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By Dave, August 24, 2009 4:53 pm

Another Wolfe List post that I thought I would archive here.

While rereading Man Alive today, I noticed that another hint about Archie’s age shows up in this one.

Page numbers taken from Three Doors To Death – the Bantam Reissue Edition paperback first published March 1995, 8th printing.

————

First clue is on page 38 where Wolfe is talking to Cynthia and telling her he wants the folks that have keys to the business there in his office that evening.  She replies as follows:

 ”But good lord.”  She was flabbergasted.  “I can’t just order them around!  What can I say?  I can’t say I want them to help find out who killed my uncle because they don’t know it was my uncle?  You must consider they’re much older than I am – all but Bernard – and they think I’m just a fresh kid.  Even Bernard is seven years older.  After all, I’m only twenty-one – that is I will be – my God!”

And she goes on to say that her birthday is the next day.

The next clue is on page 41 where Archie is in Bernard Daumery’s office just after being introduced to Bernard.

Cynthia’s statistics had informed me that he was four years younger than me, and I might as well concede them to him.

So Cynthia is 21, Bernard is 7 years older than her, or 28, and 4 years younger than Archie, which would put Archie at 32.  Unless the ever literal Archie is figuring her age at 20 due to her birthday being the next day which would put him at 31. 

To link this to my previous post about Archie’s age, I noticed that “Man Alive” was written in 1947 and “In The Best Families” was written in 1950.  So if he was 31 or 32 in MA then he would be “about” 34 in ITBF.

Though I do agree that Stout has Archie’s age pegged at somewhere around 30 throughout the corpus, I find it interesting that he kept the time-line consistent through these two stories.

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By Dave, August 23, 2009 1:51 pm

The following is a post I just made to the Wolfe Mailing List and thought it would be good to archive here.

Hello All,

Even though I know that today (8/23/09) we are supposed to start (not) discussing “Man Alive” from “Three Doors to Death “, I thought I would post this about the book we just finished (not) discussing.

Just reread In the Best Families and noted a couple of points that I thought were interesting. I seem to remember at least some of this coming up in discussion before but a quick search in my very limited email archives didn’t show anything so thought I would post this.

The copy I read this time was the Bantam paperback 8th printing printed in Sept 1984, and that’s what the page numbers I am giving are based on.

—————–

The first bit I noted was on the first page of the first chapter and is related to Archie’s salary. The person Archie is talking about is Mrs. Barry Rackham, who has called and wants to see Wolfe on business. The relevant text is as follows:

On the main point of interest, could she and did she pay her bills, the news was favorable: she was worth a good four million and maybe five. Calling it four, and assuming that Wolfe’s bill for services rendered would come to only half of it, that would be enough to pay my current salary – as Wolfe’s secretary, trusted assistant and official gnat – for a hundred and sixty-seven years; and in addition to that, living as I did there in Wolfe’s house, I also got food and shelter. So I was fixed for life if it turned out that she needed two million buck’s worth of detective work.

So in a round about way he tells us how much he makes a year. 2 million divided by 167 is $11976.05 if we round up and $11976.04 if rounding down. From that I am assuming he means he makes $12,000.00 a year which breaks down to an even $1,000.00 a month but if taken even further and divided by weeks is not quite so even and comes to $230.77 a week. Any way you figure it, in 1950 dollars that is a nice little pay check.

I used the Consumer Price Index based financial calculator at http://www.minneapolisfed.org/ to do a bit of figuring on what he would be bringing in today. According to the site the following is how they do the calculation.

The CPI for 1950 = 24.1
The CPI for 2009 = 213.2

And they use the following formula to compute the calculation:
2009 Price = 1950 Price x (2009 CPI / 1950 CPI)

So that means his weekly pay now would be $2041.50 = $230.77 x (213.2/24.1)

Which would put his yearly salary at $106,157.68. Not bad for a gum shoe! And that’s NOT figuring in room and board which in New York City would be a hefty sum!

—————–

The second bit that jumped out at me this time through the book is that Archie tells his age! Or at least comes as close as any time “I” remember in the Corpus. On page 17 Leeds is talking about the folks they will meet at the Mrs. Rackham’s house, and says:

“You and me,” he said, “and my cousin and her husband, and Mrs. Frey, whom you have met, and Hammond, and the statesman, that’s seven-”
“Who’s the statesman?”
“Oliver A. Pierce.”
“I’m intimate with lots of statesmen, but I never heard of him.”
“Don’t let him know it.” Leeds chuckled. “It’s true that at thirty-four he has only got as far as state assemblyman, but the war made a gap for him the same as for other young men. Give him a chance. One will be enough.”

