''Fer-de-Lance'' is the first
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 ...
detective novel
Detective fiction is a subgenre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an investigator or a detective—whether professional, amateur or retired—investigates a crime, often murder. The detective genre began around the same time as s ...
written 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 1934 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. The novel 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), ' ...
'' (November 1934) under the title "Point of Death". The novel was adapted for the 1936 film ''
Meet Nero Wolfe
''Meet Nero Wolfe'' is a 1936 mystery film based on the 1934 novel '' Fer-de-Lance'', written by Rex Stout. Set in New York, the story introduced the detective genius Nero Wolfe ( Edward Arnold) and his assistant Archie Goodwin (Lionel Stander). ...
''. In his seminal 1941 work, ''Murder for Pleasure'', crime fiction historian
Howard Haycraft
Howard Haycraft (July 25, 1905November 12, 1991) was an American writer, editor, and publisher.
Haycraft was born on July 24, 1905, in Madelia, Minnesota, to Marie (Stelzer) and Julius Everett Haycraft. He received a bachelor's degree from the ...
included ''Fer-de-Lance'' in his definitive list of the most influential works of mystery fiction.
Plot introduction
![Wolfe-Fer-de-Lance-ad](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/Wolfe-Fer-de-Lance-ad.jpg)
In the opening chapter, Wolfe decides to give up drinking bootleg beer and sends Fritz to purchase samples of every legally available brand (49 in all) so he can select a replacement. The date set in the novel is given as June 7, Wednesday, which makes the year 1933. The
Cullen–Harrison Act
The Cullen–Harrison Act, named for its sponsors, Senator Pat Harrison and Representative Thomas H. Cullen, enacted by the United States Congress on March 21, 1933, and signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt the following day, legalized the ...
had just become law on April 7, 1933, legalising "3.2 beer" (3.2% alcohol by weight, approximately 4% alcohol by volume), a point mentioned in passing in the novel.
As Wolfe samples the beers and is surprised to find that none of them are unpalatable, Fred Durkin arrives and asks sheepishly if Wolfe can speak with Maria Maffei, a friend of his wife. Maria's brother Carlo, a metalworker, was unemployed (it was during the
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
) and was supposed to return to Italy. He suddenly seemed to come into money, and then disappeared mysteriously. Impressed by Maria Maffei, Wolfe instructs Goodwin to make enquiries. Wolfe and Goodwin soon learn that Carlo's disappearance somehow involves the death of a college president while playing golf in
Westchester County, New York
Westchester County is located in the U.S. state of New York. It is the seventh most populous county in the State of New York and the most populous north of New York City. According to the 2020 United States Census, the county had a population o ...
.
As the first novel in the series, ''Fer-de-Lance'' introduces
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 ...
,
Archie Goodwin,
Fritz Brenner,
Saul Panzer,
Fred Durkin,
Orrie Cather and other characters who recur throughout the entire corpus. Although the characters are not as fully developed as they would become later in the series, the essential characteristics of Wolfe, Archie and several other regulars already are clearly present.
However, there are some inconsistencies with the characters and settings that would be used going forward. In particular, the novel's descriptions of Wolfe's Manhattan brownstone conflict with the established architecture set down by Stout in all subsequent novels and stories. Likewise, the characters have slightly different personalities: Wolfe's manner of speaking is notably more baroque and long-winded than in later stories, and Archie is generally coarser and less polished in this work than in later Stout volumes, even using racial epithets at times. Finally, Orrie Cather is introduced in ''Fer-de-Lance'' as a crusty old veteran detective, who smokes cigars; in all future Stout works, he would be a younger, self-confident ladies' man with no cigar-smoking habit.
The story's title is the common name of ''
Bothrops atrox
''Bothrops atrox'' — also known as the common lancehead, ''fer-de-lance'', ''barba amarilla''Campbell JA, Lamar WW. 2004. ''The Venomous Reptiles of the Western Hemisphere''. Comstock Publishing Associates, Ithaca and London. 870 pp. 1500 plate ...
