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Nero Wolfe #14
Nero Wolfe: Prima di morire
Nero Wolfe ha davvero clienti di ogni tipo. Ci sono un editore minacciato di morte, un uomo d'affari che sospetta il socio di volerlo eliminare, e perfino un gangster ricattato dalla figlia (che non è proprio sua figlia). Non hanno tutti i torti a essere preoccupati, perché nessuno di loro vivrà a lungo. Ma anche Wolfe e l'ineffabile Goodwin dovranno stare attenti...
251 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published February 11, 1949
413 people are currently reading
761 people want to read
About the author
Rex Stout
834 books1,031 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 153 reviews
March 18, 2020
There are pleasures for the Nero Wolfe addict in this wartime collection of three novellas, but this is far from Rex Stout's best. Highlight: chafing under WW II rationing, Wolfe the gourmet works for a crime boss in order to obtain good black market meat.
April 18, 2024
Review to follow
December 25, 2018
Three novellas circa 1940's New York City. Not one of Rex Stout's best but still enjoyable. When I read a Nero Wolfe story it is like opening a time capsule. A visit to a bygone era. A visit with old friends. Often times when the identify of the murderer is revealed it is not a great surprise. It is the characters, Nero Wolfe; Archie Goodwin; Saul Panzer; Fritz Brenner; Inspector Cramer, and how they interact and life at Wolfe's brownstone on West 35th Street that makes the stories so enjoyable.
Before I Die: a New York gangster, Dazy Perrit, wants to hire Wolfe to help with a personal problem. Archie wants nothing to do with him or his problem. Doesn't even want him in Wolfe's brownstone. However there is a severe meat shortage in the United States and man cannot live by spaghetti alone. At least Nero Wolfe can't so he agrees to see Dazy in exchange for help with getting some beef, pork, lamb chops, etc. It seems that Dazy has a daughter and because of the business he is in and the people he associates with he doesn't want anyone to know it. So he hired a woman to pretend to be his daughter. His real daughter is safe from discovery but the fake daughter is blackmailing Dazy. Of course it isn't long before blackmail turns to murder.
Help Wanted, Male: A man who Wolfe had previously had an association with comes to him for help. He has received a death threat and wants Wolfe to help protect him. Wolfe refuses telling him it is either a hoax or if the threat is real he should go to the police for protection. When the man is murdered and Wolfe receives an identical threat he takes it more seriously and hires someone to impersonate him. This was a somewhat humorous story. Wolfe rarely leaves his home but is reduced to hiring someone to sit in his custom chair in his office. How long can that go on and how will Wolfe find out who the murderer is if he stays in his bedroom?
Instead of Evidence: A businessman comes to Wolfe for help claiming his partner is going to murder him. The pair own a successful novelty company. This time the client doesn't want Wolfe to prevent the murder. He has accepted that if his partner wants him dead he can't prevent it but he wants Wolfe to prove that his partner did it. That night the new client is killed by an exploding cigar. It is now up to Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin to bring the murderer to justice.
Some noir, some humor, each a quick read. Overall three enjoyable stories.
Before I Die: a New York gangster, Dazy Perrit, wants to hire Wolfe to help with a personal problem. Archie wants nothing to do with him or his problem. Doesn't even want him in Wolfe's brownstone. However there is a severe meat shortage in the United States and man cannot live by spaghetti alone. At least Nero Wolfe can't so he agrees to see Dazy in exchange for help with getting some beef, pork, lamb chops, etc. It seems that Dazy has a daughter and because of the business he is in and the people he associates with he doesn't want anyone to know it. So he hired a woman to pretend to be his daughter. His real daughter is safe from discovery but the fake daughter is blackmailing Dazy. Of course it isn't long before blackmail turns to murder.
Help Wanted, Male: A man who Wolfe had previously had an association with comes to him for help. He has received a death threat and wants Wolfe to help protect him. Wolfe refuses telling him it is either a hoax or if the threat is real he should go to the police for protection. When the man is murdered and Wolfe receives an identical threat he takes it more seriously and hires someone to impersonate him. This was a somewhat humorous story. Wolfe rarely leaves his home but is reduced to hiring someone to sit in his custom chair in his office. How long can that go on and how will Wolfe find out who the murderer is if he stays in his bedroom?
Instead of Evidence: A businessman comes to Wolfe for help claiming his partner is going to murder him. The pair own a successful novelty company. This time the client doesn't want Wolfe to prevent the murder. He has accepted that if his partner wants him dead he can't prevent it but he wants Wolfe to prove that his partner did it. That night the new client is killed by an exploding cigar. It is now up to Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin to bring the murderer to justice.
Some noir, some humor, each a quick read. Overall three enjoyable stories.
