Marilyn's Mystery Reads

It’s been just over three years since I published a review in the Golden Oldies section of this blog.  My only reason/excuse is that I was kept busy reading so many outstanding current mysteries that I received from publicists, and novels that I read years ago somehow got lost in the shuffle.

But as I was walking in the mystery section of my local library (a shoutout to the Needham, Massachusetts Free Public Library) I saw an old familiar title:  Triple Zeck, A Nero Wolfe Omnibus by Rex Stout.  Stout has always been a favorite author of mine, so much so that I took a course on his writings at Boston College given by his biographer, Professor John J. McAleer.  I had to miss the last class of the semester as I was in the hospital giving birth to my younger son; he celebrates his 53rd birthday next week!

Triple Zeck consists of three full-length novels–And Be A Villain, The Second Confession, and In the Best Families–all of which I had read previously.  That being said, I enjoyed them as much this time.  The books were published individually from 1948 to 1950, and each one is a complete novel on its own.

In case you are not a Wolfe aficionado, a little background is necessary.  Wolfe is an oversized man whose weight varies from an eighth of a ton (250 pounds) to a quarter of a ton (500 pounds), depending on the book.  I’ll split the difference and say he weighed about 375 pounds, hefty by any standard.  That explains, at least in part, why he never (or almost never) leaves his brownstone in Manhattan to physically investigate the cases that are brought to him; Archie Goodwin, his trusted assistant, takes care of that.  Wolfe’s job is simply to sit back in his chair and be a genius.

What connects the three mysteries in this single volume is the fact that in each case Wolfe agrees to investigate a case a client brings to him and then receives a phone call ordering him to drop the case.  In the first phone call, the caller, whom Wolfe identifies as Arnold Zeck, says,”The wisest course for you will be to drop the matter,” which of course Wolfe will not do.

Zeck is the major crime boss in the New York City area and beyond, apparently untouchable, although his many illegal enterprises are known to the city police, the state police, and the FBI.  By the third volume, Wolfe realizes that it’s now a case of Wolfe vs. Zeck and that the only way it can end is with the death of one of them.  So he makes his plan and hopes he will be the survivor.

As is the case with reading the Sherlock Holmes oeuvre, part of the joy of reading Wolfe and Archie’s adventures, in addition to the crime in each novel, is spending time with the two of them.  The similarities with Doyle’s creation are there–Holmes’ pipe, Wolfe’s beer; Inspector Lestrade, Inspector Cramer; Professor Moriarty, Arnold Zeck.  And note that three letters in each protagonist’s name are the same:  Sherlock/Nero, Holmes/Wolfe.  

Coincidence?  I think not.

Rex Stout was a remarkable man.  Encouraged by his father, he had read the Bible twice by the age of four.  At age 13 he was the Kansas state spelling bee champion, and some readers of a certain age will remember a school banking system in which elementary school children brought money to school every week to be deposited in their bank account.  I was one of those children.  That system was invented by Stout.

The first Nero Wolfe novel (Fer-de-Lance) was published in 1934, the final (A Family Affair) in 1975.  Just think about that for a moment–41 years of Nero and Archie!  That is something to celebrate!

Check out the complete Marilyn’s Mystery Reads at her website.  In addition to book review posts, there are sections featuring Golden Oldies, Past Masters and Mistresses, and an About Marilyn column that features her opinions about everything to do with mystery novels.

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