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Nero Wolfe #33
Three at Wolfe's Door
In Three at Wolfe's Door, death comes a-calling not once but three times in this murderous collection of cases from the files of the world's greatest detective.
154 pages, Paperback
First published April 29, 1960
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About the author
Rex Stout
834 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 114 reviews
December 29, 2019
Three Nero Wolfe novellas, in which 1) a gourmet is poisoned at at a meal prepared by Fritz, 2) a womanizer is strangled with a lariat during a roping contest in Lily Rowan's penthouse, and 3) a woman is strangled in the back of a taxicab parked literally at Wolfe's Door.
I think the Wolfe novellas are often superior to the novels, and these three are very good indeed.
March 16, 2019
Just a refresher for me. Stout is a master at this genre. This collection of three novellas is a fine example. See my reviews of The Doorbell Rang or Stout Fellow for more.
February 6, 2022
Three Nero Wolfe novellas originally published by Viking Press in 1960.
Poison à la Carte :
Lewis Hewitt wants to borrow Nero Wolfe's chef, Fritz Brenner, for the "Ten For Aristology" annual dinner. Wolfe and his confidential assistant, Archie Goodwin, are invited as guests. Twelve guests to be served by twelve young women. They are actresses supplied by a theatrical agency and are dubbed "Hebes". A member of the Ten, Vincent Pyle, is poisoned and Wolfe quickly concludes that arsenic was administered by one of the servers. But which one? Wolfe is offended. It happened practically under his nose and Fritz was the chef. Wolfe sets out to find out who the poisoner is.
Method Three for Murder :
Archie Goodwin has quit (again) after a disagreement with Nero Wolfe but he doesn't get far. As he is walking down the steps of Wolfe's brownstone at 918 West 35th Street in New York a woman, Mira Holt, is coming up. She wants to hire him as a consultant. Having just quit Archie can't take her into the house so they sit on stoop and she makes up a cock and bull story. There is a taxi with no driver parked in front of the brownstone and a passing police car stops to check it out. A body is discovered hidden in the taxi. Soon other police show up. All of the activity results in Wolfe making an appearance to find out what is happening. He tells Archie to bring his client into the house and asks him for half of Mira's fee so that he can assist Archie with his case. Mira is arrested as a material witness, Wolfe and Archie patch things up, and Inspector Cramer winds up with egg on his face when once again Wolfe and Archie find out who the real killer of the woman in the taxi was.
The Rodeo Murder :
There is rodeo being held at the Garden but the real event takes place at Lily Rowan's Park Avenue penthouse. She is throwing a party that includes a roping contest. Wolfe and Archie are there but Wolfe only came for the food. Once lunch is over he has Archie take him home. Archie returns to Lily's in time for the roping contest ... and the discovery of the body of the financial backer of the rodeo. A rope wrapped around his neck. One of the cowboy's is the suspect because it is his rope. Archie doesn't believe he did it and Lily wants to hire Wolfe to find out who murdered one of her guests. Wolfe reluctantly agrees to find the murderer even though it means he has to invite a bunch of cowboys and cowgirls into his office (since he never leaves home on business)
Overall an enjoyable collection of stories. Quick reads.
Poison à la Carte :
Lewis Hewitt wants to borrow Nero Wolfe's chef, Fritz Brenner, for the "Ten For Aristology" annual dinner. Wolfe and his confidential assistant, Archie Goodwin, are invited as guests. Twelve guests to be served by twelve young women. They are actresses supplied by a theatrical agency and are dubbed "Hebes". A member of the Ten, Vincent Pyle, is poisoned and Wolfe quickly concludes that arsenic was administered by one of the servers. But which one? Wolfe is offended. It happened practically under his nose and Fritz was the chef. Wolfe sets out to find out who the poisoner is.
Method Three for Murder :
Archie Goodwin has quit (again) after a disagreement with Nero Wolfe but he doesn't get far. As he is walking down the steps of Wolfe's brownstone at 918 West 35th Street in New York a woman, Mira Holt, is coming up. She wants to hire him as a consultant. Having just quit Archie can't take her into the house so they sit on stoop and she makes up a cock and bull story. There is a taxi with no driver parked in front of the brownstone and a passing police car stops to check it out. A body is discovered hidden in the taxi. Soon other police show up. All of the activity results in Wolfe making an appearance to find out what is happening. He tells Archie to bring his client into the house and asks him for half of Mira's fee so that he can assist Archie with his case. Mira is arrested as a material witness, Wolfe and Archie patch things up, and Inspector Cramer winds up with egg on his face when once again Wolfe and Archie find out who the real killer of the woman in the taxi was.
The Rodeo Murder :
There is rodeo being held at the Garden but the real event takes place at Lily Rowan's Park Avenue penthouse. She is throwing a party that includes a roping contest. Wolfe and Archie are there but Wolfe only came for the food. Once lunch is over he has Archie take him home. Archie returns to Lily's in time for the roping contest ... and the discovery of the body of the financial backer of the rodeo. A rope wrapped around his neck. One of the cowboy's is the suspect because it is his rope. Archie doesn't believe he did it and Lily wants to hire Wolfe to find out who murdered one of her guests. Wolfe reluctantly agrees to find the murderer even though it means he has to invite a bunch of cowboys and cowgirls into his office (since he never leaves home on business)
Overall an enjoyable collection of stories. Quick reads.
August 5, 2023
3.5/5
Three lesser Nero Wolfe stories with the second story, Method Three for Murder, being the strongest because of my love of Wolfe and Archie and Poison à la Carte being the weakest only by virtue of not being as fun as the other two.
Three lesser Nero Wolfe stories with the second story, Method Three for Murder, being the strongest because of my love of Wolfe and Archie and Poison à la Carte being the weakest only by virtue of not being as fun as the other two.
November 28, 2019
Murder á la Carte
Wolfe and Archie have, once again, been invited to a dinner with the group of gourmets called Ten for Aristology, and they’ve asked Fritz to cook the dinner. In keeping with the Greek theme (aristology is Greek for “the science of dining”), they have decided to have female servers (Hebe served nectar and ambrosia to the gods). The first course is blinis with sour cream and caviar; one of the diners, a Broadway producer named Vincent Pyle, comments sarcastically about sand in them. The second course is green turtle soup; after the third course is served - flounder poached in wine with a mussel and mushroom sauce, Pyle becomes sick to him stomach and excuses himself. By the time the flounder has been eaten, Pyle is in severe pain and a doctor has been called. By the end of the dinner, Pyle is dead from arsenic poisoning.
Two Rusterman’s Restaurant employees assisted Fritz, and Wolfe is positive they couldn’t be guilty, so it has to be one of the female servers. The usual investigative methods turn up nothing, so Wolfe has to resort to one of his famous “tricks” that Cramer so hates. Nevertheless, Wolfe is correct, and the trick works.
Clever mystery. 4 stars.
Method Three for Murder
Archie is fed up with Wolfe, as he often is, so he quits. Upon walking out of the brownstone, he meets a young woman coming up the steps. She tells him a preposterous story about a bet with a friend; Archie knows she’s lying, but she does seem in genuine distress, so he takes a retainer from her. The gist of her story is that the taxi she is driving has a female corpse in floor, and that she knows the deceased, but didn’t kill her. By this time, the police have arrived; Wolfe hears or sees the commotion, and invites Archie and the woman to enter the brownstone.
This was a really good story. 4+ stars.
The Rodeo Murder
Lily Rowan owns a ranch in Montana, and she knows many of the people in the area. Several cowboys and cowgirls have come to New York for an exhibition of trick roping. Lily gives a luncheon for them, serving blue grouse native to Montana and she invites Archie and Wolfe. As soon as the meal is concluded, Wolfe insists that Archie drive him home. Later, one of the luncheon guests is found dead, with one of the cowboy’s ropes wrapped tightly around his neck.
