Death of a Demon

by Rex Stout

Death of a Demon was first serialized in three issues of The Saturday Evening Post and later published in book form as part of Homicide Trinity.

Death of a Demon starts with Lucy Hazen, the wife of a public relations counselor named Barry Hazen, visiting the brownstone because she despises her husband and has been plagued with thoughts of shooting him. She comes to Wolfe to disclose these thoughts and bring her husband's gun that she would leave with him so that she would not be able to kill him and will stop dreaming about it.

Having unburdened herself, she asks to see the orchids, which Wolfe loves to show off, and they go to the plant rooms for a tour. While they are there, Archie hears on the radio that the body of Barry Hazen has been found in an alley, dead for several hours, shot in the back with a gun that was found in Hazen's abandoned car and that Hazens' maid saw in Hazen's bedroom the morning of the murder. So the gun that Lucy brought with her didn't kill Hazen, and Archie and Wolfe are left to wonder where it came from.

Genres: Mystery

68 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 6, 2012

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

[H (trying to keep up with GR friends) Balikov · Rating 4 out of 5]

""I presume you will now go home. Since you must tell the police that you were here you might as well say that you learned of your husband's death from my radio; it will save you the bother of feigning surprise and shock." He eyed her. "I said you would be in a pickle, and you are. When I asked what you wanted of me, I shall say that you consulted me in confidence and I will reveal nothing of your conversation. It will be a little ticklish, but until and unless you are arrested on a charge of murder the pressure will not be intolerable. So you may tell them as much about your visit here, or as little, as you please.""

These are the instructions of Nero Wolfe (the famous New York City investigator) to a woman that he has just met and who has shared with him and Archie Goodwin (Wolfe’s seneschal) that she has been kept up nights by thoughts of how to kill her husband. It doesn’t take long for Wolfe to be visited by Inspector Cramer, the head of Manhattan’s homicide detail.

Wolfe to Inspector Cramer
"I know that when I have been consulted by a person who is in any way connected with a death by violence you automatically assume that I have knowledge of evidence that would be useful in your investigation. Sometimes your assumption is valid; sometimes it isn't. This time it isn't; that is my considered opinion. Mrs. Hazen consulted me in confidence. If at any time I have reason to think that by refusing to disclose what she told me I am obstructing justice, I'll communicate with you at once.""

We learn a little bit more about Wolfe’s and Goodwin’s domestic relations:

Goodwin to Wolfe
""No."
A comer of his mouth twitched. "That's why I put up with you; you could have answered with fifty words and you did it with one."
"I've often wondered. Now tell me why I put up with you."
"That's beyond conjecture."

Again, I have read this from an electronic version which was (apparently) put together in Ukraine, on the cheap. It has too many typos and similar printing errors for me to recommend this version.

[Bill Suits · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually read this in PDF copies of the Saturday evening post. It was quite amusing to see all the ads of the 1950s.

[Den Yibgib · Rating 2 out of 5]

My version was called the gun puzzle. Juss sayin

[Serena · Rating 3 out of 5]

Homicide Trinity

My Rating System:
* couldn't finish, ** wouldn't recommend, *** would recommend, **** would read again, ***** have read again.