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Her Forbidden Knight
Follow the fortunes of the beautiful and naïve Lila Williams, a telegraph operator at New York’s swankiest hotel—the Lamartine—as she becomes unwittingly enmeshed in the operations of a shady counterfeiting ring. By chance, the innocent Lila, coveted by a member of an unlikely group of “knights,” finds herself swept off her pretty feet and into safety—or is it peril?
The very first novel from the classic crime writer Rex Stout, Her Forbidden Knight gives the reader a glimpse of the cunning devices and charades of the celebrated Nero Wolfe mysteries that followed in the author’s later years.
Includes the bonus short story “An Officer and a Lady.”
The very first novel from the classic crime writer Rex Stout, Her Forbidden Knight gives the reader a glimpse of the cunning devices and charades of the celebrated Nero Wolfe mysteries that followed in the author’s later years.
Includes the bonus short story “An Officer and a Lady.”
252 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1913
140 people are currently reading
161 people want to read
About the author
Rex Stout
838 books1,034 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 56 reviews
August 15, 2017
Incredible difference between this first novel and the later Nero Wolfe novels., August 14, 2017
This review is from: Her Forbidden Knight (Kindle Edition)
It amazes me that the painfully amateurish author of Her Forbidden Knight grew in stature and ability to become one of the great mystery writers. Worth reading as a lesson in the value of perseverance.
This review is from: Her Forbidden Knight (Kindle Edition)
It amazes me that the painfully amateurish author of Her Forbidden Knight grew in stature and ability to become one of the great mystery writers. Worth reading as a lesson in the value of perseverance.
January 30, 2024
20 Years before the Wolfe
Review of the Mysterious Press / Open Road Kindle eBook (May 22, 2012) of the 1997 Severn House Publishers hardcover of the original 5-part novel as serialized in All-Story Magazine (August to December, 1913).
I picked this up from a Kindle Deal of the Day purely out of curiosity to read a Rex Stout (1886-1975) novel from his early pulp fiction magazine days. Her Forbidden Knight first appeared as a 5-part serial in 1913 and was not even issued as a novel until rediscovered in 1997. It predates Stout's popular Nero Wolfe detective series (1934-1975) by 20 years.
The writing here is very dated of course, and includes a lot of purple prose and very improbable characters and situations. A mixed group of men decide to become the protectors of an innocent female telegraph operator at a New York hotel. They deem themselves as Errant Knights but with the self-deprecatory moniker of the "Erring Knights". They resent the presence of a new suitor, the "Forbidden Knight" of the title, who is apparently winning over the heart of the operator. Various fisticuffs ensue until they finally accept him, but then disaster strikes as it is discovered he is an apparent criminal on the run. Will true love win out in the end? No prizes for guessing the ending 🤔.
The front cover of the August 1913 issue of The All-Story Magazine, although Rex Stout’s premiere of “Her Forbidden Knight” was not featured on the cover promo. Image sourced from the Internet Speculative Fiction DataBase.
There wasn't really much of a mystery to this, so it is not even worth giving a rating on the Ease of Solving scale. Pretty much anyone would guess the twist at the end which saves the day.
The cover of the original Severn House Publishers edition (1997). Image sourced from Goodreads.
Review of the Mysterious Press / Open Road Kindle eBook (May 22, 2012) of the 1997 Severn House Publishers hardcover of the original 5-part novel as serialized in All-Story Magazine (August to December, 1913).
“I hope he keels you!” he screamed, shaking a fist at Knowlton.
“Chacun tire de son côte,” said Knowlton calmly.
“Mon Dieu! Français!” shrieked Dumain. “Eet ees degradation!”
I picked this up from a Kindle Deal of the Day purely out of curiosity to read a Rex Stout (1886-1975) novel from his early pulp fiction magazine days. Her Forbidden Knight first appeared as a 5-part serial in 1913 and was not even issued as a novel until rediscovered in 1997. It predates Stout's popular Nero Wolfe detective series (1934-1975) by 20 years.
The writing here is very dated of course, and includes a lot of purple prose and very improbable characters and situations. A mixed group of men decide to become the protectors of an innocent female telegraph operator at a New York hotel. They deem themselves as Errant Knights but with the self-deprecatory moniker of the "Erring Knights". They resent the presence of a new suitor, the "Forbidden Knight" of the title, who is apparently winning over the heart of the operator. Various fisticuffs ensue until they finally accept him, but then disaster strikes as it is discovered he is an apparent criminal on the run. Will true love win out in the end? No prizes for guessing the ending 🤔.