Lily hires Wolfe to find the killer, and of course, he does. One of the cowgirls makes the investigation quite interesting, even pulling a gun on Archie at one point. Good story, good characters. 4 stars.
Wolfe and Archie have, once again, been invited to a dinner with the group of gourmets called Ten for Aristology, and they’ve asked Fritz to cook the dinner. In keeping with the Greek theme (aristology is Greek for “the science of dining”), they have decided to have female servers (Hebe served nectar and ambrosia to the gods). The first course is blinis with sour cream and caviar; one of the diners, a Broadway producer named Vincent Pyle, comments sarcastically about sand in them. The second course is green turtle soup; after the third course is served - flounder poached in wine with a mussel and mushroom sauce, Pyle becomes sick to him stomach and excuses himself. By the time the flounder has been eaten, Pyle is in severe pain and a doctor has been called. By the end of the dinner, Pyle is dead from arsenic poisoning.
Two Rusterman’s Restaurant employees assisted Fritz, and Wolfe is positive they couldn’t be guilty, so it has to be one of the female servers. The usual investigative methods turn up nothing, so Wolfe has to resort to one of his famous “tricks” that Cramer so hates. Nevertheless, Wolfe is correct, and the trick works.
Clever mystery. 4 stars.
Method Three for Murder
Archie is fed up with Wolfe, as he often is, so he quits. Upon walking out of the brownstone, he meets a young woman coming up the steps. She tells him a preposterous story about a bet with a friend; Archie knows she’s lying, but she does seem in genuine distress, so he takes a retainer from her. The gist of her story is that the taxi she is driving has a female corpse in floor, and that she knows the deceased, but didn’t kill her. By this time, the police have arrived; Wolfe hears or sees the commotion, and invites Archie and the woman to enter the brownstone.
This was a really good story. 4+ stars.
The Rodeo Murder
Lily Rowan owns a ranch in Montana, and she knows many of the people in the area. Several cowboys and cowgirls have come to New York for an exhibition of trick roping. Lily gives a luncheon for them, serving blue grouse native to Montana and she invites Archie and Wolfe. As soon as the meal is concluded, Wolfe insists that Archie drive him home. Later, one of the luncheon guests is found dead, with one of the cowboy’s ropes wrapped tightly around his neck.
Lily hires Wolfe to find the killer, and of course, he does. One of the cowgirls makes the investigation quite interesting, even pulling a gun on Archie at one point. Good story, good characters. 4 stars.
October 21, 2024
The writing on display here really was excellent! I loved the dialogue between the characters, which had me laughing on more than one occasion! Nero Wolfe is such an interesting character, I'm glad I stumbled upon him. He's basically agoraphobic. He's obese and seems only to want to read and to tend his orchids. Archie Goodwin, his assistant, does all the leg work; he's a different kettle of fish altogether, a ladies' man quick with a quip! I really enjoyed both characters in these three novellas!
Would I recommend this book? Yes, certainly!
Would I recommend this book? Yes, certainly!
October 19, 2021
Rex Stout excels at writing the novella-length mystery story and this trilogy was so enjoyable that I decided to go back and reread the entire series. In each of these three mysteries, Wolfe has been discombobulated by either having to leave the house or (in the second one) lose Archie’s services because Archie quits. So right off there is an amusing tension added to the atmosphere of the story by having Wolfe be out of his preferred environment and not taking it well.
I thought that Stout played more fair with the reader than he often does. There’s a logic puzzle to be unraveled in each of these stories as Wolfe and the reader try to figure out who the killer really is. These novella-sized nuggets of Wolfe are perfect for digesting in a single sitting. If you’ve ever thought about reading a Nero Wolfe story, this is a good place to start.
If you liked this review, you can find more at www.gilbertstack.com/reviews.
I thought that Stout played more fair with the reader than he often does. There’s a logic puzzle to be unraveled in each of these stories as Wolfe and the reader try to figure out who the killer really is. These novella-sized nuggets of Wolfe are perfect for digesting in a single sitting. If you’ve ever thought about reading a Nero Wolfe story, this is a good place to start.
If you liked this review, you can find more at www.gilbertstack.com/reviews.
March 16, 2020
In spite of the pedestrian, for Stout, first story this is an excellent collection of shorter Nero Wolfe mysteries. I especially enjoyed the second and third.
The second mystery starts when Archie quits working for Nero, one of the stunts he occasionally pulls, but runs into a client of his own on Nero's front stoop. Of course, knowing Archie, the client is a beautiful woman in deadly peril and he takes the case almost immediately. Circumstances unfold and Archie ends up retaining Nero as his assistant. This story was particularly fun because most of the detection is done by Archie. He provides the solutions to most of the questions in play and is truly assisted by Nero. By the end of the story the fences between Nero and Archie have been mended and their somewhat fragile relationship continues.
The third story involves Lily Rowan and I still quite enjoy the banter between her and Archie. If I could change anything about this story it would be to add more of that since there were only a few moments. In any case Nero and Archie attend a meal at Lily's penthouse to sample a rare game bird. Nero leaves as soon as he can after the meal but Archie returns only to become involved in a murder mystery. The murder could only have been committed by one of the luncheon guests and so Lily retains Nero for help in exposing the murderer.
The second mystery starts when Archie quits working for Nero, one of the stunts he occasionally pulls, but runs into a client of his own on Nero's front stoop. Of course, knowing Archie, the client is a beautiful woman in deadly peril and he takes the case almost immediately. Circumstances unfold and Archie ends up retaining Nero as his assistant. This story was particularly fun because most of the detection is done by Archie. He provides the solutions to most of the questions in play and is truly assisted by Nero. By the end of the story the fences between Nero and Archie have been mended and their somewhat fragile relationship continues.
The third story involves Lily Rowan and I still quite enjoy the banter between her and Archie. If I could change anything about this story it would be to add more of that since there were only a few moments. In any case Nero and Archie attend a meal at Lily's penthouse to sample a rare game bird. Nero leaves as soon as he can after the meal but Archie returns only to become involved in a murder mystery. The murder could only have been committed by one of the luncheon guests and so Lily retains Nero for help in exposing the murderer.
October 6, 2020
Okay, so, I am never 100% thrilled when Rex Stout starts writing about cowboys and the west and dudes, because wow does it seem like everything he ever learned about them he read in a pulp magazine, but the story where he does that in this book is perfectly good. And I still love the book as a whole because it contains THE STORY WHERE ARCHIE BREAKS UP WITH WOLFE AND WOLFE HAS TO WIN HIM BACK. Or however you want to describe it. Archie quits, basically. It is a delight and a joy forever.
April 1, 2020
C’è una cosa che Nero Wolfe ama quasi quanto le sue orchidee: la cucina di Fritz.
E per nulla al mondo si farebbe interrompere nel succulento assaporare quelle prelibatezze, neanche da un omicidio. Ecco perché quando l’onorabilità del suo caro cuoco viene messa a rischio dall’omicidio di un commensale ad una cena da lui preparata che il nostro investigatore mette in campo tutta la sua maestria per risolvere il caso.
Uno Wolfe frizzante e divertente.
E per nulla al mondo si farebbe interrompere nel succulento assaporare quelle prelibatezze, neanche da un omicidio. Ecco perché quando l’onorabilità del suo caro cuoco viene messa a rischio dall’omicidio di un commensale ad una cena da lui preparata che il nostro investigatore mette in campo tutta la sua maestria per risolvere il caso.
Uno Wolfe frizzante e divertente.
May 29, 2018
Three short stories that can each be read in one sitting. As usual, Archie Goodwin's hilarious wit and Nero Wolfe's even wittier repartee make all three mysteries as much fun as they are intriguing.
1. Poison a la Carte: Wolfe and Goodwin are invited to a dinner by the aristology club (science of eating). Even though Wolfe insists that eating is an art, not a science he agrees to go because his cook, Fritz, is creating the dinner. Twelve lovely actresses dressed as Greek goddesses serve.
