Imatge de l'autor

Rex Stout (1886–1975)

Autor/a de Fer-de-Lance

308+ obres 45,138 Membres 958 Ressenyes 186 preferits

Sobre l'autor

Author Rex Stout was born on December 1, 1886. A child prodigy with a gift for mathematics, Stout drifted as he became an adult, holding odd jobs in many places---cook, cabinetmaker, bellhop, hotel manager, salesman, bookkeeper, and even a guide in a pueblo. But his true talent lay in storytelling; mostra'n més he sold his first story, about William Howard Taft, in 1912. His most famous creation is Nero Wolfe, a 286-pound detective genius who, with sidekick Archie Goodwin, can often solve a case without leaving his room. It is the way in which the puzzle is solved that intrigues Nero Wolfe, who is much like Sherlock Holmes in his ability to use deductive reasoning. More than 60 million copies (in 24 languages) of Stout's books have been sold. Stout writes quickly, drawing upon a lifetime of impressions. He neither uses an outline nor revises; he lets his characters take over as the story develops. The classy, erudite Nero Wolfe presents for readers an alternative to the hard-boiled branch of the genre. He died on October 27, 1975 (Bowker Author Biography) mostra'n menys
Crèdit de la imatge: www.nerowolfe.org

Sèrie

Obres de Rex Stout

Fer-de-Lance (1934) 1,842 exemplars
The Doorbell Rang (1965) 1,362 exemplars
Some Buried Caesar (1939) 1,196 exemplars
Black Orchids (1969) 1,134 exemplars
And Be a Villain (1948) 1,046 exemplars
The League of Frightened Men (1935) 1,033 exemplars
The Golden Spiders (1953) 1,028 exemplars
Over My Dead Body (1940) 1,026 exemplars
The Silent Speaker (1946) 982 exemplars
Too Many Cooks (1938) 980 exemplars
Champagne for One (1958) 955 exemplars
In the Best Families (1950) 946 exemplars
The Second Confession (1949) 917 exemplars
Prisoner's Base (1952) 899 exemplars
Death of a Doxy (1966) 892 exemplars
A Right to Die (1964) 876 exemplars
Not Quite Dead Enough (1944) 855 exemplars
Murder by the Book (1951) 841 exemplars
The Rubber Band (1936) 809 exemplars
And Four to Go (1958) 804 exemplars
The Red Box (1937) 800 exemplars
Three Doors to Death (1950) 791 exemplars
Three for the Chair (1957) 790 exemplars
Before Midnight (1955) 782 exemplars
Might As Well Be Dead (1956) 775 exemplars
Plot It Yourself (1959) 771 exemplars
Three Witnesses (1956) 758 exemplars
Where There's a Will (1940) 749 exemplars
Homicide Trinity (1962) 746 exemplars
Death of a Dude (1969) 731 exemplars
Trouble in Triplicate (1949) 727 exemplars
The Black Mountain (1954) 727 exemplars
The Father Hunt (1968) 717 exemplars
Gambit (1962) 685 exemplars
A Family Affair (1975) 675 exemplars
Trio for Blunt Instruments (1964) 675 exemplars
La deducción final (1955) 663 exemplars
If Death Ever Slept (1957) 656 exemplars
Please Pass the Guilt (1973) 650 exemplars
Three at Wolfe's Door (1960) 642 exemplars
Too Many Women (1947) 634 exemplars
Too Many Clients (1960) 618 exemplars
Three Men Out (1954) 574 exemplars
Curtains for Three (1950) 574 exemplars
Triple Jeopardy (1952) 563 exemplars
Death Times Three (1985) 557 exemplars
Red Threads (1939) 307 exemplars
Double for Death (1939) 297 exemplars
The Nero Wolfe Cookbook (1969) 286 exemplars
The Hand in the Glove (1937) 282 exemplars
The Broken Vase (1941) 271 exemplars
Bad for Business (1940) 238 exemplars
The Mountain Cat Murders (1939) 230 exemplars
Sound of Murder, The (1941) 201 exemplars
Seven Complete Nero Wolfe Novels (1983) 192 exemplars
Triple Zeck: A Nero Wolfe Omnibus (1974) 161 exemplars
Her Forbidden Knight (1913) 124 exemplars
