Three for the Chair

Nero Wolfe #28

by Rex Stout

An alternate cover of this ISBN can be found here.

One thing is certain to distract Nero Wolfe from his culinary and horticultural pursuits: murder. This time Wolfe and his able assistant, Archie Goodwin, are put in the hot seat when they are called upon to investigate three different murders.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Crime, Detective, Short Stories, Anthologies, Mystery Thriller

222 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1957

About the author

Rex 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.

Reviews

[Bill Kerwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three highly enjoyable Wolfe novellas. In one of them, Wolfe is summoned by the state department to cook trout for a visiting ambassador, in another a squad of private detectives (including Wolfe and Goodwin) are summoned to Albany for a wiretapping investigation (where all become suspects in the murder of a witness), and in the third the most important question is . . . what happened to the ice cream?

[Elizabeth (Alaska) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is three very good short stories featuring Nero Wolfe, each about 50 pages. I often want to intersperse short stories with other reading, but I decided these would be fine read back to back. I have said before that I am a slow reader. I think others might read this volume in one sitting, but I managed to spread them out over an afternoon and evening, finishing up the following afternoon. I have some more of these 3-in-1 volumes and am happy for that. I can only hope they are worth the same 4-stars as is this one.

A Window for Death

A man comes to Nero Wolfe without an appointment and so from the beginning Wolfe is annoyed. David Fyfe explains that his brother, Bert Fyfe died of pneumonia the previous Saturday. His other brother, Paul, thinks it was murder. There is also a sister, Louise, who is married. Bert Fyfe had been estranged from his family for 20 years, but returned from Canada, having claimed a uranium mine. Wolfe is disinclined to take the case, but we readers know he will solve the case.

Immune to Murder

Readers of Nero Wolfe know that he doesn't leave his 35th Street Brownstone except for orchid conventions and other *very* unusual circumstances. This story is one of the latter. Wolfe has been asked by an Under Secretary of State to prepare trout for a foreign diplomat. The trout will be caught in stream in upstate New York. The story opens when Archie and Wolfe arrive at the remote hunting lodge. During the luncheon of freshly caught trout, Archie discovers a dead body.

Too Many Detectives

As if Wolfe out of NYC wasn't enough in the foregoing, this story takes place in Albany where Archie and Wolfe have been subpoenaed, with other detectives, for an investigation of possible fraudulent wire-tapping. It doesn't take long for a dead body to show up. Archie and Wolfe are actually charged as material witnesses and locked up. Locked up!!! Of course the lock-up doesn't last long, but they are not allowed to leave the vicinity. Wolfe decides he can either solve the case or not be allowed home for possibly months.

[Tristram Shandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mango Ice Cream, Trout, and Detectives in a Stew

These are the three main dishes Rex Stout treats us to in Three for the Chair, a collection of short stories from the mid-fifties.

A Window for Death (aka Nero Wolfe and the Vanishing Clue, publ. in May 1956)

Pneumonia seems to be a new mania in the Fyfe family: Years ago, the elder Mr Fyfe died of pneumonia, apparently because somebody left a window open in the sickroom, and now one of his sons, coming back from abroad, has succumbed to the same death, with no window open but empty warm-water bags in his bed. Nero Wolfe is asked by the family to look into this case – but he seems to be more interested in where the mango ice-cream bought by one of the family members has gone.

I think that this is the most intriguing of the three stories, although it must be confessed that the murder method is extremely contrived.

Immune to Murder (publ. in November 1955)

Like the trout that are going to be caught by the party of politicians and businessmen in the course of the story, Nero Wolfe is out of his element because he cannot enjoy the comfort of his own brownstone building but finds himself in a lodge in the Adirondacks where he has to cook his special dish of freshly-caught trout for Theodore Kelefy, the ambassador of a foreign country that is going to enter into the oil business with the U.S. Unfortunately, Archie discovers one of the party members’ dead body in the river, and in order to be able to leave for New York soon, Wolfe has to give the police a hand in solving the case.