January 24, 2022
Every once in a while, Stout treats Nero Wolfe fans to a group of novellae—stories that are a little bit simpler than his full-length novels but every bit as good. In Before I Die, Wolfe gets one of those problems that I wouldn’t even begin to know how to approach. A gangster has tried to protect his real daughter by hiring a woman to play the role and that woman is now blackmailing him. Wolfe has to call her off without endangering the real daughter. And then of course, everything is complicated by s violent death. (I don’t know why someone has to die in every Nero Wolfe story. The original problem was fascinating without the murder.)
In Help Wanted, Male, someone is out to kill Nero Wolfe and he, quite naturally, wants to prevent that from happening. This is a fun little novella and not only because I figured out the bad guy and his motivation. What’s really best about it is that Nero Wolfe makes an embarrassing mistake which is, as readers of the series know, highly unusual.
In Instead of Evidence, Wolfe is maneuvered into figuring out who is responsible for killing a man with an exploding cigar. Yes, you read that correctly. The murder weapon is a lethal version of a novelty prank item and the suspects all work for a company that designs such pranks. As one would expect from Stout, it’s another very clever mystery.
If you liked this review, you can find more at www.gilbertstack.com/reviews.
In Help Wanted, Male, someone is out to kill Nero Wolfe and he, quite naturally, wants to prevent that from happening. This is a fun little novella and not only because I figured out the bad guy and his motivation. What’s really best about it is that Nero Wolfe makes an embarrassing mistake which is, as readers of the series know, highly unusual.
In Instead of Evidence, Wolfe is maneuvered into figuring out who is responsible for killing a man with an exploding cigar. Yes, you read that correctly. The murder weapon is a lethal version of a novelty prank item and the suspects all work for a company that designs such pranks. As one would expect from Stout, it’s another very clever mystery.
If you liked this review, you can find more at www.gilbertstack.com/reviews.
December 22, 2022
All three of the stories were fun but far too short, each of the mini-mysteries were filled with plenty of humor.
September 23, 2025
This is a set of three different stories that were all published originally in the American New Yorker Magazine. Like the previous books with several stories I enjoy it, but prefer the longer form books.
However, if you had to introduce someone to Nero Wolf this would be a good one to do it with. We see all his aspects, the romantic idealist, the grumpy eccentric, and a brilliant strategist. Through all of these glimpses of the great man we get the consistency of Archie, smart in his own right, and thousands of times more personable.
Also, I never knew we had something called the Great Meat Shortage. But after WWII when meat was no longer rationed, the pent up demand for red meat was enormous causing prices to rise. President Truman in an election year stunt put a price cap on red meat. The effect of that was for the ranchers and cattlemen of the nation to refuse to sell their animals causing a huge scarcity of red meat again. This is background, and an important part of the motivations in one of the stories.
However, if you had to introduce someone to Nero Wolf this would be a good one to do it with. We see all his aspects, the romantic idealist, the grumpy eccentric, and a brilliant strategist. Through all of these glimpses of the great man we get the consistency of Archie, smart in his own right, and thousands of times more personable.
Also, I never knew we had something called the Great Meat Shortage. But after WWII when meat was no longer rationed, the pent up demand for red meat was enormous causing prices to rise. President Truman in an election year stunt put a price cap on red meat. The effect of that was for the ranchers and cattlemen of the nation to refuse to sell their animals causing a huge scarcity of red meat again. This is background, and an important part of the motivations in one of the stories.
March 1, 2023
I enjoyed each of the 3 novellas in this volume. Details to come...
January 31, 2025
I am beginning to suspect Rex Stout is an inverse Arthur Conan Doyle.
In the Holmes stories, Holmes is fascinating, while Watson is about as interesting as a lump of dried plaster. In the abstract, or by the bullet point, Nero Wolfe is even more interesting. He’s at least as brilliant as Holmes, even more eccentric, and does it all without ever leaving his house. In actual practice, Wolfe is barely a character at all, and his lackey, our POV character is the interesting one.
Conan Doyle was a master of the short story, who couldn’t write an interesting novel to save his life. With the exception of Hound of the Baskervilles, the Holmes novels suck.
I think you can figure out where I’m going from here.
There are 50-ish Nero Wolfe books, 30-something of which are novels, the remainder being collections of mostly novella length stories. Having greatly enjoyed the Nero Wolfe novel I read a few months ago, Over My Dead Body, and the novella being something of a Goldilocks format for me, I next dove into one of the novella collections “Trouble in Triplicate” which I had in an ebook collection of a bunch of Stout’s Wolfe books I’d gotten for a dollar.
The three stories in this volume are:
“Before I Die”
“Help Wanted, Male”
“Instead of Evidence”
And while the ends of this sandwich were considerably more tasty than the filling, all of them were considerably less entertaining than Over My Dead Body. So much so that it took me two months to get around to finishing the collection.
Admittedly, one novel and one collection is a slim sampling to be drawing conclusions from, but if I’m to point out what I suspect the problem is, it would be that too large a portion of the novellas takes place in Wolfe’s office and Wolfe is not particularly interesting. Archie is much more entertaining “off-leash”, as it were.
When next I visit with Archie, I shall make a point of selecting one of the novels and we’ll see if I need to update my assessment.