Then on page 19 Archie tells us:

Pierce was a smooth article. His manner was, of course, based on the law of nature regulating the attitude of an elected person toward everybody old enough to vote, but his timing and variations were so good that it was hard to recognize it, although he was only about my age.

And goes on with Pierce’s description, but the above was the part that interested me. Archie is telling us that he is about 34 years old. Now the first book in the series, Fer-de-Lance, was written in 1933 and this one, In the Best Families, was written in 1950, which gives us 17 year’s between them. Extrapolating from the above statements that he is 34, he would have been 17 when the first story came out and would have been born in 1916, neither of which fit in with other bits from elsewhere in the corpus. So either he is not telling the truth about his age (Not that Archie would EVER prevaricate!) or as has been discussed in far greater depth than I am prepared to go into here, Stout changed their ages to suit his self as the series progressed. As I said just a point I found interesting.

All in all a very good read and I quite enjoyed rereading it.

Comments, corrections, and discussion welcomed.

Dave
AKA Albert Freyer

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By Dave, May 31, 2009 11:58 am

This book is for sale at: http://www.bonanzle.com/booths/depatty/items/Black_Orchids___By_Rex_Stout_1992_Reissue_4th_Printing

Black Orchids – June 1992 Bantam Reissue
Copyright 1941 and 1942 By Rex Stout
A Bantam Book
Bantam Reissue… June 1992
This is a 4th printing.
Creasing to spine and front cover. Some corner and edge bumping. Inside covers browning. Pages tight. Some corners turned. No stamps or markings. Good copy.

Contents
Introduction by Lawrence Block
Black Orchids
Cordially Invited To Meet Death

Rear Cover Intro:

BLACK ORCHIDS

Nero Wolfe has left his comfortable brownstone for the promise of a remarkably black orchid at a flower show — but before Wolfe and his perennially hardy sidekick, Archie Goodwin, have a chance to stop and smell the roses, a diabolically daring murder takes place right under their noses and puts a blight on the proceedings. Now Wolfe’s fancy turns to thoughts of weeding out a murderer — one who’s definitely not a garden-variety killer. Only then will Wolfe be ready to throw his weight into a second thorny case, involving a rich society widow bedeviled by poison-pen letters — and a poisonous plot as black as Wolfe’s orchids… with roots that are even more twisted.

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By Dave, August 28, 2008 5:27 pm

To purchase this item see: http://www.specialistauctions.com/auctiondetails.php?id=1199678.

Copyright 1952 By Rex Stout
The Viking Press
Jacket Design By Bill English

Rear Cover Intro:

When Nero Wolfe turned down the easiest ten-thousand-dollar fee ever offered him, he didn’t expect to get involved in a deadly game – a game that reminded Archie of a grim version of prisoner’s base.
Nor did Archie imagine that he would ever be working so closely with the New York Police.

Inside Front Cover:

Readers who have long followed the adventures of Nero Wolfe will surely agre not only that this is one of the neatest murder puzzles ever set down by Rex Stout, but also that it is the most exciting, adventure-filled, and breathless story he ever told.
Nero Wolfe has represented some pretty unusual clients in his time, but in this one, his client – believe it or not – is the fast-talking, hard-hitting, skirt-chasing assistant and companion to Nero, Archie Goodwin himself.
We’ll make three bets with you abut Prisoner’s Base: First – you won’t solve it. Second – you’ll agree that no author ever played more fair with his readers. Third – when you finish it, you will feel as if you have been on a forty-eight-hour, breath-taking, danger-filled chase up and down the avenues of New York, into some of Manhattan’s darkest and more terror-filled alleys.

Inside Back Cover:

“Nero Wolfe, the fat detective of Rex Stout’s novels, towers over his rivals in one respect: he is a superman who talks like a superman. It is a very tough literary trick to make a mastermind sound like a mastermind. Most of the storybook detectives are to much like the new ultra-scientific calculating machines, which have gorgeous electronic brains for solving problems but no particular talent for dialogue. Genius is the curse of the mystery story. It tends to destroy individuality and drag everybody down to the same level. It is harder to tell intellectual giants apart than Hollywood blonds. Nero, however, is an exceptional character creation – a genius who rises above mediocrity.”

