The Black Mountain (A Nero Wolfe Mystery Book 24)

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Stout wrote twenty other novels besides the Wolfes. Thirteen of them were assorted crime, fantasy, adventure, historical, and romance novels, plus the literary novels that he abandoned to write the Wolfes. One was a political thriller, The President Vanishes (1934), which he originally published anonymously, hoping that people would think it was written by a Washington insider. Recipes and pertinent quotes from the corpus illustrated by vintage New York City photographs by John Muller, Andreas Feininger and others

Written in 1955, Stout places the Cold War front and center of the book. We begin with the death of Marko Vukcic, a recurring character who was a friend of Nero and owner of one of the very few restaurants the big man would deign to enter. As the author moves us into the weeks ahead, it becomes clear that the killer has left NYC, if not the USA. Anyone familiar with Nero Wolfe knows that he rarely leaves his brownstone on West 35th Street in New York City. On the rare ocassions he does it usually revolves around food (e.g. Too Many Cooks) or orchids (e.g. Some Buried Caesar). Even then it requires goading from his confidential assistant, Archie Goodwin. All I can say is Wow! Considering the fact that this book was written in 1954, it seems very presc Contains the short stories " Invitation to Murder", " The Zero Clue" and " This Won't Kill You" [1] :83A Family Affair is an unusual Nero Wolfe mystery in that Archie reveals his (correct) opinion of the killer's identity well before Wolfe does so in the closing chapters. Yet, Archie Goodwin insists, “He was elegant with women” ( Fer-de-Lance) and when a woman confronts Wolfe with an accusation of misogyny in Too Many Cooks, he does an interesting thing. He shakes his head. “I couldn’t rise to that impudence,” he says. “Not like women? They are astonishing and successful animals. For reason of convenience, I merely preserve an appearance of immunity which I developed some years ago under pressure of necessity.”

Mitgang, Herbert, Dangerous Dossiers: Exposing the Secret War Against America's Greatest Authors (1988, Donald I. Fine, Inc.; ISBN 1-55611-077-4). Chapter 10 is titled "Seeing Red: Rex Stout." Contains the short stories " Eeny Meeny Murder Mo", " Death of a Demon" and " Counterfeit for Murder" [1] :86Those familiar with the massive detective know that he usually disdains the effort to get in and out of his chair, reach for the phone or use anything but his residence elevator to visit his orchids. That pattern of behavior persists for almost the entire universe of Wolfe stories, except for this one. What does he mean by all this? A clue is offered in The League of Frightened Men: “The things a woman will think of are beyond belief. I knew a woman once in Hungary whose husband had frequent headaches. It was her custom to relieve them by the devoted application of cold compresses. It occurred to her one day to stir into the water with which she wetted the compresses a large quantity of a penetrating poison which she had herself distilled from an herb. The result was gratifying to her. The man on whom she tried the experiment was myself.”

This book and the pre-war novel Over My Dead Body both involve international intrigue over Montenegro, but under very different circumstances, first concerning Nazi designs on the Balkans, and later in the context of Josip Broz Tito's Yugoslavia. Pet the Dog: We witness a rare moment of tenderness on Wolfe's part when he and Archie are taken upstairs by Danilo's wife to see the sleeping children. While looking at the children, Wolfe says something in Serbian, and later refuses to translate the remark for Archie. A wealthy businesswoman comes to Wolfe, angry, she says, because Hoover and the FBI are tailing her, tailing her family, tapping their phones, and questioning her employees. The fact that she bought up 10,000 copies of a controversial new book, The FBI Nobody Knows, and sent it to influential people all across the country might have a little bit to do with it. She’s not afraid, as most people would be, she’s annoyed, “and I want him stopped. I want you to stop him.” Contains the short stories "Before I Die", " Help Wanted, Male" and " Instead of Evidence" [1] :80–81 The two fly to Europe, making their way to Bari and taking temporary shelter in a house owned by one of Telesio's friends. Telesio arranges for a guide to ferry them across the Adriatic; from there, the two hike through the foothills of Lovćen and eventually secure a ride to Rijeka Crnojevića and then Podgorica. Jubé Bilic, a college student, drives them to Podgorica and drops them off at the office of Gospo Stritar, the local police chief. Wolfe gives a fake name and passes himself off as a Montenegro native who has lived abroad for many years and is now returning to decide which side to support in the struggle over Yugoslavia's future, and Archie as his American-born son (to explain his inability to speak Serbo-Croat).Coins for the Dead: When visiting the morgue to identify Marko's body, Wolfe receives permission to place two old coins over his friend's eyes, something he had long ago promised to do.

Insistent Terminology: Wolfe absolutely refuses to refer to Podgorica by its new name "Titograd", even at the risk of drawing unwanted attention. That unspeakable prepared biscuit flour…What they do to stomachs heaven knows, but that woman is ingeniously and deliberately conspiring in the corruption of millions of palates. She should be stopped!” Rex Stout, And Be a Villain 8. In the Best Families In these eleven days, I have learned that psychology, as a formal science, is pure hocus-pocus. All written and printed words, aside from their function of relieving boredom, are meaningless drivel” Rex Stout, The League of Frightened Men 3. Too Many Cooks A Family Affair is a Nero Wolfe detective novel published by the Viking Press in 1975. It is the last Nero Wolfe book written by Rex Stout who died less than six months after the publication of the book.

I grabbed hold, gave a healthy jerk, and she popped up and landed flat against me, and I enclosed her with both arms and planted a thorough one, of medium duration, on her mouth, and let her go. McAleer, John, Royal Decree: Conversations with Rex Stout (1983, Pontes Press, Ashton, MD). Published in a numbered limited edition of 1,000 copies. Detectionary — Wolfe adopts a disguise to deal with sinister international intriguers and to cope with an enemy to whom murder is trivial. [2] Stout, Rex (1935). "On My Bashfulness". The Bedroom Companion. New York: Farrar & Rinehart. p.36. OCLC 320267097. This story line is very different from just about every other Nero Wolfe book that Rex Stout wrote. Being different it has a number of detractors, which is understandable to an extent.