In the Holmes stories, Holmes is fascinating, while Watson is about as interesting as a lump of dried plaster. In the abstract, or by the bullet point, Nero Wolfe is even more interesting. He’s at least as brilliant as Holmes, even more eccentric, and does it all without ever leaving his house. In actual practice, Wolfe is barely a character at all, and his lackey, our POV character is the interesting one.
Conan Doyle was a master of the short story, who couldn’t write an interesting novel to save his life. With the exception of Hound of the Baskervilles, the Holmes novels suck.
I think you can figure out where I’m going from here.
There are 50-ish Nero Wolfe books, 30-something of which are novels, the remainder being collections of mostly novella length stories. Having greatly enjoyed the Nero Wolfe novel I read a few months ago, Over My Dead Body, and the novella being something of a Goldilocks format for me, I next dove into one of the novella collections “Trouble in Triplicate” which I had in an ebook collection of a bunch of Stout’s Wolfe books I’d gotten for a dollar.
The three stories in this volume are:
“Before I Die”
“Help Wanted, Male”
“Instead of Evidence”
And while the ends of this sandwich were considerably more tasty than the filling, all of them were considerably less entertaining than Over My Dead Body. So much so that it took me two months to get around to finishing the collection.
Admittedly, one novel and one collection is a slim sampling to be drawing conclusions from, but if I’m to point out what I suspect the problem is, it would be that too large a portion of the novellas takes place in Wolfe’s office and Wolfe is not particularly interesting. Archie is much more entertaining “off-leash”, as it were.
When next I visit with Archie, I shall make a point of selecting one of the novels and we’ll see if I need to update my assessment.
June 19, 2025
4 Stars. All three novellas in this Nero Wolfe book, it's a collection, are very good. Let's take a peak one at a time. The first is 'Before I Die.' Violent - it had two incidents of cars cruising the streets and machine gunning targets on the sidewalk. Al Capone would have been proud. The notorious Dazy Perrit, is Wolfe's client. Am I giving it away when I say, he's later one of the drive-by victims? The second story is 'Help Wanted, Male.' This time the client is Ben Jensen, a questionable publisher and politician. He's been getting anonymous threats. Later, Wolfe gets one too and he thinks about hiring a body double. This was a fun read. The last, and my favourite, is 'Instead of Evidence.' Wolfe's latest client thinks his business partner is going to kill him and hires our detectives to prove the partner did so if Mr. Poor, the client, dies within a year! Hours later, he's dead as a result of an exploding cigar! Did you notice that all three Wolfe clients don't make it through these novellas in one piece? I review the individual titles with characters and settings separately in greater detail elsewhere on Goodreads. Enjoy. (May2025)
October 22, 2019
This book is one of Stout’s collections of three novellas. The first story is called Before I Die, and is quite a romp.
A well-known gangster named Dazy Perritt hires Wolfe to do two things: protect his real daughter, and stop his fake daughter from blackmailing him. To protect her, Perritt has never acknowledged his biological daughter. Recently however, he learns another crook has learned about his daughter, so he finds a young woman wanted for criminal acts and hires her to masquerade as his daughter.
The fake daughter turns on Perritt and begins blackmailing him. Thus Perritt hires Wolfe. With the involvement of the criminal element, Archie is quite nervous, and with good reason. He narrowly misses being shot, not just once, but twice. Fortunately, Wolfe solves the murder, Archie isn’t killed, and Wolfe receives his fee.
***********
Help Wanted, Male
The second novella is written during wartime (WW2). A Mr. Jensen visits Wolfe after having received an anonymous death threat, the prototypical newspaper cutouts glued onto paper. Wolfe, holding the opinion:
declines to accept the commission. Next morning Archie’s breakfast newspaper is headlined by the shooting death of Mr. Jensen and his hired bodyguard. When Inspector Cramer arrives to question Wolfe, the big man says, “Not interested, not involved, not curious.” This attitude is short-lived because Wolfe receives anonymous threat nearly identical to the one Jensen had.
This one has a pretty ingenious solution.
****************
Instead of Evidence
A man named Eugene Poor tells Wolfe that his business partner, Conroy Blaney, is going to murder him. He wants to hire Wolfe — not to protect him from death, but to ensure Blaney doesn’t get away with it. Wolfe finally agrees that he will pass to the police all the information Poor gave him on Blaney if he dies within one year, for the sum of $5000.
Later that evening, Inspector Cramer calls Wolfe and informs him Poor was killed in an explosion. An explosive device was found in each cigar in a box of 25 (24 remaining). Cramer tells Wolfe he thinks he is going to charge Mrs. Poor with the murder. Spoiler alert:
It turns out Cramer was 100% correct, but for the wrong reasons.
A solid collection of Wolfe stories.