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By Dave,

Copyright 1952 By Rex Stout
The Viking Press
Jacket Design By Bill English

Rear Cover Intro:

When Nero Wolfe turned down the easiest ten-thousand-dollar fee ever offered him, he didn’t expect to get involved in a deadly game – a game that reminded Archie of a grim version of prisoner’s base.
Nor did Archie imagine that he would ever be working so closely with the New York Police.

Inside Front Cover:

Readers who have long followed the adventures of Nero Wolfe will surely agree not only that this is one of the neatest murder puzzles ever set down by Rex Stout, but also that it is the most exciting, adventure-filled, and breathless story he ever told.
Nero Wolfe has represented some pretty unusual clients in his time, but in this one, his client – believe it or not – is the fast-talking, hard-hitting, skirt-chasing assistant and companion to Nero, Archie Goodwin himself.
We’ll make three bets with you abut Prisoner’s Base: First – you won’t solve it. Second – you’ll agree that no author ever played more fair with his readers. Third – when you finish it, you will feel as if you have been on a forty-eight-hour, breath-taking, danger-filled chase up and down the avenues of New York, into some of Manhattan’s darkest and more terror-filled alleys.

Inside Back Cover:

“Nero Wolfe, the fat detective of Rex Stout’s novels, towers over his rivals in one respect: he is a superman who talks like a superman. It is a very tough literary trick to make a mastermind sound like a mastermind. Most of the storybook detectives are to much like the new ultra-scientific calculating machines, which have gorgeous electronic brains for solving problems but no particular talent for dialogue. Genius is the curse of the mystery story. It tends to destroy individuality and drag everybody down to the same level. It is harder to tell intellectual giants apart than Hollywood blonds. Nero, however, is an exceptional character creation – a genius who rises above mediocrity.”

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By Dave,

To purchase this item see http://www.specialistauctions.com/auctiondetails.php?id=1199608.

Copyright 1962 By Rex Stout
Published in 1962 by The Viking Press, Inc

Contents:
Eeny Meeny Murder Mo – appeared in Ellery Queen’s Mystry Magazine
Death Of A Demon – appeared in the SATURDAY EVENING POST
Counterfeit For Murder – appeared in the SATURDAY EVENING POST under the title of The Counterfeiter’s Knife

Rear Cover Intro:

Eeny Meeny Murder Mo
It was preposterously inconvenient. The outer door was locked as usual, yet there she lay – on Nero Wolfe’s carpet, in Nero Wolfe’s office, strangled by Nero Wolfe’s own necktie!

Death of a Demon
“Here’s the gun I’m not going to use to kill my husband.” That’s what she said. But he was killed, and with that gun, or with one just like it… and Archie Goodwin had tampered with the gun himself.

Counterfeit for Murder
Under suspicion for murder and too angry to deny it, harried Hattie Annis offered 42 grand to Nero Wolfe to make the cops eat dirt. If she was innocent, you can ask her whether he earned his fee.

Inside Cover:

On the reverse of this jacket you will find the bill of fare for this three-course feast of murder, mystification, and masterful deduction. As his large and loyal fan club will attest, Rex Stout’s famous threesomes are fully as delightful as his book-length novels, which is to say that they are peerless examples of mayhem de luxe.

Whether you read these stories purely for entertainment and relaxation, or enjoy the challenge of matching wits with Nero Wolfe and his factotum, Archie Goodwin, here once again is the creme de la creme of crime presented for your pleasure.

Jacket Design By Bill English

Comments Off

By Dave,

Copyright 1962 By Rex Stout
Published in 1962 by The Viking Press, Inc

Contents:
Eeny Meeny Murder Mo – appeared in Ellery Queen’s Mystry Magazine
Death Of A Demon – appeared in the SATURDAY EVENING POST
Counterfeit For Murder – appeared in the SATURDAY EVENING POST under the title of The Counterfeiter’s Knife

Rear Cover Intro:

Eeny Meeny Murder Mo
It was preposterously inconvenient. The outer door was locked as usual, yet there she lay – on Nero Wolfe’s carpet, in Nero Wolfe’s office, strangled by Nero Wolfe’s own necktie!

Death of a Demon
“Here’s the gun I’m not going to use to kill my husband.” That’s what she said. But he was killed, and with that gun, or with one just like it… and Archie Goodwin had tampered with the gun himself.