Under the Andes (1984) 122 exemplars
Omnibus 1955: Full House (1955) 106 exemplars
A Prize for Princes (1994) 104 exemplars
The President Vanishes (1967) 99 exemplars
Target Practice (1998) 82 exemplars
Omnibus 1958: All Aces (1947) 67 exemplars
How Like a God (1961) 49 exemplars
Merry Murder (1994) 40 exemplars
The Great Legend (1997) 39 exemplars
Murder on the Menu (1984) 32 exemplars
Murder Most Merry (2002) 30 exemplars
Christmas Party [novella] (1957) 22 exemplars
Black Orchids [novella] (1942) 16 exemplars
Invitation to Murder #23.1 (1954) 16 exemplars
Door to Death [novella] (1949) 14 exemplars
The Illustrious Dunderheads (1942) 14 exemplars
Seed on the Wind (2023) 13 exemplars
Disguise for Murder (1999) 13 exemplars
Die Like a Dog [novella] (1954) 12 exemplars
When a Man Murders [novella] (1954) 9 exemplars
Immune to Murder [novella] (1955) 8 exemplars
The Cop-Killer (1994) 8 exemplars
Verwünschte Geschichten (1963) 8 exemplars
Fourth of July Picnic (1957) 8 exemplars
Too Many Detectives [novella] (1956) 7 exemplars
Murder is No Joke (1958) 7 exemplars
Omit Flowers (1948) 7 exemplars
A Nero Wolfe Casebook (1992) 7 exemplars
L'eccellentissimo Nero Wolfe (1980) 7 exemplars
Io, Nero Wolfe (1989) 7 exemplars
Forest Fire 6 exemplars
Das Fenster für den Tod (1965) 5 exemplars
Nero Wolfe: Private Eye (1998) 5 exemplars
Nine Short Stories (2012) 5 exemplars
Instead of Evidence (1999) 5 exemplars
Verworrene Fäden (1966) 5 exemplars
The Adventures of Nero Wolfe (2000) 5 exemplars
A Window for Death [novella] (1956) 5 exemplars
The Rodeo Murder (1960) 5 exemplars
Death of a Demon (1961) 5 exemplars
Home to Roost 5 exemplars
Counterfeit for Murder (1961) 5 exemplars
Das Beste von Nero Wolfe (1994) 5 exemplars
Death in two installments (1965) 5 exemplars
Five seconds before dying #14 (1949) 4 exemplars
A tavola con Nero Wolfe (2005) 4 exemplars
The Zero Clue (1953) 4 exemplars
Wenn ein Mann mordet (1965) 4 exemplars
The Next Witness [novella] (1955) 4 exemplars
Eat, Drink, and Be Buried (1956) — Editor & Introduction — 4 exemplars
Rue Morgue No. 1 (1946) 4 exemplars
Easter Parade (1957) 4 exemplars
Bitter End and The Last Drive (2018) 3 exemplars
Demasiadas mujeres (1981) 3 exemplars
Man Alive {short story} (1947) 3 exemplars
Prisoner's Base (1986) 3 exemplars
By His Own Hand 3 exemplars
Nero Wolfe a cena col delitto (1973) 2 exemplars
Rex Stout Collection (2013) 2 exemplars
Un derecho a morir (1981) 2 exemplars
a cena col delitto 2 exemplars
Too many cooks (2022) 2 exemplars
Un roman a tué 1 exemplars
Ici, radio new york (1988) 1 exemplars
Plagiat 1 exemplars
Theo Drake 1 exemplars
Testament 1 exemplars
Caso em Família 1 exemplars
Kolm seiklust 1 exemplars
A Cadeia de Crimes 1 exemplars
Černé orchideje 1 exemplars
The Doorbell Rang (1965) 1 exemplars
CRIMES IMPERFEITOS 1 exemplars
La moglie perduta — Autor — 1 exemplars
Třikrát vražda 1 exemplars
Rose Orchid 1 exemplars
Mystery Trilogy 1 exemplars
Rex Stout Mystery Magazine — Editor — 1 exemplars
Delitti in vacanza 1 exemplars
Stout Rex 1 exemplars
Polowanie na matk@02DBe (1992) 1 exemplars
The poisened needle 1 exemplars
Golden Remedy 1 exemplars
O Careless Love 1 exemplars
ROMANZI 1 exemplars
Gun Puzzle 1 exemplars
Grim Fairy Tales 1 exemplars
Likvideringslisten (1980) 1 exemplars
For Tomorrow We Die 1 exemplars
Tungviktare sökes 1 exemplars
The red wool thread 1 exemplars
Please Pass the Guilt (1973) 1 exemplars
Na toho už zapomeňte (1996) 1 exemplars
Warner & Wife (2014) 1 exemplars
Nero Wolfes bomb 1 exemplars
Livsfarlig ingång 1 exemplars