A well-known gangster named Dazy Perritt hires Wolfe to do two things: protect his real daughter, and stop his fake daughter from blackmailing him. To protect her, Perritt has never acknowledged his biological daughter. Recently however, he learns another crook has learned about his daughter, so he finds a young woman wanted for criminal acts and hires her to masquerade as his daughter.
The fake daughter turns on Perritt and begins blackmailing him. Thus Perritt hires Wolfe. With the involvement of the criminal element, Archie is quite nervous, and with good reason. He narrowly misses being shot, not just once, but twice. Fortunately, Wolfe solves the murder, Archie isn’t killed, and Wolfe receives his fee.
***********
Help Wanted, Male
The second novella is written during wartime (WW2). A Mr. Jensen visits Wolfe after having received an anonymous death threat, the prototypical newspaper cutouts glued onto paper. Wolfe, holding the opinion:
A man whose life is threatened anonymously is either in no danger at all, or his danger is so acute and so ubiquitous that his position is hopeless.
declines to accept the commission. Next morning Archie’s breakfast newspaper is headlined by the shooting death of Mr. Jensen and his hired bodyguard. When Inspector Cramer arrives to question Wolfe, the big man says, “Not interested, not involved, not curious.” This attitude is short-lived because Wolfe receives anonymous threat nearly identical to the one Jensen had.
This one has a pretty ingenious solution.
****************
Instead of Evidence
A man named Eugene Poor tells Wolfe that his business partner, Conroy Blaney, is going to murder him. He wants to hire Wolfe — not to protect him from death, but to ensure Blaney doesn’t get away with it. Wolfe finally agrees that he will pass to the police all the information Poor gave him on Blaney if he dies within one year, for the sum of $5000.
Later that evening, Inspector Cramer calls Wolfe and informs him Poor was killed in an explosion. An explosive device was found in each cigar in a box of 25 (24 remaining). Cramer tells Wolfe he thinks he is going to charge Mrs. Poor with the murder. Spoiler alert:
It turns out Cramer was 100% correct, but for the wrong reasons.
A solid collection of Wolfe stories.
January 30, 2017
I've only read the first story in this volume (so far), which is 'Before I Die'. Enjoyed it, but not terribly mad about the Nero Wolfe mysteries like my mom and one of my best friends are. :P
August 13, 2018
always love the adventures of Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin.
September 4, 2018
This one was three short stories, but they were all good. There was nothing about the nemesis, so whoever said you had to read 13-15 in order, was incorrect.
February 20, 2021
Nice immediately-post-war trio of novellas. Best for me is the one with the substitute Nero Wolfe, but you may prefer the one with the gangster that hires Wolfe about his fake and real daughters, or the one about the novelty shop owner who says his partner will kill him.
January 26, 2019
3.5 stars
August 22, 2022
This 1949 book collects three short novellas that were previously published in The New Yorker magazine. As a result, the Nero Wolfe timeline steps slightly backwards, to the end of World War II. There are a few interesting aspects from a historical perspective. Wolfe accept a job from a notorious gangster in order to get around wartime meat rationing. He continues to complain about confiscatory Federal taxes of over 90%. One of the clients pays Wolfe $5000 in cash in the expectation that it is better than writing him a check for $50,000.
Also, Wolfe again concocts a scheme to kill the perp, rather than have them face trial. This is the third time he has done so in the first 14 books in the series. Inspector Cramer acidly points out that this spares Wolfe having to leave the house to testify, which seems like a rather bloody way to indulge his agoraphobia. Otherwise, the mysteries are good, but not exceptional.
Also, Wolfe again concocts a scheme to kill the perp, rather than have them face trial. This is the third time he has done so in the first 14 books in the series. Inspector Cramer acidly points out that this spares Wolfe having to leave the house to testify, which seems like a rather bloody way to indulge his agoraphobia. Otherwise, the mysteries are good, but not exceptional.
September 7, 2024
Quick and fun, this is a great read. This is a collection of three short stories in the Nero Wolfe universe, and this collection makes me think I prefer the shorter versions of these stories. One of these books I read earlier this year had something like 30 or 40 potential suspects, each with name, backstory and manner of speaking. These, on the other hand, are quick and to the point. No muss, no fuss!
May 12, 2024
Another classic collection of Nero Wolfe novelletes. I enjoyed re-reading this time from my 1949 first edition hardback. Containing 'Before I Die', 'Help Wanted, Male', and 'Instead of Evidence', the first in this collection is the best of the bunch while the middle novelette is more forgettable -- however, they all contain the wonderful witty repartee which I love so much between Wolfe, Archive, Fritz, Cramer, and the rest that always have me returning to and re-reading Stout's novels.
October 6, 2025
Hmmn, really a mixed bag for me. The first one didn’t feel anything like a Nero Wolfe story. The middle one was better, but still a bit odd…and the last one actually really worked, clever and with the full character I expect!
August 18, 2020
4.5: I am consistently amused by so many parts of these books. So good. Only piece that annoys me is, like with Sherlock Holmes, the conclusions are sometimes out of nowhere.