For me that was the weakest story in that simply too much information was withheld from the reader before Nero Wolfe comes out with the truth of it all. A fun element was that when Archie discovers the dead man lying in the river, he also has an immense trout hooked which he does not really want to let go, which puts him into a moral dilemma.

Too Many Detectives (publ. in September 1956)

Wolfe and Archie are summoned for questioning in Albany on the matter of illegal wiretapping operations made by private detectives. There is one case in the recent past where they have been led unwittingly into doing an illegal wiretapping, and even though Wolfe had broken off the operation after a few days when he found out that he was being hoodwinked, he still considers this a blot on his professional escutcheon, and he had rather not talk about it too much. However, when the corpse of the very man who made him engage in that activity is found on the premises, Wolfe has to share his connection with the dead Mr. Donahue with the other five detectives who have also been summoned – only to find out that he was not the only one to have made Mr. Donahue’s acquaintance.

At the beginning of this tale, Archie Goodwin goes on about female detectives like a male chauvinist provider of ham, but in the course of the action he is about to learn a thing or two. And so are we, especially about the identity and the purpose of that sneaking Mr. Donahue.


All in all, these three dishes are very palatable, and the extra flavour of condiment comes in brilliant observations made either by Wolfe or by Archie, such as the following ones:

”The trouble with mornings is that they come when you are not awake.

It’s acute mooditis, which is a medical term for an inflamed whim.

No little man is ever as petty as a big man.

In any event […] man is a remarkable animal, with a unique distinction. Of all the millions of species rendered extinct by evolution, we are the only one to know in advance what is going to destroy us. Our own insatiable curiosity. We can take pride in that.

Suddenly I remembered that Wolfe had once told me that the best way to choose among an assortment of ideas was to take the simplest.”

[Pamela Shropshire · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Window for Death
Two uranium prospectors who struck it rich go to New York City on family business for one of them. Unfortunately, he dies of pneumonia, leaving the question of who inherits his estate, and if his death could possibly have been murder. It certainly is coincidental, at least, that the decedent’s father had died years before from pneumonia and that the decedent had been tried for, and acquitted of, that murder. The only strange items Wolfe uncovers are why were the hot-water bottles empty and what happened to the mango ice cream?

Immune to Murder
If you note the title of this novella, it gives you a clue to the murderer. I wish I could say I had noted it, but I didn’t until after the denouement.

An ambassador is meeting at a lodge in upstate New York with two oil tycoons and various hangers-on; he has requested that Wolfe attend and cook his recipe called Trout Montbarry. Most of the men go fishing early in the morning, returning with their catch for Wolfe to cook. One of the officials fails to show for luncheon; Archie finds him dead in the river.

Wolfe is, of course, uncomfortable away from home, and when it becomes obvious the District Attorney and county sheriff will keep them there indefinitely, Wolfe puts the little grey cells to work (sorry, wrong Fictional Detective, but it fits) to solve the murder solely so he and Archie can go home.

Too Many Detectives
In this story, Wolfe and Archie have been forced to appear on a summons in Albany regarding wiretapping operations. On one occasion, Archie had encouraged Wolfe to accept a case where the client wanted his home phone tapped, which was not illegal. As it turned out, the client was impersonating someone else and thus the wiretap was illegal.

Several other private detectives were summoned as well, including Dol Bonner and Sally Colt, who have appeared in previous Wolfe stories. Anyway, the man who hired Wolfe for the wiretapping is also in the same building, and he has been strangled with a tie. All the detectives recognize him, although each knew him by a different name, as a man who hired them to tap his phone, very similar to Wolfe’s experience.

The Albany chief of detectives is overzealous and arrests Wolfe and Archie as material witnesses. Wolfe is seriously pissed off, and so he gets busy thinking and solves the murder.

A nice collection of Wolfe & Archie capers. My favorite was the first one.

[Bryan Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is definitely one of the stronger collections of novellas. The first story is fairly pedestrian but the other two are real standouts.

