INVITATION TO MURDER [Nero Wolfe]

by Rex Stout

Book Overview

Ptomaine poisoning killed the heiress. Now their client can cozy up to the money. But there are too many beautiful women in the mansion, and the slimy little parasite is confused when he should be... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B002K526FU
• Release Date: January 1
• Publisher: Avon
• Weight: 0.25 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Don't Forget the Reader

This audio edition is read by Saul Rubinek. He played in the ensemble casting of the A & E version of Nero Wolfe (although A & E never produced this particular story). When in the A & E version, he most often played crack newspaper reporter Lon Cohen, but once (only once) played Saul Panzer, Wolfe's slickest and most effective operative (aside from Archie Goodwin, of course). Especially in this story, though, we encounter the less desirable aspects of Wolfe's commitment never to leave his home on business. Archie has to fake a crisis and... Well, not to spoil it, here's a question: in today's terms, would we find Archie to be objectionably sexist? I watched some of the A & E's with one of my favorite cousins a few days ago, and, much to my surprise, she found it hard to enjoy because of Archie's sexism. She is (very understandably) a feminist, working in a male-dominated occupation and industry for many years, and has had to put up with a lot of male B.S. over the course of her career. That Archie would treat women as objects was not what Rex Stout intended. However, it caused me to think about Wolfe in a whole new way, and to take Archie with a few more grains of salt...

Hard Boiled Detectives in a Drawing Room Mystery

One of the nice features of the Nero Wolfe saga is the combination of genres that Rex Stout accomplishes. He takes the "Agatha Christie-esque" drawing room mystery and sets "Dashiel Hammet-ish" detectives to solve it. This mystery is prototypical Nero Wolfe. An heiress dies of ptomaine poisoning and her disinherited brother summons Archie Goodwin (a Sam Spade/Philip Marlowe clone) to the mansion to find the killer among the sycophants of the fabulously wealthy wheelchair-bound widower. The brother dies violently in the house, and Archie Goodwin tricks Nero Wolfe (a sort of cross between Mycroft Holmes and the Continental Op) into coming to the mansion to solve the mystery. Wolfe quickly solves it in true Mycroftian fashion, but has to commit a felony to smoke out the murderer.

Nicely done!

Rex Stout is one of the masters of language. I mean seriously, it's the language that gets you. Archie Goodwin and Nero Wolfe speak their world into being. The victim is a whiny little man who gets offed by an unlikely yet predictable culprit. Listening to this audiobook on your evening commute will ease the certain pain of traffic. Enjoy!

Invitation to Murder

Typical Nero Wolfe format. Enjoyed tremendously. Very seldom has Wolfe left his flat (Brownstone)to participate in the solution, this made it worth while.