The Mountain Cat Murders

by Rex Stout

It was spring, and one young woman's fancy turned to thoughts of murder...

Delia Brand talked too much. She had publicly announced her intention to kill a man, and had even asked her lawyer how to go about it.

No one took Delia seriously until they found the man dead---a bullet in his chest and the gun in her hand. Who would believe she was innocent? And was she?

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Crime, Detective

206 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1939

About the author

Rex Todhunter Stout (1886–1975) was an American crime writer, best known as the creator of the larger-than-life fictional detective Nero Wolfe, described by reviewer Will Cuppy as "that Falstaff of detectives." Wolfe's assistant Archie Goodwin recorded the cases of the detective genius from 1934 (Fer-de-Lance) to 1975 (A Family Affair).

The Nero Wolfe corpus was nominated Best Mystery Series of the Century at Bouchercon 2000, the world's largest mystery convention, and Rex Stout was nominated Best Mystery Writer of the Century.

Reviews

[Pamela Mclaren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rex Stout, the creator of Nero Wolfe, was a well-known writer of detective fiction but in The Mountain Cat Murders, there is no PI, no detective, private or otherwise. And it just goes to show that a strong, talented writer with a good story can tell it well.

In this 1939 tale, young pretty Delia Brand sets off bells and whistles when she enters a gun shop to buy cartridges for her father's old gun. The young woman, grieving not only for the death of her father two years ago but her mother who has committed suicide, tells the clerk that she will be shooting a man. And hours later, is found with the revolver in hand and staring at the body of her father's old partner, Dan Jackson.

The mysterious death of Charles Brand, a man carrying $32,000 dollars and visiting the miners that his company is staking, and the suicide of his wife, is now joined with a current day murder and the prime suspect seems to be Delia. Three mysterious deaths — are they all related?

The twists and turns are what drive the story as it begins to look like there are plenty of suspects available, but who in reality could it be? The miner who found Brand? The godfather to Brand's daughters, Lemuel Sammis, who seems to control the town? or the mysterious woman nicknamed 'The Mountain Cat'?

And before you know it, there's another body. How are all these deaths connected? Everyone has a side that they are playing and are they all willing to seek out the truth? That's what makes this a truly interesting tale, an edge of your seat read to nearly the end.

We all know Rex Stout from his Nero Wolfe stories but this is vastly different and equally entertaining.

[Mkb · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love Wolfe and Archie, but I always have trouble with anything Rex Stout wrote that doesn't include them. I'd read this book before and forgot to list it on Goodreads so I thought I'd try it again. It has some potential, but so many characters and no central hero... And writing women just isn't Stout's super power. There is a rich, beautiful woman with serious business acumen and style in this one, but she has the nickname "mountain cat" (cougar!) and elliptical pupils in her predatory kitty cat eyes. (I'm rolling my kitty cat eyes as I type.)
A little note on something I thought was interesting: there is a semiliterate old prospector character who says he can read printing, but not cursive writing. Perhaps we are returning to that?

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

3.75/5

The start was slow and a bit muddled but I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t have a great time reading this.

[Sergei Ter-Tumasov (Սերգեյ Տեր-Թումասով) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rex Stout - превосходный, талантливый писатель!!!! В сюжете, вроде бы, не было ничего особенного, но так приятно было читать эту книгу!!! Отдохнул по полной программе, но немного не хватило юмора Арчи Гудвина!

[Virginia Tican · Rating 5 out of 5]

Still another study of human nature. The story revolves around the tragic Brand family... there was the murder of the father 2 years ago and the recent suicide of the mother leaving both Clara at 23 and Delia at 20 bereft of their beloved parents. It is sometimes funny what kind of catalyst would lead a person to kill another, in this case, rumors caused the murderer to do away with Charles Brand with all good intentions in place. Then the bereft and depressed widow of Brand committed suicide for which the younger daughter, Delia blamed the Rev. Rufus Toale and set out to shoot him, only to loose her bag where she put the gun in as yet another brand of trouble for the Brand sisters to face. For Delia was jailed for the death of a polecat in two legs, then rumors of an affair between the married Jackson (aka dead philandering polecat) and either of the beautiful Brand sisters started circulating soon after Delia's arrest. After Delia's release, the Rev. Toale got shot... and this time, Clara was blamed... for he was shot by the church where Clara was inside waiting for him, but he managed to drive his car to the Brand's house where he later on expired infront of Delia though he managed to tell her that a $20.00 bill donation with his mark RT on it was from 2 years ago, part of the money that disappeared after Brand's murder. Note the absence of good intentions in the last two murders since both were done to silence the victims and explains Mrs. Brand's suicide.

P.S.~ This is not a Nero Wolfe Mystery yet it is MORE than that. This has more depth and insight into the human psyche... it is more pragmatic and for me, more real. But then again everything is relative... so...