Immune to Murder is set outside of Nero's domain when he is asked to represent his country and cook fresh brook trout for a foreign ambassador. Archie is thrilled because it means he gets to go fishing too, but Nero is nearly despondent at having to leave the comfortable confines of his home to cook in someone else's kitchen. As expected, a murder occurs and prevents Nero from making a quick escape immediately after cooking the trout. Then it becomes apparent that if he want's to leave the lodge with any speed at all he had better get involved and solve the mystery. He does so with style and managed to rub the noses of the local authorities who had stymied him leaving at the same time.

The last, Too Many Detectives, is also set outside of Nero's home. Nero and Archie are caught up in the uproar regarding the use of wire taps. A real historical event that took place in US history as the laws struggled to define legal usage of a new technology. The echos of that can be seen in today's news regarding the use of encryption and privacy concerns. Nero and Archie are summoned to Albany along with quite a few other detectives to give statements. While they are all there, a murder occurs and each of the detectives is a suspect. Once again, Nero is refused permission to leave, this time even being arrested and released on bail before he can go to work and once again he has to either solve the mystery himself or wait for lesser minds to do it for him.

I could recommend this book as a good entry point to the body of work. It's entertaining and a quick read even if it may set some false expectations due to how much of it took place outside of Nero's brownstone.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two good stories bookending a real dud.

[Carolyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I tend to enjoy the novellas which Stout published once a year in collections of three. This one is fun, containing, as it does, a wide array of stories with quite varied approaches. In two of these, Wolfe has to be away from home, and the premises are perhaps a bit flimsy, but I can quite imagine it's difficult to write book after book with Wolfe never leaving his chair, so to speak.

[Stacie Haden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three novellas. Not my favorites, but still better than most.

[hotsake (André Troesch) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mid-tier Nero Wolfe book that still packed plenty of fun. The highlight is the third story.

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three novellas by Rex Stout. In "A Window for Death" a man returns to his family after years of absence only to be cleverly murdered. "Immune to Murder" features that rare occasion when Nero Wolfe leaves his brownstone to go to the Adirondacks where he has been invited to prepared a special trout dinner for a visiting ambassador and other dignitaries. Naturally one of them is found dead and it's up to Wolfe to find the killer. And in "Too Many Detectives" Wolfe and Archie Goodwin are summoned to Albany to give testimony in a wiretapping case. After one of their clients is found murdered, Wolfe and Goodwin are not only away from home, but arrested and placed in jail for a short time. That indignation causes Wolfe to set an investigation in motion that leads to the murderer's arrest. Three short and fun reads.

[David Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Three more first-rate Nero Wolfe stories. I love the orderliness of these books. As in "The Divine Comedy", once the pattern is established (the brownstone townhouse, the morning and evening hours with the orchids, the dislike of leaving home, the dichotomy of Archie as the man-of-action and Wolfe as the man-of-thought), much of the interest in each book is the deviation from the pattern. Two of the stories in this book have Wolfe leaving home. In one of them, Wolfe does the cooking, instead of Fritz. As always, great entertainment.

[Vicki Cline · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is another collection of three novellas, unusual in that Wolfe goes not only out of his house, which he hates to do, but out of New York City in two of them. In the last one, he and Archie are part of a collection of private investigators being accused of performing illegal wiretaps, and the person who hired them turns up dead in the building in Albany, NY, where they have congregated. It's a very interesting story.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rex Stout writes the best dialog ever.... and as always Wolfe, Goodwin, and Brenner (and friends) are fantastic characters. I've read every Nero Wolfe novel at least once, and this re-read was a romp as usual, through three short mysteries - not that I read Stout for the mystery itself (which are indeed not always all that much of a mystery); in actuality, I read them for the clever interplay of his protagonists.

