Nero Wolfe mysteries

As any herpetologist will tell you, the fer-de-lance is among the most dreaded snakes known to man. When someone makes a present of one to Nero Wolfe, Archie Goodwin knows he's getting dreadfully close to solving the devilishly clever murders of an immigrant and a college president. As for Wolfe, he's playing snake charmer in a case with more twists than an anaconda—whistling a seductive tune he hopes will catch a killer who's still got poison...

A grand master of the form, Rex Stout is one of America's greatest mystery writers, and his literary creation Nero Wolfe is one of fiction's greatest detectives. In this pair of classic Nero Wolfe mysteries, Stout is at his unparalleled best as the arrogant, gourmandizing, sedentary sleuth and his trusty man-about-town, Archie Goodwin, are served two lethally appetizing cases.

When a woman claiming to be Nero Wolfe's long-lost daughter gets into trouble over some missing diamonds, Wolfe, along with his sidekick, Archie, becomes involved in a world of international intrigue.

Nero Wolfe has left his comfortable brownstone for the promise of a remarkably rare black orchid at a flower show—but before Wolfe and his perennially hardy sidekick, Archie Goodwin, have a chance to stop and smell the roses, a diabolically daring murder takes place right under their noses and puts a blight on the proceedings. Now Wolfe's fancy turns to thoughts of weeding out a murderer—one who's definitely not a garden-variety killer....

Madeline Fraser, radio talk show host extraordinaire, had a natural dread of dead air. So when one of her on-air guests signed off at the mike after drinking a glass of a sponsor’s beverage, it was a broadcaster’s nightmare come true. Enter Nero Wolfe. He agrees to take the case, with his sizable fee contingent on his solving the murder. But to Wolfe’s surprise, everyone connected to the case now lies in unison about it. And as the...

Aging millionairess Mrs. Rackham asks Nero Wolfe to find out where her penniless husband has suddenly been obtaining mysteriously large sums of money, a request that leads to murder and to threats against the master detective himself.

Nero Wolfe is asked to discover why a law office clerk has been murdered, along with three others, for the unlikely offense of submitting a manuscript for publication.

When Priscilla Eads, heiress to cotton-towel millions, first pleads for Nero Wolfes assistance, the portly detective decides to wash his hands of a case that has more than its share of dirty laundry. Just hours later Miss Eads and her maid are found strangled to death under circumstances that dont quite wash. Now, to the dismay of a greedy board of directors and a fortune-hunting South American ex-husband, the astute Wolfe feels, on second thought,...

Cheaters never prosper, but Nero Wolfe encounters one who kills trying. At the Pour Amour perfume riddle contest, a million dollars goes to the contestant who can answer five questions. Someone doesn't like the heat of competition, so he murders the contest founder and steals the answers to the riddles. Now Wolfe has to sniff down a trail of clues that leads disturbingly close to home.

“It is always a treat to read a Nero Wolfe mystery. The man has entered our folklore.”—The New York Times Book Review
Eleven years ago, wealthy Nebraska businessman James Herold gave his only son, Paul, a very raw deal. Now he wants Nero Wolfe to track Paul down so that he can make amends. But what if the young man doesn’t want to be found . . . and what if he’s the same P.H. who’s currently on...

Murder lurks in the wings of the sprawling Fifth Avenue penthouse of multimillionaire Otis Jarrell, who has just retained the incomparable Nero Wolfe on a case of the utmost confidentiality. But even the master detective cannot prevent tragedy when it inevitably arrives wielding Jarrells missing revolver. Soon a second victim meets his maker, and Wolfe must piece together the truth behind Jarrells scandalously ill-behaved family. And for one member...

Unwilling to accept a suicide ruling after witnessing the death of the admittedly morbid Faith Usher, Archie Goodwin is assisted in the investigation by Nero Wolfe, who has been warned to stay away from the case.

Nero Wolfe helps a pawn accused of murder at a private chess club. Can he checkmate the real killer?

There's no one or nothing the great detective Nero Wolfe wouldn't take on if the price was right. Wealthy society widow Rachel Bruner is counting on that when she writes him a check for a whopping hundred grand. The oversize genius and his able assistant Archie Goodwin soon find out why the prize is so generous as they lock horns with the FBI. And these highly trained G-men have a way with threats , tails, and bugs that could give even sedentary sleuth...