'', a venomous South American snake.
Fer-de-Lance is French for spearhead, literally ''iron of the lance''.
In ''Fer-de-Lance,'' Stout reused a key plot point relating to the murder weapon that he had used in his early mystery ''The Last Drive'', which was serialized in ''Golfers Magazine'' in 1916. This story had been forgotten for many years—it is not mentioned in Stout's biography or in bibliographies of his works—until it was rediscovered in 2011.
Plot summary
![Wolfe-Fer-de-Lance](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/Wolfe-Fer-de-Lance.jpg)
Maria Maffei, a family friend of one of Wolfe's free-lance men, offers to hire Wolfe to locate her missing brother Carlo, a metalworker. Wolfe, affected by the
Depression, decides to take the job, although it is unappealing to him. Archie locates Anna Fiore, a girl who listened in on a phone call Carlo received at his boarding-house shortly before his disappearance. Wolfe learns from her that Carlo had clipped a story from a copy of ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' about the sudden death (apparently by stroke) of Peter Oliver Barstow, president of Holland College. However, Anna refuses to provide any further details about Carlo, who is soon found dead in the countryside, stabbed in the back.
From reading the account of Barstow's death, which occurred during a round of golf, Wolfe conjectures that one of his clubs may have been altered to fire a poisoned needle into his belly. An autopsy proves Wolfe right, and he and Archie begin to concentrate on the Barstow family and their acquaintances, E.D. Kimball and his son Manuel, who had both been part of the golf foursome. While trying to figure out the whereabouts of Barstow's golf bag, Archie learns from the group's caddies that he had borrowed a driver from E.D. during the round. This fact, coupled with E.D.'s accounts of his past in
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
, leads Wolfe and Archie to conclude that Manuel had intended to kill his father, not Barstow, in revenge for the death of his mother years earlier. Archie confirms Manuel's movements on the day Carlo was killed, making him a suspect in that murder as well. Manuel retaliates by having an associate plant a deadly ''
Bothrops atrox
''Bothrops atrox'' — also known as the common lancehead, ''fer-de-lance'', ''barba amarilla''Campbell JA, Lamar WW. 2004. ''The Venomous Reptiles of the Western Hemisphere''. Comstock Publishing Associates, Ithaca and London. 870 pp. 1500 plate ...
'' viper in Wolfe's desk drawer, but Wolfe and Archie find and kill it.
File:Wolfe-Fer-de-Lance-2.jpg
File:Wolfe-Fer-de-Lance-3.jpg
With Maria's cooperation, Wolfe and Archie arrange a robbery in the countryside to scare Anna into telling what she knows. The trick works, and she hands over documents proving that Manuel hired Carlo to build the driver that killed Barstow. With the Kimball estate staked out, and a copy of the evidence delivered to Manuel, Archie leads the local police in so they can make an arrest. They learn that Manuel, an avid pilot, has taken E.D. up for a flight, and are shocked when the plane suddenly nose-dives into the ground; the impact kills both of them.
Wolfe collects both the $50,000 reward that Barstow's widow had offered for the capture of his killer, and another $10,000 from a
district attorney
In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a l ...
who had been skeptical of the murder theory. Wolfe comments that the climax of the case gave both E.D. and Manuel a chance to end their lives without any sense of bitterness or despair, but Archie notes that it has also kept Wolfe from having to leave his comfortable house in order to testify at a murder trial.
The unfamiliar word
"Like all of us, Wolfe has his favorite words, phrases, and sayings," wrote
William S. Baring-Gould William Stuart Baring-Gould (1913–10 Aug 1967) was a noted Sherlock Holmes scholar, best known as the author of the influential 1962 fictional biography, ''Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street, Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street: A Life of the World's ...
. "Among the words, many are unusual and some are abstruse."