[cool breeze · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book collects three novellas originally published in 1955-56. "A Window For Death" repeatedly telegraphs the main clue and is the weakest of the three. It notes the "gold rush" in uranium at the time and the resulting creation of millionaires among prospectors. "Immune to Murder" notes the fierce, lucrative and corrupt competition among oil companies to secure oil rights worldwide. It also contains the first reference in the series to Stout’s concern that nuclear weapons would destroy humanity.

"Too Many Detectives" makes note of two current issues from the period. One is corruption in charitable fund-raising organizations. The other is the illegal use of wiretapping by private parties, often arranged by private detectives. In February 1955, NYC police busted a “wiretap nest” that had full coverage of all telephone exchanges on the East side of Manhattan from 38th St. to 96th St. Pfizer was one of many famous clients, paying $60,000 in cash (the equivalent of $670.000 in traceable, taxable income at 1955's top 91% rate, or $7.5 million in 2023 dollars) to spy on rivals Bristol-Myers and E.R. Squibb. The bust led New York State to set up the Savarese Commission to investigate. In the book, Wolfe gets unceremoniously hauled in front of the Commission. A good article on the scandal is linked here: When New York City Was a Wiretapper’s Dream.

[Elena Santangelo · Rating 4 out of 5]

An audio version of three classic Nero Wolfe novellas read by Michael Pritchard. If you're a fan of Nero and Archie, these won't disappoint, though they have less action than most mysteries. Still, the usual series characters are solid, and the puzzles interesting enough to hold the reader's attention.

Mr. Pitchaird's voices for Archie Goodwin and, in particular, for Nero Wolfe are spot on. Wolfe's intonations hearken back to the great actors who've depicted him (except for Sydney Greenstreet--no one can imitate him). The only problem I had was in the 3rd story--one of the officials had a voice enough like Wolfe's that when they were in the same scene, it was difficult to tell who was speaking.

Highly recommended for readers who like classic detective stories.

[Randy Money · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three novelettes (as called by Anthony Boucher in an included review) or longish short stories (per Julian Symons in another included review). Nothing earth-shattering, although the cause of death in "A Window for Death" is novel, but these stories have the usual enjoyable give and take, love/hate relationship between Nero and Archie. It interests me that Stout does such a good job of distinguishing their voices that Goodwin doesn't have to sound stupid for Wolfe to appear as a genius.

[Leslie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5*

[Cherie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three cases where Nero and Archie work the murders "away from home".