Twenty-two-year-old Amy Denovo needs Nero Wolfe's help. She is determined to learn the identity of her father, a secret her mother scrupulously guarded -- and took to her grave when struck by a hit-and-run driver. Now Wolfe and his sidekick, Archie, have just one clue to go on: a note from Amy's mother and a box with over $250,000. Seems every month since Amy's birth, her mother received $1,000 from an unknown source and saved it for Amy's future....

A Mets fan with a phony name and a millionaire client arrive just in time to provide a case for Nero Wolfe to pay the rent. The bizarre visitors are in a frenzy about a death trap explosion in the discreet whiskey drawer of a top TV executive. To crack this case of bombs and bourbon, the indolent genius and his energetic assistant must pick their way though corporate chicanery, vile ambition, and a healthy swig of murder

Murder strikes thrice in these three baffling mysteries of crime and detection. First, Rex Stouts great detective, Nero Wolfe, develops an appetite for the sweet taste of revenge when someone slips something most foul into his lunch. Then, a couturiers beautiful sister uses Archie Goodwin, Wolfes man about town, as her ready-made alibiand maybe her fall guyunless Wolfe can spot the loose ends in a nearly seamless crime. Finally, Wolfe has a run-in...

To save his favorite newspaper, Wolfe steps into the crossfire of a tabloid war Master sleuth Nero Wolfe's small circle of friends is limited to his assistant Archie Goodwin, his chef Fritz, and Lon Cohen, the head man at the New York Gazette. Cohen knows more about the city's power structure than any man in Manhattan, and for years he happily passed Wolfe information in return for the odd exclusive scoop. But now Cohen needs Wolfe's help, for the...

After the heir to a frozen-food fortune gets iced, Wolfe's right-hand man, Archie Goodwin, becomes a suspect When Lily Rowan doesn't laugh at his jokes, Archie Goodwin knows something is wrong. Her niece Noreen has been running around with Sparky Linville, a club-hopping bad boy who is the terror of Manhattan nightlife. And the last time she went out with him, Noreen wasn't herself when she came home. All she would tell her aunt was that she had been...

When a fellow shamus gets charged with murder, Wolfe comes to his rescue. Staten Island would be forgettable were it not for the gleaming Tabernacle of the Silver Spire, where thousands of congregants come every Sunday to hear the sermons of Barnabas Bay. Millions more tune in on television, giving the good Reverend international fame, and a chance to spread the gospel from New York City's harbor all the way to South Korea. But threatening notes have...

Archie Goodwin comes to New York City hoping for a bit of excitement. In his third week working as a night watchman, he stops two burglars in their tracks, with a pair of hot lead slugs. Dismissed from his job for being "trigger-happy," he parlays his newfound notoriety into a job as a detective's assistant, helping Del Bascom solve cases like the Morningside Piano Heist, the Rive Gauche Art Gallery Swindle, and the Sumner-Hayes Burglary. But it's...

"When Archie Goodwin's life is threatened, Wolfe must find the gunman or lose his right-hand man"--

It's curtains for a famous Broadway director, and private investigator Nero Wolfe is on the case-but his assistant, Archie Goodwin, is a suspect. When a renowned theater director senses something amiss during his latest production, he calls in Nero Wolfe. Though the corpulent genius wouldn't normally accept a job this vague, a mutual friend dangles the prospect of a very rare orchid in exchange for his services, and Wolfe can't resist. With a mind...

An art hoarder's suspicious death paints a nasty picture for Nero Wolfe. No matter how fabulously he's being courted, infamously dour "art hog" Arthur Wordell isn't keen on favoring the new Guggenheim Museum with his extensive collection. Even at the urging of his beloved daughter, Nadia. Then, the night after the museum's fête, Arthur takes a twenty-story plunge from the window of his Times Square office. Nadia thinks it's no mere coincidence. Eccentric,...

Archie Goodwin is not overly fond of Theodore Horstmann, who takes care of the orchids on the rooftop of Nero Wolfe's West Thirty-Fifth Street brownstone. But as loyal assistant to the legendary private detective, Archie will put his animosity aside when the surly orchid-keeper stumbles through the front door beaten within an inch of his life. While the gardener lies in a coma, Nero sends Archie to poke around his apartment near the river. The place...