"Nero Wolfe talks in a way that no human being on the face of the earth has ever spoken, with the possible exception of Rex Stout after he had a gin and tonic," said
Michael Jaffe
Michael Muir Jaffe (born January 9, 1945) is an American TV and film producer. He started out in the business with his father, producer and former AFTRA lawyer Henry Jaffe (1907–1992). His mother was actress Jean Muir. He has more than 120 ...
, executive producer of the A&E TV series, ''
A Nero Wolfe Mystery
''Nero Wolfe'' is a television series adapted from Rex Stout's Rex Stout bibliography#Nero Wolfe corpus, series of detective stories that aired for two seasons (2001–2002) on A&E (TV channel), A&E. Set in New York City sometime in the 1940s– ...
''.
Examples of unfamiliar words — or unfamiliar uses of words that some would otherwise consider familiar — are found throughout the corpus, often in the give-and-take between Wolfe and Archie.
*
Myrmidon, chapter 13. While on his way to see D.A. Anderson in White Plains, Archie remarks, "And here was I ... headed for a revelation to the District Attorney that would probably result in my having the pleasure of meeting H.R. Corbett or some other flat-footed myrmidon in the anteroom of E. D. Kimball's office — and wouldn't that have been nice?"
Cast of characters
*Nero Wolfe — The private investigator
*Archie Goodwin — Wolfe's assistant, and the narrator of all Wolfe stories
*Carlo Maffei — Italian-American metalworker whose disappearance forces Wolfe to begin working
*Maria Maffei — Sister of Carlo Maffei and friend of Fred Durkin's wife
*Peter Oliver Barstow — President of Holland University (fictional), whose bizarre death on a golf course is the key to the mystery
*Lawrence Barstow — Peter Barstow's son, who was with him when he died
*Ellen Barstow — Widow of Peter Barstow
*Sarah Barstow — Peter Barstow's daughter who graduated from
Smith College
Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smith (Smith College ...
*E.D. Kimball — Grain broker who was one of the foursome when Barstow died
*Manuel Kimball — E.D. Kimball's son who was also one of the foursome, and also an aviator
*Dr. Nathaniel Bradford — Family physician of the Barstows and friend of Peter since childhood
*Anna Fiore — Cleaning girl at Carlo Maffei's boarding house
*Saul Panzer, Fred Durkin, Orrie Cather and Bill Gore — Freelance detectives employed by Wolfe
Reviews and commentary
* Isaac Anderson, ''
The New York Times Book Review
''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely rea ...
'' — Several times in the course of this story Nero Wolfe is called a genius. The term is painfully inadequate, but it is the best that the dictionary offers ... The only thing that he does not know at the very beginning is the identity of the murderer. That he is to learn later, and the method he chooses for revealing his knowledge to the authorities provides a sensational concluding chapter for a story that abounds in surprises. Nero Wolfe is so fat that locomotion is next to impossible for him. For his fact-finding he depends upon his secretary, Archie, and it is the latter who tells the tale. The author has done a clever bit of work in making the narrative style employed by Archie correspond so exactly to his character and attainments as they are revealed in little touches here and there throughout the book.
*
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 ...
'' — The first and longest of the Nero Wolfe stories, in which all the familiar characters and their habits get established. The murder is done by means of a golf club—the implement, not the membership—and it entangles a college president, a baby, some Italian nondescripts, and much philosophizing by Wolfe and futilizing by the police.
* Frederick Isaac, ''In the Beginning: First Novels in Mystery Series'' — Rex Stout's ''Fer-de-Lance'', then, may be said to have heralded the beginning of several eras. It was, first and foremost, the opening of one of America's best detective series, introducing Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin and their world to generations of readers. Second, Archie's presence raises serious questions about the possible roles that the detective's assistant could and should play in the investigative process, some of which remain open even today. ... Third, Wolfe and Archie began to redefine the relationship between the two traditions of the Great Detective and the hard-boiled sleuth. ... By identifying both of these strands and personifying them in Wolfe and Archie, Stout challenged the world of detection to analyze itself. The genre has never been the same since. It was quite a start.
