"Trio for Blunt Instruments" Reviewed by John Canaday

"The new stories run true to formula, which for fans is a primary pleasure. Nero Wolfe's lips push in and out, in and out, when he is in the throes of revelation. Archie ogles the girls and is innocently narcissistic about his build and his dancing. Inspector Cramer gets red in the face. And Archie, when all labors are done, goes off to relax with Lily Rowan, leaving the reader in a speculative glow as to the raptures involved. Mr. Stout could perform a great public service by being more, specific about this delectable creature's ad-dress. She lives somewhere in the East Seventies. But he is too cagey."

From the New York Times, May 28, 1964.

"The Mother Hunt" Reviewed by Anthony Boucher, August 4, 1963

 

"Standard detectives at work: Nero Wolfe faces a weak whodunit problem, unsolvable by the reader, in Rex Stout's THE MOTHER HUNT (Viking, $3.50); his acerbity, however, is as enjoyable as ever, and there's some fine investigation of a baby's parentage (father probable, mother unknown, to reverse the usual order) . . ."

from New York Times, August 4, 1963.

"The Final Deduction" Reviewed by Anthony Boucher, October 22, 1961

"Readers of the latest Rex Stout novel, THE FINAL DEDUCTION (Viking, $2.95), will learn, among other things, an unfamiliar word (subdolous) and a brand-new motive for crime—both most astutely deployed by Nero Wolfe and his creator."

 

"Five of a Kind" Reviewed by Anthony Boucher, July 30, 1961

"A less arguable omnibus [than the first Fleming omnibus, GILT-EDGED BONDS (Macmillan, $4.95)] stars Nero Wolfe in Rex Stout's FIVE OF A KIND (Viking, $3.95) which contains the fine early vintage "The Rubber Band" (1936), the preposterous but enjoyable "In the Best Families" (1950), in which Wolfe duels with his own equivalent of Moriarty, and the three novelettes gathered in 1950 as "Three Doors to Death"—including "Door to Death" itself, one of my high favorites among Wolfe's shorter cases."

"One virtue I must acknowledge: nobody writes about gambling better than Fleming, and the first half of "Casino" is a brilliant novelette. From there on, I wish somebody would tell me why this is fun for so many."

"Too Many Clients" Reviewed by Anthony Boucher, November 20, 1960

From "Criminals at Large," by Anthony Boucher, New York Times, November 20, 1960.

"Wolfe happens to possess a fragment of inside information on the murder of an unusually whole-hearted satyr. Problem: How to parlay this fragment into a sizeable fee from a client?"

 

"3 At Wolfe's Door" Reviewed by Anthony Boucher, May 15, 1960

"Personal favorite: "The Rodeo Murder," with a lariat contest on Park Avenue and the first opportunity I can recall to get acquainted with Archie's Lily Rowan, who is usually kept discreetly offstage."