Halfway through the first course, one of the men keel over. It turns out he is poisoned. Who did it? How? Why?
2. Method Three for Murder: A woman consults Archie about a "hypothetical" situation. If a woman borrowed a friends taxi and found a dead body in it, how does one get rid of the body? Archie soon discovers the situation is not at all hypothetical and helps the lady (along with Wolfe) to find out how the body got there, who did it and why.
3. The Rodeo Murder: If you can stomach the phony Texan accents and stereotypes, this is still a funny mystery. Well, someone getting murdered is never funny. A body is found in the green house of a woman's penthouse while she is having a rodeo game...uh, men on horses are racing down sixth avenue while others from the balcony try to lasso them...yeah, whatever.
While that happens, one of them is strangled and tied up and thrown in the green house. Who disappeared without anyone noticing to do the nefarious deed and what was his motive? Or hers?
1. Poison a la Carte: Wolfe and Goodwin are invited to a dinner by the aristology club (science of eating). Even though Wolfe insists that eating is an art, not a science he agrees to go because his cook, Fritz, is creating the dinner. Twelve lovely actresses dressed as Greek goddesses serve.
Halfway through the first course, one of the men keel over. It turns out he is poisoned. Who did it? How? Why?
2. Method Three for Murder: A woman consults Archie about a "hypothetical" situation. If a woman borrowed a friends taxi and found a dead body in it, how does one get rid of the body? Archie soon discovers the situation is not at all hypothetical and helps the lady (along with Wolfe) to find out how the body got there, who did it and why.
3. The Rodeo Murder: If you can stomach the phony Texan accents and stereotypes, this is still a funny mystery. Well, someone getting murdered is never funny. A body is found in the green house of a woman's penthouse while she is having a rodeo game...uh, men on horses are racing down sixth avenue while others from the balcony try to lasso them...yeah, whatever.
While that happens, one of them is strangled and tied up and thrown in the green house. Who disappeared without anyone noticing to do the nefarious deed and what was his motive? Or hers?
April 30, 2014
I read many of Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe novels when I was younger, and recently decided to reacquaint myself with Wolfe and Archie Goodwin.
This collection of three novellas/short stories strikes me as minor Rex Stout. The stories were enjoyable, but I missed being able to read and stretch out with Archie's narratives.
This collection of three novellas/short stories strikes me as minor Rex Stout. The stories were enjoyable, but I missed being able to read and stretch out with Archie's narratives.
July 27, 2018
This is probably my favorite of the short story collections. If not for the penchant of putting "Three" in the titles, this one could have been called something like "Formidable Females" because nearly all the women in the stories are forces to be reckoned with. I'll take them in reverse order of liking.
"Method Three for Murder"
Archie often speaks of quitting, or threatening to quit, being fired, or being threatened to be fired, but this was one of the rare occasions where we actually saw him walk out. After having arranged a short appointment with Wolfe for an acquaintance, he is infuriated when Wolfe casually brushes it off. He knows that the resignation is hardly likely to be final, but it is serious. He heads out the door and smack into his first client as an independent operator. He sets up shop on Wolfe's stoop (planning to slip a dollar under the door for rent afterwards) and listens to Mira Holt's wild tale, knowing perfectly well that it is just a tale, but wanting to know where its going. It goes right out to the sidewalk in front of the brownstone, with a body in a taxicab. When the police show up and things start to escalate, Wolfe invites them to borrow his office, then offers to assist in the case, eventually revealing that he had, after all, accepted the appointment Archie had made for him as his agent. (Far better to fire Archie than have Archie quit on him!)
At one point in the story, after Mira has been hauled off to jail, her estranged husband bursts into Wolfe's office, accusing Wolfe of "alienating the affection of my wife". Wolfe dryly corrects his diction, pointing out that in such context, the plural "affections" is used. In my paperback edition, some jerk of an editor, seeing that the diction was wrong, and not bothering to read the very next line which showed that Stout wrote it wrong ON PURPOSE, took it on himself to "correct" the word and make it plural, and thereby made the whole scene nonsensical. I have no idea if subsequent editions corrected the correction.
Husband Waldo was a odd one. Having been told that Judy Bram had called him a "sophisticated ape", he refused to believe it, saying that they were quoting his wife, instead. Wolfe found this interesting and suggestive. I wish that Stout had included a scene with Waldo and Judy confronting each other, because Waldo clearly has ideas about Judy, whereas she considers him something to scrape off her shoe. Judy is quite a character, an early prototype of Julie Jacquette, a smart, tough woman who knows what men are good for and what they're not good for. Her scene with Cramer is priceless.
The murder itself is an eye-opener. An obvious clue--one of those forehead-smacking ones that Archie knows he should have seen right away--leads them quickly to the solution, which is one of the most vicious, savage killings in the entire Corpus. (I read recently that the Wolfe Pack prefers to regard Stout's work in its entirety as the Corpus, rather than the Canon, which sounds rather appropriate for murder mysteries.)
"The Rodeo Murder"
In which Wolfe leaves the house to partake of huckleberry-fed blue grouse. It was interesting to learn of blue grouse, and I suppose nothing less would have drawn Wolfe out, but I was rather irked at Lily so blithely slaughtering 20 protected birds to feed her guests. Wouldn't it have been more to the point to feed her visiting Westerners with the best of Eastern/New York cuisine? Another point that occurred to me the other day, after having read this story countless times--Lily's penthouse is, I believe, on the tenth floor of her building. They had the roping contest on her terrace, which means the cowboys were using ropes that were...ten stories long? Really? I know that cowboys need a good length of rope for gettin' after them dogies, but...ten stories long? Not to mention the little matter of winds gusting between the buildings. Yup.
Lily asks for Wolfe's assistance in this one, largely because of the "abuse of hospitality" wherein a man was murdered under her roof--but also because the police and the DA insisted on treating her like an ordinary citizen instead of one of the privileged rich. I'm reminded that Lily is not one of my favorite people.
The fun of this story is in the characters, particularly the erstwhile lovers, "Loco" Laura Jay and "Silent Cal" Barrows, who might possibly have eventually popped the question over the next ten to fifteen years if circumstances hadn't speeded things up. Laura, having gotten bruised by a bronc's bridle (say that five times fast) was embarrassed to admit her clumsiness to Cal, so instead she claimed that she was injured when one of the promoters of the World Series Rodeo took her to his apartment (claiming he was having a party) and then assaulted her. The incident had actually happened to another cowgirl, Nan. Laura hoped that the story would encourage Cal's interest and protective feelings, and that he would "ride herd" on her for the remainder of their stay in New York and maybe realize it was time to break out the bridle. It worked, but not the way she anticipated: Cal planned to quietly "take some hide" off the toad, with Archie's assistance, once the rodeo was completed. When the toad turned up dead, Laura instantly assumed that Cal murdered him for her sake. Archie already knows Cal well enough to know that if he was driven to kill him, it would be with his fists, not strangling him, and certainly not with his own rope. But Laura can't be convinced. I suspect her ego had something to do with it; it's exciting to think that a man would kill for you. She's bound and determined to save Cal from the consequences, attacking Cramer, claiming that she's the killer, threatening to shoot Archie so that he can't contradict her testimony (but not in the back; she would have waited for him to turn around first), and then, failing to put it on herself, trying to put it on another innocent cowboy. It starts to dawn on Cal that maybe she actually likes him a little. In spite of all Laura's shenanigans, Wolfe and Archie manage to work out the solution.
"Poison a la Carte"
This is my favorite short story of them all. Perhaps because Fritz has a starring role, being requested to cook the dinner for the Ten for Aristology. I love Fritz. I liked how he refused to commit himself until he got a good look at the kitchen he would be working with, so Lewis Hewitt promptly popped him in his car and drove him right out for the inspection. The menu sounded delectable (except for the caviar; unlike Archie, I don't care for the idea of fish eggs.) When the tragedy occurred, Fritz was calmly self-assured that his cooking was not responsible.