April 16, 2023
I recommend the Nero Wolfe books to fans of The Thin Man and anyone looking for some light detective fiction with a touch of comedy. What makes the books so much fun is the voice of the narrator, Archie Goodwin, Wolfe's assistant. Goodwin pulls no punches, verbally or physically. This omnibus volume of 3 separate but similar cases is a good place to start.
August 3, 2018
I love the way Rex Stout writes about Nero, Archie, and the household. Not my first Stout story but one that I did miss somehow- and it gave me a delightful evening of light reading.
December 31, 2025
Nero Wolfe's charater has a shady side in Trouble in Triplicate. It's common for famous fiction detectives to occasionally (or rarely) overstep the law, but usually for a moral justice beyond the tolerance of law. Certainly Holmes and Poirot have made their own calls. Wolfe has done so in other stories.
Stout adds a surprising twist to the idea, when it's blatantly obvious that Wolfe let's injustices slide when it serves his own self-interest. In fact he makes the hero narrator, Archie Goodwin grudgingly complicit.
The method of the crime is the narrative canvas, the motive determines the plot. When multiple characters have a motive, Stout typically leaves Wolfe almost as bewildered as the reader, resorting to smoking the culprit out by having them respond to a blackmail threat of his own. In these stories only a single character has a motive, making it easier to guess, but more difficult to guesw who, but not necessarily how.
The common element for these stories is assassination. Trouble in Triplicate is most entertaining for its interesting characters and the inventive situations. It's a good sampler for the overall flavor of the series.
"Before I Die":
Mobster Dazy Perrit tries to shelter his daughter Beulah Page's identity, only to have her decoy, Violet Perrit (aka Angelina Murphy), blackmail Perrit herself. An assassin takes her out early on, Archie fails to make out the direct clue from her dying breath. Beulah's fiance Morton Schane is a borderline pest, following her even when he's not invited.
Wolfe would never make the moral and professional mistake of helping a known organized crime boss (or so Archie believes), until Wolfe finds that Perrit might have quid pro quo for the gourmand's meat shortage woes through connections (a little like the story Murder is Corny). Wolfe wraps his mundane motive in a slightly more altruistic purpose of taking care of Beulah: money doesn't know it's dirty, so it may as well be put to a good use.
Archie's expected snark is on point:
Note the fantastic 50s gumshoe jargon here!
Stout's character description is always great too:
The pattern of Wolfe having the upper hand over Cramer is well-established, but in this collection he's extremely deferential. Take, for instance, this rare Cramer concession:
"Help Wanted, Male":
Peter Root has a grudge against Ben Jensen, whose testimony against Root got him imprisoned for bribery. Jensen receives a threat, and wants to hire Wolfe as a bodyguard (Root has a strong motive, but obviously he's got an airtight alibi). But Wolfe has a policy of not offering bodyguard work:
Suspects might include Ben's son Emil Jensen, or Jane Geer. But why? But the motive only seems to grow thinner. The evidence is gathered off-stage, an exercise in surmise.
Stout finds a convenient mechanic of isolating Wolfe when his life's in danger, injecting some tension: Archie is trying to see action in WW2, but he needs to clear it by visiting his general in D.C. In fact Stout relies on hired people around him (Archie and Hackett) to absorb the threat long enough to buy him time to try and solve the problem. Not terribly shady, but a bit on the cowardly side...
Archie gets his licks in with Cramer:
Hacket acts moronic, and Wolfe piles on:
"Instead of Evidence":
Once again Wolfe is asked to act as bodyguard for Eugene Poor, co-owner of a novelty business, and his wife (being potential collateral). This isn't the first time Stout has given a criminal the "last way out," but here he's been directly threatened himself, and it carries some weight of personal revenge and more than a whiff of laziness.
Poor immediately calls out co-owner Conroy Blaney for the anonymous threat -- so we know it can't be him!
It has a particularly good opening sentence:
It's grislier than other Wolfe stories, and the killer's method is also a strong signal that the victim's identity is in question:
Even having a sketch of a solution, I can't help but feel sympathy for Archie:
Cramer calls out Wolfe's motives:
Once again I have to agree with Archie when he says: "Try analyzing the logic of that. I can't." This definitely feels like it would have been better if Wolfe hadn't tried to connect every dot:
Stout adds a surprising twist to the idea, when it's blatantly obvious that Wolfe let's injustices slide when it serves his own self-interest. In fact he makes the hero narrator, Archie Goodwin grudgingly complicit.
The method of the crime is the narrative canvas, the motive determines the plot. When multiple characters have a motive, Stout typically leaves Wolfe almost as bewildered as the reader, resorting to smoking the culprit out by having them respond to a blackmail threat of his own. In these stories only a single character has a motive, making it easier to guess, but more difficult to guesw who, but not necessarily how.
The common element for these stories is assassination. Trouble in Triplicate is most entertaining for its interesting characters and the inventive situations. It's a good sampler for the overall flavor of the series.