The front cover of the August 1913 issue of The All-Story Magazine, although Rex Stout’s premiere of “Her Forbidden Knight” was not featured on the cover promo. Image sourced from the Internet Speculative Fiction DataBase.
There wasn't really much of a mystery to this, so it is not even worth giving a rating on the Ease of Solving scale. Pretty much anyone would guess the twist at the end which saves the day.
The cover of the original Severn House Publishers edition (1997). Image sourced from Goodreads.
June 18, 2022
Rex Stout is best known for his Nero Wolfe mysteries, but he has some other novels out there and this was a good one. I wouldn’t actually term this a mystery although at times it almost felt like one. Back in the 1890s in New York City, several men have taken it upon themselves to protect a young woman employed as a telegraph operator. She didn’t ask them to do this, but they have devoted themselves to her in a somewhat chivalric fashion and look out for her. She sees them as friends but gets annoyed when they interfere with her life as they do when they decide that a man who is romantically interested in her is not good enough for her. On the surface, they appear correct. They learn through one of their number that he is a counterfeiter. But they don’t know the whole story and they don’t know that one of their own has evil designs on the woman.
So this is a crime story, but not the crime the counterfeiting may lead you to think it is. And it leads to an exciting courtroom drama in which the young and extremely honest woman is expected to be the lead witness against the man who has captured her heart. There are a couple of nice twists and turns in the story and the ending feels like a solution Nero Wolfe would have come up with. I really enjoyed it.
If you liked this review, you can find more at www.gilbertstack.com/reviews.
So this is a crime story, but not the crime the counterfeiting may lead you to think it is. And it leads to an exciting courtroom drama in which the young and extremely honest woman is expected to be the lead witness against the man who has captured her heart. There are a couple of nice twists and turns in the story and the ending feels like a solution Nero Wolfe would have come up with. I really enjoyed it.
If you liked this review, you can find more at www.gilbertstack.com/reviews.
January 30, 2018
This is an early novel by Stout, twenty years before he invented Nero Wolfe (1913—a date that is found nowhere in my recent reprint, probably intentionally). If I read Wikipedia correctly, it’s Stout’s first published novel. The book is kind of a mish-mash of crime novel and Victorian romance, with a number of aspects that seem very clichéd at this date. The male characters are all supposed to have jobs, yet they hang around a hotel, shooting billiards and smoking like English gentlemen in a Wodehouse novel. The love story could come out of Dickens, with climactic moments when the characters call each other “My dearest!” and the gentleman kisses the lady’s hands. Yes, actually kisses her hands!!
There are some interesting aspects to the novel, and in particular, it is somewhat difficult to tell who is going to be the hero and who the villain for some time. That provides some useful tension. However, on the whole, I found it rather difficult to get through, as the unrealistic situations sap some of the crime story’s strength. There is not enough plot for the first two-thirds or so of the book, though things move more quickly near the end. There are welcome flashes of wit from time to time, but the ending is marred by a happy-ending coincidence straight out of the 19th century.
For Rex Stout fans, perhaps the greatest interest is in the dialog and actions of the male characters (the “Erring Knights”), who are very early versions of the city-smart characters in his classic novels, with Archie Goodwin being the prototype. Nonetheless, I couldn’t recommend it to the average reader who isn’t a Stout groupie.
There are some interesting aspects to the novel, and in particular, it is somewhat difficult to tell who is going to be the hero and who the villain for some time. That provides some useful tension. However, on the whole, I found it rather difficult to get through, as the unrealistic situations sap some of the crime story’s strength. There is not enough plot for the first two-thirds or so of the book, though things move more quickly near the end. There are welcome flashes of wit from time to time, but the ending is marred by a happy-ending coincidence straight out of the 19th century.
For Rex Stout fans, perhaps the greatest interest is in the dialog and actions of the male characters (the “Erring Knights”), who are very early versions of the city-smart characters in his classic novels, with Archie Goodwin being the prototype. Nonetheless, I couldn’t recommend it to the average reader who isn’t a Stout groupie.
January 25, 2018
Rex Stout's first novel, serialized in a pulp magazine in 1913 and not published in book form until 84 years later, is a somewhat clumsily-written melodrama set in his familiar New York City. It is a far-cry from the witty, well-constructed Nero Wolfe detective stories for which he became famous, but is never-the-less compelling and entertaining. And, of course, there is the fascination of seeing an extraordinary story-smith at work at the very beginning of what would be a career that spanned more than 60 years.