* John McAleer, ''Rex Stout: A Biography'' — Justice
Oliver Wendell Holmes died on 6 March 1935, at ninety-four. During the last year of his life he read ''Fer-de-Lance''. After his death, a marginal note he had made was found.
Carl Van Doren
Carl Clinton Van Doren (September 10, 1885 – July 18, 1950) was an American critic and biographer. He was the brother of critic and teacher Mark Van Doren and the uncle of Charles Van Doren.
He won the 1939 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autob ...
got hold of it and showed it to Rex. It read, "This fellow is the best of them all." Another early and steadfast admirer was
William Faulkner
William Cuthbert Faulkner (; September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American writer known for his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, based on Lafayette County, Mississippi, where Faulkner spent most of ...
. Carvell Collins, whom Faulkner picked as his literary executor, says: "Among the detective fiction Faulkner read — and it was of considerable quantity — he especially liked that by Rex Stout. One of Mr. Stout's novels which was singled out was ''Fer-de-Lance''.
* J. Kenneth Van Dover, ''At Wolfe's Door'' — The basic conventions are all in evidence — Wolfe's obesity, immobility, daily routines, elegant diction. Panzer, Durkin, Cather, and Gore debut in supporting roles. Wolfe and Archie engage in typical squabbles; Wolfe is gratuitously and offensively curt to certain callers, and is an irresistible host to others. His ethical standards are unusually idiosyncratic …
Adaptations
''Meet Nero Wolfe''
Columbia Pictures adapted the first Nero Wolfe novel for the screen in 1936, as ''
Meet Nero Wolfe
''Meet Nero Wolfe'' is a 1936 mystery film based on the 1934 novel '' Fer-de-Lance'', written by Rex Stout. Set in New York, the story introduced the detective genius Nero Wolfe ( Edward Arnold) and his assistant Archie Goodwin (Lionel Stander). ...
''.
Herbert Biberman
Herbert J. Biberman (March 4, 1900 – June 30, 1971) was an American screenwriter and film director. He was one of the Hollywood Ten and directed ''Salt of the Earth (1954 film), Salt of the Earth'' (1954), a film barely released in the United S ...
directed a cast that included
Edward Arnold as Wolfe;
Lionel Stander
Lionel Jay Stander (January 11, 1908 – November 30, 1994) was an American actor in films, radio, theater and television. He is best remembered for his role as majordomo Max on the 1980s mystery television series ''Hart to Hart''.
Early ...
as Archie Goodwin;
John Qualen
John Qualen (born Johan Mandt Kvalen, December 8, 1899 – September 12, 1987) was an American character actor of Norwegian heritage who specialized in Scandinavian roles.
Early years
Qualen was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, the son ...
as Olaf, Wolfe's Scandinavian chef; and a young
Rita Hayworth
Rita Hayworth (born Margarita Carmen Cansino; October 17, 1918May 14, 1987) was an American actress, dancer and producer. She achieved fame during the 1940s as one of the era's top stars, appearing in 61 films over 37 years. The press coined th ...
(then Rita Cansino) as Maria Maringola, who sets the story in motion when she asks for Wolfe's help in finding her missing brother, Carlo.
In 2002 ''
Scarlet Street
''Scarlet Street'' is a 1945 American film noir directed by Fritz Lang. The screenplay concerns two criminals who take advantage of a middle-aged painter in order to steal his artwork. The film is based on the French novel ''La Chienne'' (literal ...
'' magazine revisited the film—little seen in the years after its release — finding it neither the travesty it is sometimes thought to be, nor a faithful recreation of the world of Nero Wolfe. "Judging the film as a film and dismissing questions of fidelity to the source material, ''Meet Nero Wolfe'' is an above average minor A picture, a solid mystery, and unfailingly entertaining," the magazine reported. "No, at bottom, it's not Rex Stout's Nero and Archie, but it's a well-developed mystery (thanks to Stout's plot) with compensations all its own—and an interesting piece of Wolfeana."