[Riccardo Mainetti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Se c'è una cosa che proprio non va a genio al corpulento investigatore ed esperto delle orchidee è essere sradicato dalla propria abitazione ed in questo trittico di racconti ciò avviene ben in due episodi. Se però state pensando che nel terzo tutto fili liscio come l'olio vi sbagliate di grosso. Perchè se infatti in testa alla sua personale >lista nera Nero Wolfe ha, come ho detto sopra, il fatto di essere costretto ad andare in trasferta, subito a ruota vi è l'arrivo di un cliente non annunciato.
Nella prima di queste storie, quella che da il titolo all'intero trittico, ossia L'invulnerabile Nero Wolfe e il suo fedele collaboratore Archie Goodwin devono recarsi in una località sui monti Adirondack e tutto per compiacere "i capricci di un ambasciatore" il quale vuole gustare delle trote, trote pescate da lui stesso, cucinate alla maniera di Nero Wolfe che si rivela essere non solo un genio investigativo ed un conoscitore, o meglio cultore, di orchidea ma anche uno dei dieci cuochi migliori al Mondo. Il menù di questa trasferta si arricchisce della pietanza che si confà forse meglio alle abilità del corpulento detective: un saporito omicidio. Uno degli invitati a quella pesca con scorpacciata di trote alla maniera di Nero Wolfe viene rinvenuto cadavere in un tratto di torrente vicino al luogo dove il gruppo è riunito. Come sempre il grande e grosso detective riuscirà a sfamare anche gli appetiti della Giustizia.
Nel secondo dei racconti, Il caso Fyfe Nero Wolfe viene interpellato da un cliente, giunto all'abitazione-studio-serra newyorchese di Nero Wolfe senza essersi annunciato in alcun modo, per ingaggiare Wolfe e Goodwin allo scopo di appurare se dietro alla morte del fratello maggiore, ricomparso straricco dopo anni di assenza, una morte che apparentemente è stata causata da polmonite, vi siano delle ragioni che giustichino l'intervento della polizia. Indagando Wolfe e Goodwin scoprono che vent'anni prima anche il padre della vittima fresca di giornata era morto a causa di una polmonite il cui letale decorso era stato aiutato da una finestra lasciata aperta in una gelida notte d'inverno. Dopo qualche giorno di lavoro Wolfe, coadiuvato dal fedele Archie Goodwin, appurerà che, effettivamente. il caso della morte del fratel prodigo necessita dell'intervento dell'Ispettore Cramer e dei suoi uomini.
Nel terzo racconto, intitolato Nero Wolfe e il "suo" cadavere il geniale investigatore ed il suo collaboratore devono di nuovo recarsi in trasferta. Questa volta non ci sono trote da cucinare ma, ad attenderli ad Albany, vi è un'inchiesta, avviata su alcuni casi di intercettazioni illegali che coinvolgono, non solo Nero Wolfe e Archie Goodwin ma altri investigatori. Quando la mattina delle deposizioni l'uomo che aveva buggerato Wolfe, Goodwin e gli altri investigatori viene trovato ucciso per il grande investigatore le cose sembrano volgere al peggio. Wolfe e Goodwin vengono infatti sottoposti a fermo di polizia ed anche una volta liberati si trovano impossibilitati a tornarsene a casa. Ospitato in un albergo della zona Nero Wolfe si mette ad indagare, aiutato non solo dal fido collaboratore ma anche dagli altri investigatori che, durante una nottata di discussioni attorno al caso rivelano, come ho anticipato io, di essere entrati in contatto con la vittima la quale ad ognuno di loro si era presentata sotto un'identità di volta in volta differente. Stabilito il collegamento tra le varie false identità assunte dalla vittima l'indagine porterà Wolfe e gli altri a svelare l'identità dell'insospettabile colpevole.
A completare il libro vi è anche un racconto della serie I racconti del giallo. Si tratta di un Giallo Nostrano intitolato Cardosa e i fantasmi del mare. Il racconto si apre con un cadavere avvistato, per caso, da due pescatori e si sviluppa attorno al mistero di una presunta nave fantasma. Si tratta di un racconto che si legge d'un fiato e che fa da degnissima conclusione al trittico di casi di Nero Wolfe.

[Orinoco Womble (tidy bag and all) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three stars as an average score for all three novellas. Story one, "A Window for Death", I had read before and am still rather underwhelmed. What struck me most on listening to this audiobook is how judgemental Archie is of people's intelligence and worth as human beings, based solely on their physical appearance and manner of speaking. Not so smart, eh shamus? Surely you should know after all these years that there's more to most folks than meets the eye (or ear). I was amused at the insistence on the phrase "hot water bags" to describe what most people would call a "hot water bottle"--indicative of both Stout and Wolfe's obsession with words. If you want to pick, a "bottle" would be the pre-WW2 stoneware ones that always leaked, while the modern rubber/plastic ones are indeed literally "bags"--but never sold as such.

I had seen the A and E film of Immune to Murder and am nearly as unimpressed with the book as I was with the TV film. (The director indulged himself too much with coy cutting and camera angles in that episode for it to qualify as better than the story.) Too many people, too much emphasis on who was fishing which stretch of river at what time--like people can't WALK (or indeed run)? Granted fly fishing is of less interest to me than the air in front of my face.