Obres associades

Death on Deadline (1987) — series creator — 309 exemplars
The Big Book of Christmas Mysteries (2013) — Col·laborador — 289 exemplars
A Treasury of Great Mysteries, Volumes 1-2 (1957) — Col·laborador — 263 exemplars
Masterpieces of Mystery and Suspense (1988) — Col·laborador — 189 exemplars
A Treasury of Great Mysteries, Volume 2 (1957) — Col·laborador — 183 exemplars
The Oxford Book of American Detective Stories (1996) — Col·laborador — 176 exemplars
Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Stories to Be Read with the Door Locked (1975) — Col·laborador — 161 exemplars
A Century of Great Suspense Stories (2001) — Col·laborador — 152 exemplars
Ten Great Mysteries (1959) — Col·laborador — 101 exemplars
Murder for Christmas, Vol. 2 (1982) — Col·laborador — 86 exemplars
The Twelve Crimes of Christmas (1981) — Col·laborador — 62 exemplars
Murderous Schemes (1996) — Col·laborador — 58 exemplars
Three Times Three: A Mystery Omnibus (1964) — Col·laborador — 57 exemplars
Baker's Dozen: 13 Short Mystery Novels (1987) — Col·laborador — 57 exemplars
14 Great Detective Stories (1949) — Col·laborador — 57 exemplars
Detective Duos (1997) — Col·laborador — 51 exemplars
I Want My Mummy (1981) — Col·laborador — 40 exemplars
Canine Crimes (1993) — Col·laborador — 28 exemplars
Vogue's First Reader (1942) — Col·laborador — 27 exemplars
Murder Most Delectable: Savory Tales of Culinary Crimes (2000) — Col·laborador — 26 exemplars
Nero Wolfe: The Complete First Season (2001) — Original book — 25 exemplars
Lethal Black Book (1965) — Col·laborador — 18 exemplars
Best Detective Stories (1959) — Col·laborador — 17 exemplars
Cream of the Crime (1962) — Col·laborador — 12 exemplars
Redselen i Deptford og andre studier i Sherlock Holmes (1980) — Col·laborador — 8 exemplars
Sorte orkideer : 13 korte kriminalromaner (1988) — Col·laborador — 6 exemplars
Dolls Are Murder : a Mystery Writers of America Anthology (1957) — Col·laborador — 6 exemplars
Detective-verhalen — Col·laborador — 3 exemplars
Nye detektivhistorier fra hele verden — Autor, algunes edicions2 exemplars
Writer's Roundtable (1959) 2 exemplars
Great Stories of Detection (1960) — Col·laborador — 2 exemplars
Best Detective Stories (Volume 2) (1964) — Col·laborador — 2 exemplars
Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine - 1952/03 (1952) — Col·laborador — 1 exemplars
The Mystery Book (1939) 1 exemplars
The Second Mystery Book (1940) 1 exemplars

Etiquetat

Coneixement comú

Nom oficial
Stout, Rex Todhunter
Data de naixement
1886-12-01
Data de defunció
1975-10-27
Lloc d'enterrament
Cremated
Gènere
male
Nacionalitat
USA
Lloc de naixement
Noblesville, Indiana, USA
Lloc de defunció
Danbury, Connecticut, USA
Llocs de residència
Noblesville, Indiana, USA (Birth)
Wakarusa, Kansas, USA
Paris, France
Danbury, Connecticut, USA
Educació
University of Kansas, Lawrence
Professions
bookkeeper
sight-seeing guide
bookstore salesman
stablehand
hotel manager
detective novelist
Relacions
Stout, Ruth (sister)
Wodehouse, P. G. (friend)
Organitzacions
Authors Guild
Mystery Writers of America
United States Navy
American Civil Liberties Union
Vanguard Press
Premis i honors
MWA Grand Master (1959)
Archie Goodwin Award (2005)
Biografia breu
After leaving the Navy in 1908, he became an itinerant bookkeeper and then worked as a sight-seeing guide, bookstore salesman, stablehand and hotel manager. Later he devised and implemented a school banking system which was installed in four hundred cities and towns throughout the country. In 1927 he retired from the world of finance and began writing. In 1941 he became chairman of the Writer's War Board, and in 1943 he was elected president of the Authors Guild. He was married to wife, Pola.