''Nero Wolfe'' (Radiotelevisione italiana S.p.A.)
On April 5, 2012, the
RAI
RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana (; commercially styled as Rai since 2000; known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane) is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many ter ...
network in Italy began a ''Nero Wolfe'' television series starring
Francesco Pannofino
Francesco Pannofino (born 14 November 1958) is an Italian actor and voice actor.
Biography
Born in Pieve di Teco, Pannofino's parents originated from Locorotondo. Sometime after 1972, he and his family moved to Rome. He began his career in the 1 ...
as Nero Wolfe and
Pietro Sermonti
Pietro Sermonti (born 25 October 1971) is an Italian stage, film and television actor.
Life and career
Born in Rome, Sermonti is the son of writer of Tuscan and Sicilian descent, and businesswoman Samaritana Rattazzi from Piedmont, a daughte ...
as Archie Goodwin. Produced by Casanova Multimedia and
Rai Fiction
Rai Fiction is an Italian production company founded in 1997. It is owned and operated by ''Radiotelevisione Italiana'' ( RAI), the national broadcasting company of Italy.
The company produces content for RAI's channels. The company produces anim ...
, the eight-episode first season opened with "La traccia del serpente," an adaptation of ''Fer-de-Lance'' set in 1959 in Rome, where Wolfe and Archie reside after leaving the United States. Additional cast include
Andy Luotto
André Paul "Andy" Luotto (born 30 July 1950) is an American actor, comedian, musician, chef, and restaurateur. He has resided in Italy since the mid-1970s, where he is a prolific television personality, and is the owner and operator of the Lá re ...
as Wolfe's chef, Nanni Laghi;
Giulia Bevilacqua
Giulia Bevilacqua (born 19 May 1979) is an Italian film, stage and television actress.
Life and career
Born in Rome, the younger daughter of two architects, Bevilacqua studied at the Accademia Filarmonica as a chorister, and then attended at ...
as reporter Rosa Petrini; and
Dajana Roncione as Anna Fiore. The story was adapted by
Piero Bodrato;
Riccardo Donna Riccardo is a male given name, Italian version of Ricardo or Richard. It also may be a surname. It means "Powerful Leader".
It may refer to:
People A–L
*Riccardo Antoniazzi (1853–1912), Italian violin maker
*Riccardo Bacchelli (1891–1985), ...
directed.
Publication history
*1934, ''
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), ' ...
'', abridged as "Point of Death," November 1934
*1934, New York:
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 ...
, October 24, 1934, 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 "notoriously rare"
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 ''Fer-de-Lance'': "Black cloth, front cover and spine stamped with gold lettering; rear cover blank. Issued in a mainly black, pink and green pictorial dust wrapper … As is true of all the Nero Wolfe novels published by Farrar & Rinehart, the first edition may be identified by the appearance of the publisher's monogram logo on the copyright page. If no logo appears on the copyright page the book is a later printing."
Farrar & Rinehart issued a second printing in December 1934, and a third printing in October 1935.
In April 2006, ''Firsts: The Book Collector's Magazine'' estimated that the first edition of ''Fer-de-Lance'' had a value of $15,000 and up. The estimate is for a copy in very good to fine condition in a like dustjacket.
*1934, Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1934, hardcover
*1934, Brooklyn, NY: Junior Book Club, 1934, hardcover
*1935, London: Cassell, 1935, hardcover
*1936, New York: Grosset and Dunlap, June 1936, hardcover
*1941, New York: Pocket Books, July 1941, paperback
* New York:
Lawrence E. Spivak
Lawrence may refer to:
Education Colleges and universities
* Lawrence Technological University, a university in Southfield, Michigan, United States
* Lawrence University, a liberal arts university in Appleton, Wisconsin, United States
Preparato ...
