
Reserve it at BN.com & pick it up in 60 minutes at your local store.
Enter a zip code
(Paperback)
A grand master of the form, Rex Stout is one of America’s greatest mystery writers, and his literary creation Nero Wolfe is one of fiction’s greatest detectives. Here, in Stout’s third and fourth complete Wolfe mysteries, the arrogant, gourmandizing, sedentary sleuth and his trusty man-about-town, Archie Goodwin, solve two of their most baffling cases.
The Rubber Band
What do a Wild West lynching and a respected English nobleman have in common? On the surface, absolutely nothing. But when a young woman hires his services, it becomes Nero Wolfe’s job to look deeper and find the connection. A forty-year-old pact, a five-thousand-mile search, and a million-dollar murder are all linked to an international scandal that could rebound on the great detective and his partner, Archie, with fatal abruptness.
The Red Box
Murder by chocolate? That’s the premise Nero Wolfe must operate from when a beautiful woman is poisoned after indulging in a box of candy. It’s a case that the great detective—no stranger himself to overindulgence—is loath to take for a variety of reasons, including that it may require that he leave his comfortable brownstone. But he and Archie are compelled by a mystery that mixes high fashion and low motives…and a killer who may have made the deadliest mistake.
Rex Stout, born 1886 in Indiana/USA, worked at thirty different professions until he earned enough money to travel. In 1932, he began to write thrillers focusing on the famous detective Nero Wolfe. Nero is a gourmet weighing more than a hundred kilos, and moving as little as possible. Rex Stout finished more than fifty novels and received the "Grand Masters Award". He died 1975.
Reader Rating:
See Detailed Ratings
September 05, 2009: This two book volume contains classic Rex Stout, the snobbery of the detective countered by the sassiness of his assistant. The Rubber Band is on of Stout's more complex short stories with a very unique ending. The Red Box is more direct with strong Rex Stout characters and fine tuned dialogue. A double treat for all Rex Stout fans!
I Also Recommend: Trio for Blunt Instruments (Nero Wolfe Series), Fer-de-Lance/The League of Frightened Men, Some Buried Caesar/The Golden Spiders, Too Many Cooks/Champagne for One, Death Times Three (Nero Wolfe Series).
Reader Rating:
See Detailed Ratings
August 22, 2009: Nero Wolfe solves mysteries from the comfort of his New York apartment with the sweat and leg work of his right hand man Archie Goodwin and assorted operatives.
Archie is the streetwise, suave counterpart to Nero Wolfe`s rather effete and neurotic character.The dialogue is very intelligent...never vulgar...and always entertaining.