Incidentally, the dust jacket of the Carroll & Graff edition of this novel (see illustration) is something pathetic. Surely one of the (now public domain) illustrations from the original publication would have been more appropriate.
Incidentally, the dust jacket of the Carroll & Graff edition of this novel (see illustration) is something pathetic. Surely one of the (now public domain) illustrations from the original publication would have been more appropriate.
November 11, 2017
One of Rex Stout's early pre-Nero Wolfe works. The alluring Lila Williams works as a telegraph operator in an up scale hotel when several men become her knight errants to protect her from unsavory characters. Through circumstances beyond her control, she is caught up in a counterfeiting scheme and her protectors come to her rescue.
May 16, 2020
An early book by Rex Stout, before Nero Wolfe. Classic girl in trouble with men banding together to defend her - very early 19th century tropes, but well written.
May 22, 2024
I think this is the first Rex Stout book I've ever read that did Not feature Nero Wolfe, so it was very interesting to see him do something different. This was not a detective story or even a mystery. It was actually more of a romance. Published in 1913, as far as I can determine this may have been his first novel. It shouldn't be a surprise, then, that it's not quite up to par with Nero Wolfe, who he didn't begin writing until about twenty years later.
The book centers on a group of young men of leisure who gather regularly in a hotel lobby to hobnob and play billiards. They collectively take under their wing a sweet young girl who is the telegraph operator there. When a new man begins nosing around, they become quite protective of her. One of the protectors finds unsavory information from the man's past, and as the relationship grows, their disapproval grows even more.
It's a ridiculous story to our modern minds, because chivalry of this kind is pretty rare these days. I kept thinking, "Just BUTT OUT, guys! It's none of your business!" 😁. But of course they don't. And it's sweet the way they take care of her, really, even though things do get quite muddled in the process.
It's not a spellbinding book, but amusing, and an interesting glimpse into the past.
The book centers on a group of young men of leisure who gather regularly in a hotel lobby to hobnob and play billiards. They collectively take under their wing a sweet young girl who is the telegraph operator there. When a new man begins nosing around, they become quite protective of her. One of the protectors finds unsavory information from the man's past, and as the relationship grows, their disapproval grows even more.
It's a ridiculous story to our modern minds, because chivalry of this kind is pretty rare these days. I kept thinking, "Just BUTT OUT, guys! It's none of your business!" 😁. But of course they don't. And it's sweet the way they take care of her, really, even though things do get quite muddled in the process.
It's not a spellbinding book, but amusing, and an interesting glimpse into the past.
October 5, 2021
This early pulp fiction product was free or something, so I took it. Yes, it's pretty awful but an interesting example of the genre. Laughable characters, simplistic plot, improbable resolution--a quick read and I enjoyed it. Here and there were tiny signs of the masterful writer that Stout would become, but they were few. Worth reading by anyone hoping to be a writer simply for the encouragement that one's mastery can improve.
October 9, 2013
I am a huge fan of Rex Stout's "Nero Wolfe" series of novels. That being said, I've never found any of his other works to be that interesting. I'm afraid Stout's first novel "Her Forbidden Knight" falls firmly into that category (as well as the short story--rife with typos (for shame, Skyhorse publishing)--"An Officer and a Lady" that is included).
Yes, I realize a LOT has changed since 1913--roughly twenty years before Nero Wolfe arrived--when Stout wrote this first novel, but even so, "Her Forbidden Knight" fails on several levels. But I will say this, I did stick with the book until the end--even though I saw the "big twist" at the end coming from a mile off (because I've watched a lot of courtroom dramas)--and found it to be mildly interesting in an odd, old-fashioned, time capsule sort of way.
Okay, the first thing that's wrong with this book is the narrator. Stout gets "himself" way too involved in the telling of the tale. He's an omniscient narrator who makes regular comments about the characters and the story (and how he's telling the story) but isn't representing any of the characters involved. Lots of "narrative intrusion" here, which I suppose was part of the accepted style of the time. But it goes over like a lead balloon with this modern reader.
The main problem of the book, for me, is the premise. A group of "men of leisure" hang around in the Lamartine Hotel in Manhattan, all infatuated with the virginal young telegram girl. Since none of them have a chance at being her boyfriend, they agree to form a society of protection for her and act like "big brothers" to her. They are called the "Erring Knights." It's a pun on "knights errant" from the days of chivalry and such. To a modern eye, this situation doesn't look chivalrous, it seems kind of creepy and odd. And, of course, one of the Erring Knights turns out to be a lust-maddened scoundrel and another turns out to be a "fallen" hero. The situation itself seems so contrived that the drama that ensues is already off-kilter.
And I often found it difficult to tell who the main protagonist of the novel was. Is it Dougherty, the Runyon-esque pugnacious former boxer? Is it Knowlton, the fine young man with the dark secret? Or is it Lila herself, the so-called "Queen of Egypt" (yes, I'm picturing a young Elizabeth Taylor) that drives all these men to grand gestures and secret plans? Each of the three has their own parts of the plot to uphold in their own manner. Yet none of them ever appear to take the lead. I found that confusing over this long, circuitous read.
There is also the fact that roughly half of the Erring Knights don't get to do that much. Dougherty and Dumain (the obligatory Frenchman "wiz zee outRAYjuss ak-sent") are the two main Erring Knights. Sherman is the villainous Erring Knight. Knowlton is the romantic Erring Knight. Driscoll, Jennings and Booth have very little to contribute overall. I understand that there has to be more than just one or two Erring Knights, but the balance of their numbers and what each of them contributes to the plot is quite askew.
The less said about the tacked-on short story "An Officer and a Lady," the better. It's far too silly a subject for Stout's talents.
If you're a die-hard Rex Stout fan, this book may appeal to you as the genesis of his later works. Otherwise, I'd advise you stick to the many Nero Wolfe novels and stories and enjoy those instead. "Her Forbidden Knight" is not a narrative that withstands the test of time.
Yes, I realize a LOT has changed since 1913--roughly twenty years before Nero Wolfe arrived--when Stout wrote this first novel, but even so, "Her Forbidden Knight" fails on several levels. But I will say this, I did stick with the book until the end--even though I saw the "big twist" at the end coming from a mile off (because I've watched a lot of courtroom dramas)--and found it to be mildly interesting in an odd, old-fashioned, time capsule sort of way.
Okay, the first thing that's wrong with this book is the narrator. Stout gets "himself" way too involved in the telling of the tale. He's an omniscient narrator who makes regular comments about the characters and the story (and how he's telling the story) but isn't representing any of the characters involved. Lots of "narrative intrusion" here, which I suppose was part of the accepted style of the time. But it goes over like a lead balloon with this modern reader.
The main problem of the book, for me, is the premise. A group of "men of leisure" hang around in the Lamartine Hotel in Manhattan, all infatuated with the virginal young telegram girl. Since none of them have a chance at being her boyfriend, they agree to form a society of protection for her and act like "big brothers" to her. They are called the "Erring Knights." It's a pun on "knights errant" from the days of chivalry and such. To a modern eye, this situation doesn't look chivalrous, it seems kind of creepy and odd. And, of course, one of the Erring Knights turns out to be a lust-maddened scoundrel and another turns out to be a "fallen" hero. The situation itself seems so contrived that the drama that ensues is already off-kilter.
And I often found it difficult to tell who the main protagonist of the novel was. Is it Dougherty, the Runyon-esque pugnacious former boxer? Is it Knowlton, the fine young man with the dark secret? Or is it Lila herself, the so-called "Queen of Egypt" (yes, I'm picturing a young Elizabeth Taylor) that drives all these men to grand gestures and secret plans? Each of the three has their own parts of the plot to uphold in their own manner. Yet none of them ever appear to take the lead. I found that confusing over this long, circuitous read.
There is also the fact that roughly half of the Erring Knights don't get to do that much. Dougherty and Dumain (the obligatory Frenchman "wiz zee outRAYjuss ak-sent") are the two main Erring Knights. Sherman is the villainous Erring Knight. Knowlton is the romantic Erring Knight. Driscoll, Jennings and Booth have very little to contribute overall. I understand that there has to be more than just one or two Erring Knights, but the balance of their numbers and what each of them contributes to the plot is quite askew.
The less said about the tacked-on short story "An Officer and a Lady," the better. It's far too silly a subject for Stout's talents.
If you're a die-hard Rex Stout fan, this book may appeal to you as the genesis of his later works. Otherwise, I'd advise you stick to the many Nero Wolfe novels and stories and enjoy those instead. "Her Forbidden Knight" is not a narrative that withstands the test of time.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 6, 2011
I so enjoyed this example of Rex Stout's early writing. I am very familiar with his mysteries with Nero Wolfe as the quintessential armchair detective, but I had no idea he wrote serialized novels in the 1910's. I enjoyed the century-old quaint habits and customs of the characters, and the story was pretty good. What really impressed me was how his writing style differed from his detective fiction. His writing style for dialogue, descriptions, and action was straightforward, but when he moralized or philosophized on any particular issue, he would use a more choppy, abrupt sentence structure. It was a great way to get my attention and make me stop and think about the issue.
June 12, 2019
This is a romance that only Rex Stout can write and only a lover of all his works can love. The Lamartine is a well~known reputable hotel situated at Madison Square. At its spacious lobby are islands of business counters like a telegraph counter presided by an Angel and a corner stand for a Venus (cigarette girl). The Lamartine is also the daytime watering hole for a motley collection of quixotic gallants and gentlemen idlers called (by the Venus by the Corner) the Erring Knights who have done things in their pasts that do not bear well under microscopic scrutiny or even under a magnifying glass for that matter and have resolved not to question one another's histories. Lila Williams is the telegraph teller/operator and the Lady to their Knights... and to her they have pledged their gallant protection (as most of them have no regular jobs). Then along came a well~educated young gallant who started sending telegrams thrice a week using only $10.00 bills and he shortly became one of the Erring Knights. It was love at first sight for Lila and pretty soon, it was no longer just a job for John Norton. For John is not as he seems, plus he has a rival for Lila's affections in one of the Knights... the secrets of his past that necessitated a change of name and relocation to New York together with his present criminal activities have further complicated his future with Lila. I think this is a well~crafted, heart~warming and truly poignant romance (not forgetting the humor) that deserves a place of honor in a collection of Romance novels.
August 27, 2022
Kobo epub (the ISBN here and in the ebook is for the Paperback): 9781626362826 is the eISBN
US 'golden age' authors are a major gap in my reading, certainly beyond the Chandler/Hammett names. I've not read any of the Nero Wolfe stories - and this first paddle into the Rex Stout bibliography doesn't change that. The first published novel (1913) was first serialised in a pulp short story magazine (think Argosy - and in fact the two merged later) and is a rambling tale of a group of curiously idle men who mostly spend their time in the lobby/billiard hall of a New York hotel. Hre they form a band dedicated to protecting the honour of a young (20) orphan who works at the telegraph desk...
Nothing too special - it's a readable story that betrays its 'pulp' origins. I was initially struck by some similarities to the PG Wodehouse Drones club members but although they were long time friends that is a superficial similarity and the chracters here, stereotypes as they are, have a little more to them than the usual 'silly ass' Wooster types...
Stout seems to have abandoned writing a few years later and only returned to it (in the late 20s) after he'd made enough money to do so in comfort and write what he wanted to rather than to make money - and it's then that Nero Wolfe appears (1934). This book includes a 1917 short story from a collection available on Kobo - an engaging story but not too convincing...
Wolfe still to come!
US 'golden age' authors are a major gap in my reading, certainly beyond the Chandler/Hammett names. I've not read any of the Nero Wolfe stories - and this first paddle into the Rex Stout bibliography doesn't change that. The first published novel (1913) was first serialised in a pulp short story magazine (think Argosy - and in fact the two merged later) and is a rambling tale of a group of curiously idle men who mostly spend their time in the lobby/billiard hall of a New York hotel. Hre they form a band dedicated to protecting the honour of a young (20) orphan who works at the telegraph desk...
Nothing too special - it's a readable story that betrays its 'pulp' origins. I was initially struck by some similarities to the PG Wodehouse Drones club members but although they were long time friends that is a superficial similarity and the chracters here, stereotypes as they are, have a little more to them than the usual 'silly ass' Wooster types...
Stout seems to have abandoned writing a few years later and only returned to it (in the late 20s) after he'd made enough money to do so in comfort and write what he wanted to rather than to make money - and it's then that Nero Wolfe appears (1934). This book includes a 1917 short story from a collection available on Kobo - an engaging story but not too convincing...
Wolfe still to come!
August 6, 2023
This is Rex Stout's first published work in 1913. (Of particular note is the fact that the first Nero Wolfe story was not published until 1934.)
Really didn't know where the story was headed, which is a good thing, as it is a mystery of sorts. Very happy to have come across this early work of Mr Stout's, as I have read ALL of the Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin stories. A shout out to Carroll and Graf Publishers that put this title back into print after many many years.
Read this in fits and starts for the first half of it, and read the second half at breakneck speed.
Enjoyable Romance/Mystery especially because of my familiarity with the Author.
Really didn't know where the story was headed, which is a good thing, as it is a mystery of sorts. Very happy to have come across this early work of Mr Stout's, as I have read ALL of the Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin stories. A shout out to Carroll and Graf Publishers that put this title back into print after many many years.
Read this in fits and starts for the first half of it, and read the second half at breakneck speed.
Enjoyable Romance/Mystery especially because of my familiarity with the Author.
June 2, 2025
Her Forbidden Knight (2013) by Rex Stout is a not the steamy romance you expect from the title, but an early mystery that also happens to be a romance and a kind of tribute to Don Quixote. This one comes twenty full years before Stout invented Nero Wolfe so might be described as a kind of experiment. I think I could maybe convince you of its possible entertainment value; a group of Manhattan gangsters referred to in mock-heroic fashion as "Erring Knights" in Cervantes fashion adore a young woman named Lila Williams. They all would love to love her, but failing that, they will protect her with their lives. The first half plays like Victorian romantic comedy, a romp, with gangsters speaking twenties gangster-ese within a formal Cervantes tone.
And then a "forbidden knight" enters the scene, an unlikely hero who also falls in love with the heroine, and the Erring Knights--but why is one of them French and none of them Spanish?!--come to her rescue, amidst a crime they think he committed against them. But all's well that ends well, or ends okay, I say. Experiments with the comically formal diction of Nero Wolfe can be seen in this early novel.
And then a "forbidden knight" enters the scene, an unlikely hero who also falls in love with the heroine, and the Erring Knights--but why is one of them French and none of them Spanish?!--come to her rescue, amidst a crime they think he committed against them. But all's well that ends well, or ends okay, I say. Experiments with the comically formal diction of Nero Wolfe can be seen in this early novel.
November 27, 2020
I love seeing how authors develop, and was overjoyed to discover this book from one of my favourite authors. In this case it is not so much develop as give up and start all over again! It is hard to believe that the same person wrote this as the Nero Wolfe books, one can only assume that the gap between them was so that this could be forgotten. It is fascinating though that he did make such huge development in his writing, and could perhaps be an inspiration to other new authors who get poor reviews for their first novel.
January 26, 2022
I gave this a try because I love Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe series and wanted to try something else written by him. The writing was typical Stout -- readable, well written, engaging. But overall, I don't think has aged well (the whole premises is that there's a group of men who attach themselves to a young woman and go to insane lengths to 'protect' her. One of them ends up stalking and threatening her.) and the end rushes through the resolution of the conflict.
July 5, 2023
The book was too long for its plot. I cared enough to finish the book but had to really speed up the playback. I'm usually pretty good about not projecting modern norms on old books, but good God, the knights were annoying. It was one thing when they were overly protective of their pet telegraph girl, and quite another when they started to actively sabotage her love life.
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July 18, 2020Rex Stout’s first book, written in 1913. I read it because I love Stout’s Nero Wolfe books despite all their misogyny etc. This is basically a one-note curiosity with an absurd premise. Only for fans.
August 7, 2021
No Nero Wolfe, but still fun.
Nero Wolfe and Archie appear nowhere in this book. But the Erring Knights and their lunatic ways more than make up for it. They supply tons of action in this love story.
Nero Wolfe and Archie appear nowhere in this book. But the Erring Knights and their lunatic ways more than make up for it. They supply tons of action in this love story.
October 9, 2021
What a strange book. Rex Stout, the author of many detective stories, with the Nero Wolfe series being the bulk of them, fools me and writes a love story. Very strange, and not nearly as good as any of the Nero Wolfe books that I have read.
August 19, 2018
An early story by Nero Wolfe creator Rex Stout. This story is very dated and has no really great standout characters.
March 28, 2020
Couldn't finish it. Life is too short to read bad books.
October 1, 2020
This was not my favorite Rex Stout book. It took me 3 days to finish it. I found it lacking.
October 1, 2021
Another Freebie from nook, another serious dud.
December 17, 2021
Meh. I liked characters, but the story was very slow and lacking intrigue.
May 6, 2022
Not up to the level of his later Nero Wolfe books, this novel isn't quite bad, but isn't really worth going out of your way to find either.
July 31, 2023
Hoo boy, I was only vaguely aware this book existed and now I know why. Folks, it's bad. Read the first half, skimmed the last half.
November 23, 2023
Not as much mystery as I expected, but still a good story.
March 2, 2024
Like other Rex Stout books this is well written. It starts a little slow but once it gets going it holds your interest. While this is very different then Stouts Nero Wolfe books it was a fun read.
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