Too Many Detectives was the pick of the crop. I don't know that it's ever been filmed, which is a shame, it would have been good in the right hands. What interested me most was the departure from an important point in the Wolfe canon...granted Wolfe has been tried nearly beyond endurance what with travelling clear to Albany to be tortured by bad food, small chairs, and an arrest as a material witness--but for him to willingly sleep with the window of his hotel room wide open, he must have been feeling suicidal! Anyone who's read more than two Wolfe novels knows he equates fresh air with certain death. Published in the 1950s, this was way before the Watergate wiretapping scandal; I wonder what current event prompted it? I was also amused at Goodwin's over-the-top reaction to Wolfe's courtesy toward Doll Bonner. I would have expected him to be amused at the idea of the boss seeing her as a possible life companion, not to throw what amounts to a jealous hissy fit for about a third of the text! His relationship with Wolfe has never really come into question, but since the second novel The League of Frightened Men, I have wondered at times about this all-male household, given Archie's emotional reactions to certain events. (I direct the interested reader to my review of that book.)

Good enough to pass the time while I did dull things like ironing and mopping. I did choose the audiobook edition when writing this review, but GR has yet again merrily ignored me.

[Panu Mäkinen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Liian monta etsivää sisältää kolme novellia vuosilta 1955 ja 1956: Ikkuna kuolemaan, Taimenet todistavat ja nimikkonovellin Liian monta etsivää. Taimenet todistavat on julkaistu myös teoksessa 6 parasta nimellä Syytön syyllinen.

Ikkuna kuolemaan ***
Ikkuna kuolemaan on murhamysteeti, johon liitty avoin ikkuna ja keuhkokuume.

Taimenet todistavat **
Taimenet todistavat on diplomaattipiireihin sijoittuvat kalastusaiheinen Nero Wolfe -novelli. Nero Wolfe on melko äksyllä tuulella, mikä saattaa olla hänelle melko tyypillistäkin, eikä edes joen varrella tapahtunut murha oikein saa hänen sisäistä salapoliisiaan syttymään. Novellissa on liian paljon henkilöitä, eikä loppuratkaisukaan ole kovin kummoinen.

Liian monta etsivää ***
Liian monta etsivää on hauska novelli, jossa Nero Wolfe poistuu tapojensa vastaisesti ja matkustaa Albanyyn ja päätyy murhasta epäillyksi.

[Kevin Findley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three very solid short stories from Rex Stout. I read a number of these as a kid and I'm happy to say they still hold up many years later. Wolfe is a bit more suave than I remembered, but Archie is still just as ready to chase a skirt as a bad guy.

Great for a quick read or to relax with over a rainy weekend.

Read it!

Update 3 June, 2024: I don't know if the stories age well, or I'm aging into a better reader, but I certainly enjoyed them more than I did a few years ago.

Find it! Buy it! Read it!

[Maura · Rating 4 out of 5]

not as good as a full length novel, but I'll take Archie in short story form any day. :)

[Anand Ganapathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent bunch of 3 whodunits

[Annie Yotova · Rating 3 out of 5]

As most (all?) of the books in the series with a number in their title, this installment is a collection of 3 novelettes. The short format does not allow for a lot of plot reversals as in full novels but when done properly, it allows the same ingenuity without the distractions. Plus because of the short length, if one of the stories does not work very well, you can finish it quickly and move on to the next.

The three stories here cannot be more different from each other.

The first one, A Window for Death is the most traditional of them. A man who left his famiy awhile back and managed to become wealthy comes come to reconcile with the family - and ends up dead. There is no question of foul play at the start but as the money are not going to the family, they decide to dig into it and get Nero Wolfe to assist. If anyone did not see the past coming up and Wolfe solving another murder while solving this one, they had not read enough of the novels in the series. That's one of the very few Wolfe stories that I think could have been even better as a novel. But it works well as a story as well.

Immune to Murder not only takes Nero out of New York but have him cook for a diplomat in the middle of nowhere in the Adirondacks. Of course, where he goes, murder follows so before long in addition to the delicious trout, there is also a dead body to deal with and the local authorities seem to believe that Archie and Nero are the culprit - everyone else is either very rich or has diplomatic immunity or works for the government. That's the weakest of the threesome here - it is predictable and almost feels like it was written as an obligation.

The last story, Too Many Detectives, on the other hand was funny in the way the series rarely is. Not only Nero leaves the brownstone again (this time to get to Albany) and not only we get to hear about one of the cases where someone managed to deceive him but we also end up with Nero Wolfe and Archie sharing a jail cell. Add to that a dead body and a few more private detectives and the story got almost comical. When the truth finally emerges, it is so logical and obvious that one is almost ready to go back and count just how many detectives were involved again but I'd admit that I did not think of the solution either until very late in the story. This story also ties to the real life wiretapping scandals in the 1950s - we rarely see Nero Wolfe doing much with new technology (new for the times anyway) so it is always entertaining when something unusual shows up.

2 out of 3 stories is not bad for a collection - I could have lived without the middle story but the two bracketing it were worth reading.

As usual in this series, the publisher includes something from Stout's private files - a letter, a recipe or something else that puts the series in context. Here they reprinted two reviews which were posted at the time the book was first published - a negative one by Julian Symons in the London Sunday Times and a positive one by Anthony Boucher for the New York Times. Symons disliked the book so much that he is wondering if it is time to kill off Wolfe as this kind of a detective does not seem to be viable anymore; Boucher believes that this is the best of the threesomes which had become an important part of the series". I often just glance at these extra materials but these were entertaining to read.

[Virginia Tican · Rating 5 out of 5]

3 stories. 1. A Window for Death ~ Prodigal Bertram Fyfe returned home after striking it (Uranium) rich in Canada to verify his suspicions about an alibi provided by a friend that saved him from being convicted of his father's negligent death by the opened windows in the sick man's bedroom in winter years ago... only to die himself of the same cause ~ pneumonia. 2. Immune to Murder ~ Wolfe reluctantly left his lair, hard~pressed to cook trouts caught by a foreign diplomat (who made the request imperative as Wolfe's service to his country via the State Department) at a house party of dignitaries at an oil tycoon's Adirondacks lodge with oil concessions with the US at stake. Wolfe complied but in defiance or with good reason, he did not cook and serve the diplomat's trouts at lunch. About that time, while out enjoying his rare time fishing, Archie discovered the body of the Assistant Secretary of State half~submerged in the water with part of his head bashed in... obviously both men, one dead and one alive, missed lunch. Clearly, Wolfe had to solve the murder ASAP if he wants to get back to his comfort zone. 3. Too Many Detectives ~ Wolfe, Archie and 288 of their colleagues were rounded~up for an Inquiry by Hyatt, the Assistant Secretary of State regarding anti~wiretapping which was a sore subject with Wolfe on account of his being duped by a client regarding said subject... the client having disappeared when Wolfe discovered his duplicity. Mortified even at the memory, then that client re~surfaced and disobligingly turned up dead during the gathering thus robbing Wolfe of the chance to bring him to justice... with this client's many other aliases known to the other detectives also duped by him... all the sleuths pooled their talents and resources together (though some have to be prodded) to get to the bottom of this threat to their licenses being cancelled re~ the wiretapping imbroglio and get their former client's killer.

[Erik Tolvstad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three for the Chair are three novellas, each a bit uniquely set.

The first is "A Window for Death". It's a kind of a locked-room mystery, where a bed-ridden invalid lies in a room adjacent to a living room. All of the suspects have individual contact with the patient, or are present in the living room when the murder is staged. As the murder is made to look like a natural death, Wolfe is engage to sort out whether a crime really was committed and to identify a culprit.

The second is "Immune to Murder". Two unusual conditions for this tale: the setting is a wealthy oil baron's Adirondack fishing retreat and there are friction filled international politicos and plutocrats. Wolfe was present to prepare a special dish of baked trout for the assembly. Murder ensues (of course) and Wolfe and Archie sort things out..... kind of.

The third tale is "Too Many Detectives". Another rare instance of Wolfe being required to leave the brownstone for an official legal interview in Albany, along with several other New York City professional PIs to testify in a wire tapping investigation. All the PI's are present in the same state office building when a murder is committed and they're required to remain in Albany as material witnesses. Of course, they manage to set aside some personal differences to resolve the situation.

A very good entry in the series, especially for the novelty aspect of the various settings. Maybe a bit less of the usually sparkling banter between Wolfe and Archie, and no Inspector Cramer.

[Bayliss Camp · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three stars only because I was able to guess the murderer and/or the method in two of the stories. Otherwise, this has all the usual charms of Mr. Stout’s use of language:

“He didn’t look tough, he looked flabby, but of course that’s no sign. The toughest guy I ever ran into had cheeks that needed a brassière.” (This from the prior installment, “If Death Ever Slept.”)

But what is one to make of the initial set-up in the first novella, where it describes a middle-aged gent as having made a fortune in Canada by prospecting for uranium with a much younger man, then bringing the latter Mr. Arrow (heaven forbid we think him anything other than straight as, I guess) back to New York to introduce to his family while “living with him” (Stout’s own words) in an expensive apartment complex? And furthermore, making a will that leaves all of his money to said Mr. Arrow? Did this sort of thing happen so often in mid-century America that it went unremarked upon even in the McCarthyite 50s? Or was Stout merely including a whisper of Jay Gatz and his yachting older friend?

In any case, the coded references become markedly less coded by the third installment, which openly discusses the relative attractions of female detectives:

“So a she-dick must have a good thick hide, which is not a skin I’d love to touch; if she hasn’t, she is apt to melt just when a cold eye and hard nerves are called for, and in that case she doesn’t belong.”

Clearly Archie is conflicted about something, n’est-ce pas?

[Jim Mann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three for the Chair features three more very good Nero Wolfe novellas.

-- "A Window for Death" -- a man who struck it reach in uranium mining returns to New York to visit his estranged family. He invites them to dinner and theater, but is sick and says home. That night he dies, and Wolfe and Archie must figure out what happened.

-- "Immune to Murder" -- A diplomat making his first official trip to the US wants to go trout fishing, and wants Nero Wolfe to cook the trout. Wolfe and Archie head to a fishing lodge up state, but while Archie is fishing he finds the body of one of the guests. Again, it's up to Wolfe to find the killer.

-- "Too Many Detectives" -- a group of detectives, including Wolfe and Archie, are summoned to Albany for an investigation by the state on wire tapping. Wolfe had arranged for a wire tap he though was legal, only to later discover he was duped. While they are there, the man who had duped him is murdered, and Wolfe and Archie are arrested on suspicion. But it turns out all the other detectives had also been duped, and so Wolfe, working with them, must find out what was really going on and who the killer is.

Rex Stout remains one of my favorite comfort reads. All his works are very good: well told (the Wolfe stories all in Archie's distinctive voice), with good characters and intriguing plots. I tend to read or re-read a handful of them every year.

[Sidney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Any excursion with Archie Goodwin and Nero Wolfe's a fun trip. Two of the tales in this collection involve actual trips, taking Wolfe atypically outside his brownstone. That means it's not really three for the chair, which I interpreted as the chair in Wolfe's office where clients and suspects get seated, but it is an interesting adventure. Only the first story, "A Window for Death," follows the most familiar Wolfe style.

"Immune to Murder" takes Wolfe and Archie to a remote fishing getaway, and "Too Many Detectives" sends them to a hearing about illegal wiretapping in Albany where Wolfe has to solve a murder in order to get back home.

A couple of interesting twists are involved in solutions. Was it murder when a man died seemingly of pneumonia in his apartment? Why did Wolfe fail to use the fish caught by a visiting ambassador in a dish he was invited to prepare? The answers are generally satisfying if mystery-story conceits overall.

It's really Wolfe and Archie at work that makes the Wolfe tales fun, and these are energetic and filled with the lead characters playing their parts.

This is not my all time favorite novella collection, but fans won't go wrong in going along for this ride.