Counterfeit for Murder
Under suspicion for murder and too angry to deny it, harried Hattie Annis offered 42 grand to Nero Wolfe to make the cops eat dirt. If she was innocent, you can ask her whether he earned his fee.

Inside Cover:

On the reverse of this jacket you will find the bill of fare for this three-course feast of murder, mystification, and masterful deduction. As his large and loyal fan club will attest, Rex Stout’s famous threesomes are fully as delightful as his book-length novels, which is to say that they are peerless examples of mayhem de luxe.

Whether you read these stories purely for entertainment and relaxation, or enjoy the challenge of matching wits with Nero Wolfe and his factotum, Archie Goodwin, here once again is the creme de la creme of crime presented for your pleasure.

Jacket Design By Bill English

Comments (0)

By Dave, August 4, 2008 3:01 pm

College Roomies from Hell!!! Archives

A mention of Wolfe and Archie in the College Roomies from Hell webcomic.

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By Dave, June 1, 2008 9:42 pm

The Viking Press
Copyright 1956, 1960, 1961 by Rex Stout

Contents:

Too Many Clients
Might As Well Be Dead
The Final Deduction

Inside Cover:

Three Aces
Happiness is a Nero Wolfe mystery for so many aficionados of civilized crime stories that the Omnibus has become a valued tradition; there have been five before this, each gathering a few previously published Rex Stouts in one volume. Three Aces is the first to include three complete full-length novels, and will prove a treat as special as a dish from the kitchen of Nero’s unique cook, Fritz.

In Too Many Clients, three different clients clamor for Nero’s help when a big businessman is murdered in his $81,000 love nest. Archie Goodwin must use some of his best talents to sort them out before Nero can even begin the case. Might as Well Be Dead involves, along with much mayhem and imperiled missing persons, a great national scandal. The Final Deduction puts Nero and Archie in the saddle in pursuit of a kidnap for half a million dollars, with murder on the side.

The team is in top form in all three of these, a prize for any fan who missed them before or who wants them on hand in one handsome superStout volume.

Rear Cover:

“Not two characters alone, but a palpable atmosphere exists in that brownstone house on West 35th Street. And what sinewy, pellucid, propelling prose tells those tales – allegories of the human pilgrimage, rather – in which there is little or no blood, but rather the play of the mind. . . . In this sublime duet of Don Quixote and a glamorized Sancho Panza who go tilting together against evil, there is no mystery, nothing but matter for admiration, edification, and (if desired) self-identification. the true mystery is in their inspired creator, Rex Stout.” -Jacques Barzun

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By Dave, April 30, 2008 10:12 pm

Nero Wolfe – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Nero Wolfe is a fictional detective, created by the American mystery writer Rex Stout, who made his debut in 1934. Wolfe’s assistant Archie Goodwin recorded the cases of the detective genius in 33 novels and 39 short stories from the 1930s to the 1970s, with most of them set in New York City. 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.

Just found this page on Wikipedia about Wolfe. Quite an extensive piece and well worth reading for anyone interested in the Nero Wolfe books or television series.

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By Dave, April 15, 2008 7:11 pm

A Bantam Book
Copyright 1965 By Rex Stout
New Bantam Printing…October 1971
Third Printing

Contents
The Doorbell Rang

Rear Cover Intro:

No one intimidates Nero Wolfe -
Not even J. Edgar Hoover…
Retained with the unbelievable fee of
$100,000, the portly paragon of detection must
get the FBI off his client’s back. Along comes
Murder and the hottest water
the wizard of 35th street has ever been in.
—–
THE DOORBELL RANG
—–
Superb Suspense with masterly Nero Wolfe
and dapper Archie Goodwin

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By Dave,

A Bantam Book
Copyright 1966 By Rex Stout
2nd Printing…October 1967

Contents:
Death of a Doxy

Rear Cover Intro:

Who killed the kept woman?
Archie discovered the honey-haired corpse on the floor of her plush pink bedroom.
How could a young, out-of-work showgirl afford that $300-a-month suite? That was no mystery.
Who murdered her? Now that was a problem worthy of Nero Wolfe…

Flyleaf:

DEATH OF A DOXY

Poor Orrie Cather. He was being held for a murder he swore he hadn’t committed. Poor Avery Ballou. He’d been paying the rent on the victim’s apartment and if anyone found out, Orrie’d be free and Ballou would be suspect #1. But most of all, poor Isabel Kerr. She was so young, so beautiful, so stone-cold dead.