The murder itself was deceptively simple, with the killer relying on speed and luck to carry her through. She had to have been one of the very first servers, then zipped back into the kitchen, snatched another plate, then served her assigned person. That initial serving was the danger; when they were first lining up, why didn't someone say, "Hey, you're too close to the front of the line, you're supposed to be further back!"?
Another thing I enjoyed: Archie has an irritating habit of instantly judging women by their looks. In this case, the most beautiful of the "Hebes" turns out to be a completely self-centered jerk, prepared to accuse one of the others (ANY one of the others) simply in order to get the case closed and done with so that SHE is no longer inconvenienced. Nice lady.
The Rustermans' staff and Fritz appeal to Wolfe to solve the case for the sake of their reputations; Wolfe is already doing so because of the insult to Fritz. Zoltan is requested to assist in a nifty little fishing expedition, and I loved how they had him practice on the house phone with several people listening so that he would get it right. The expedition is set up at Piotti's restaurant. John Piotti has reason to be grateful to Wolfe, and so willingly allows them to set up a listening wire at one of his tables. (He's also good for a table, a plate of the best spaghetti in town and a pint of Piotti's reserve wine whenever Archie cares to drop in.) There's a breath-taking moment when Zoltan makes a bad mistake, but, surprisingly for a reluctant amateur, he covers it expertly. Wolfe, of course, has managed to convince the police to make a detour to his house before hauling the killer off to the police station. He wants the chance to confront her. Fritz, ever dignified, forgives the killer for using his food to poison her victim--although she more or less throws it back in his face.
I'm grabbing an opportunity for a bit of a rant. I loved the A&E production of "Nero Wolfe". They did a marvelous job, overall. There were some problems: Wolfe bellowed too much (I understand that was Chaykin's own idea) and I hated how they turned the dignified Fritz, who was never fazed by anything, into comic relief who was fazed by EVERYTHING. But by and large, they did a fine job translating the stories into episodes.
With a major exception. They MANGLED this story.
First with the Hebes, with their silly prancing about, striking poses. All they were there for was to serve food. The epicures would have been concentrating on the food under normal circumstances; under the current ones, frolicking about with a man sick unto death a few feet away was in extremely poor taste.
Then with Zoltan and the sting operation. I suppose they wanted to get a look at Rustermans; well, put it in another episode. And they wanted Wolfe in the scene; well, he would have been there in his office at the end, where he was supposed to be. Having that scene there at Rustermans was idiotic. Think about it from both viewpoints. Zoltan: "Let's find a public place that's quiet and private, so that we can discuss my blackmailing venture (and get it all on tape)". Killer: "(He's going to insist on a public spot, but) let's make it quiet and private, so that I can (pretend) to listen to you (and wait for an opportunity to kill you)". So they're going to go to Zoltan's place of work, where (presumably) all of his co-workers will be slipping into the room to peek at who he's dating tonight! Yeah, right. After her brilliant, bold, audacious killing, apparently her brains all leaked out her ears.
And then there was the killer. One of Stout's best, an ice cold, ruthless, malevolent Medea. She probably killed her victim not so much because he seduced her, but because he forced her to realize that she was nothing special, just another girl like the host of others who had passed between his sheets. The A&E killer is reduced to a whimpering, whiny, stupid dweeb. I can't comprehend why her victim would have wanted to be in the same room with her, let alone seduce her. Kari Matchett or Francie Swift would have nailed this role. Pfui.
"Method Three for Murder"
Archie often speaks of quitting, or threatening to quit, being fired, or being threatened to be fired, but this was one of the rare occasions where we actually saw him walk out. After having arranged a short appointment with Wolfe for an acquaintance, he is infuriated when Wolfe casually brushes it off. He knows that the resignation is hardly likely to be final, but it is serious. He heads out the door and smack into his first client as an independent operator. He sets up shop on Wolfe's stoop (planning to slip a dollar under the door for rent afterwards) and listens to Mira Holt's wild tale, knowing perfectly well that it is just a tale, but wanting to know where its going. It goes right out to the sidewalk in front of the brownstone, with a body in a taxicab. When the police show up and things start to escalate, Wolfe invites them to borrow his office, then offers to assist in the case, eventually revealing that he had, after all, accepted the appointment Archie had made for him as his agent. (Far better to fire Archie than have Archie quit on him!)
At one point in the story, after Mira has been hauled off to jail, her estranged husband bursts into Wolfe's office, accusing Wolfe of "alienating the affection of my wife". Wolfe dryly corrects his diction, pointing out that in such context, the plural "affections" is used. In my paperback edition, some jerk of an editor, seeing that the diction was wrong, and not bothering to read the very next line which showed that Stout wrote it wrong ON PURPOSE, took it on himself to "correct" the word and make it plural, and thereby made the whole scene nonsensical. I have no idea if subsequent editions corrected the correction.
Husband Waldo was a odd one. Having been told that Judy Bram had called him a "sophisticated ape", he refused to believe it, saying that they were quoting his wife, instead. Wolfe found this interesting and suggestive. I wish that Stout had included a scene with Waldo and Judy confronting each other, because Waldo clearly has ideas about Judy, whereas she considers him something to scrape off her shoe. Judy is quite a character, an early prototype of Julie Jacquette, a smart, tough woman who knows what men are good for and what they're not good for. Her scene with Cramer is priceless.
The murder itself is an eye-opener. An obvious clue--one of those forehead-smacking ones that Archie knows he should have seen right away--leads them quickly to the solution, which is one of the most vicious, savage killings in the entire Corpus. (I read recently that the Wolfe Pack prefers to regard Stout's work in its entirety as the Corpus, rather than the Canon, which sounds rather appropriate for murder mysteries.)
"The Rodeo Murder"
In which Wolfe leaves the house to partake of huckleberry-fed blue grouse. It was interesting to learn of blue grouse, and I suppose nothing less would have drawn Wolfe out, but I was rather irked at Lily so blithely slaughtering 20 protected birds to feed her guests. Wouldn't it have been more to the point to feed her visiting Westerners with the best of Eastern/New York cuisine? Another point that occurred to me the other day, after having read this story countless times--Lily's penthouse is, I believe, on the tenth floor of her building. They had the roping contest on her terrace, which means the cowboys were using ropes that were...ten stories long? Really? I know that cowboys need a good length of rope for gettin' after them dogies, but...ten stories long? Not to mention the little matter of winds gusting between the buildings. Yup.
Lily asks for Wolfe's assistance in this one, largely because of the "abuse of hospitality" wherein a man was murdered under her roof--but also because the police and the DA insisted on treating her like an ordinary citizen instead of one of the privileged rich. I'm reminded that Lily is not one of my favorite people.
The fun of this story is in the characters, particularly the erstwhile lovers, "Loco" Laura Jay and "Silent Cal" Barrows, who might possibly have eventually popped the question over the next ten to fifteen years if circumstances hadn't speeded things up. Laura, having gotten bruised by a bronc's bridle (say that five times fast) was embarrassed to admit her clumsiness to Cal, so instead she claimed that she was injured when one of the promoters of the World Series Rodeo took her to his apartment (claiming he was having a party) and then assaulted her. The incident had actually happened to another cowgirl, Nan. Laura hoped that the story would encourage Cal's interest and protective feelings, and that he would "ride herd" on her for the remainder of their stay in New York and maybe realize it was time to break out the bridle. It worked, but not the way she anticipated: Cal planned to quietly "take some hide" off the toad, with Archie's assistance, once the rodeo was completed. When the toad turned up dead, Laura instantly assumed that Cal murdered him for her sake. Archie already knows Cal well enough to know that if he was driven to kill him, it would be with his fists, not strangling him, and certainly not with his own rope. But Laura can't be convinced. I suspect her ego had something to do with it; it's exciting to think that a man would kill for you. She's bound and determined to save Cal from the consequences, attacking Cramer, claiming that she's the killer, threatening to shoot Archie so that he can't contradict her testimony (but not in the back; she would have waited for him to turn around first), and then, failing to put it on herself, trying to put it on another innocent cowboy. It starts to dawn on Cal that maybe she actually likes him a little. In spite of all Laura's shenanigans, Wolfe and Archie manage to work out the solution.
