Forest Fire

by Rex Stout

Stan Durham, forest ranger, was known throughout the whole Middle Branch district as a demon fire fighter. A silent, powerful, self-contained man, his entire energy was spent on keeping his district well patrolled. He was an indifferent father, and a singularly unimpassioned husband. Neither he nor his wife suspected, however, that there was anything abnormal in his make-up until young Harry Fallon, fresh from a university, turned up to join his force. Fallon was gay, impudent, inefficient. Stan should have discharged him, but found that he could not. Unaccustomed to self-analysis, he was shaken and disturbed by the sudden, mysterious force of his feeling for Harry and by the deviations from his usual ways into which it led him.

331 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1933

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.