Tuesday, November 15, 2022

"The Doorbell Rang," Previewed by Lewis Nichols, New York Times, October 24, 1965



From the New York Times, October 24, 1965:

"Nero has been solving sinister problems since "Fer-de-Lance" in 1934. "The Doorbell Rang" is the 30th Nero Wolfe book, or if you wish to add omnibus collections, the 35th Nero Wolfe book, both numbers as round as Nero is, in life, rotund. No one has ever bothered to figure officially the sales, but Nero has appeared in 22 languages, and Mr. Stout would give an unchecked guess that total sales have been about 40,000,000 copies."--Lewis Nichols

Sunday, November 13, 2022

"Royal Flush" Reviewed by Anthony Boucher, August 15, 1965


From the New York Times, August 15, 1965:

"Reprint Dept.: Rex Stout's ROYAL FLUSH (Viking. $3.95), the fourth Nero Wolfe omnibus, contains "Fer-de-Lance" (1934), the historic Wolfe debut; "Murder by the Book" (1951), one of the best middle-period Stouts; and "Three Witnesses" (1956), a trio of fine novelettes including the classic "Die Like a Dog"—almost a quarter of a million words of excellent value."

 

Saturday, November 12, 2022

"Nero Wolfe of West Thirty-Fifth Street" by William S. Baring-Gould, Reviewed by Harold C. Schonberg


From the New York Times, January 30, 1969:

"When Baring-Gould is on facts, he is fine. But when he starts to speculate, his enthusiasm leads him to unsupported conclusions. The theory, for example, that Wolfe's parents were Sherlock Holmes and Irene Adler, and that he is Archie's uncle, has too many holes to be taken seriously. As Wolfe himself might say, shards of data improperly glued together build a grotesque artifact lacking in libratory quality."


From the New York Times, August 12, 1967:

"William Stuart Baring Gould, an author and authority on Sherlock Holmes, died of a stroke last night at the Northern Westchester Hospital in Mount Kisco. He was 54 year old and lived on East Wood Road.

"Mr. Baring-Gould was preparing a "biography" of Nero Wolfe, the detective created by Rex Stout. Scheduled for publication before the end of the year is his "The Annotated Sherlock Holmes," a collection of all the Holmes stories written by Conan Doyle, who died in 1930."




 

Tuesday, November 8, 2022

"A Right to Die" Reviewed by Anthony Boucher, October 25, 1964

From the New York Times, October 25, 1964:

"Mike Shayne made his debut in 1939; five years earlier, Rex. Stout introduced one of the immortals among series detectives, Nero Wolfe, who has had few better novel-length cases than A RIGHT TO DIE (Viking, $3.50). Here Wolfe has a Negro client, to say nothing of a few Negro suspects, and his murder investigation is largely entangled with the affairs of R.O.C.C. (the Rights of Citizens Committee). Mr. Stout handles black-white relationships with honesty, intelligence and wit. The unconventional situation presents Wolfe as a more fully-dimensioned character than usual and stimulates his creator to one of his best puzzles."