"Poison a la Carte"
This is my favorite short story of them all. Perhaps because Fritz has a starring role, being requested to cook the dinner for the Ten for Aristology. I love Fritz. I liked how he refused to commit himself until he got a good look at the kitchen he would be working with, so Lewis Hewitt promptly popped him in his car and drove him right out for the inspection. The menu sounded delectable (except for the caviar; unlike Archie, I don't care for the idea of fish eggs.) When the tragedy occurred, Fritz was calmly self-assured that his cooking was not responsible.
The murder itself was deceptively simple, with the killer relying on speed and luck to carry her through. She had to have been one of the very first servers, then zipped back into the kitchen, snatched another plate, then served her assigned person. That initial serving was the danger; when they were first lining up, why didn't someone say, "Hey, you're too close to the front of the line, you're supposed to be further back!"?
Another thing I enjoyed: Archie has an irritating habit of instantly judging women by their looks. In this case, the most beautiful of the "Hebes" turns out to be a completely self-centered jerk, prepared to accuse one of the others (ANY one of the others) simply in order to get the case closed and done with so that SHE is no longer inconvenienced. Nice lady.
The Rustermans' staff and Fritz appeal to Wolfe to solve the case for the sake of their reputations; Wolfe is already doing so because of the insult to Fritz. Zoltan is requested to assist in a nifty little fishing expedition, and I loved how they had him practice on the house phone with several people listening so that he would get it right. The expedition is set up at Piotti's restaurant. John Piotti has reason to be grateful to Wolfe, and so willingly allows them to set up a listening wire at one of his tables. (He's also good for a table, a plate of the best spaghetti in town and a pint of Piotti's reserve wine whenever Archie cares to drop in.) There's a breath-taking moment when Zoltan makes a bad mistake, but, surprisingly for a reluctant amateur, he covers it expertly. Wolfe, of course, has managed to convince the police to make a detour to his house before hauling the killer off to the police station. He wants the chance to confront her. Fritz, ever dignified, forgives the killer for using his food to poison her victim--although she more or less throws it back in his face.
I'm grabbing an opportunity for a bit of a rant. I loved the A&E production of "Nero Wolfe". They did a marvelous job, overall. There were some problems: Wolfe bellowed too much (I understand that was Chaykin's own idea) and I hated how they turned the dignified Fritz, who was never fazed by anything, into comic relief who was fazed by EVERYTHING. But by and large, they did a fine job translating the stories into episodes.
With a major exception. They MANGLED this story.
First with the Hebes, with their silly prancing about, striking poses. All they were there for was to serve food. The epicures would have been concentrating on the food under normal circumstances; under the current ones, frolicking about with a man sick unto death a few feet away was in extremely poor taste.
Then with Zoltan and the sting operation. I suppose they wanted to get a look at Rustermans; well, put it in another episode. And they wanted Wolfe in the scene; well, he would have been there in his office at the end, where he was supposed to be. Having that scene there at Rustermans was idiotic. Think about it from both viewpoints. Zoltan: "Let's find a public place that's quiet and private, so that we can discuss my blackmailing venture (and get it all on tape)". Killer: "(He's going to insist on a public spot, but) let's make it quiet and private, so that I can (pretend) to listen to you (and wait for an opportunity to kill you)". So they're going to go to Zoltan's place of work, where (presumably) all of his co-workers will be slipping into the room to peek at who he's dating tonight! Yeah, right. After her brilliant, bold, audacious killing, apparently her brains all leaked out her ears.
And then there was the killer. One of Stout's best, an ice cold, ruthless, malevolent Medea. She probably killed her victim not so much because he seduced her, but because he forced her to realize that she was nothing special, just another girl like the host of others who had passed between his sheets. The A&E killer is reduced to a whimpering, whiny, stupid dweeb. I can't comprehend why her victim would have wanted to be in the same room with her, let alone seduce her. Kari Matchett or Francie Swift would have nailed this role. Pfui.
July 8, 2023
This book collects three Nero Wolfe short stories from 1960. “Poison a la Carte” is just average, 3 stars. “Method Three for Murder” is closer to 4 stars. “The Rodeo Murder” is 4 stars and has a lot of good twists. In this story, Stout tries his hand at writing what he imagines cowboy dialogue sounds like. It is corny, but the story is short enough that it doesn’t outlive its amusing novelty.
There are a few new observations on contemporary society. Wolfe justifiably gripes again that Federal taxes take 90% of his income, leaving little incentive to work. A restaurant table is wired for sound and a lie detector machine is mentioned for the first time in the series. There are now 93 women cab drivers in New York. Harvey Weinstein style behavior factors into two of the three stories, suggesting that the American culture that has long expected honor and chivalry of respectable people is starting to break down in some places. Wolfe, Archie and Lily Rowan show what they think about overzealous environmental regulations by making a gourmet meal out of 20 protected species. And there are some of the first hints of real interest in America west of New York.
There are a few new observations on contemporary society. Wolfe justifiably gripes again that Federal taxes take 90% of his income, leaving little incentive to work. A restaurant table is wired for sound and a lie detector machine is mentioned for the first time in the series. There are now 93 women cab drivers in New York. Harvey Weinstein style behavior factors into two of the three stories, suggesting that the American culture that has long expected honor and chivalry of respectable people is starting to break down in some places. Wolfe, Archie and Lily Rowan show what they think about overzealous environmental regulations by making a gourmet meal out of 20 protected species. And there are some of the first hints of real interest in America west of New York.
April 8, 2020
Tre racconti o, meglio, romanzi brevi con protagonista il pachidermico Wolfe e il suo braccio destro Goodwin:
1. Colpo di genio: un avvelenamento durante una cena a cui partecipa anche Nero Wolfe. 3 stelle e 1/2
2. Nero Wolfe preso al lazo (o Come volevasi dimostrare): uno strano rodeo in Park Avenue, durante il quale un cowboy viene strangolato con un lazo. 3 stelle
3. Assassinio indiretto (o Archie Goodwin e il metodo numero tre): il morto viene recapitato in taxi direttamente di fronte alla casa di arenaria, nella Trentacinquesima Strada Ovest. 4 stelle
Non sempre i romanzi brevi mi soddisfano come un romanzo normale e anche stavolta, vuoi per l'ambientazione, vuoi per le indagini brevi, i racconti mi sono piaciuti meno del solito. Il più gradevole: l'ultimo.
1. Colpo di genio: un avvelenamento durante una cena a cui partecipa anche Nero Wolfe. 3 stelle e 1/2
2. Nero Wolfe preso al lazo (o Come volevasi dimostrare): uno strano rodeo in Park Avenue, durante il quale un cowboy viene strangolato con un lazo. 3 stelle
3. Assassinio indiretto (o Archie Goodwin e il metodo numero tre): il morto viene recapitato in taxi direttamente di fronte alla casa di arenaria, nella Trentacinquesima Strada Ovest. 4 stelle
Non sempre i romanzi brevi mi soddisfano come un romanzo normale e anche stavolta, vuoi per l'ambientazione, vuoi per le indagini brevi, i racconti mi sono piaciuti meno del solito. Il più gradevole: l'ultimo.
June 10, 2021
This was a fun trio! I liked that all three stories were a bit longer than some of the ones from these collections, as that allowed for more fleshing-out of characters and plot. The last one, "The Rodeo Murder," especially had me guessing!
