# What are you favorite Nero Wolfe stories? (No spoilers please!) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 31, 2017, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-favorite-nero-wolfe-stories-no-spoilers-please/805609 "2017-12-31T01:18:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Just1Lurk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c0e974/32.png) [@Just1Lurk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just1Lurk)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2017, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-favorite-nero-wolfe-stories-no-spoilers-please/805609/1 "2017-12-31T01:18:48Z")
I just started reading the Nero Wolfe series and so far I’ve been really enjoying them. (Finished the first and halfway through the second.) I really like the characters and the writing. I’m trying to read them in publication order as much as possible, but I am curious - which of the Wolfe novels/stories did you most enjoy and why? Without giving anything away, of course… ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2017, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-favorite-nero-wolfe-stories-no-spoilers-please/805609/2 "2017-12-31T01:30:41Z")
I prefer the earlier stories. Wolfe gets out more and solves cases. The Rubber Band, The Red Box, Some Buried Caeser, Too Many Cooks are all very good. His collections of short stories are often very good too. Some of the later books are very good. Death of a Dude is a favorite of mine. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2017, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-favorite-nero-wolfe-stories-no-spoilers-please/805609/3 "2017-12-31T01:34:15Z")
I loved AND BE A VILLAIN, for multiple spoiler-y reasons. ---
**Author:** ![Just1Lurk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c0e974/32.png) [@Just1Lurk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just1Lurk)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2017, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-favorite-nero-wolfe-stories-no-spoilers-please/805609/4 "2017-12-31T01:55:30Z")
Thanks, I’ll keep an eye out for them. One thing I’ll say, Rex Stout had a hell of a vocabulary; my kindle dictionary is getting a workout. Rodomontade, anyone? ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2017, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-favorite-nero-wolfe-stories-no-spoilers-please/805609/5 "2017-12-31T02:39:58Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I prefer the earlier stories. Wolfe gets out more and solves cases. > > The Rubber Band, The Red Box, Some Buried Caeser, Too Many Cooks are all very good. I’m with you. My favorites are the ‘30s novels **The League of Frightened Men, The Rubber Band, The Red Box, Too Many Cooks** (my favoritest of all) and **Some Buried Caesar.** Many people will cite **The Doorbell Rang** (1965), in which Wolfe and Goodwin take on the freakin’ HOOVER FBI as the best ever. Hard to argue with that…it’s superb. ---
**Author:** ![Just1Lurk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c0e974/32.png) [@Just1Lurk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just1Lurk)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2017, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-favorite-nero-wolfe-stories-no-spoilers-please/805609/6 "2017-12-31T04:30:52Z")
**The League of Frightened Men** is the one I’m reading now; if the others are of this quality, I’m in for the duration. And it was the TV adaption of **The Doorbell Rang** that may me decide to check out the novels in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2017, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-favorite-nero-wolfe-stories-no-spoilers-please/805609/7 "2017-12-31T06:02:17Z")
I like the earliest books the best not particularly because of the stories but because Nero Wolfe belongs in the 30’s (in my head). In the later books when they talk about television and other modern contrivances, it just seems jarring to me. Of course one of Stout’s gimmicks is that the characters never age and any actual changes are very subtle and probably unintentional. So Archie’s line of patter, designed in and for the 30’s, becomes rather off in the 60’s and beyond. This is all just my opinion, of course. I think I have run across a few stories that I wanted to throw across the room because the denouement was such a complete letdown, but not many. BTW, there is another recent thread about how fat Nero Wolfe is supposed to be, and there are some good suggestions in there as well. ---
**Author:** ![The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_King_of_Soup)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2017, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-favorite-nero-wolfe-stories-no-spoilers-please/805609/8 "2017-12-31T19:37:00Z")
A lot depends on what you like about the novels. _Fer-de-Lance_, the first novel, has a lot of almost everything that made the series great: clever but plausible links between observation and deduction, better-realized characters than Stout usually bothered with, as much action as you generally get from the series (i.e., not a lot), wonderful interviews between Wolfe and suspects/witnesses, and lots of funny examples of Wolfe sandpapering a still rough-around the edges Archie. _Some Buried Caesar_ is cleverly plotted and might be the funniest of the lot, and _League of Frightened Men_ _Too Many Cooks_ _Over My Dead Body_ and _The Rubber Band_ merit the same description. _Murder By The Book_ comes close, as does _The Golden Spiders_ (one of about four or five stories in which Archie actually discharges a firearm). It might be better for me to tell you which ones I’d leave 'til last. Personally, I don’t have much fondness for these works: _A Family Affair, The Doorbell Rang, In the Best Families, Please Pass the Guilt, The Mother/Father Hunts, Champagne for One, A Right to Die, Where There’s a Will, Prisoner’s Base, If Death Ever Slept._ In the upper middle you have stories like _The Silent Speaker, Before Midnight, Might As Well Be Dead, The Final Deduction, Gambit_, etc. These tend to show off one or two of the goodies I mentioned. An oddity in this area is _Too Many Clients_, which is a lot of fun but betrays an absolutely pre-adolescent boy’s concept of sex. As a fan, hate to say this, but I can’t think of a short that you shouldn’t just skip, except for (maybe) _Not Quite Dead Enough_ and _Bomb Blast_, which were wartime and a little interesting because of that. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2017, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-favorite-nero-wolfe-stories-no-spoilers-please/805609/9 "2017-12-31T20:00:25Z")
> [@The\_King\_of\_Soup](#): > > It might be better for me to tell you which ones I’d leave 'til last. Personally, I don’t have much fondness for these works: _A Family Affair, The Doorbell Rang, In the Best Families, Please Pass the Guilt, The Mother/Father Hunts, Champagne for One, A Right to Die, Where There’s a Will, Prisoner’s Base, If Death Ever Slept._ With a couple of exceptions, those are among my favorites. ---
**Author:** ![The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_King_of_Soup)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2017, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-favorite-nero-wolfe-stories-no-spoilers-please/805609/10 "2017-12-31T20:44:50Z")
> [@Miss\_Mapp](#): > > With a couple of exceptions, those are among my favorites. No offense: I’m probably older than you, was introduced to the books in a different order, use language differently, and know more/less than you do about various cultural references. I was in my twenties before I thought chocolate ice cream was a good idea. I _like_ all of these books, and reread them often: if they’re your favorites but not mine, we’re still more alike than not. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2017, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-favorite-nero-wolfe-stories-no-spoilers-please/805609/11 "2017-12-31T21:50:42Z")
_Black Orchids_. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stainless_steel_rat/32/5727_2.png) [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stainless_Steel_Rat)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2017, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-favorite-nero-wolfe-stories-no-spoilers-please/805609/12 "2017-12-31T23:16:31Z")
I love virtually everything Stout wrote on Nero and Archies’ adventures, I will admit a fondness for the “Arnold Zeck” trilogy, featuring the Moriarty to Wolfe’s Sherlock. Suggest you read them all together or get the anthology “Triple Zeck” \*An be a Villian The Second Confession In the Best Families\* ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2018, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-favorite-nero-wolfe-stories-no-spoilers-please/805609/13 "2018-01-01T20:25:26Z")
Dang, I’m with **Miss Mapp.** Can’t even comprehend a list of best Wolfe/Archie books that wouldn’t include at least _one_ of _In the Best Families_, _The Doorbell Rang_, and _Prisoner’s Base!_ De gustibus! But to the OP, I would come to those in good time rather than reading them straight off. While the Wolfe corpus isn’t really serialized to the point where one must read the books in order (it’s quite easy to pick them up at random), there’s still some growth, backstory revelations, and a few changes in the cast of characters that are best seen chronologically. That said, a more complete list of my favorites, and I note that what they mostly share is that they draw their dramatic power by (somewhat) pulling the rug out from what loyal readers know to be the standard routine of the Wolfe household, his peccadillos, Archie’s normal insouciance, and even Lt. Cramer/the cops. I love readers being rewarded for knowing long-term characters. - _The Doorbell Rang._ Epic and I’d probably put this as my top favorite. Wolfe outdoes himself here! - _In the Best Families_. However, it really needs to be saved until you’ve read the earlier two books in the abovementioned list by **The Stainless Steel Rat** above. This is perhaps one of the two biggest departures from routine. - _Prisoner’s Base_. One of the best books for Archie’s character in particular. - _The Black Mountain._ In common with _ItBF_, the biggest departure in style and plot. It too has some antecedents that really should be read beforehand: _Too Many Cooks_ and _Over My Dead Body_. _OMDB_ is pretty much mandatory. Events won’t mean as much if you aren’t familiar with what, and who, matters to Wolfe, not to mention his history. - _Might as Well Be Dead_. Surprisingly strong emotions on display here from the cast of suspects/victims/client(s). Also another relatively big change in the regulars (though not as personally significant as TBM). - _The Red Box._ A remarkable villain here. - _Some Buried Caesar_. - _Gambit._ - _The Golden Spiders_. Another of the darker books (“dark” being a relative term; one of the things I adore about Stout is that he straddles the line beautifully between cozy and hard-boiled). - _Murder by the Book_. Another great performance by Archie, and one of the twistiest mysteries. - _Plot It Yourself_. Like MbtB, a publishing-related plot. I feel a pang at not including more, but I have to show _some_ moderation! Stout’s my favorite mystery author of all time, and I credit his style for teaching young me (as a beginning writer) a great deal about POV, voice, and unreliable narrators. ---