——-

Then, of course, there was poor Nero Wolfe. Orrie was a friend, Ballou was his client, and the real murderer was playing hard-to-get …

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By Dave,

A Bantam Book
Copyright 1975 By Rex Stout
2nd Bantam Printing…January 1980

Contents:
A Family Affair

Rear Cover Intro:

For Nero Wolfe – the huge, orchid-growing gourmet whose admirable genius at untwisting the tangled knots of crime has no peer – this was one case that came too close to home. The murderer had the sheer nerve to blow up his victim in Wolfe’s Manhattan townhouse. Wolfe was going to solve this one on his own – without a fee – and keep it all in the family.

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By Dave, April 10, 2008 11:43 pm

While out looking for books today (April 10, 2008) the only Wolfe title that we came across just happened to be a copy of Death of a Dude, which happens to be the title that the Wolfe List is currently discussing (or not discussing as the case may be). So of course I got it, scanned it, and here it is, in all of it’s somewhat grayed out 1973 glory.

A Bantam Book
Copyright 1969 By Rex Stout
5th Printing…July 1975
Contents:
Death of a Dude
Rear Cover Intro:
Would Nero Wolfe leave his brownstone in Manhattan and travel halfway across the country to a dude ranch in Montana? Never! Unless assistant Archie Goodwin were there trying to solve a messy rifle shot murder…

Intro:

EAST IS EAST
WEST IS WEST

…and never the twain shall meet, or so orchid-growing, gourmet detective Nero Wolfe thought. That was, until he found himself on a dude ranch in Montana dealing with all sorts of un-Wolfean situations … like chairs too small for his bulk, belligerent sheriffs, uncooperative cowboys and unwed mothers.

DEATH OF A DUDE

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By Dave, April 9, 2008 8:34 pm

Seven Complete Nero Wolfe Novels

Copyright 1983 by Pola W. Stout,
executrix of the estate of Rex Stout
This edition is published by Avenel Books

Contents:

THE SILENT SPEAKER
MIGHT AS WELL BE DEAD
IF DEATH EVER SLEPT
3 AT WOLFE’S DOOR
Poison a la carte
Method Three for Murder
The Rodeo Murder
GAMBIT
PLEASE PASS THE GUILT
A FAMILY AFFAIR

Dust Jacket Text:

Nero Wolfe is an overweight misanthrope and an avid orchid grower
who almost never leaves his comfortable Manhattan brownstone-
hardly the description of a crackerjack detective. Yet Nero Wolfe is one
of the best. Aided by Archie Goodwin, who does his legwork (and a fair
amount of the brain work), Nero Wolfe cracks every case, usually
while sitting comfortably in his study.

When is an after-dinner speaker never boring? When he is mur-
dered before he gets a chance to speak. In The Silent Speaker, Cheney
Boone from the Bureau of Price Regulation is murdered before
addressing the National Industrial Association. Nero Wolfe and
Archie Goodwin unravel the tangled hatreds among those who enforce
government regulations, free enterprise advocates, and greedy civil
servants to ferret out the killer.

In Might As Well Be Dead, a simple missing-person case leads Wolfe
and Goodwin to an accused killer with a mysterious past-a man on
trial who doesn’t want to be acquitted. Convincing the innocent not to
plead guilty becomes as difficult a task as finding the real murderer in
this complicated case.

Otis Farrell comes to Wolfe and Goodwin in If Death Ever Slept with
an urgent request to get his daughter-in-law out of his posh duplex
apartment. But before too long, family squabbles turn to murder and
the case that Wolfe took on a whim becomes deadly serious.

Death comes to Nero Wolfe in three unique ways in 3 at Wolfe’s Door.
Poisoned caviar in the blinis spoils Wolfe’s dinner in “Poison a la
Carte”; death comes by taxi to his brownstone in “Method Three for
Murder”; and a rodeo roping contest held on a balcony one hundred
feet above 63rd Street in New York is the scene of a murder in “The
Rodeo Murder.” But no matter how different or disturbing, Wolfe
solves each case with his usual brilliant deductions.
Ordinarily chess isn’t considered a dangerous game, but for Paul
Jerin a night of play meant murder in Gambit. His hot chocolate was
poisoned at the Gambit Chess Club, and Sally Blount, daughter ofthe
accused murderer, hires Wolfe to clear her father.

