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Nero Wolfe #47
Death Times Three
This collection showcases Nero Wolfe’s uncanny crime-solving ability—as well as his incredible appetite—when he tackles murder three times over. Features an introduction by Rex Stout biographer John J. McAleer.
Contents: Bitter end — Frame-up for murder [Murder is no joke] — Assault on a brownstone
Contents: Bitter end — Frame-up for murder [Murder is no joke] — Assault on a brownstone
214 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published December 1, 1985
252 people are currently reading
650 people want to read
About the author
Rex Stout
833 books1,030 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 - 30 of 110 reviews
October 28, 2017
Recently I was doing a forage of my physical shelves in search of a Bachman book when I came across three of the typically slender Rex Stout novels and knew immediately that I would revisit that brownstone on 35th street, occupied by none other than Nero Wolfe and household.
I’ve been here before and as usual I gain entry to the brownstone through the always dapper Mr. Goodwin, Nero’s right hand man. Archie is not without influence in this household and I have it on good authority that he is quite the dancer as well.
Of course I had met Nero and staff years ago. This was a happy reunion, for me, with an iconic figure. The man who grows orchids on the top floors of his New York City brownstone, and employs and enjoys the fruits of a culinary genius: he keeps a red leather chair and a large globe of the world in his office, along with a vase of orchids on his desk.
Even though I long to sit in the red chair, I choose another, set in the back among the shadows. Better to watch as Wolfe lends his considerable weight and gives new meaning to the word eccentric. He can be and most often is, insufferable, but do not be fooled by his antics, he is also in possession of some formidable powers of keen observation and astounding deductive abilities.
Strangely, my good reads shelves do not reflect that I have read, ever so many of Stout’s, Wolfe mysteries. I must fix that.
If however, you have not, do not start here. These are just little snippets, appetisers that only serve to whet the tongue.
No, much better that you start with,Fer-de-Lance his first in the series. I pesonally, read them all helter skelter, in no particular order other than availability.
Still, of all the seekers of justice in this genre it is Nero and household I love the best.
In an effort to guard; further nurture and not sully the images Rex Stout has carefully cultivated in my mind, I have avoided all other representations of these characters. So there!
I’ve been here before and as usual I gain entry to the brownstone through the always dapper Mr. Goodwin, Nero’s right hand man. Archie is not without influence in this household and I have it on good authority that he is quite the dancer as well.
Of course I had met Nero and staff years ago. This was a happy reunion, for me, with an iconic figure. The man who grows orchids on the top floors of his New York City brownstone, and employs and enjoys the fruits of a culinary genius: he keeps a red leather chair and a large globe of the world in his office, along with a vase of orchids on his desk.
Even though I long to sit in the red chair, I choose another, set in the back among the shadows. Better to watch as Wolfe lends his considerable weight and gives new meaning to the word eccentric. He can be and most often is, insufferable, but do not be fooled by his antics, he is also in possession of some formidable powers of keen observation and astounding deductive abilities.
Strangely, my good reads shelves do not reflect that I have read, ever so many of Stout’s, Wolfe mysteries. I must fix that.
If however, you have not, do not start here. These are just little snippets, appetisers that only serve to whet the tongue.
No, much better that you start with,Fer-de-Lance his first in the series. I pesonally, read them all helter skelter, in no particular order other than availability.
Still, of all the seekers of justice in this genre it is Nero and household I love the best.
In an effort to guard; further nurture and not sully the images Rex Stout has carefully cultivated in my mind, I have avoided all other representations of these characters. So there!
November 4, 2019
Death Times Three is the final collection of Nero Wolfe novellas. Published posthumously, it does not consist of previously unpublished works but rather three works which--for various reasons--never achieved book publication in precisely this form, during his lifetime. Two of the tales had already been published with slightly different characters and conclusions: "Frame Up for Murder" as "Murder is No Joke" in And Four to Go (1958) and "Assault on a Brownstone" as "Counterfeit for Murder" in "Homicide Trinity" (1961). Only "Bitter End" is an entirely new adventure for Wolfe, and even this one is merely a shorter reworking of the earlier Tecumseh Fox novel "Bad for Business."
My advice: unless you are an absolute Wolfe addict, read "Bitter End" and skip the other two.
December 14, 2025
There are 33 Nero Wolfe novels & 40 NW novellas. On these novellas generally, see my comments to Three Witnesses. This volume likewise contains one outstanding novella, and two which I did not read, but which are not rated very highly by others. The one I read, “Bitter End”, was very satisfying — I give it 5.5 stars.
“Bitter End” was actually the very first Nero Wolfe novella, and has an interesting backstory. It began as a rewrite of the second Tecumseh Fox novel, the latter of which was published as a book in November 1940, and the former of which — with the activities of Tecumseh Fox condensed, and divided up between Archie and Nero Wolfe — was published in *The American Magazine* that very same month! While the characters were different, the plot was basically the same. And readers of the two were presumably baffled by the similarity. In any case, it taught Rex Stout that the Nero Wolfe saga could work in novella form (though many people believe that the novellas are in general less interesting or less compelling than the novels), a view with which I may end up agreeing.
I am looking for a Stout novella that will appeal to a broad enough audience and yet illustrate a certain schema, and this one certainly fit.