Membres

Converses

Some Buried Caesar - Spoilers a The Black Orchid (A Nero Wolfe Group) (març 2021)

Ressenyes

I love every oone of the books in this series
 
Marcat
cspiwak | Hi ha 66 ressenyes més | Mar 6, 2024 |
one of my favorites in a series that's so good it's hard to choose
 
Marcat
cspiwak | Hi ha 15 ressenyes més | Mar 6, 2024 |
Wolfe on the Prowl
Review of the Bantam Kindle eBook edition (April 28, 2010) of the Farrar & Rinehart, Inc. hardcover original (August 14, 1935)

The roof of the old brownstone house on West Thirty-fifth Street where he had lived for twenty years, and me with him for the last seven of them, was glassed in and partitioned into rooms where varying conditions of temperature and humidity were maintained—by the vigilance of Theodore Horstmann—for the ten thousand orchids that lined the benches and shelves.


This is my second read of a Nero Wolfe mystery and I do not enjoy this character or his Watson. Wolfe is arrogant about his deductive powers, obsessed about orchids, beer and food and gives the appearance of being mostly disinterested in justice. A lot of that arrogance rubs off on Archie Goodwin who does the legwork for the housebound detective while running about town in his “roadster” (I don’t remember the specific car model ever being identified). Quirky and confident is not always appealing.

This case begins with the deaths of two Harvard alumni in suspicious circumstances. A large group of Harvard men had brought about the crippling fall of a Harvard freshman in a hazing incident. This same group now thinks that the disabled man, who has become a popular author in the meantime, is taking his late revenge on them all. First by committing the murders and then by following them up with threatening notes.

The mercenary Wolfe brings all of these frightened men together as the league of the title and proposes to them that he will solve their various fears and concerns for fees which will be adjusted to each man’s ability to pay. Most of them agree, and you already suspect that the situation is not quite what it appears to be. In a sense, Wolfe is scamming his clients. Saying anything further would be a spoiler.

See cover at https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/...
The cover of the first edition hardcover published by Farrar & Rinehart, Inc. in 1935. Image sourced from Goodreads.

Although I usually enjoy reading classics from the Golden Age of Crime, the Nero Wolfe mysteries don’t provide enough enjoyable protagonists or sufficient mystery for me to continue the series.

On the Berengaria Ease of Solving Scale® I would rate this as a 3 out of 10, i.e. "a reasonably easy solve", as it becomes evident fairly early on that Wolfe’s explanation for the situation is going to be drastically different from what the plot seems to suggest.

Trivia and Links
See poster at https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/98/League_of_frightened_men.jpg
Promotional poster for the 1937 film adaptation. Image sourced from Wikipedia.

This 2nd Nero Wolfe book was adapted as the 2nd Nero Wolfe film The League of Frightened Men (1937) directed by Alfred E. Green and starring Walter Connolly as Nero Wolfe. You can see the entire film on YouTube here. Author Rex Stout disliked the film’s portrayals of his characters so much that he refused permission for further screen adaptations for over 30 years until a first Italian language TV series adaptation in 1969 and then several TV movies & series thereafter.
… (més)
 
Marcat
alanteder | Hi ha 31 ressenyes més | Feb 19, 2024 |
The Wolfe Begins
Review of the Crimeline Kindle eBook edition (February 2018) of the Farrar & Rinehart, Inc. hardcover original (October 24, 1934)

It is always wiser, where there is a choice, to trust to inertia. It is the greatest force in the world.


I never really took to the un-moveable detective character of Nero Wolfe, who stays in his New York brownstone and has his assistant Archie Goodwin do all the legwork on his investigations. In my transfer of my pre-GR database into GR back in 2010, I see that I had only read a few of those novels by Rex Stout. Having recent read the very early Rex Stout serialization Her Forbidden Knight (1913) I was curious to take a look at the first Nero Wolfe novel as well.

See illustration at https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/29/Wolfe-Fer-de-Lance.jpg...
Nero Wolfe and his assistant Archie Goodwin prepare to fight off the venomous snake of the title in an illustration by Fred Ludekens for an abridgement which appeared in the November 1934 issue of The American Magazine. Image sourced from Wikipedia.

