an American crime 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." Wolfe's assistant Archie Goodwin recorded the cases of the detective genius from 1934 (Fer-de-Lance) to 1975 (A Family Affair).
The Nero Wolfe corpus was nominated Best Mystery Series of the Century at Bouchercon 2000, the world's largest mystery convention, and Rex Stout was nominated Best Mystery Writer of the Century.
The Nero Wolfe corpus was nominated Best Mystery Series of the Century at Bouchercon 2000, the world's largest mystery convention, and Rex Stout was nominated Best Mystery Writer of the Century.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
February 17, 2013
One of the most difficult genres of books to re-read is the mystery; that is, when one has read a mystery before and reads it again, it is a very different experience. I, at least, find myself remembering to look for the clues, recalling the solution rather than deriving it. It is thus much more difficult to assess the quality of a mystery on a second--or in this case, I think, third--reading.
Yet they are good mysteries, with the clues reasonably evident but not blatantly so.
This volume contains three books, but actually four stories. That is initially confusing, because the titles of the original books begin with the letters A, B, C, featured on the cover, but the second book--Black Orchids--contains two separate stories, the title of the second of which begins with C, and thus I realized that although I was reading the third story and it started with C, there was yet another. I particularly like the third, because the method of the murder is brilliant, ingenious yet plausible, and the relationships between the people complicate it immensely.
Nero Wolfe is perhaps the ultimate example of the detective who relies on his deductive abilities; he hires others to do the legwork of examining crime scenes and reporting to him on the findings, and in these four stories he only left his apartment once, and that not to investigate a crime but to attend a flower show. The mystery, in its classic form, is a puzzle for the reader to solve, and these are solvable yet challenging puzzles.
The style is also interesting. All stories are told exclusively in the voice of Wolfe's assistant Archie Goodwin, who gives his views of all the other characters and events and sometimes speculates and sometimes wonders about his boss's thought processes.
The stories in this book were apparently written over several decades, or at least are set in different decades and reflect their times in what seems to me a reliable way--although only one was as late as the sixties, and so my impressions of the others are as of what I know of earlier decades from other sources. The characters are well realized. My reading suffers slightly from the fact that I saw an A&E miniseries of a couple of Nero Wolfe mysteries, so naturally I see the characters as the actors who portrayed them, but these seem to have been reasonably accurate renderings.
I am fond of mysteries, having read quite a bit of Agatha Christie, much of the Sherlock Holmes stories, Chesterton's Father Brown collection, and numerous others, plus having acquaintance with more such stories through the PBS Mystery series. These hold there own and are worth reading from that perspective.
Yet they are good mysteries, with the clues reasonably evident but not blatantly so.
This volume contains three books, but actually four stories. That is initially confusing, because the titles of the original books begin with the letters A, B, C, featured on the cover, but the second book--Black Orchids--contains two separate stories, the title of the second of which begins with C, and thus I realized that although I was reading the third story and it started with C, there was yet another. I particularly like the third, because the method of the murder is brilliant, ingenious yet plausible, and the relationships between the people complicate it immensely.
Nero Wolfe is perhaps the ultimate example of the detective who relies on his deductive abilities; he hires others to do the legwork of examining crime scenes and reporting to him on the findings, and in these four stories he only left his apartment once, and that not to investigate a crime but to attend a flower show. The mystery, in its classic form, is a puzzle for the reader to solve, and these are solvable yet challenging puzzles.
The style is also interesting. All stories are told exclusively in the voice of Wolfe's assistant Archie Goodwin, who gives his views of all the other characters and events and sometimes speculates and sometimes wonders about his boss's thought processes.
The stories in this book were apparently written over several decades, or at least are set in different decades and reflect their times in what seems to me a reliable way--although only one was as late as the sixties, and so my impressions of the others are as of what I know of earlier decades from other sources. The characters are well realized. My reading suffers slightly from the fact that I saw an A&E miniseries of a couple of Nero Wolfe mysteries, so naturally I see the characters as the actors who portrayed them, but these seem to have been reasonably accurate renderings.
I am fond of mysteries, having read quite a bit of Agatha Christie, much of the Sherlock Holmes stories, Chesterton's Father Brown collection, and numerous others, plus having acquaintance with more such stories through the PBS Mystery series. These hold there own and are worth reading from that perspective.
July 28, 2017
Our hero Nero Wolf and his foot man Archie solve three mysteries in this book.
For those of you who are not familiar with Stout's novels, Nero Wolfe is a professional detective. He is quite large, keeps a professional Swiss cook who prepares food to Wolfe's exact instructions. Wolfe never leaves the house except on rare occasions.
His outside eyes are a couple of detectives, but mostly Archie Goodwin. Archie is our narrator and his sarcastic, wise cracking is what makes the books so much fun to read. Here is a brief synopsis of each story.
And Be a Villain:
In a live radio broadcast, the people being interviewed and the host all imbibe a soda pop by the sponsors. One of interviewees drinks a poisoned soda pop and keels over while on the air. Who did it? It turns out more than one person had a motive.