"Before I Die":
Mobster Dazy Perrit tries to shelter his daughter Beulah Page's identity, only to have her decoy, Violet Perrit (aka Angelina Murphy), blackmail Perrit herself. An assassin takes her out early on, Archie fails to make out the direct clue from her dying breath. Beulah's fiance Morton Schane is a borderline pest, following her even when he's not invited.
Wolfe would never make the moral and professional mistake of helping a known organized crime boss (or so Archie believes), until Wolfe finds that Perrit might have quid pro quo for the gourmand's meat shortage woes through connections (a little like the story Murder is Corny). Wolfe wraps his mundane motive in a slightly more altruistic purpose of taking care of Beulah: money doesn't know it's dirty, so it may as well be put to a good use.
Archie's expected snark is on point:
By that Monday afternoon [Wolfe] had got so desperate that he had started taking long walks, as, for instance, back and forth between his chair and the bookshelves, and sometimes even through the door into the front room
"Your name's Goodwin," he told me impolitely, without overexerting any muscles.
"Thanks," I thanked him. "How much do I weigh?"
Note the fantastic 50s gumshoe jargon here!
I could see nothing ahead but one fine mess, and I still believe, corn or no corn, that if he had so much as poked a finger at Wolfe's central bulge I would have dropped him.
Stout's character description is always great too:
The most famous fact about his physical make-up, that he had no nose, wasn't true. His nose was almost normal in size and shape when you looked at it, but the point was that three other features -- the mouth, ears, and eyes -- grabbed the scene and the nose might as well not have been there.
The pattern of Wolfe having the upper hand over Cramer is well-established, but in this collection he's extremely deferential. Take, for instance, this rare Cramer concession:
"Well, enjoy it. This is just a friendly call. I wanted to let you know you were right as usual... I just wanted to tell you that, but I suppose I might as well ask if you have anything to add."
"No -- no, I think not."
"Nothing at all? About the job you took on for Perrit?"
"Nothing."
"Okay, I didn't expect it. Enjoy your lunch.
"Help Wanted, Male":
Peter Root has a grudge against Ben Jensen, whose testimony against Root got him imprisoned for bribery. Jensen receives a threat, and wants to hire Wolfe as a bodyguard (Root has a strong motive, but obviously he's got an airtight alibi). But Wolfe has a policy of not offering bodyguard work:
"I suppose two hundred men and women have sat in that chair, Mr. Poor, and tried to hire me to keep someone from killing them."
Suspects might include Ben's son Emil Jensen, or Jane Geer. But why? But the motive only seems to grow thinner. The evidence is gathered off-stage, an exercise in surmise.
Stout finds a convenient mechanic of isolating Wolfe when his life's in danger, injecting some tension: Archie is trying to see action in WW2, but he needs to clear it by visiting his general in D.C. In fact Stout relies on hired people around him (Archie and Hackett) to absorb the threat long enough to buy him time to try and solve the problem. Not terribly shady, but a bit on the cowardly side...
Archie gets his licks in with Cramer:
I eyed him coldly. "You scold us when we lie, and you scold us when we tell the truth. What does the city pay you for anyhow?"
I told [Hackett] to stay in there until his nerves calmed down and then rejoin us, act detached and superior, and let me do the talking. He said he would, but at that moment I would have traded him for one wet cigarette.
"I still can't believe it," Jane declared. "It was wonderful."
"It was merely a job," Wolfe murmured, as if he knew what modesty was.
Hacket acts moronic, and Wolfe piles on:
... bring Mr. Hackett down here. Use caution and search him with great care. He is an extremely dangerous man and an unsurpassable idiot."
"Instead of Evidence":
Once again Wolfe is asked to act as bodyguard for Eugene Poor, co-owner of a novelty business, and his wife (being potential collateral). This isn't the first time Stout has given a criminal the "last way out," but here he's been directly threatened himself, and it carries some weight of personal revenge and more than a whiff of laziness.
Poor immediately calls out co-owner Conroy Blaney for the anonymous threat -- so we know it can't be him!
It has a particularly good opening sentence:
Among the kinds of men I have a prejudice against are the ones named Eugene.
It's grislier than other Wolfe stories, and the killer's method is also a strong signal that the victim's identity is in question:
All I really recognized was the gray herringbone suit and the shirt and tie, on account of what the explosion had done to his face
Even having a sketch of a solution, I can't help but feel sympathy for Archie:
Friday morning, having nothing else to do, I solved the case. I did it with cold logic... I do not intend to put it all down here, the way I worked it out, because first it would take three full pages, and second I was wrong.
Cramer calls out Wolfe's motives:
... if she was arrested and came to trial you would have to go to court and testify, and you don't like to leave home and you don't like what there is to sit on in a courtroom, so you arrange it otherwise,
Once again I have to agree with Archie when he says: "Try analyzing the logic of that. I can't." This definitely feels like it would have been better if Wolfe hadn't tried to connect every dot:
Since she was good at detail, I presume she spread his coat over his head so as to leave no telltale matter on her tires.