October 18, 2021
I'm always excited to find a Nero Wolfe story that I haven't already read, but this was fairly lackluster. Wolfe has never had a high opinion of most women he's encountered, sometimes unfairly. All three of these stories have the absolute most appallingly idiotic women I've ever encountered in fiction. It's hard to get around that level without constantly cringing. It's unfortunate, because as a whole, these are solid fun mysteries in all other respects.
June 14, 2022
This is another collection of three short stories. In the first one, Wolfe doesn't even figure out whodunit, just how to trap the person into revealing him/her-self. But the second one is pretty good. A young woman knocks at the door just as Archie is leaving, having quit his job with Wolfe. She needs Archie's help with a corpse in the cab she just drove over. A pretty intricate plot.
June 30, 2019
The first two get c's.
I'll just review "The Rodeo Murder."
Who's the dead guy? and why would somebody want to kill him? Little of that. It's simply a matter of who among the only suspects had the opportunity. Less than I'd expect from such a recognizable name in the mystery department.
Reading level: Easy. Third grade and up.
August 6, 2024
I love the Nero Wolfe books! Laughed out loud many times and kept reading bits to my husband. Such fun!
April 29, 2024
All three tales are at least worth reading in Three at Wolfe's Door, but it's the one sandwiched in the center that's tastiest.
The opening of these 1960 novellas, "Poison a la Carte," is ordinary at best. Less snap and banter in Archie Goodwin's telling of it and a one-trick-pony plot will do that. Here 12 pretty women are hired to serve a fancy meal to 12 rich men, each woman assigned to one man. One woman disrupts the order by serving a dish that kills one of the diners. But nobody saw which server did it. It seems an amazingly risky way to poison somebody, but then I've never poisoned anyone (not so you'd know, at any rate). There's not a lot of investigation going on here, and the ending is odd. Not bad, just mediocre.
"Method Three for Murder" is an idea you can do a lot more with, and Stout does. Here a woman borrows a cab from a female cabbie friend so she can pick up her estranged husband and get to the bottom of their relationship. She leaves the cab to find the no-show husband, and someone deposits the body of a dead woman in the cab. "Method Three for Murder" is a lot deeper in Goodwin banter, musings and wisecracks — always a good thing — and has the added interest of detective Nero Wolfe's man quitting on his portly boss (not for the only time) and a dead body driven right to Wolfe's door.
"The Rodeo Murder" features a bunch of cowboys in town for a rodeo doing some urban roping games from a rooftop during a New York party, but a dead body spoils the fun. But not our fun; this is a pretty good one, though not the equal of the middle tale, quite. There's lots of comings and goings and zigs and zags in the plot to keep Goodwin hopping. The ending doesn't hit very hard, but it's not a disappointment getting there.
Sometimes one feels there's something missing from Wolfe novellas. Obviously, the word count is lower than in the full-length tales, but it's not just that. The accumulation of give-and-take between charismatic action man Goodwin and cranky homebody Wolfe just feels more filling when the story is stretched out. Still, there are few things as consistently enjoyable as reading a Nero Wolfe book, whatever the story length.
The opening of these 1960 novellas, "Poison a la Carte," is ordinary at best. Less snap and banter in Archie Goodwin's telling of it and a one-trick-pony plot will do that. Here 12 pretty women are hired to serve a fancy meal to 12 rich men, each woman assigned to one man. One woman disrupts the order by serving a dish that kills one of the diners. But nobody saw which server did it. It seems an amazingly risky way to poison somebody, but then I've never poisoned anyone (not so you'd know, at any rate). There's not a lot of investigation going on here, and the ending is odd. Not bad, just mediocre.
"Method Three for Murder" is an idea you can do a lot more with, and Stout does. Here a woman borrows a cab from a female cabbie friend so she can pick up her estranged husband and get to the bottom of their relationship. She leaves the cab to find the no-show husband, and someone deposits the body of a dead woman in the cab. "Method Three for Murder" is a lot deeper in Goodwin banter, musings and wisecracks — always a good thing — and has the added interest of detective Nero Wolfe's man quitting on his portly boss (not for the only time) and a dead body driven right to Wolfe's door.
"The Rodeo Murder" features a bunch of cowboys in town for a rodeo doing some urban roping games from a rooftop during a New York party, but a dead body spoils the fun. But not our fun; this is a pretty good one, though not the equal of the middle tale, quite. There's lots of comings and goings and zigs and zags in the plot to keep Goodwin hopping. The ending doesn't hit very hard, but it's not a disappointment getting there.
Sometimes one feels there's something missing from Wolfe novellas. Obviously, the word count is lower than in the full-length tales, but it's not just that. The accumulation of give-and-take between charismatic action man Goodwin and cranky homebody Wolfe just feels more filling when the story is stretched out. Still, there are few things as consistently enjoyable as reading a Nero Wolfe book, whatever the story length.
May 4, 2019
Though the rodeo story is fairly weak in the Wolfe canon, this collection is very enjoyable. I've been saying for a while it's in the short stories where these characters shine, and this set exemplifies that very well.
"Poison a la Carte" might have been weaker before the Hutton/Chaykin adaptation, but reading it now after seeing it makes the story better. How they saw the potential for many humorous lines in a face-value dry story is remarkable. They brought out the value of this near-gem. They cut out a few things that didn't need to be there, they combined some scenes that make the pacing superior to the story, and of course the ending of that episode is among the best in the series. The original story is good, too, of course, but perhaps not as good in hindsight.
"Method 3 for Murder" is pretty fantastic. Perhaps the most clever entree into a murder investigation of the canon, with the stakes high immediately, and a pace that keeps you riveted. It does not drag even with the flirtation with Archie goes here and he goes there and he goes back again syndrome. The ending is among the more predictable but not entirely, and it's that extra twist that makes it so good.
The rodeo story, as I said, is a bit dull, but it features Lily Rowan well, which is good for her fans. Its quality is probably helped by being in propinquity to two top-notch stories (at least there's no monkey), so you may enjoy this even more than I did, which is just fine with me. Just remember it's not Archie, Wolfe, or Stout who feel this way about female calfropers, it's the other guys.
"Poison a la Carte" might have been weaker before the Hutton/Chaykin adaptation, but reading it now after seeing it makes the story better. How they saw the potential for many humorous lines in a face-value dry story is remarkable. They brought out the value of this near-gem. They cut out a few things that didn't need to be there, they combined some scenes that make the pacing superior to the story, and of course the ending of that episode is among the best in the series. The original story is good, too, of course, but perhaps not as good in hindsight.
"Method 3 for Murder" is pretty fantastic. Perhaps the most clever entree into a murder investigation of the canon, with the stakes high immediately, and a pace that keeps you riveted. It does not drag even with the flirtation with Archie goes here and he goes there and he goes back again syndrome. The ending is among the more predictable but not entirely, and it's that extra twist that makes it so good.
The rodeo story, as I said, is a bit dull, but it features Lily Rowan well, which is good for her fans. Its quality is probably helped by being in propinquity to two top-notch stories (at least there's no monkey), so you may enjoy this even more than I did, which is just fine with me. Just remember it's not Archie, Wolfe, or Stout who feel this way about female calfropers, it's the other guys.
November 16, 2021
This Nero Wolfe mystery book is actually three short stories that feature the N.Y. City private detectives Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin. The three mysteries are Poison a’ la Carte, Method Three for Murder and The Rodeo Murder. As usual with Rex Stout mysteries, the dialogue is excellent, witty and engaging. The recurring characters are well drawn and true to form. After you’ve read several of these Nero Wolfe mysteries, you’ll regard the recurring characters as old friends. The new characters are also well rounded and fully developed, not one-dimensional cardboard cutouts. The first murder occurs as a poisoning at a dinner party attended by both Nero and Archie. So, they are both witnesses, suspects and investigators. But, no one is sure which waitress served the poisoned food to the victim. In fact, they aren’t even sure the victim was the actual intended victim, or was it a case of an unwitting waitress placing the plate of poisoned food in front of the wrong guest? In the second murder, a substitute taxi driver leaves her vacant vehicle unattended for 10 minutes and returns to find the dead body of a person she knows now in the back seat. In the final case a rodeo cowboy who treats females inappropriately winds up dead at a party hosted by Archie’s girlfriend, Lily Rowan. Once again, both Nero and Archie are in attendance at the party and become witnesses, suspects and of course investigators. These three fine mysteries can be read without interference from political or moral preaching’s from the author.