Everyone knows corporate politics are vicious, but putting a bomb
in a vice-president’s desk drawer is going too far. In Please Pass The
Guilt, a bomb kills Peter J. Odell, vice-president in charge of develop-
ment at Continental Air Network, and Nero Wolfe enters the corpo-
rate jungle to find the murderer: frustrated secretary, bored wife,
ambitious colleague, or someone else altogether.

ln A Family Affair, a friend of Wolfe’s is killed in Wolfe’s own
brownstone, and he takes the case as a personal vendetta, going
so far as to leave the house to investigate and to jail to avoid
giving the police informgtion. The disturbing case leads Wolfe
and Goodwin to facts they would rather not know and
conclusions they would rather not make.
The seven Nero Wolfe mysteries collected here highlight the
rare genius and detective ability of Nero Wolfe and his able
assistant, Archie Goodwin.

Comments (0)

By Dave, September 20, 2007 2:01 pm

Some Buried Caesar

Bantam Edition January 1982
Bantam Reissue Edition June 1994

This cover is from the 5th printing sometime there after.

Rear Cover Text:

Some Buried Caesar

An automobile breakdown strands Nero Wolfe and Archie in the middle of a private pasture – and a family feud over a prize bull. A restaurateur’s plan to buy the stud and barbecue it as a publicity stunt may be in poor taste, but it isn’t a crime … until Hickory Caesar Grindon, the soon-to-be-beefsteak bull, is found pawing the remains of a family scion. Wolfe is sure the idea that Caesar is the murderer is, well, pure bull. Now the great detective is on the horns of a dilemma as a veritable stampede of suspects – including a young lady Archie has his eye on – conceals a special breed of killer who wins a blue ribbon for sheer audacity.

Comments (0)

By Dave, September 19, 2007 3:16 pm

Duplicate

The Red Box- Sixth Printing – May 1972

A Pyramid Book
Copyright 1936, 1937, 1965, By Rex Stout
Sixth Printing – May 1972

Contents
The Red Box
Rear Cover Intro:

ARCHIE GOODWIN’S THE NAME

I’m the hard-hitting, good-looking sidekick of a beer-drinking, orchid-fancying giant genius of a detective named Nero Wolfe. Wolfe and I have worked on some pretty weird cases. This one I call –

THE RED BOX MURDERS

A beautiful model who should have been watching her figure never dreamed that one little piece of candy could kill her. But it did. And her untimely death put Nero Wolfe in line for the supreme insult of his career — another murder, right in his own home. He had to solve the case to save his pride. But the only clue was an odd red box — and, oddly enough, that had disappeared!

Inside Cover Text:

Orchids are his pride and passion; detection is his forte. He rarely moves his enormous person from his luxurious brownstone. He’s Rex Stout’s peerless solver of crimes

Nero Wolfe

Ably abetted by his quick-thinking, rugged cosleuth, Archie Goodwin, the noble detector of murderous motives and games of foul play takes on the case of a high-fashion corpse to

Save his reputation

in

The Red Box

A mind-boggling gem of mystery and detection!

Comments (0)

By Dave, September 18, 2007 2:21 pm

This is a collection of stories, poems, and other bits and pieces collected over the years mostly from postings to the Nero Wolfe Mailing List. Some (if not all) that are done as songs have a midi track on the page for you to annoy your pets and significant others with as you sing along.

This list would not be possible without the hard work the authors of these delightful pieces put into them for our pleasure. Thanks to all of you, both for writing them and for letting me post them here!

Wolfean Parody/Humor Index

Comments (0)

By Dave,

I would have sworn that I had posted this wonderful cookbook before but can’t find it anywhere, so here it is, in all it’s glory!

The Nero Wolfe Cookbook – 1981

By Rex Stout and the Editors of The Viking Press

First published by The Viking Press 1973
Published in Penguin Books 1981

Rear Cover Text:

Nero Wolfe, often billed as the greatest detective in the world, owes much of his impressive bulk to his all-consuming interest in food. After years of pleading from faithful readers, Rex Stout, author of the more than sixty Nero Wolfe stories, finally served up this delightful collection of over 225 recipes for the fabulous repasts detailed in the mysteries. Some of the culinary concoctions are of Wolfe’s own making (the Kanawha Spa dinner, for example), but most of them have been prepared exclusively by his faithful and ingenious majordomo, Fritz Brenner, who can whip up perfect shad-roe mousse Pocahontas, corn fritters with wild-thyme honey, hedgehog omelet, or fig souffle without batting an eyelash. For the connoisseur of Nero Wolfe stories and of memorable meals, The Nero Wolfe Cookbook is sure to satisfy the most voracious and discriminating of appetites.

