Nero Wolfe: In the Best Families, Murder by the Book, Three Doors to Death, Curtains for Three

[cimorene]

“Anyone who cuts a five-inch gash in the territory of the eighth rib may be presumed to have maleficent intentions, and probably pertinacity to boot.”

• He walked as if he meant it.


• I tossed a coin: heads I stick, tails I quit. It landed tails, but I had to veto it because I had already talked to Orrie Cather and he was coming at noon, and I had left messages for Fred Durkin and Saul Panzer. I tossed again, tails again. I tossed once more and it was heads, which settled it. I had to stick.


• "Your chief trouble," he said, not offensively, "is that you think you've got a sense of humor. It confueses people, and you ought to get over it."


• I looked emergency up in the dictionary, and got "an unforeseen combination of circumstances which calls for immediate action." Since this was just the opposite, a foreseen combination of circumstances which called for getting a good night's sleep, I didn't dial the number. I did get the good night's sleep.

—Rex Stout, In the Best Families

• “If you want me to,” I offered, “I’ll tell you what’s wrong with our civilization.”
  
  “I want you to. What?”
  
  “We’ve quit drinking champagne from ladies’ slippers. I would like to drink some from hers.”
  


• “That’s why I’m here. Once or twice I have kicked a hat that you had hid a brick in, and I don’t want a sore toe.”

—Rex Stout, Murder by the Book

• “Anyone who cuts a five-inch gash in the territory of the eighth rib may be presumed to have maleficent intentions, and probably pertinacity to boot.”

—Rex Stout, "Omit Flowers", in Three Doors to Death

• “From the first day he glimpsed her and heard her speak, he got drowned. He didn’t even float, he just laid there on the bottom.”


• “He has a mood every hour on the hour, daily including Sundays and holidays. He never does a damn thing, even pick flowers.”


• “May I sit down?”
  
  Father, daughter, and son said “No” simultaneously.
  
  Wolfe went to a wide upholstered number and sat. “I must overrule you,” he said, “because this is an emergency.”
  

—Rex Stout, "Door to Death", in Three Doors to Death

• “I have never known it to fail,” he remarked, “that you can be counted on for a headache.”


• “Who says it was murder?”
  
  “I have reached that conclusion.”
  
  “Then that’s settled.” Cramer’s sarcasm was usually a little heavy. “Have you bothered any about evidence?”
  
  “I have none.”
  
  “Good. Evidence just clutters a murder up.”
  


• “[Y]ou couldn’t have been dumber if you’d worked at it for a year.”

—Rex Stout, "The Gun with Wings", in Curtains for Three

• The name plopped in the middle of us like a paratrooper at a picnic.
  

—Rex Stout, "Bullet for One", in Curtains for Three

• “I’ll tell you what it is. It is the malefic spite of a sullen little soul and a crabbed and envious mind. It is the childish rancor of a primacy too often challenged and offended. It is the feeble wriggle—”
  

—Rex Stout, "Disguise for Murder", in Curtains for Three

Comments

[princessofgeeks]

Any of the titles shaping up to be your favorites as of now?

[cimorene]

I enjoyed that Murder by the Book was set in the publishing world, but the solution/denoument wasn't as enjoyable and cool as some of the earlier ones I guess.

The short stories were generally a fun time, but I don't think a short story could compete with novels for favorite. I did very much enjoy the premise of "Omit Flowers", where a friend of Wolfe's was framed by a lady for the murder of her husband and she got stabbed in attempted revenge by her husband's lover and was attempting to cover it up; and of "Door to Death", simply because Archie and Wolfe tramping through the woods and a brook and a greenhouse at night to break into the scene of the crime was fun. But they both didn't have enough substance to be as much fun as a novel. "The Gun with Wings" had some of the most fun Cramer conversations so far.

And as I said, In the Best Families was fantastic but I won't be likely to reread it very often because the heroes are in more danger, which is a bit nerve-wracking for me to read.

-

[princessofgeeks]

\o/

It took me a while to warm up to Cramer but I really enjoyed how he became more and more three dimensional as the books went on.

What do you think of Saul and Fritz now?

[cimorene]

Saul is still a bit of a side character; his competence is amply illustrated, but he is given little dialogue that isn't simply reporting things as commanded, and few actions that demonstrate his personality or opinions. Fritz's character gets more brief notes and occasional illustrative moments.

[princessofgeeks]

*nods*

Yes, we are simply asked to take on board Archie's opinions of them.