July 22, 2019
I really look forward to Stout's short Wolfe stories because they're every bit as good as the long novels. In this one, I enjoyed reading Poison a la Carte because I've seen the A&E series episode. But it was really nice to get all of Archie's words since there are necessarily a lot left out of the TV shows. The Rodeo Murder was fun for its look at a different set of characters as well as an extended visit with Lily Rowan, plus a great witticism from Archie: "...the trouble with an alarm clock is that what seems sensible when you set it seems absurd when it goes off."
My favorite, though, was Method Three for Murder. This story has so much to like about it. Archie quits, and means it, actually leaving the house to look for somewhere else to spend the night. On his way, he gets sucked into helping a girl who shows up on the stoop. He refuses to take her inside since he doesn't work there anymore and doesn't change his mind until Wolfe shows up and insists. Then we get to see Wolfe helping Archie out for old-time's sake, when really he's probably in a blind panic over the possibility of having to do without Archie's help in the future. The whole thing was charming and fun, plus there was an interesting case for them to work on, with Archie doing most of the work this time, even the mental chores. I will continue to recommend the Nero Wolfe books because there hasn't been a single one yet that I haven't enjoyed.
My favorite, though, was Method Three for Murder. This story has so much to like about it. Archie quits, and means it, actually leaving the house to look for somewhere else to spend the night. On his way, he gets sucked into helping a girl who shows up on the stoop. He refuses to take her inside since he doesn't work there anymore and doesn't change his mind until Wolfe shows up and insists. Then we get to see Wolfe helping Archie out for old-time's sake, when really he's probably in a blind panic over the possibility of having to do without Archie's help in the future. The whole thing was charming and fun, plus there was an interesting case for them to work on, with Archie doing most of the work this time, even the mental chores. I will continue to recommend the Nero Wolfe books because there hasn't been a single one yet that I haven't enjoyed.
October 14, 2019
My favorite part about reading these old Nero Wolfe books is getting to read the Introductions by well known mystery writers and finding new series. Their opinions of the author and their reasons for liking the work by Rex Stout are always filled with new insights about the characters and interesting information.
Of the three stories in this volume, I liked the second and third the best. In the second story, called Method Three for Murder, Archie had quit Wolfe again and got as far as the front porch before meeting someone who needed help. I liked his rules for answering questions. One. Button your lip. Two. Tell the truth straight through. Three. Tell a simple basic lie with no trimmings, and stick to it.
The third story was called The Rodeo Murder. Poor Archie was continually sleep deprived throughout. From the story: Even when I get my full ration of sleep, eight hours, I don't break through my personal morning fog until I have emptied my coffee cup, and when the eight is cut, to five by events beyond my control, as it was that night, I have to grope my way to the bathroom. After getting home at five in the morning, and leaving a note for Fritz saying I would be down for breakfast at 10:45, I had set the alarm for ten o'clock. That had seemed sensible, but the trouble with an alarm clock is that what seems sensible when you set it seems absurd when it goes off.
Of the three stories in this volume, I liked the second and third the best. In the second story, called Method Three for Murder, Archie had quit Wolfe again and got as far as the front porch before meeting someone who needed help. I liked his rules for answering questions. One. Button your lip. Two. Tell the truth straight through. Three. Tell a simple basic lie with no trimmings, and stick to it.
The third story was called The Rodeo Murder. Poor Archie was continually sleep deprived throughout. From the story: Even when I get my full ration of sleep, eight hours, I don't break through my personal morning fog until I have emptied my coffee cup, and when the eight is cut, to five by events beyond my control, as it was that night, I have to grope my way to the bathroom. After getting home at five in the morning, and leaving a note for Fritz saying I would be down for breakfast at 10:45, I had set the alarm for ten o'clock. That had seemed sensible, but the trouble with an alarm clock is that what seems sensible when you set it seems absurd when it goes off.
June 2, 2021
Three more good novellas about Nero Wolfe, and in all three Wolfe leaves the brownstone (though in one it's just to come outside to see what is going on).
In "Poison al Carte," Wolfe loans the services of Fritz Brenner, his cook, to a group of men having a gourmet dinner. Wolfe and Archie attend. When one of the guests is poisoned, Wolfe decides he must solve the case as it is an insult to Fritz.
In "Method Three for Murder," Archie quits in a huff, but on his way out the door he runs into a woman coming up the steps. She has borrowed her friends cab, and when she left the cab for ten minutes, she returned to find a dead body in it. It's Archie who takes this case, but of course soon Wolfe also gets involved.
In "The Rodeo Murder," Wolfe and Archie attend a dinner being held for a group of cowboys and cowgirls who are in town for a rodeo. The meal featured a special grouse, and Wolfe can't pass that up, even if it means leaving the brownstone. But when Archie returns after taking Wolfe home, he finds that one of the guests has been murdered, hit over the head then strangled with a lasso. Again, Wolfe must solve the murder.
Rex Stout liked the novella form, and it's a form that works well for mysteries. There are numerous "Three xxxx" Wolfe collections (and one "Four ...."), and all are worth reading.
In "Poison al Carte," Wolfe loans the services of Fritz Brenner, his cook, to a group of men having a gourmet dinner. Wolfe and Archie attend. When one of the guests is poisoned, Wolfe decides he must solve the case as it is an insult to Fritz.
In "Method Three for Murder," Archie quits in a huff, but on his way out the door he runs into a woman coming up the steps. She has borrowed her friends cab, and when she left the cab for ten minutes, she returned to find a dead body in it. It's Archie who takes this case, but of course soon Wolfe also gets involved.
In "The Rodeo Murder," Wolfe and Archie attend a dinner being held for a group of cowboys and cowgirls who are in town for a rodeo. The meal featured a special grouse, and Wolfe can't pass that up, even if it means leaving the brownstone. But when Archie returns after taking Wolfe home, he finds that one of the guests has been murdered, hit over the head then strangled with a lasso. Again, Wolfe must solve the murder.
Rex Stout liked the novella form, and it's a form that works well for mysteries. There are numerous "Three xxxx" Wolfe collections (and one "Four ...."), and all are worth reading.
September 14, 2025
Three short stories about murder, two of which have Nero Wolf leaving his house.
In the first story, "Poison a la Carte", Nero allows a pretentious gourmet club borrow Fritz to cook a gourmet dinner. Since it is Nero's cook the group invite him and Archie to dine. At the dinner each diner has his own waitress, actually an actress hired from an agency. During the dinner one of the guest is poisoned and dies. It falls on Nero to discover which waitress served two dishes and took the opportunity to poison the victim.
In the second story, "Method Three for Murder", a female cab driver arrives on their doorstep with a dead body in the cab. In actuality she is not a cabby but borrowed the cab from a friend, and she knows the victim, who she claims was placed in the cab without her knowledge. Nero reluctantly gets involved and must sort through the cabby's friends to find a killer.
In the last story, "The Rodeo Murder", Nero leaves his house to have a dine on grouse at the penthouse of Miss Rowan. Of course Archie is present as are several people associated with the rodeo that has come to town. After Archie takes Nero home, he returns and discovers a dead millionaire. One of the guests has killed him, and unfortunately there are numerous suspects as he was not a well liked man. Miss Rowan hires Nero to discover who abused her hospitality.
In the first story, "Poison a la Carte", Nero allows a pretentious gourmet club borrow Fritz to cook a gourmet dinner. Since it is Nero's cook the group invite him and Archie to dine. At the dinner each diner has his own waitress, actually an actress hired from an agency. During the dinner one of the guest is poisoned and dies. It falls on Nero to discover which waitress served two dishes and took the opportunity to poison the victim.