[Danielle · Rating 1 out of 5]

I love the Nero Wolfe stories, but this was tripe. Insipid tripe. You start off hating the female protagonist bc she sucks and is dumb. Her love interest is also incompetent and dumb. After Delia gets arrested for murder and disappears for a few chapters, the book becomes tolerable and a decent mystery is fleshed out just in time for an unsatisfying and unrealistic ending.
I think Rex Stout hated women. At the very least, he knew little enough about them to write female characters competently. And quite frankly, he botched the male characters in this one as well. There are zero likeable characters in this book. I'm sure I've read other stories like that (Gone Girl maybe?), but those at least seemed to have a point to the terribleness of everyone. This just seems like he was larping at knowing about Wyoming and writing westerns when he had no fondness for or knowledge of the genre or people. Even the lady who wrote the introduction had trouble saying anything nice about this book.
Boo. BOO!

[Sarah Frog · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was tough to get through for me. I picked it up at a used book store on a whim. I like the art on the cover. The story overall is bland. The main character has to deal with the death of both of her parents while also trying to figure out why. She plans on killing the person she thinks drove her mom to suicide but ends up at a crime scene and is now the prime suspect for murder. The rest of the book is just a bunch of tedious back and forth dialogue saying the same thing over and over until finally the big reveal is just thrown in at the very abrupt ending. I would recommend if you like dated mystery novels.

[Allyn Voorhees · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 Stars

This is NOT a Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin story. However, I was expecting a reading experience that would come close to how much I enjoy that Detective Duo. Not even close. The characters were difficult to like, or to enjoy hating. Also the Conclusion of the story is not a satisfying one, rather it ends with a whimper.

I would not recommend this book, but I did give it an extra half star for Mr Stout exploring something other than West 35th Street in New York (and on-the-job Detectives).

Happy Reading.

[Michael Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

Stout has a way with stories to keep you reading. This one of the few non Nero Wolfe tales that I have read. There are many similarities to his Wolfe stories which make this interesting but at the same time just a little off kilter. We keep expecting Archie to show up or Wolfe to make an abnormal trip west to solve the case.

[Tiina · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sorry, Rex! I love your Nero Wolfe books - they are brilliant! But this story was b-o-r-i-n-g. I guess you were just looking for your right character. Great thing that you found it though!

I could not finish this one. Blergh.

[Tatyana Ross · Rating 2 out of 5]

The blurb on the back of the book doesn’t match the story at all. It was not an easy read and it took me a month to finish because I had to take reading breaks from it. I at least thought in the end the murderer would be the mountain cat and it was the taxidermist uncle.

[Burt Heacock · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent Mystery

I had no idea that Rex Stout wrote anything but Nero Wolfe books. This was a real change and a great story. Loved the female protagonist and the convoluted plot! all the clues are there, but I never figured it out!

[Mrod · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good who done it.

[Meg Coulson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m not sure a copyeditor ever read this one, nor did whoever wrote the blurb on the back.

[David William · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not nearly as good as any of the Nero Wolf novels. Thin, uncompelling characters that you really don't care about. Weak dialogue. However, the ending was good, made it worth the read.

[Adrian Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

From my uncle. 1930s mystery set in Cody, Wyoming. I liked it because it had a hero/love interest who was not particularly smart but was very determined.

[Cristina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Giallo interessante, ma quanto.mi sembra strano non ci siano Wolfe e Archie.

[Shirley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was quite surprised to find a book by Rex Stout that did not involve Nero Wolfe and his ever-present assistant Archie. The plot was very interesting and had a lot of twists, turns, and suspects. The characters were likable. The language is a bit stilted, like most of Stout's books, but probably true to the period. That is part of his charm.

After announcing her intent to shoot a man, Delia is arrested for murder after having been found standing over the body with her father's gun in her hand. Only problem is, the victim wasn't her intended target and the gun had been stolen from her purse prior to the murder, unbeknownst to her. The investigation eventually links the present day murder with the two year old murder of her father, with lots of interesting twists in between.

[Nan Silvernail · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delia Brand's father was murdered in a remote cabin. Her mother later committed suicide. Now Delia is buying ammunition for her father's gun. She's going after a killer.


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Twists and turns and coincidences galore. The western atmosphere - jargon gets a little thick now and then but the characters are worth it.

[Ed · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mountain Cat (APA: The Mountain Cat Murders)is one of the few books written by Rex Stout not to feature Nero Wolfe.

Crime Novel - Accused of murdering Dan Jackson with her father's .38 in the town of Cody, Wyoming, Delia Brand sets out to find the real killer, and along the way, discovers the truth about her father's unsolved murder.

[Erica · Rating 3 out of 5]

My main issue with this book is that I thought it was going to be a Nero Wolfe book and it isn't. It was an OK mystery, but it was not particularly clear who the detective was, so that was a bit unsettling.

[Rickeclectic · Rating 1 out of 5]

Rex Stout lesser novel. Tyler Dillon is main character but nowhere close to the Nero Wolfe I would give it a pass.

[Banning Ard · Rating 1 out of 5]

BOOring

[Betsy · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fabulous mystery. One of my favorites I have ever read. There were a couple of subtle clues I should have picked up on but I was guessing till almost the very end!