**Author:** ![Just1Lurk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c0e974/32.png) [@Just1Lurk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just1Lurk)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2018, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-favorite-nero-wolfe-stories-no-spoilers-please/805609/14 "2018-01-02T02:31:14Z")
> [@choie](#): > > But to the OP, I would come to those in good time rather than reading them straight off. While the Wolfe corpus isn’t really serialized to the point where one must read the books in order (it’s quite easy to pick them up at random), there’s still some growth, backstory revelations, and a few changes in the cast of characters that are best seen chronologically. Thanks for the tip. AIUI, time advances in the stories but the characters don’t age; so reading them in order would be less disconcerting, to me, than jumping back and forth between eras. And thanks to all for your responses. Not surprisingly, the favorites of some are the least favorite of others. Oh well, I guess I’ll just have to read them all. 😃 Also I finished **The League of Freightened Men** (totally did NOT figure it out) and I’m now well into **The Rubber Band**. I haven’t enjoyed an author this much since Terry Pratchett. ---
**Author:** ![ShadowFacts](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shadowfacts/32/2934_2.png) [@ShadowFacts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShadowFacts)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2018, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-favorite-nero-wolfe-stories-no-spoilers-please/805609/15 "2018-01-02T16:45:47Z")
I love the Wolfe stories. I discovered them first from the A&E TV series (which is largely superb, IMO) then starting devouring the paperbacks. Does anyone know if there is a definitive complete collection published anywhere? I’d love to get a giant tome that has them all together in order of publication, but it does not seem to exist. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2018, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-favorite-nero-wolfe-stories-no-spoilers-please/805609/16 "2018-01-02T17:11:11Z")
> [@ShadowFacts](#): > > I love the Wolfe stories. I discovered them first from the A&E TV series (which is largely superb, IMO) then starting devouring the paperbacks. Does anyone know if there is a definitive complete collection published anywhere? I’d love to get a giant tome that has them all together in order of publication, but it does not seem to exist. this is a great value. 7 complete novels in one book. used, it’s $19 > **[Amazon.com: Seven Complete Nero Wolfe Novels (The Silent Speaker / Might as Well...](https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Novels-Silent-Speaker-Wolfes/dp/0517412497)** > > Amazon.com: Seven Complete Nero Wolfe Novels (The Silent Speaker / Might as Well Be Dead / If Death Ever Slept / 3 at Wolfe's Door / Gambit / Please Pass the Guilt / A Family Affair): 9780517412497: Stout, Rex: Books ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2018, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-favorite-nero-wolfe-stories-no-spoilers-please/805609/17 "2018-01-02T17:19:27Z")
Robert Goldsborough wrote 8 Wolfe mysterious. Are they pretty good? I just bought the prequel, Archie Meets Wolfe. > **[Archie Meets Nero Wolfe: A Prequel to Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe Mysteries (The Nero...](https://www.amazon.com/Archie-Meets-Nero-Wolfe-Mysteries/dp/1453270973)** > > Archie Meets Nero Wolfe: A Prequel to Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe Mysteries (The Nero Wolfe Mysteries) \[Goldsborough, Robert\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. Archie Meets Nero Wolfe: A Prequel to Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe Mysteries (The... ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2018, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-favorite-nero-wolfe-stories-no-spoilers-please/805609/18 "2018-01-02T17:20:02Z")
My take has always been this: the mystery itself is usually the weakest part of any Nero Wolfe story. The characters are engaging, the atmosphere is delightful, the dialogue is crisp, and Archie is A great narrator. Stout created a familiar world that was fun to return to. I liked to find out what Wolfe was reading, what Fritz was cooking, what was being discussed at dinner. But plotting was Stout’s weakness, and he just wasn’t a great storyteller. I often got the feeling he picked the guilty party at random! I enjoyed reading MOST Nero Wolfe stories, but was often disappointed or left cold by his case solutions. My favorite Stout novel was “In the Best Families.” The best story from the pure mystery standpoint was " The Gun With Wings. " ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2018, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-favorite-nero-wolfe-stories-no-spoilers-please/805609/19 "2018-01-02T18:51:35Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Robert Goldsborough wrote 8 Wolfe mysterious. > > Are they pretty good? Yes. Not up to Stout, of course. I recall one reference to an object from a Stout novel that seems to have been tossed in just to connect the book to one of Stout’s. It is awkward but mercifully brief. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2018, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-favorite-nero-wolfe-stories-no-spoilers-please/805609/20 "2018-01-02T18:57:45Z")
As a chess player, my favourite is ‘Gambit’. I think the Goldsborough stories are fine. I echo Shadowfacts that the TV series with Timothy Hutton is well worth watching. Finally I recommend two books by the fan club ‘The Wolfe Pack’: - The Nero Wolfe Files - The Archie Goodwin Files [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-favorite-nero-wolfe-stories-no-spoilers-please/805609.md?page=2)