In the second story, "Method Three for Murder", a female cab driver arrives on their doorstep with a dead body in the cab. In actuality she is not a cabby but borrowed the cab from a friend, and she knows the victim, who she claims was placed in the cab without her knowledge. Nero reluctantly gets involved and must sort through the cabby's friends to find a killer.
In the last story, "The Rodeo Murder", Nero leaves his house to have a dine on grouse at the penthouse of Miss Rowan. Of course Archie is present as are several people associated with the rodeo that has come to town. After Archie takes Nero home, he returns and discovers a dead millionaire. One of the guests has killed him, and unfortunately there are numerous suspects as he was not a well liked man. Miss Rowan hires Nero to discover who abused her hospitality.
March 16, 2017
My Grade = 85% - B
This "book" consisted of three novellas, each about 75 pages long.
In the first, Poison a la Carte, Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin are guests at a very special New York dinner for ten gourmands. They are served by twelve unemployed actresses, all dressed identically in purple stolas (gowns a la greque). During the first course, one of the gourmands is given a plate of blinis that has been laced with arsenic, but the poison does not take effect for several courses.
As these men are all interested in the food, they pay little attention to the servers, and since the servers are all dressed identically, and, as the first course was some time ago, no one is able to distinguish who did what, when.
This is one of the rare stories where Rex Stout appears out of his 35th Street brownstone.
Since I read two more novellas since this one, I can't even remember which of the twelve girls was the murderer, even though I finished this one only four days ago.
The next of the three novellas is Method Three for Murder, an almost humorous, but very complicated story during which a woman borrows a taxi from a female friend to pick up the man she wishes to divorce, but he doesn't answer the door, and, when she returns to the cab, she finds the body of his dead girlfriend with a knife sticking out of her. She immediately takes the cab (and the body) to Rex Stout's house, to find Archie Goodwin exiting, as he had just left in a pique after quitting.
This was very clever, complicated, interesting, and very well written.
The third novella is Death at a Rodeo. In this one, once again, Nero Wolfe has accepted an invitation from Lily Rowan, Archie's "girlfriend" - if Archie ever had a girlfriend, but she comes up so frequently in very many of the stories.
There is a Rodeo going on in Madison Square Garden, and, in connection, a group of cowboys accept an invitation to lasso another cowboy - one of three - on a horse on the streets of New York from Lily Rowan's tenth floor penthouse apartment. One of the cowboys can't find his lasso, but it turns up a little later around the neck of a dead guest that on one acturally liked.
This "book" consisted of three novellas, each about 75 pages long.
In the first, Poison a la Carte, Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin are guests at a very special New York dinner for ten gourmands. They are served by twelve unemployed actresses, all dressed identically in purple stolas (gowns a la greque). During the first course, one of the gourmands is given a plate of blinis that has been laced with arsenic, but the poison does not take effect for several courses.
As these men are all interested in the food, they pay little attention to the servers, and since the servers are all dressed identically, and, as the first course was some time ago, no one is able to distinguish who did what, when.
This is one of the rare stories where Rex Stout appears out of his 35th Street brownstone.
Since I read two more novellas since this one, I can't even remember which of the twelve girls was the murderer, even though I finished this one only four days ago.
The next of the three novellas is Method Three for Murder, an almost humorous, but very complicated story during which a woman borrows a taxi from a female friend to pick up the man she wishes to divorce, but he doesn't answer the door, and, when she returns to the cab, she finds the body of his dead girlfriend with a knife sticking out of her. She immediately takes the cab (and the body) to Rex Stout's house, to find Archie Goodwin exiting, as he had just left in a pique after quitting.
This was very clever, complicated, interesting, and very well written.
The third novella is Death at a Rodeo. In this one, once again, Nero Wolfe has accepted an invitation from Lily Rowan, Archie's "girlfriend" - if Archie ever had a girlfriend, but she comes up so frequently in very many of the stories.
There is a Rodeo going on in Madison Square Garden, and, in connection, a group of cowboys accept an invitation to lasso another cowboy - one of three - on a horse on the streets of New York from Lily Rowan's tenth floor penthouse apartment. One of the cowboys can't find his lasso, but it turns up a little later around the neck of a dead guest that on one acturally liked.
August 12, 2018
"Poison à la Carte": Nero and his refined pallet are lured out of the brownstone to support his personal chef, Fritz, who has been invited to cook for an exclusive club of gastronomes. When one of them is murdered by poison, Nero feels obligated to find the killer in order to protect the reputation of the kitchen staff. It was not my favorite mystery of the series since it strayed a bit from the peculiar norms associated with the famously eclectic genius, but there is still enough here for fans of Rex Stout's corpulent investigator and his quick-witted gumshoe. If you know anything about Nero Wolfe, you know you are going to hear about gourmet dishes, orchids, and new words (Aristology).
"Method Three for Murder": Archie has had enough of his overbearing boss and quits, but he quickly stumbles onto a new case at their front door. A hopeful client arrives at the famous brownstone in a borrowed taxi with a dead passenger in the backseat. Mira Holt needs the help of both detectives to solve the mystery and find the murderer, but the clock is ticking when the police arrive. This may be another story that doesn't follow Nero Wolfe's strict rules, but we get to see something a little more interesting when the long-standing relationship dynamics are challenged. Rex Stout does a fantastic job of conveying the familial devotion and commitment that each of these two strong personalities have for the other.
"The Rodeo Murder": What lengths Nero Wolfe will go for a good meal. In this case, he leaves his famous brownstone for some exquisite blue grouse. The dinner party welcomes the World Series Rodeo in town for a roping competition, but it ends in murder. As with the other two tales, this one deviates a bit from eccentric detective's peculiar habits which I enjoy so much. It is not a bad whodunit, but this would not be the one I would choose as quintessential Nero Wolfe.
"Method Three for Murder": Archie has had enough of his overbearing boss and quits, but he quickly stumbles onto a new case at their front door. A hopeful client arrives at the famous brownstone in a borrowed taxi with a dead passenger in the backseat. Mira Holt needs the help of both detectives to solve the mystery and find the murderer, but the clock is ticking when the police arrive. This may be another story that doesn't follow Nero Wolfe's strict rules, but we get to see something a little more interesting when the long-standing relationship dynamics are challenged. Rex Stout does a fantastic job of conveying the familial devotion and commitment that each of these two strong personalities have for the other.
"The Rodeo Murder": What lengths Nero Wolfe will go for a good meal. In this case, he leaves his famous brownstone for some exquisite blue grouse. The dinner party welcomes the World Series Rodeo in town for a roping competition, but it ends in murder. As with the other two tales, this one deviates a bit from eccentric detective's peculiar habits which I enjoy so much. It is not a bad whodunit, but this would not be the one I would choose as quintessential Nero Wolfe.
December 6, 2023
Part of the joy of witnessing a fictional detective at work is their making reasonable but totally unexpected conclusions from mundane evidence of varying types. In Stout's stories, there's a very heavy focus on the movements and knowledge-states of a closed circle of characters- who was where when, who knew what when, who told who, etc. This piles up in an increasingly complex tangle, with later revelations revising and amending earlier ones; usually the dramatic deductions are one or two things Wolfe draws out of the tangle at the climax of the story that narrow it down to one culprit. Stout's style and skill for characterization is such that the piling up of tangled threads is always entertaining, but the climactic deductions don't always stick the landing; sometimes it feels like Stout himself didn't know who committed the crime before the last chapter. In particular, he'll sometimes produce a clear means/opportunity solution via deduction, then pull the culprit's motive more or less out of a hat at the last minute to pin somebody.
It's fine, though. Even when the detective work is subpar, the familiar characters and settings are pleasant and cozy.
It's fine, though. Even when the detective work is subpar, the familiar characters and settings are pleasant and cozy.
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