September 16, 2025
The fourteenth entry in Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe series follows the model of his ninth book, Black Orchids, in that it offers not a single book-length mystery but three novellas combined into a single volume. Though the collection was published in 1949, all three date back to the war and its immediate aftermath, which can make the mentions of Archie Goodwin’s service in Army intelligence or the references to rationing and shortages – the latter of these a secondary plot point in “Before I Die,” the first story in the collection – a little disorienting. In this respect, it’s best read as a follow-up to Not Quite Dead Enough, even though the war is more of a background event rather than one central to the plot. Nevertheless, while none of trio represent the best of Stout’s work, they are all entertaining tales of Wolfe and Goodwin in action, and can be recommended to anyone who needs a quick fix between the more elaborate mysteries.
June 26, 2014
Trouble in triplicate
I just can't stop reading the Nero Wolfe books by Rec Stout. this is another winner. The pairing of Wolfe and Goodwin is excellent. but I have to say Saul Panzer and Fritz give the books a tie that keeps you wanting to see more and more of them. in my minds eye I see the characters acted out by actors who played a few years ago. Even if you didn't see the few episodes that were made. I think you will enjoy getting to know the characters. stout is an excellent story teller.
I just can't stop reading the Nero Wolfe books by Rec Stout. this is another winner. The pairing of Wolfe and Goodwin is excellent. but I have to say Saul Panzer and Fritz give the books a tie that keeps you wanting to see more and more of them. in my minds eye I see the characters acted out by actors who played a few years ago. Even if you didn't see the few episodes that were made. I think you will enjoy getting to know the characters. stout is an excellent story teller.
September 19, 2018
Rather enjoyable collection comprising of three novellas, all of which were utterly preposterous in terms of credibility, but were highly enjoyable.
In "Before I Die" Wolfe takes a case on behalf of a Mob Boss, to protect his daughter and her lawful inheritance. The story was so "made up" that I felt like reading a Bollywood movie.
"Help Wanted, Male" has Wolfe fearing for his life, and trying to take protection by hiring a double. But then...
"Instead of Evidence" was silly, predictable, and huge fun.
So, you get three delightful reads between two covers.
In "Before I Die" Wolfe takes a case on behalf of a Mob Boss, to protect his daughter and her lawful inheritance. The story was so "made up" that I felt like reading a Bollywood movie.
"Help Wanted, Male" has Wolfe fearing for his life, and trying to take protection by hiring a double. But then...
"Instead of Evidence" was silly, predictable, and huge fun.
So, you get three delightful reads between two covers.
May 26, 2023
A decent set of short stories, but none of them really stood out from each other or the other Nero Wolfe tales I have read previously. The first of the three had Archie scared down to his socks, but the black marketeer didn't seem anymore ruthless or effective than the other villains he and Wolfe have faced previously or since.
Still, a good set of tales and a solid book to read over an afternoon or two. Stout's descriptions of his characters are always interesting and paint an interesting picture of NYC in 1945 through 1947.
Find it. Buy it. Read it!
Still, a good set of tales and a solid book to read over an afternoon or two. Stout's descriptions of his characters are always interesting and paint an interesting picture of NYC in 1945 through 1947.
Find it. Buy it. Read it!
July 31, 2024
How Stout loved writing novellas! Three good ones are collected in this book. First there's "Before I Die," in which Wolfe--tired of the meat shortage--gets involved with gangsters; the classic "Help Wanted, Male" which features a threat to Wolfe's life, and last the memorable "Instead of Evidence," another story of a threatened man. What can one say?--Archie, Fritz and Theodore are all in the house on West 35th Street, and for a while the reader is back in the mid 1940's.
November 20, 2025
I mentioned before that Stout only wrote five tale during the war years, well here are the other three. Actually, one of these stories is set after the war, but only just.
Of the three I think I prefer "Instead of Evidence". It's a delicious situation where impeccable dialog illuminates the story. It also shows what risks Wolfe will take to get a decent roast!
Of the three I think I prefer "Instead of Evidence". It's a delicious situation where impeccable dialog illuminates the story. It also shows what risks Wolfe will take to get a decent roast!
June 22, 2022
Trouble In Triplicate (1949) (Nero Wolfe #14) by Rex Stout. Here are three short stories of murder. Each is a gem in itself.
The first is Before I Die. This is a rather complicated matter of a major dealer in the blackmarket wanting to have a pesky blackmailer stopped. He can’t do it himself, or have it done for him because the blackmailer is his “daughter”. Afraid of having his real but estranged daughter being the victim of violence as a lever on him he went out west and found a woman near enough to his daughter’s age and set her up in his penthouse. She was being paid a hundred a month but got greedy. Then she got greedier until he couldn’t take it anymore, so he turned to Wolfe to fix the situation.
Wolfe gets the girl to come talk with him and he informs her that he is blackmailing her now. Pay up most of what you get from your “daddy” and Wolfe will stay mum. Don’t and he has no qualms about contacting the police out west and sending back to serve her due time. He gives her time to think it over and sends Archie to see her home.