, Mercury Mystery #37, not dated, abridged as "Meet Nero Wolfe," paperback
* 1953, ''Verdict'', June–October 1953, paperback
* 1955, London: Penguin, 1955, paperback
* 1958, New York: Dell Great Mystery Library D223, March 1958, paperback
* 1964, New York: Pyramid (Green Door), February 1964, paperback
* 1965, New York: Viking, ''Royal Flush'' (with ''
Murder by the Book
''Murder by the Book'' is a Nero Wolfe detective novel by Rex Stout published in 1951 by the Viking Press, and collected in the omnibus volume ''Royal Flush'' (1965).
Plot summary
Inspector Cramer takes the unprecedented step of approaching Nero ...
'' and ''
Three Witnesses
The Three Witnesses is the collective name for three men connected with the early Latter Day Saint movement who stated that an angel had shown them the golden plates from which Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon; they also stated that t ...
''), July 23, 1965, hardcover
* 1970, London:
Hamish Hamilton
Hamish Hamilton Limited was a British book publishing house, founded in 1931 eponymously by the half-Scot half-American Jamie Hamilton (''Hamish'' is the vocative form of the Gaelic Seumas eaning James ''James'' the English form – which was ...
, hardcover
* 1976, New York:
Pyramid Books
Jove Books, formerly known as Pyramid Books, is an American paperback and eBook publishing imprint, founded as an independent paperback house in 1949 by Almat Magazine Publishers (Alfred R. Plaine and Matthew Huttner). The company was sold to ...
, paperback
* 1983, New York:
Bantam Books
Bantam Books is an American publishing house owned entirely by parent company Random House, a subsidiary of Penguin Random House; it is an imprint of the Random House Publishing Group. It was formed in 1945 by Walter B. Pitkin, Jr., Sidney B. ...
, paperback
* 1984, New York: Bantam Books, paperback, 50th Anniversary Edition, with a foreword by Ellen E. Krieger and "Nero Wolfe: A Retrospective" by John McAleer
* 1992, New York: Bantam Crimeline February 1992, paperback, Rex Stout Library edition with introduction by
Loren D. Estleman
Loren D. Estleman (born September 15, 1952, in Ann Arbor, Michigan) is an American writer of detective and Western fiction. He is known for a series of crime novels featuring the investigator Amos Walker.
Life and work
Estleman graduated fro ...
and back matter including a reprint of Rex Stout's confidential memo of September 15, 1949, describing Nero Wolfe, Archie Goodwin and Wolfe's office
* 1998, New York: Otto Penzler Books (Otto Penzler's First Edition Library) , February 1998, hardcover (facsimile first edition)
* 2004, Auburn, California: The Audio Partners Publishing Corp., Mystery Masters , May 2004, audio CD (unabridged, read by
Michael Prichard
Michael Prichard is an American actor and audiobook reader.
Prichard grew up on a farm in Kansas, and first developed his baritone voice by singing. He earned an MFA in theater from the University of Southern California.
He is best known for narr ...
)
* 2008, New York: Bantam Dell Publishing Group (with ''
The League of Frightened Men
''The League of Frightened Men'' is the second Nero Wolfe detective novel by Rex Stout. The story was serialized in six issues of ''The Saturday Evening Post'' (June 15–July 20, 1935) under the title ''The Frightened Men''. The novel was publish ...
'') , June 2008, paperback
* 2010, New York: Bantam Crimeline , July 21, 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
*
*
*
Wikiquote: Quote of the Day, December 1, 2013
{{Nero Wolfe
1934 American novels
Fiction set in 1933
Novels set in the 1930s
Nero Wolfe novels by Rex Stout
Farrar & Rinehart books
Works originally published in The American Magazine
Novels set in New York (state)
American novels adapted into films