Black Orchids:
Anyone who knows Nero Wolfe knows that he raises Orchids and no one may disturb him during the hours while he's on the top floor of his Brownstone, cultivating them. On a rare occasion, he leaves his house and attends a flower show.
Archie has been going every day to the show because to entice attenders in the auditorium there is a performance between a man and a woman picnicking in a "forest". Archie has decided he is in love with the woman.
The man on stage is supposed to be sleeping on the picnic tablecloth, but when the woman goes to rouse him, he doesn't wake up. He has been shot through the heart right on stage, but no body heard or saw anything. How did it happen and why?
Champagne for One:
A rich woman continues the wishes of her late husband by hosting a dinner for unwed mothers. She invites an equal amount of men so there can be dancing, socializing and so on. The rich lady's nephew does not want to go so he persuades Archie to take his place.
While there Archie is informed by another young woman that one of the mothers, Faith Usher, carries a cyanide pill in her purse in case she ever wants to commit suicide.
Rather morbid, Archie thinks, but he keeps an eye on her. He watches a bartender pour drinks for a young man who takes them and carries them to Faith. He offers her one. She soon drops dead of cyanide poisoning. How did it happen?
Archie was watching closely: Faith did not put a tablet in the drink before she took a sip. The young man did not pour the drinks and the bartender did not put anything in the drinks.
And why would anyone want to kill Faith?
These stories are fun weekend reads for me and if you like to just sit back and take a break from your other reading for something fun and light, you'll like these books.
For those of you who are not familiar with Stout's novels, Nero Wolfe is a professional detective. He is quite large, keeps a professional Swiss cook who prepares food to Wolfe's exact instructions. Wolfe never leaves the house except on rare occasions.
His outside eyes are a couple of detectives, but mostly Archie Goodwin. Archie is our narrator and his sarcastic, wise cracking is what makes the books so much fun to read. Here is a brief synopsis of each story.
And Be a Villain:
In a live radio broadcast, the people being interviewed and the host all imbibe a soda pop by the sponsors. One of interviewees drinks a poisoned soda pop and keels over while on the air. Who did it? It turns out more than one person had a motive.
Black Orchids:
Anyone who knows Nero Wolfe knows that he raises Orchids and no one may disturb him during the hours while he's on the top floor of his Brownstone, cultivating them. On a rare occasion, he leaves his house and attends a flower show.
Archie has been going every day to the show because to entice attenders in the auditorium there is a performance between a man and a woman picnicking in a "forest". Archie has decided he is in love with the woman.
The man on stage is supposed to be sleeping on the picnic tablecloth, but when the woman goes to rouse him, he doesn't wake up. He has been shot through the heart right on stage, but no body heard or saw anything. How did it happen and why?
Champagne for One:
A rich woman continues the wishes of her late husband by hosting a dinner for unwed mothers. She invites an equal amount of men so there can be dancing, socializing and so on. The rich lady's nephew does not want to go so he persuades Archie to take his place.
While there Archie is informed by another young woman that one of the mothers, Faith Usher, carries a cyanide pill in her purse in case she ever wants to commit suicide.
Rather morbid, Archie thinks, but he keeps an eye on her. He watches a bartender pour drinks for a young man who takes them and carries them to Faith. He offers her one. She soon drops dead of cyanide poisoning. How did it happen?
Archie was watching closely: Faith did not put a tablet in the drink before she took a sip. The young man did not pour the drinks and the bartender did not put anything in the drinks.
And why would anyone want to kill Faith?
These stories are fun weekend reads for me and if you like to just sit back and take a break from your other reading for something fun and light, you'll like these books.
September 3, 2017
A fun series of 3 short novels. The last was my favorite. I tend to read Nero Wolfe more for the style, characters and dialogue than the mysteries, as I can rarely figure them out. But they are solid mysteries and worth reading.
July 14, 2019
Wonderful collection of stories, including how Nero Wolfe got black orchids. The last story was one that was done in the A&E series — I liked having the pictures of the scenes going through my head as I read it.
May 29, 2017
Interesting, good, just a very different style than I'm used to
January 25, 2021
read first book. will read other 2. Like Rex
stout as an author and love nero wild as a character.
stout as an author and love nero wild as a character.
January 27, 2023
I hadn't read Rex Stout for years and really enjoyed this one! He has a great sense of humor along with a clever mind!
Read
June 6, 2010And Be a Villain. I must confess, although I thought I was following along very carefully, I missed the villain entirely. I was still delighted by the writing, and will read more Stout. I have read several of them and enjoyed the tv show. My secret analysis of Wolfe is that he was a gay man of enormous intellect and taste (and weight). The tv show, to my mind, did not ring so true of Wolfe as it did of Archie, even though Maury Chaykin is one of my favorite actors. I cannot read Stout without seeing Timothy Hutton as Archie.
November 11, 2011
I loved BLACK ORCHIDS; I followed carefully and came close to the solution. CHAMPAGNE FOR ONE was another good one. It's all about the relationships. I've got to go back to AND BE A VILLAIN. I didn't like it the first time I started it; it may've been my mood at the time.
July 4, 2010
I don't know why, but I was in the mood for them. Light and easy to read. Archie Goodwin is a wonderfully witty narrator.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews