''Black Orchids'' is a

Nero Wolfe Nero Wolfe is a brilliant, obese and eccentric fictional armchair detective created in 1934 by American mystery writer Rex Stout. Wolfe was born in Montenegro and keeps his past murky. He lives in a luxurious brownstone on West 35th Street in Ne ...

double mystery by

Rex Stout Rex Todhunter Stout (; December 1, 1886 – October 27, 1975) was an American writer noted for his detective fiction. His best-known characters are the detective Nero Wolfe and his assistant Archie Goodwin, who were featured in 33 novels and ...

published in 1942 by

Farrar & Rinehart Farrar & Rinehart (1929–1946) was a United States book publishing company founded in New York. Farrar & Rinehart enjoyed success with both nonfiction and novels, notably, the landmark Rivers of America Series and the first ten books in the Nero ...

, Inc. Stout's first short story collection, the volume is composed of two novellas that had appeared in abridged form in ''

The American Magazine ''The American Magazine'' was a periodical publication founded in June 1906, a continuation of failed publications purchased a few years earlier from publishing mogul Miriam Leslie. It succeeded ''Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly'' (1876–1904), ' ...

'': * "

Black Orchids ''Black Orchids'' is a Nero Wolfe double mystery by Rex Stout published in 1942 by Farrar & Rinehart, Inc. Stout's first short story collection, the volume is composed of two novellas that had appeared in abridged form in '' The American Magazine ...

" (August 1941, abridged as "Death Wears an Orchid") * " Cordially Invited to Meet Death" (April 1942, abridged as "Invitation to Murder")

Reviews and commentary

Jacques Barzun Jacques Martin Barzun (; November 30, 1907 – October 25, 2012) was a French-American historian known for his studies of the history of ideas and cultural history. He wrote about a wide range of subjects, including baseball, mystery novels, and ...

and Wendell Hertig Taylor, ''

A Catalogue of Crime ''A Catalogue of Crime'' is a critique of crime fiction by Jacques Barzun and Wendell Hertig Taylor, first published in 1971. The book was awarded a Special Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America in 1972. A revised and enlarged edition ...

'' — In the first, Wolfe and Archie are in fine form, and murder at a flower show provides a suitable background for Wolfe's talents and predatory instincts. Archie himself innocently pulls the trigger. The second story is less satisfactory, involving as it does a highly debatable move by the murderer to disarm suspicion. Besides, too many animals.Barzun, Jacques and Taylor, Wendell Hertig. ''A Catalogue of Crime''. New York: Harper & Row. 1971, revised and enlarged edition 1989. * ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'', "Murder in May" (June 1, 1942) — Nero Wolfe and his ebullient amanuensis Archie Goodwin are here at top form in two "novellas" — "Black Orchids" and "Cordially Invited to Meet Death." The first concerns a cleverly contrived murder at New York's annual Flower Show. The second features an adroit bit of poisoning in the fantastic Riverdale ménage — and menagerie — of a successful party-arranger for Manhattan society. First-class entertainment.

Publication history

*1942, New York:

, May 21, 1942, hardcover :In his limited-edition pamphlet, ''Collecting Mystery Fiction #9, Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe Part I'',

Otto Penzler Otto Penzler (born July 8, 1942) is a German-born American editor of mystery fiction, and proprietor of The Mysterious Bookshop in New York City. Biography Born in Germany to a German-American mother and a German father, Penzler moved to The B ...

describes the

first edition The bibliographical definition of an edition includes all copies of a book printed from substantially the same setting of type, including all minor typographical variants. First edition According to the definition of ''edition'' above, a b ...

of ''Black Orchids'': "Brick brown cloth, front cover and spine printed with black; rear cover blank. Issued in a brick brown and green pictorial dust wrapper … The first edition has the publisher's monogram logo on the copyright page." :In April 2006, ''Firsts: The Book Collector's Magazine'' estimated that the first edition of ''Black Orchids'' had a value of between $3,000 and $5,000. The estimate is for a copy in very good to fine condition in a like dustjacket.Smiley, Robin H., "Rex Stout: A Checklist of Primary First Editions." ''Firsts: The Book Collector's Magazine'' (Volume 16, Number 4), April 2006, p. 33 *1942, Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1942, hardcover *1942, New York: Detective Book Club #5, August 1942, hardcover *1943, London:

Collins Crime Club Collins Crime Club was an imprint of British book publishers William Collins, Sons and ran from 6 May 1930 to April 1994. Throughout its 64 years the club issued a total of 2,012in "The Hooded Gunman -- An Illustrated History of Collins Crime ...

, July 5, 1943, hardcover *1943, New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1943, hardcover *1945, Cleveland, Ohio: World Publishing Company, a Tower Book, March 1945, hardcover *1946, New York: Avon #95, 1946, paperback *1956, New York: Avon #714, 1956, paperback *1963, New York: Pyramid (Green Door) #R-917, September 1963, paperback *1992, New York: Bantam Crimeline May 1992, trade paperback *1996, Burlington, Ontario: Durkin Hayes Publishing, DH Audio, "Black Orchids" December 1996, audio cassette (unabridged, read by

Saul Rubinek Saul Hersh Rubinek (born July 2, 1948) is a German-born Canadian actor, director, producer, and playwright. He is widely known for his television roles, notably Artie Nielsen on '' Warehouse 13,'' Donny Douglas on ''Frasier'', Lon Cohen on ''A N ...

) *1998, Burlington, Ontario: Durkin Hayes Publishing, DH Audio August 1998, audio cassette (unabridged, read by David Elias), "Cordially Invited to Meet Death" *2009, New York: Bantam Dell Publishing Group (with ''

The Silent Speaker ''The Silent Speaker'' is a Nero Wolfe detective novel by Rex Stout, first published by the Viking Press in 1946. It was published just after World War II, and key plot elements reflect the lingering effects of the war: housing shortages and restri ...

'') August 25, 2009, trade paperback *2010, New York: Bantam Crimeline June 30, 2010,

e-book An ebook (short for electronic book), also known as an e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. Alt ...

References

External links

{{Nero Wolfe 1942 short story collections Nero Wolfe short story collections Farrar & Rinehart books