Three Men Out

Rating:
Summary: Distinguished By Numbers, Locales and Crimes
Review: In the early 1950s Nero Wolfe was famous. His stories had become so well known that, as is depicted in two of the three in this collection, Archie is instantly recognized on the street as a celebrity (in one of them he's asked for his autograph).

This collection represents, then, "middle Wolfe." He was franchising by then: radio plays, a short-lived TV show, and even a Nero Wolfe comic strip. Nero Wolfe chewing gum? Nero Wolfe frozen dinners?

The collection, three stories originally published in the "American Magazine," ties together by hand gestures and symbols.

One of them, "The Zero Clue," is distinguished by at least one attribute which is startlingly fresh today: terrorism and mass murder. Mostly, Rex Stout's work could be called modified "murder in a teacup:" the victim's body is found in the vicar's rose garden and the brilliant detective, through daring deduction, exposes the killer.

Wolfe's work differed in a few ways: Archie leaned toward the "hard boiled" school, and setting these in New York introduced a little grit.

The Zero Clue involves a bombing in a hospital - shocking ideas in any time period, but particularly heinous in early 1950s America. Wolfe figures out whodunit, all right, but what is almost more shocking is the motive.

This book is hard to find; the stories are classic, if a little outlandish, pieces in the whole Rex Stout puzzle. Last point: A&E would have a hard time staging these stories - when you read them you'll know why.

Rating:
Summary: An aging playboy, a probability wizard, and the World Series
Review: The cases herein occurred in October 1952 and late May 1953, which is odd, because while those were Wolfe's glory days, the collection is rather weak.

"Invitation to Murder" - a.k.a. "Will to Murder" - Aging rake Herman Lewent was disinherited by his father; his sister Beryl was left with instructions to 'consider his needs', and made him an adequate allowance for many years. After she died a year ago of ptomaine poisoning, her husband Theodore Huck was left with similar instructions and nothing changed. But Lewent believes that Huck is considering remarriage, and wants to identify the lady and ingratiate himself without being obvious about it. There are only 3 candidates: Huck's housekeeper, nurse, and secretary; they're all young and attractive, and Huck's bad arteries keep him housebound in a wheelchair. All Lewent wants are a few hours of Archie's time and maybe 10 minutes of Wolfe's. Wolfe refuses the job on those terms - so Lewent changes the proposal: discover which woman could have helped poison his sister Beryl. If no poisoning occurred, he's got his original answer; if it was murder and Huck was involved, Lewent will finally get a lump sum under his sister's will upon her husband's death.

Whether or not Beryl was murdered, Lewent certainly was shortly after Archie started on the case. Unfortunately the story develops problems at that point - Archie, after discovering the body, opts not to report it to the cops for reasons that seem half-baked, and things go downhill from there. Although it's interesting to read, it's enough to make me question Archie's sanity.

"The Zero Clue" - a.k.a. "Scared to Death" - Dying-clue mystery, far more typical of Ellery Queen than Stout, in which probability wizard Leo Heller apparently left a clue to the identity of the person who killed him, but naturally it's not intelligible to anyone but the master detective. On principle I generally rate this kind of thing at the level of a crossword puzzle than a story - the more convoluted the "obvious" clue is, the more tortured the rationale behind it. (Dannay & Lee got the hang of putting acceptable rationales behind such clues for Ellery Queen, but it takes practice.)

"This Won't Kill You" - As Wolfe says, a guest is a jewel on the cushion of hospitality, so when one such jewel - Pierre Mondor, one of the great chefs of the world - wanted Wolfe to take him to a baseball game, Wolfe feels obligated, and Archie has to tag along. Archie would ordinarily love attending a NY Giants game during the World Series, but he has a terrible day, what with 2 companions who know *nothing* about the game - and picture Wolfe in an ordinary stadium seat. So when the part-owner of the Giants who arranged their tickets calls Wolfe to the clubhouse in the 6th inning, neither he nor Archie argues, even when Chisholm's problem is that somebody's been doping the soda in the players' cooler...