The case is a bit of a bait and switch as it turns out that one of the murder victims was actually an accidental casualty. The true intended victim and the culprit become apparent early on, so it is only a case of attempting to find proof. The venom of the title snake is the murder method and at one point the villain makes a murder attempt on Wolfe himself by sending the reptile in a parcel.

See cover at https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/...
The cover of the first edition hardcover published by Farrar & Rinehart, Inc. in 1934. Image sourced from Goodreads.

Wolfe makes a lot of pronouncements and Goodwin does a considerable amount of running around in his roadster to assemble witnesses and testimonies. The team has already been in place for several years at this point, and occasional references are made to earlier cases, so this is not an origin story. Everything is set in place for the series with Wolfe often seeming more concerned with his meals and drink and his orchids than the actual investigation. Despite the quirkiness. it does not make for a very endearing character.

On the Berengaria Ease of Solving Scale® I would rate this as a 1 out of 10, i.e. "an easy solve", as the culprit is identified very early due to the limited field of suspects.

Trivia and Links
Fer-De-Lance was adapted as the film Meet Nero Wolfe (1936) directed by Herbert J. Biberman and starring Edward Arnold as Nero Wolfe. You can see the entire film on YouTube here. The film includes an early appearance by Rita Hayworth (then Rita Cansino) (1918-1987) in the role of Maria (see at 9'14" onwards). The film makes several changes from the source material.
… (més)
 
Marcat
alanteder | Hi ha 66 ressenyes més | Feb 6, 2024 |

Llistes

Premis

Potser també t'agrada

Autors associats

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Lawrence Block Introduction
Isaac Asimov Introduction, Editor
Julian Symons Contributor
Bill English Cover artist, Cover designer
Saul Rubinek Narrator, Reader
Ann Cleeves Contributor
Lee Goldberg Screenplay
Agatha Christie Contributor
R. Austin Freeman Contributor
William Rabkin Screenplay
Tom Hallman Cover artist
Eero Ahmavaara Translator
Robert Goldsborough Introduction
Otto Penzler Introduction
Reijo Kalvas Translator
Eila Pennanen Translator
Elsa Askeland Translator
Leif Borthen Translator, Afterword
Reijo Lehtonen Translator
Alfredo Pitta Translator
Donald E. Westlake Introduction
Renate Guttmann Übersetzer, Translator
Kalevi Nyytäjä Translator
Diane Mott Davidson Introduction
Linda Barnes Introduction
Loren D. Estleman Introduction
Stuart Kaminsky Introduction
Maan Meyers Introduction
John Jakes Introduction
Peter Fischer Translator
Celso Nogueira Translator
Peter Straub Introduction
Ida Omboni Translator
Walter Mosley Introduction
Martin Neumann Translator
Patricia Sprinkle Introduction
Martti Montonen Translator
William G. Tapply Introduction
Hilkka Pekkanen Translator
Marilyn Wallace Introduction
William L. Deandrea Introduction
Hanno Vammelvuo Translator
Gerald Gregg Cover artist
David Handler Introduction
John Lutz Introduction
Jane Haddam Introduction
Carolyn G. Hart Introduction
Jonathan Kellerman Introduction
Sharyn McCrumb Introduction
Seppo Virtanen Translator
John Katzenbach Introduction
Susan Conant Introduction
Dean Koontz Introduction
Stephen Greenleaf Introduction
Olli-Pekka Rönn Translator
Randy Russell Introduction
Laura Grimaldi Translator
Kari Nenonen Translator
Paul Lehr Cover artist
Margaret Maron Introduction
Robert B. Parker Introduction
Barye Phillips Cover artist
Aaron Elkins Introduction
Judith Kelman Introduction
John J. McAleer Introduction
Robert J. Conley Introduction
Rita Mae Brown Introduction
David Pelavin Cover artist
Karl Hellwig Translator
Grazia Griffini Translator
Astrid Stange Translator
Adelchi Galloni Cover artist
Margret Haas Translator
Tom McKeveny Cover designer

Estadístiques

Obres
308
També de
51
Membres
45,138
Popularitat
#363
Valoració
3.9
Ressenyes
958
ISBN
1,374
Llengües
20
Preferit
186

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