Full House

by Rex Stout

Full A Nero Wolfe Omnibus, 1955 BCE, by Rex Stout. Hardcover with dust jacket, 534 pages, published by The Viking Press.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Crime

535 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1955

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

[Jill H. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am in the process of re-reading all 40+ of the Nero Wolfe novels/short stories.....but not all at once!!! It's like visiting with an old friend in that wonderful brownstone house in NYC. The characters never grow older and sometimes it is difficult to ascertain the time period in which the story is set as they all have the ambiance of the 1930s. Stout, through the narrative voice of Archie Goodwin, Wolfe's right hand man, paints a vivid picture of the "heavy weight" detective and his eccentric life and methods of detection. The stories can sometimes be a bit over the top but I'm not complaining. This review will represent my opinion of all the Wolfe books (except for a couple which were filled with racial epithets, common at the time they were written but hard to read now). Simply put..........I love the world of Nero Wolfe!!!! Le style, c'est l'homme.

[Pat Camalliere · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nero Wolfe stories are always satisfying and I can depend on a good light read with both predictable (which makes me feel good) and unpredictable (which makes me admire the writer’s craft) moments. This “omnibus” contains five mysteries, two full-length and three novellas. All are good. I’ve never read a bad Nero Wolfe mystery. The publication dates of each mystery range from 1935 to 1950, this this compilation published in 1955, so the reader has an opportunity to grow with the characters. I had fun watching Archie develop from a newby to the experienced investigator with an almost perfect memory. I spaced these out by reading one mystery between other books. Recommended.

[Tom Leland · Rating 3 out of 5]

Clearly I'm not into working as hard as Rex Stout wanted me to be. In fact after finishing two of these stories I had to look them up to fully understand what happened. Still they're enjoyable. Especially liked The Gun With Wings.

[Lynn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Already read the two long books; reading this for the three short stories. The first one was actually pretty good. The second was boring and didn't make any sense, and the last one involved the murderer having worn a disguise (drag...in more than one sense of the word). I still like Archie and Wolfe, but these stories were not among the best.

[Bryan]

Omnibus containing:
* The League of Frightened Men
* And Be a Villian
* Curtains for Three [The Gun with Wings, Bullet for One, Disguise for Murder]