“Bitter End” was actually the very first Nero Wolfe novella, and has an interesting backstory. It began as a rewrite of the second Tecumseh Fox novel, the latter of which was published as a book in November 1940, and the former of which — with the activities of Tecumseh Fox condensed, and divided up between Archie and Nero Wolfe — was published in *The American Magazine* that very same month! While the characters were different, the plot was basically the same. And readers of the two were presumably baffled by the similarity. In any case, it taught Rex Stout that the Nero Wolfe saga could work in novella form (though many people believe that the novellas are in general less interesting or less compelling than the novels), a view with which I may end up agreeing.
I am looking for a Stout novella that will appeal to a broad enough audience and yet illustrate a certain schema, and this one certainly fit.
November 7, 2023
3.75/5
And so ends the last of the Rex Stout Nero Wolfe mysteries. But I love these characters so much that I will continue with the Robert Goldsborough companion series.
And so ends the last of the Rex Stout Nero Wolfe mysteries. But I love these characters so much that I will continue with the Robert Goldsborough companion series.
October 28, 2023
Five years ago, I read my first Nero Wolfe mystery, The Doorbell Rang, and was hooked. I started reading the series from the beginning in the order they were published. This book is generally considered the final one, number 47. It was published 10 years after Rex Stout’s death and collects three novellas from earlier in his career that were not previously published, at least in their current form, in books. It includes three novellas and a good 25 page introduction by Stout’s biographer.
“Bitter End” began life as a 1940 Tecumseh Fox novel called Bad for Business. A magazine publisher rejected it, but offered to pay Stout double to rewrite it as a Nero Wolfe novella. This became the first of many Wolfe novellas. Stout did not allow it to be included in any of his Wolfe novella collections, reportedly because of its bastard origins. Because the length was cut by two thirds, there is a lot packed into this story, which sometimes borders on confusing. It is good, but not great, 3 stars.
“Frame-up for Murder” started out in 1957 as the novella “Murder Is No Joke”, which was collected in the book And Four to Go. In late 1957, The Saturday Evening Post asked Stout for a longer version and he expanded it from 48 to 79 pages. The longer version was never previously collected in book form. The major change is a much more prominent role for Flora Gallant, who was reportedly based on Stout’s wife. Unchanged is the fact that a key clue will probably be incomprehensible to anyone who is not old enough to have used rotary telephones regularly in real life. The mystery is somewhat better than average, 3.5 stars.
“Assault on a Brownstone” was originally written in 1959 as “The Counterfeiter’s Knife” and was collected as “Counterfeit for Murder” in Homicide Trinity. His biographer says Stout “did no revision… the first draft was always the only draft”. But in this case, less than a month later and without any prompting by an editor or publisher, he discarded all but the first seven pages and completely rewrote the story. The unpublished revised manuscript was discovered in his archives after his death. The earlier published version marked the first time a character treats cops with undisguised open contempt, not merely the usual ribbing from Archie and Nero. She is Wolfe’s client, Hattie Annis, one of his most memorable, and her father was unfairly killed by police 15 years earlier. She hires Wolfe to make the cops “eat dirt”. That version is a solid 4-star story. In this later version, Wolfe kills off Hattie at the outset. Did he have second thoughts about the cop hate, but then let it be published anyway? In any case, this version without Hattie is decidedly inferior, 2.5 stars.
Having reached the end of the series, I would like to offer a few thoughts and recommendations. The sustained high point of the series is the Zeck trilogy: And Be a Villain (1948, #13), The Second Confession (1949, #15) and In the Best Families (1950, #17). I think Wolfe was at his very best when he was up against a criminal mastermind rivaling his own capabilities, a “Professor Moriarty” rather than a more pedestrian crook. It is a shame that this was the only time in the series that Stout created such a nemesis.
The other high point in the series is The Doorbell Rang (1965, #41), in which Stout trashes the carefully cultivated fake reputation of the then-sacrosanct FBI. Younger readers might be surprised to learn that that the FBI has been a lawless, corrupt Praetorian Guard since Hoover in 1924.
There are very good books scattered throughout the series. I think I have left brief reviews of nearly all of the books for anyone interested. There are only a few weaker ones, notably The Black Mountain (1954, #24), Death of a Dude (1969, #44) and Please Pass the Guilt (1973, #45), and even those have their moments. The latter two were written when Stout was in his 80s. He seemed uncertain at the end of his life about what to make of the social upheavals of the late 1960s, and it shows.
I did not imagine when I started the series that the sedentary, epicurean Wolfe would turn out to be one of literature’s more bloodthirsty detectives. Wolfe and company take the law into their own hands and arrange an extrajudicial killing seven times in the series. There is a lot of blood on those pampered fat hands, although the reader knows that the victims were guilty, notwithstanding the lack of a trial or even enough evidence for an indictment.
I got considerable enjoyment while reading the series from noting Stout’s observations in passing on contemporary life. Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin never get older, but the world around them does and Stout is a good observer. Adam Hall’s Quiller series is another good example of this.
I think Rex Stout deserves recognition as one of the very best mystery writers of all time. Of those I have read, he is surpassed only by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Dame Agatha Christie.
“Bitter End” began life as a 1940 Tecumseh Fox novel called Bad for Business. A magazine publisher rejected it, but offered to pay Stout double to rewrite it as a Nero Wolfe novella. This became the first of many Wolfe novellas. Stout did not allow it to be included in any of his Wolfe novella collections, reportedly because of its bastard origins. Because the length was cut by two thirds, there is a lot packed into this story, which sometimes borders on confusing. It is good, but not great, 3 stars.
“Frame-up for Murder” started out in 1957 as the novella “Murder Is No Joke”, which was collected in the book And Four to Go. In late 1957, The Saturday Evening Post asked Stout for a longer version and he expanded it from 48 to 79 pages. The longer version was never previously collected in book form. The major change is a much more prominent role for Flora Gallant, who was reportedly based on Stout’s wife. Unchanged is the fact that a key clue will probably be incomprehensible to anyone who is not old enough to have used rotary telephones regularly in real life. The mystery is somewhat better than average, 3.5 stars.
“Assault on a Brownstone” was originally written in 1959 as “The Counterfeiter’s Knife” and was collected as “Counterfeit for Murder” in Homicide Trinity. His biographer says Stout “did no revision… the first draft was always the only draft”. But in this case, less than a month later and without any prompting by an editor or publisher, he discarded all but the first seven pages and completely rewrote the story. The unpublished revised manuscript was discovered in his archives after his death. The earlier published version marked the first time a character treats cops with undisguised open contempt, not merely the usual ribbing from Archie and Nero. She is Wolfe’s client, Hattie Annis, one of his most memorable, and her father was unfairly killed by police 15 years earlier. She hires Wolfe to make the cops “eat dirt”. That version is a solid 4-star story. In this later version, Wolfe kills off Hattie at the outset. Did he have second thoughts about the cop hate, but then let it be published anyway? In any case, this version without Hattie is decidedly inferior, 2.5 stars.
Having reached the end of the series, I would like to offer a few thoughts and recommendations. The sustained high point of the series is the Zeck trilogy: And Be a Villain (1948, #13), The Second Confession (1949, #15) and In the Best Families (1950, #17). I think Wolfe was at his very best when he was up against a criminal mastermind rivaling his own capabilities, a “Professor Moriarty” rather than a more pedestrian crook. It is a shame that this was the only time in the series that Stout created such a nemesis.
The other high point in the series is The Doorbell Rang (1965, #41), in which Stout trashes the carefully cultivated fake reputation of the then-sacrosanct FBI. Younger readers might be surprised to learn that that the FBI has been a lawless, corrupt Praetorian Guard since Hoover in 1924.
There are very good books scattered throughout the series. I think I have left brief reviews of nearly all of the books for anyone interested. There are only a few weaker ones, notably The Black Mountain (1954, #24), Death of a Dude (1969, #44) and Please Pass the Guilt (1973, #45), and even those have their moments. The latter two were written when Stout was in his 80s. He seemed uncertain at the end of his life about what to make of the social upheavals of the late 1960s, and it shows.
I did not imagine when I started the series that the sedentary, epicurean Wolfe would turn out to be one of literature’s more bloodthirsty detectives. Wolfe and company take the law into their own hands and arrange an extrajudicial killing seven times in the series. There is a lot of blood on those pampered fat hands, although the reader knows that the victims were guilty, notwithstanding the lack of a trial or even enough evidence for an indictment.
I got considerable enjoyment while reading the series from noting Stout’s observations in passing on contemporary life. Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin never get older, but the world around them does and Stout is a good observer. Adam Hall’s Quiller series is another good example of this.
I think Rex Stout deserves recognition as one of the very best mystery writers of all time. Of those I have read, he is surpassed only by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Dame Agatha Christie.
June 2, 2019
Even though this was the last published book of Rex Stout's work, featuring Nero Wolfe, it was still my introduction to the famed detective. Death Times Three features three short stories/ novellas; Bitter End, Frame-up for Murder and Assault on a Brownstone. I didn't really have any sort of clue about Nero Wolfe and was interested to find out more about him and his assistant Archie Goodwin, who is, in effect, Wolfe's arms and legs. Wolfe never leaves his brownstone in New York and uses the investigations conducted by Archie to analyse and solve the cases brought his way. Wolfe is a curmudgeon, doesn't like his routine upset (breakfast, morning with his orchids, office work in the afternoon, then more work with his orchids, etc). He doesn't like women clients for some reason (maybe I'll find out more as I further explore his other cases), doesn't really need the work, but seems to take them on when his routine is disrupted or his character is called into question (at least in the three cases in this book.) They were nicely varied; an invasion by Treasury officials in the last, a case involving quinine in Wolfe's pate and the murder of a fashion designer. I enjoyed the cases, the dynamic between Archie and Wolfe and the interruptions by Inspector Cramer and how Wolfe works the information to solve the cases. Enjoyable reading and I'm looking forward to finding out more about this detective.
May 18, 2020
This was a fun read to cap the entirety of Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe series. Like the title implies there are three novellas in this volume. All of them were written on or before 1961 which gives them more of the old time feel I love about these stories.
Two of them are of particular note. Frame up for Murder and Assault on a Brownstone were variations on stories told previously, but with substantial changes. As if Stout wrote them one way but was plagued with ideas and so rewrote them differently.
Frame up for Murder, was similar to a story in Four to Go. In this version the character names remain the same and the general plot remains the same but it is written much more tightly. That makes the story flow faster and exposes the emotional impact of the plot.
The real changes came in Assault on a Brownstone, which was previously published as Counterfeit for Murder in the volume Homicide Trinity. This story also uses the same character names, and the first several pages are identical, but from there it goes a totally different direction. The murder victims were different, the villain was different and the behaviors and personalities of all the identically named characters were different. I had read the previous version recently enough that the changes came across as very refreshing. I missed the character that Hattie Annis had in the first book, but I loved how much more involved Archie was in this version.
Two of them are of particular note. Frame up for Murder and Assault on a Brownstone were variations on stories told previously, but with substantial changes. As if Stout wrote them one way but was plagued with ideas and so rewrote them differently.
Frame up for Murder, was similar to a story in Four to Go. In this version the character names remain the same and the general plot remains the same but it is written much more tightly. That makes the story flow faster and exposes the emotional impact of the plot.
The real changes came in Assault on a Brownstone, which was previously published as Counterfeit for Murder in the volume Homicide Trinity. This story also uses the same character names, and the first several pages are identical, but from there it goes a totally different direction. The murder victims were different, the villain was different and the behaviors and personalities of all the identically named characters were different. I had read the previous version recently enough that the changes came across as very refreshing. I missed the character that Hattie Annis had in the first book, but I loved how much more involved Archie was in this version.
November 10, 2025
Three Nero Wolfe novellas in this book. They are all great fun to read.
April 22, 2025
The three stories in this book were published after Rex Stout's death and are all alternate versions of other stories. (Two of them appeared in previous collections.)
Bitter End
Rather than publishing an abridged version of "Bad for Business" (i.e. Tecumseh Fox #2), The American Magazine offered double payment if Stout would convert it into a Nero Wolfe story. Here, Fritz is down with the grippe and unable to cook. Wolfe tries to manage lunch with a jar of liver pâté, which he ends up spewing all over Archie. It turns out the pâté is bitter because it has quinine in it. Wolfe vows to find out who at the Tingley Tidbits factory is poisoning the pâté and make "the blackguard" regret it. I haven't read the other version, but it's hard to imagine this story working without the familiar interplay between Wolfe, Archie and Inspector Cramer.
Frame-Up for Murder
An expanded version of "Murder Is No Joke" (published in And Four to Go). The stories play out the same way but this one features a young and attractive version of Flora Gallant, who catches Archie's eye and tries to charm him into getting her an audience with Wolfe. And it will take something unusual to convince Wolfe, as the few hundred dollars she has to offer as a retainer would supply beer for maybe four days.
Assault on a Brownstone
This is the original version of "Counterfeit for Murder" (published in Homicide Trinity). The stories start out exactly the same, but the murder victims are different. This earlier story is more compact and maybe more logical. Wolfe scores brilliantly over . But the role of Hattie Annis is substantially reduced, which is really a shame.
Bitter End
Rather than publishing an abridged version of "Bad for Business" (i.e. Tecumseh Fox #2), The American Magazine offered double payment if Stout would convert it into a Nero Wolfe story. Here, Fritz is down with the grippe and unable to cook. Wolfe tries to manage lunch with a jar of liver pâté, which he ends up spewing all over Archie. It turns out the pâté is bitter because it has quinine in it. Wolfe vows to find out who at the Tingley Tidbits factory is poisoning the pâté and make "the blackguard" regret it. I haven't read the other version, but it's hard to imagine this story working without the familiar interplay between Wolfe, Archie and Inspector Cramer.
Frame-Up for Murder
An expanded version of "Murder Is No Joke" (published in And Four to Go). The stories play out the same way but this one features a young and attractive version of Flora Gallant, who catches Archie's eye and tries to charm him into getting her an audience with Wolfe. And it will take something unusual to convince Wolfe, as the few hundred dollars she has to offer as a retainer would supply beer for maybe four days.
Assault on a Brownstone
This is the original version of "Counterfeit for Murder" (published in Homicide Trinity). The stories start out exactly the same, but the murder victims are different. This earlier story is more compact and maybe more logical. Wolfe scores brilliantly over . But the role of Hattie Annis is substantially reduced, which is really a shame.
October 12, 2019
Anyone who quibbles about this collection should be forced to eat liver pate out of a tin. These three novellas are essentially rewrites of other Stouts. But they were rewritten by Stout himself, people!. At this point in my old age I am happy enough to get a Stout rewrite, let alone three I hadn't read. Nero Wolfe! Archie Goodwin! And an allusion --- nameless, but we all know who Archie is talking about --- to Lily Rowan! Fritz! Cramer! Even Theodore makes an appearance. The only reason this is not a five star rating is that the mysteries are not among Stout's best in any iteration of the story. Which is a shame, because like Christie at her best (think A Murder is Announced), Stout normally keeps most readers guessing. But unlike Agatha Christie (whom I love and respect), Rex Stout always wrote supremely well in Archie's voice. These three novellas are no exception. Plus, there is a nifty introduction explaining the origins of the collection.
September 12, 2025
These were tales that were rewritten from other stories (and characters) that received little or no notice previously. The first story "Bitter End" is the first of the forty Wolfe novellas. It started as a tale of Stout's other detective, Tecumseh Fox, "Bad for Business". The story of how both wound up being published is fascinating.
The second story "Frame Up for Murder" is a real twist that could easily become a television episode or even a movie. The twists in getting to the truth are quite good with one slip-up by the killer that you may kick yourself over for missing. It's that good. This book is the first time this complete novella has been published since its original, serialized appearance in The Saturday Evening Post.
The final tale "Assault on a Brownstone" is an alternate version of "Counterfeit for Murder" which was originally published in Homicide Trinity. A book I read not that long ago. I liked "Counterfeit for Murder" a bit better, but this version has its own charm and pluses.
Highly recommended for fans of Nero and Archie, and for those who simply love a good whodunit!
FIND IT! BUY IT! READ IT!
The second story "Frame Up for Murder" is a real twist that could easily become a television episode or even a movie. The twists in getting to the truth are quite good with one slip-up by the killer that you may kick yourself over for missing. It's that good. This book is the first time this complete novella has been published since its original, serialized appearance in The Saturday Evening Post.
The final tale "Assault on a Brownstone" is an alternate version of "Counterfeit for Murder" which was originally published in Homicide Trinity. A book I read not that long ago. I liked "Counterfeit for Murder" a bit better, but this version has its own charm and pluses.
Highly recommended for fans of Nero and Archie, and for those who simply love a good whodunit!
FIND IT! BUY IT! READ IT!
June 11, 2019
В этой книжке не столько интересно было следить за расследованием убийств, сколько наслаждаться непревзойденным остроумием Арчи Гудвина (впрочем, как всегда)!!!!!!!!!!
March 27, 2013
It's the heavy heart read, the last of the books, the new story Bitter Ends is a fun one to read after Family Affair. We see Wolfe and Archie at their finest and with funny moments as well. A great story which was adapted from the T. Fox story that Stout wrote.
The other two are variations of stories that have been released before. The one Frame Up For Murder changes one character by making her 20 years younger. This involves Archie more in the story and shows how much changing one character changes the flow and feel of a story. I liked the one where she was older though... just personal taste.
The other one Counterfeit for Murder was really interesting. In this story the change was changing the murder victim. This switches the story around greatly. By keeping the younger woman alive again, the story relies more on Wolfe. But in the other version, Hattie, an older and much more colorful lady lives. I prefer the one with Hattie alive, but reading the two different versions felt like a science fiction/ parallel universe viewpoint. Very interesting to read. Reading both versions of Counterfeit for Murder would be for writers to study.
However, now I've read them all, and there's always a sadness to that...
The other two are variations of stories that have been released before. The one Frame Up For Murder changes one character by making her 20 years younger. This involves Archie more in the story and shows how much changing one character changes the flow and feel of a story. I liked the one where she was older though... just personal taste.
The other one Counterfeit for Murder was really interesting. In this story the change was changing the murder victim. This switches the story around greatly. By keeping the younger woman alive again, the story relies more on Wolfe. But in the other version, Hattie, an older and much more colorful lady lives. I prefer the one with Hattie alive, but reading the two different versions felt like a science fiction/ parallel universe viewpoint. Very interesting to read. Reading both versions of Counterfeit for Murder would be for writers to study.
However, now I've read them all, and there's always a sadness to that...
July 5, 2017
It's not fair to say that these are bad stories, but they are unnecessary. Two of them are rewrites of stories already in the canon, and they aren't different enough to warrant publication. The other is a rewrite of a non Wolfe story that Stout wrote, and the fact that he never had it published for most of his lifetime suggests that he wasn't overly fond of it. Unfortunately, this book comes off as an unnecessary cash grab. And I'm always uncomfortable with book printed after an author has died, where they don't have a chance to weigh in on whether or not it's work they would have published.
October 2, 2024
Rex Stout was the first major Golden Age author that I got really into. Re-reading him, with more context, he continues to impress. Someone looking for elaborate puzzle plots won't find them here, but from a “non-genre” point of view—as a producer of entertaining prose and memorable characters—he stands well above most of his peers. In general, I think his novellas are hist most successful works—narrator Archie Goodwin can carry things to an extent, but when we go entire chapters without Wolfe in the novels, I always feel like things are sagging, and the shorter stories tend to avoid that. Still, the novellas have their hits and misses, and while this collection has some good stuff, the third story is lousy.
“Bitter End” is a rework of one of Stout's early (non-Wolfe) novels. Although it was the first Wolfe novella, it wasn't reprinted in a convenient form until this posthumous collection. It's a good start; the opening scene is funny, the side characters are well-drawn, and the mystery is fair-play, something Stout didn't always worry about.
“Frame-Up For Murder” is an expanded version of another novella, “Murder Is No Joke.” The suspects are fairly bland, and an experienced mystery reader won't struggle to guess the main “trick” of the story ahead of Archie, but it's solid.
“Assault On a Brownstone” was a fully-written novella that Stout scrapped, although he took the first ten pages and turned them into another novella, “Counterfeit for Murder.” That novella features Hattie Annis, who is widely considered to be one of Stout's more successful creations; in this version, she dies without doing much of anything. This is quite poor; I see why Stout wanted to take a second wack at it (quite unusually for someone who notoriously didn't revise much). The murder isn't much (we hear nothing about the police investigation, for example, and given Wolfe's usual nature, it's unclear why he suddenly decides to care about it), and although I theoretically approve of tweaking the FBI's nose, they don't act outrageously enough to really serve as the villains. The investigation is pathetic; the FBI already know who the killer is, and neither Wolfe nor Archie do anything worth calling clever. The killer helpfully reveals themself at the end to make up for the fact that there aren't any clues or evidence. I get it; Stout was dead, his executors found a previously unpublished story, but sometimes things remain unpublished for a reason.
“Bitter End” is a rework of one of Stout's early (non-Wolfe) novels. Although it was the first Wolfe novella, it wasn't reprinted in a convenient form until this posthumous collection. It's a good start; the opening scene is funny, the side characters are well-drawn, and the mystery is fair-play, something Stout didn't always worry about.
“Frame-Up For Murder” is an expanded version of another novella, “Murder Is No Joke.” The suspects are fairly bland, and an experienced mystery reader won't struggle to guess the main “trick” of the story ahead of Archie, but it's solid.
“Assault On a Brownstone” was a fully-written novella that Stout scrapped, although he took the first ten pages and turned them into another novella, “Counterfeit for Murder.” That novella features Hattie Annis, who is widely considered to be one of Stout's more successful creations; in this version, she dies without doing much of anything. This is quite poor; I see why Stout wanted to take a second wack at it (quite unusually for someone who notoriously didn't revise much). The murder isn't much (we hear nothing about the police investigation, for example, and given Wolfe's usual nature, it's unclear why he suddenly decides to care about it), and although I theoretically approve of tweaking the FBI's nose, they don't act outrageously enough to really serve as the villains. The investigation is pathetic; the FBI already know who the killer is, and neither Wolfe nor Archie do anything worth calling clever. The killer helpfully reveals themself at the end to make up for the fact that there aren't any clues or evidence. I get it; Stout was dead, his executors found a previously unpublished story, but sometimes things remain unpublished for a reason.
June 15, 2024
A little bit frustrating, as anyone who’s read “A Family Affair” (the final book in the Nero Wolfe series) might have hoped for a genuine continuation of the overall story, and this isn’t that. It’s three novellas, one of which isn’t even new; “The Bitter End” was published in 1940 and was already written and bound as a Tecumseh Fox mystery, with the title “Bad for Business.” “The Bitter End” is literally the same exact story, only instead of Fox doing the detective work, it becomes part of the Nero Wolfe series. I’ve read the novella, both the Fox & Wolfe versions, prior to buying “Death Times Three,” and when I bought what was billed as the sequel to “A Family Affair,” but which wasn’t a sequel at all, I felt frustrated and like I’d wasted my time. Both “Bad for Business” & “The Bitter End” were published in the same year, and a very lengthy introduction attempts to explain this, acting on the premise that it’s a treat to give readers what they already had access to. I disagree and felt the introduction went too far in trying to justify republication of a novella we’ve already seen twice, and certainly at least once, for the Wolfe series. The other two novellas are so-so— the plots are thin and the new clients and characters are thinner. There’s very little detecting to do, and much of it seems trivial. In one of the novellas, it’s clear that the only reason so much time is spent on the story is because Archie might have fallen for a woman in it. Stout also mentions that the woman’s name is “Tammy or Tammiris” so many times in a short story, that it becomes a source of annoyance to keep reading. This felt like a waste—I’d gotten excited about new book with genuinely original & unique content, and this really just felt like I’d sent a donation to Stout’s estate (or whoever gets the money for this book’s purchase). Not worth the time or having to skip the first novella, which isn’t new for Stout or new to the Wolfe series. Frankly, had Stout not already had a renowned series, I doubt this set of three stories would have sold much or been well rated, but because of the way they were represented, I wanted time and money reading a book that really doesn’t add anything of value to the series. How disappointing this was.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 4, 2019
3 novellas but I already reviewed the other two and except for a revised description of Flora Gallant who was the exact antithesis (first version ~ Murder is No Joke in Four to Go Book Book #30 of this series) of a designer's sister as far as chic elegance is concerned for this time (second version ~ Frame Up for Murder) around she indeed was that. First novella ~ Bitter End had an unusual beginning, for the first time since the book series, Fritz contacted the grippe aka influenza and so aside from Wolfe sometimes doing the cooking for 4 days at the most, both men had to resort to canned and/or bottled food. It was during such a meal that Wolfe suddenly spewed Archie with a frontal facial attack of bits and pieces of bread and TINGLEY'S TIDBITS Best Liver Pâté #3 like a flame thrower or water canon (with Wolfe going fast to the kitchen sink to remove all traces of food from his mouth) leaving Archie to do what he can to clean~up his face. When Wolfe came back, boiling mad saying the food was bitter and asked Archie to taste it, after which Archie spat the food on a napkin admitting Wolfe was right... and with such a furor going~on... the doorbell rang to which Wolfe snarled he does not want to be disturbed in his rant and threats to sue the food manufacturer and to have a lab analysis on the jar's contents. The doorbell ringer was the niece of the food manufacture and that the bitter taste was caused by the unauthorized addition of quinine to the recipe for which Wolfe was asked to investigate. Who would have thought Wet and Dry had something to do with it? Another short but Good one.
P.S. ~ Third novella>Assault on a Brownstone, was already in a collection titled>Homicide Trinity Book #36 of this series in Goodreads where it was called>Counterfeit Murder.
P.S. ~ Third novella>Assault on a Brownstone, was already in a collection titled>Homicide Trinity Book #36 of this series in Goodreads where it was called>Counterfeit Murder.
August 25, 2020
‘Wolfe believes, or claims he does, that any time I talk him into seeing a female would-be client he knows exactly what to expect if and when he sees her...’. This trio of cases all begin with Archie meeting a woman who wants something. What they get is murder. What Archie gets - well, in the words of Nero Wolfe, ‘You understand that my only concern is with any possible untoward effect on the operations of this office. I trust there will be none.’
This collection, published after Rex Stout’s death, contains three stories which are either rewrites of other stories or were themselves rewritten. It’s possible to enjoy them for themselves, but also interesting to compare: in two stories as they appear here there is much more focus on Archie’s exquisite flirtations with women who give him a run for his money. In Bitter End Wolfe is driven by Fritz’s being ill to taste liver pate called Tingley’s Titbits. He lives to regret it, and serve him right. In Frame-Up For Murder Archie gets picked up by a ‘female stalker’ who embroils him in the world of high fashion. Assault on a Brownstone sees a law enforcement agency dare to stick their nose into Wolfe’s business, to the great delight of any reader who knows what the consequences will be.
The third thing all three stories have in common is the theme of people not quite being who they appear to be, and it’s interesting to see the issues change through the years: the tyranny of the American industrialist in the first part of the century, the opportunities and crimes of the war years and their afterlife, and white-collar crime and sharp-suited government agency men during the Kennedy years. Wolfe and Archie take on them all with Wolfe’s formidable brains, Archie’s quick wits, and a few tricks up each of their sleeves.
This collection, published after Rex Stout’s death, contains three stories which are either rewrites of other stories or were themselves rewritten. It’s possible to enjoy them for themselves, but also interesting to compare: in two stories as they appear here there is much more focus on Archie’s exquisite flirtations with women who give him a run for his money. In Bitter End Wolfe is driven by Fritz’s being ill to taste liver pate called Tingley’s Titbits. He lives to regret it, and serve him right. In Frame-Up For Murder Archie gets picked up by a ‘female stalker’ who embroils him in the world of high fashion. Assault on a Brownstone sees a law enforcement agency dare to stick their nose into Wolfe’s business, to the great delight of any reader who knows what the consequences will be.
The third thing all three stories have in common is the theme of people not quite being who they appear to be, and it’s interesting to see the issues change through the years: the tyranny of the American industrialist in the first part of the century, the opportunities and crimes of the war years and their afterlife, and white-collar crime and sharp-suited government agency men during the Kennedy years. Wolfe and Archie take on them all with Wolfe’s formidable brains, Archie’s quick wits, and a few tricks up each of their sleeves.
November 4, 2019
The last of the series. Such sad words to write. But also such fun to read, despite all of the people complaining that they're just retreads of other Stout stories. At least they were retreaded by him! Out of all the stories he wrote, these are the only ones he chose to rewrite, for whatever reason. Bitter End started out as a Tecumseh Fox story, but Stout decided it would work better for Wolfe, and I think it does. Watching Wolfe try to cope without Fritz due to his chef's illness is well worth the read. Archie is at his usual level of snark and wit: As I parked the roadster and got out, I cocked an admiring eye at a Crosby town car, battleship gray, with license GJ88, standing at the curb. "Come the revolution," I thought, "I'll take that first." Frame-Up for Murder, originally Murder is No Joke, was changed so little that I'm not sure what the purpose was in doing it. The most notable thing about the story is the one line that gives the original story its title. Assault on a Brownstone, originally Counterfeit for Murder, definitely suffered from the change, which is why I docked it one star. The extended character of Hattie Annis in the original was funny, irritating, and perfect. Not getting to see as much of that character makes the story feel lesser-than, although still enjoyable. As others have said, I recommend this book, but don't start your introduction to Nero Wolfe with it. Start with Fer-de-Lance, which is exactly what I did as soon as I finished this one. The second time around should be even more fun now that I know what to expect.
June 25, 2023
I’ve spent the last twenty-one months reading (and sometimes rereading) all of Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe novels and it was with some sorrow that I picked up Death Times Three because it’s the last book in the series. Fortunately, it’s packed with three fantastic novellas, so Stout ended his run with style.
In Bitter End, someone has put poison in Wolfe’s jar of pate and he is down and determined to uncover the miscreant and get himself a little justice. When the owner of the company is brutally murdered shortly thereafter, Wolfe decides that the two events are connected and that he must also uncover a murderer. The decisive clue was a good one—but as is so often the case in these stories, discovering the murderer is only half the challenge. Wolfe still needs to figure out how to prove the crime.
In Frame-Up for Murder, Wolfe is tricked into providing the alibi for the murderer and he’s instantly suspicious. Watching him figure out how the killer made everything happen is an awful lot of fun.
Finally, Stout creates two wonderful characters for his final Wolfe novella and their distinctive personalities make Assault on a Brownstone a delight as Wolfe and Archie strut their stuff one final time.
This is a great series and these novellas are a great way to end it. I’m certain that in a few years I’ll be reading many of the books again.
In Bitter End, someone has put poison in Wolfe’s jar of pate and he is down and determined to uncover the miscreant and get himself a little justice. When the owner of the company is brutally murdered shortly thereafter, Wolfe decides that the two events are connected and that he must also uncover a murderer. The decisive clue was a good one—but as is so often the case in these stories, discovering the murderer is only half the challenge. Wolfe still needs to figure out how to prove the crime.
In Frame-Up for Murder, Wolfe is tricked into providing the alibi for the murderer and he’s instantly suspicious. Watching him figure out how the killer made everything happen is an awful lot of fun.
Finally, Stout creates two wonderful characters for his final Wolfe novella and their distinctive personalities make Assault on a Brownstone a delight as Wolfe and Archie strut their stuff one final time.
This is a great series and these novellas are a great way to end it. I’m certain that in a few years I’ll be reading many of the books again.
November 19, 2021
As much as I appreciate the opportunity to spend one last book with Archie and Nero, this was a far more disappointing conclusion than Please Pass the Guilt was, and it is perhaps better to think of that as the "final" book, and this as a collection of curiosities, like the deleted scenes included on a DVD. It was, after all, published after Rex Stout's passing, and consists of two alternate versions of stories already in the cannon, and one reworking featuring a character who - I say emphatically and with regret - was not actually Nero Wolfe. There is some irony in the most uncharacteristic behavior ascribed to Nero in "Bitter End" was not actually featured in the original story, so cannot even be written off as simply a poorly translated aspect of the original Tecumseh Fox story. I would love to know whether the author had an affection for this version, or if the rewrite was simply for a paycheck. It is perhaps telling that it wasn't republished until after his death.
January 20, 2018
Another excellent set of Nero Wolfe mysteries. In the first story Wolfe gets revenge for his offended palate and solves a murder along the way.
In the second story Wolfe and Archie are the alibi for a beautiful woman in the murder of her brother's evil wife. Or are they?
And finally, has Archie's taste in women changed so much that Hattie Annis is his new amore? And when a package of $20s that Hattie left at Wolfe's brownstone turns out to be counterfeit will Archie convince Wolfe to help investigate where those bills came from and who killed Hattie
I have read each of these stories before, but enjoy reading them again and again.
In the second story Wolfe and Archie are the alibi for a beautiful woman in the murder of her brother's evil wife. Or are they?
And finally, has Archie's taste in women changed so much that Hattie Annis is his new amore? And when a package of $20s that Hattie left at Wolfe's brownstone turns out to be counterfeit will Archie convince Wolfe to help investigate where those bills came from and who killed Hattie
I have read each of these stories before, but enjoy reading them again and again.
October 24, 2020
This is the collection of stories published after Stout's death, and it contains, to be honest, stories he didn't want people to see. Of those, the first ("Bitter End") is worth reading. The second is an expansion of a story already available in another collection, and the expansion isn't an improvement. The final one is an inferior version of a great story, and honestly I wouldn't recommend anyone read it -- Stout almost never revised stories, but he saw he'd got this one wrong and rewrote it, and he thought he'd destroyed this version.
Basically, a collection solely for Wolfe completists. (Which I am.)
Basically, a collection solely for Wolfe completists. (Which I am.)
January 11, 2022
A trio of Wolfe novellas "discovered" after Rex Stout's death in 1975. None of them are actually new. The first story, entitled "The Bitter End" is a redo of a Tecumseh Fox (Stout's far less well known detective) offering. The second ("Frame Up for Murder") is a replotting of "Murder is No Joke" found in "And Four to Go" and has Flora Gallant with a much larger, possibly romantic role. The final one ("Assault on a Brownstone") is an earlier version of "Counterfeit for Murder" found in "Homicide Trinity."
Any Wolfe fan will appreciate this outing, but will also immediately recognize the second and third stories.
Any Wolfe fan will appreciate this outing, but will also immediately recognize the second and third stories.
November 16, 2022
So Wolfe is the brain, immobile, intellectual, figures everything out from his hidey-hole, never goes out, consumes lots of energy he doesn’t use. Goodwin is the body, physical vitality, out and around in the world, loves to dance, irresistible to women, needs Wolfe to figure anything out. Is that Cartesian dualism? (Naw, that has to do with the soul and the body, right? I just threw that in to sound smart.) I thought of that because I’m just starting the counterfeit money story, and Archie is out, trying to figure it out without involving Wolfe and I know he will have to bring Wolfe in eventually, because Archie’s not capable of figuring it out by himself, right?
April 28, 2018
A new novella and 2 re-vamps of older novellas, that read like new. A down and dirty end to the Nero Wolfe/Archie Goodwin series. I've now read the entire Wolfe canon-but I have a feeling I'll be re-reading them all as the years go on. Wolfe and Goodwin are such unique, quirky, smart and entertaining characters, and the world in which they live and work perfectly depicted in these 3 novellas. I'll miss not having new stories to read, but I'm thrilled that I now have all 73 novels/novellas and the old radio shows. Thank you Rex Stout!
December 10, 2019
For a collection of short stories which were recovered from Rex Stout's papers and published ten years after his death, these weren't too shabby. Though they are hurt to an extent by being re-workings of previously published stories, they are altered enough to keep the suspense going. Probably the one which does best is "Bitter End" because the original story this was based off of was not a Nero Wolfe mystery while the other two were.
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December 13, 2020"Bitter End" is a reworking of a non-Nero Wolfe story with Tecumseh Fox into a Nero Wolfe story. Was called, _Bad for Business.
Second story, "Assault on a Brownstone," is a printing of a first draft of a story already published in the collection, _Homicide Trinity, "Counterfeit for Murder."
Third story, "Frame-up for Murder" is an expand version of "Murder is No Joke" from the collection, _And Four To Go.
Second story, "Assault on a Brownstone," is a printing of a first draft of a story already published in the collection, _Homicide Trinity, "Counterfeit for Murder."
Third story, "Frame-up for Murder" is an expand version of "Murder is No Joke" from the collection, _And Four To Go.
November 13, 2023
This collection was published 10 years after Rex Stout died. It includes three novellas which were either never published or obscurely published DECADES earlier. Two of them are rewrites (or original versions of rewrites) of stories published in other collections. It's an interesting set, particuarly if you are a serious Rex Stout aficianado: the line was that he NEVER rewrote anything. Apparently he did.
February 19, 2024
Another great set of three murder mysteries by Rex Stout! I'm always happy to read another Nero Wolfe/Archie Goodwin story and this volume was as goodas ever! One nice treat is that a previous story 'Assault On A Brownstone' was redone by Stout with an enitely different ending from the first version in essence, making it an almost entirely new effort! I enjoyed that version just as much as the first renditioin!
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