The Rubber Band

Rating:
Summary: No. 2
Review: An early Wolfe, very strong plot and fun read. If not quite up to the next 10 or so efforts it is smoother than Fer-de-Lance and Stout begins to humanize Wolfe's character. I think Inspector Cramer makes his first appearance,too.

Rating:
Summary: Take the Pledge of the Rubber Band
Review: Rubber Coleman got his nickname by always seeming to bounce back after being knocked down in a fight. [Why did this remind me of Bill Clinton??]

Rex Stout bounced back from The League of Frightened Gentlemen with this one - the first of a few of his which jumped off Manhattan Island and recounted a tall tale of the old West. The League scared some of his early readers, I think: it was too ethereal and high-concept.

The Rubber Band shoots from the hip, by sharp contrast. Since Rex had traveled the whole United States by this time, and had spent considerable time in the West, his background should at least lend credence to the accuracy of this story.

However, like some of the reviews below assert, its actual credibility is really thin. I won't say more, since the book is enjoyable despite its flaws, but don't expect Fer de Lance, and...

...you won't be disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: Unlikely Wolfe
Review: The third Wolfe, in similar melodramatic vein to The Red Box. Adventure story riddled with improbable coincidences. Check out Some Buried Caesar to see how much better the characters were just a couple of years later.

Rating:
Summary: Nero Wolfe is always a good read
Review: This is one of his first. I've read them all, several times each. Even tho this is not his best, Rex Stout still writes far better than most writers today. His books are very funny and the plots entertaining. Closest I've come to finding his successor is Deadly Diamonds, by Pamela Troutman.