She is gunned down by a passing car on her doorstep with Archie as witness.
After several hours with the cops he returns to the Wolfe’s brownstone only to be met by “daddy” and his heavy muscle. Those two are in turn mown down by bullets from a passing car, just missing Archie.
There is more but that’s enough of the puzzle for now. To find out more, read the book.
Next is Help Wanted. Male. A death threat is sent to a man Wolfe had been working with during the war and the man is soon thereafter murdered. The next day Wolfe receives the same threat. Archie has to go to Washington on military matters (he rose to the rank of Major during the war and they still insist they have control over his actions) and is gone a few days. When he returns he finds an imposter sitting in Wolfe’s chair.
The fill-n is part of Wolfe’s plan to lure the killer out and capturing him. All goes well until there is a pistol fired during a visit by the son of the other man who was killed, and a young woman who is involved in the situation. Seems the shot was fired from the front room, not in Wolfe’s office, and they were the only two possible as having fired the shot. Wolfe himself was busy getting set up to spy on the coming conference in the office and Archie had just left the pair in the front room and had only begun to speak with Wolfe. The sacrificial lamb had his eyes closed when the shot was fired, thus not seeing who did it. Blood on his ear and a hole in the headrest of his chair told the story of the angle of the shot, but not who pulled the trigger.
It is up to Wolfe to figure out exactly who tried to kill him.
The last is titled Instead of Evidence. Mr. and Mrs. Poor come to see Wolfe. He is the executive side of a two man partnership in the novelty gag business. He says his partner is going to kill him to gain complete control of the business. The partner has offered to buy him out at about 10% of what his half should be valued at and Mr. Poor said no. Reluctantly Wolfe takes the job of finding the killer and proving it in the off chance that Mr. Poor is killed within the year.
Later that day the police are all over the Poor’s apartment after the husband is found dead due to a trick exploding cigar.
This is a nice collection showing that Mr. Stout was just as adept in the short form as in the long. It makes for a nice day’s reading at the beach or on the train. Well worth finding in the used book aisles.
The first is Before I Die. This is a rather complicated matter of a major dealer in the blackmarket wanting to have a pesky blackmailer stopped. He can’t do it himself, or have it done for him because the blackmailer is his “daughter”. Afraid of having his real but estranged daughter being the victim of violence as a lever on him he went out west and found a woman near enough to his daughter’s age and set her up in his penthouse. She was being paid a hundred a month but got greedy. Then she got greedier until he couldn’t take it anymore, so he turned to Wolfe to fix the situation.
Wolfe gets the girl to come talk with him and he informs her that he is blackmailing her now. Pay up most of what you get from your “daddy” and Wolfe will stay mum. Don’t and he has no qualms about contacting the police out west and sending back to serve her due time. He gives her time to think it over and sends Archie to see her home.
She is gunned down by a passing car on her doorstep with Archie as witness.
After several hours with the cops he returns to the Wolfe’s brownstone only to be met by “daddy” and his heavy muscle. Those two are in turn mown down by bullets from a passing car, just missing Archie.
There is more but that’s enough of the puzzle for now. To find out more, read the book.
Next is Help Wanted. Male. A death threat is sent to a man Wolfe had been working with during the war and the man is soon thereafter murdered. The next day Wolfe receives the same threat. Archie has to go to Washington on military matters (he rose to the rank of Major during the war and they still insist they have control over his actions) and is gone a few days. When he returns he finds an imposter sitting in Wolfe’s chair.
The fill-n is part of Wolfe’s plan to lure the killer out and capturing him. All goes well until there is a pistol fired during a visit by the son of the other man who was killed, and a young woman who is involved in the situation. Seems the shot was fired from the front room, not in Wolfe’s office, and they were the only two possible as having fired the shot. Wolfe himself was busy getting set up to spy on the coming conference in the office and Archie had just left the pair in the front room and had only begun to speak with Wolfe. The sacrificial lamb had his eyes closed when the shot was fired, thus not seeing who did it. Blood on his ear and a hole in the headrest of his chair told the story of the angle of the shot, but not who pulled the trigger.
It is up to Wolfe to figure out exactly who tried to kill him.
The last is titled Instead of Evidence. Mr. and Mrs. Poor come to see Wolfe. He is the executive side of a two man partnership in the novelty gag business. He says his partner is going to kill him to gain complete control of the business. The partner has offered to buy him out at about 10% of what his half should be valued at and Mr. Poor said no. Reluctantly Wolfe takes the job of finding the killer and proving it in the off chance that Mr. Poor is killed within the year.
Later that day the police are all over the Poor’s apartment after the husband is found dead due to a trick exploding cigar.
This is a nice collection showing that Mr. Stout was just as adept in the short form as in the long. It makes for a nice day’s reading at the beach or on the train. Well worth finding in the used book aisles.
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