“What the nation has been needing (besides the five-cent cigar) is an authoritative treatise on Nero Wolfe’s feeding habits, and this book is superbly welcome.”
-P. G. Wodehouse

“The extracts from Nero and Archie are as indispensable to good cooking as those from coffee and vanilla. The book adds a new dementia to dining.”
-Jacques Barzun

Cover design by Neil Stuart
Cover photograph by WaIter Wick

Thanks Text:

Thanks

The only part of this book that is all mine is the excerpts from the stories which precede the recipes. All the dishes mentioned in Too Many Cooks were cooked twice-some three times or more- by the late Sheila Hibben and me. For years she wrote regularly for The New Yorker on food and cooking and restaurants, and she was my dear and valued friend. (A bit of her: One day in January when I was driving her to my house from the station she said, “This country is so wonderful like this, without all those goddam leaves obstructing the view.”)

Barbara Burn’s name should be on the title page. The comments and explanations in italics are all by her, as well as the final wording of most of the recipes. Without her there would have been no Nero Wolfe cookbook. She also tested, or supervised the testing of, many of the dishes. I thank her warmly.

I thank Michael S. Romano, who tested more than half of the dishes and wrote the first draft of many of the recipes. I thank Helen Taylor, who chose and collected the excerpts from the stories and tested a few of the recipes. And I thank Marshall Best and Laurie Colwin and Mary Chambers and Barbara Morris and Susan Mabon.
That’s gratitude for you!

-Rex Stout

Comments (1)

By Dave, September 17, 2007 10:06 pm

Cat came in from shopping with this beautiful paperback today. THANKS Cat!

Always love getting a new Wolfe cover, but especially a special one like this! Will get back and add text asap, just gonna get the cover up for now.

Fer-de-Lance – 50th Anniversary Edition paperback

2nd printing, November 1984

A Bantam Book – published by arrangement with the author

PRINTING HISTORY
Farrar & Rinehart edition published 1934
Bantam edition published March 1983
Second Printing – November 1984

Copyright, 1934, 1962 by Rex Stout

Rear Cover Text:

Nero Wolfe’s very first recorded case!
Fer-de-Lance
A discarded newspaper, a young engineers mysterious disappearance, and the death of a college president induce the great detective to wager $1O,OOO with the district attorney – and help a young daughter prove her mother was no murderess.

Step into the unassuming Thirty-fifth Street brownstone. and join in the astounding exploits of Nero Wolfe. ,Marvel at his daily beer consumption, his unsurpassed appetite, the incredible expanse of his yellow silk pajamas. Bear witness to his unwavering, often infuriating addiction to fine foods, good books, beautiful orchids and custom-made chairs. Empathize with his confidential assistant, Archie Goodwin, archetypal private eye and man of action, whose primary function is prodding his immense employer into motion. See for yourself why, through a hundred million copies and seventy-two cases, the adventures of America’s largest private detective and his extended family continue to captivate and enthrall readers around the world. Discover Nero Wolfe – the greatest detective of them all.

This special 5Oth Anniversary Edition of Fer-de-Lance contains a 16-page retrospective of Nero Wolfe’s career by noted Rex Stout scholar John McAleer.

Inside Cover Text:

Praise for Nero Wolfe…

“It is always a treat to read a Nero Wolfe mystery. The man has entered our folklore; he is part of the psyche of anybody who has ever turned over the pages of a mystery novel. Like Sherlock Holmes… he looms larger than life and, in some ways, is much more satisfactory.”
- The New York Times Book Review

“The most interesting great detective of them all.”
- Kingsley Amis, auhor of Lucky Jim

“The worst thorn in the flesh I know of.”
- Inspector L. T. Cramer, Manhattan South

“Nero Wolfe is one of the master creations.”
- James M. Cain, author of The Postman Always Rings Twice

“(Wolfe)…is the best of them all.”
- Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes

“My favorite fatty.”
-Archie Goodwin