Secondhand Crime Fiction & Thriller Bargain Book Box SP2876

Secondhand Crime Fiction & Thriller Bargain Book Box SP2876

Eighteen Rex Stout Nero Wolfe mysteries spanning multiple decades and editions — from early Panther and Fontana paperbacks through the Rex Stout Library series. The one exception is Double for Death, a Tecumseh Fox novel rather than Wolfe, but Stout fans will want it regardless.

1. Red Threads — Rex Stout — An early Wolfe case set in the equestrian world, with a piece of red cloth as the central clue — Stout in his more hard-boiled early mode.
2. A Right to Die — Rex Stout — Wolfe and Archie investigate a civil rights-era murder, with Stout using the case to examine race relations with his customary bluntness.
3. The Silent Speaker — Rex Stout — One of the great Nero Wolfe cases: a government bureau chief is killed before he can deliver a crucial speech, and the political intrigue is formidable.
4. Before Midnight — Rex Stout — Murder inside a corporate advertising competition, with the clues hidden in contest entries — one of Stout's most elaborately plotted novels.
5. The Second Confession — Rex Stout (Rex Stout Library, intro by William G. Tapply) — Wolfe is hired to prove a young man is a Communist and finds himself in a murder case — a period piece that holds up well.
6. The Doorbell Rang — Rex Stout (Rex Stout Library, intro by Stuart Kaminsky) — Widely considered Stout's masterpiece: Wolfe takes on the FBI, with results that are brave, funny, and completely of their Hoover-era moment.
7. And Be a Villain — Rex Stout (Rex Stout Library, intro by Maan Meyers) — A radio quiz show sponsor is poisoned on air — a high-concept premise Stout handles with characteristic ease.
8. Where There's a Will — Rex Stout (Rex Stout Library, intro by Dean R. Koontz) — Three sisters and a murdered millionaire, with one of Stout's more elegantly constructed solutions.
9. In the Best Families — Rex Stout (Rex Stout Library, intro by Patricia Sprinkle) — A departure: Wolfe abandons the brownstone and Archie must manage without him — one of the most surprising entries in the series.
10. Over My Dead Body — Rex Stout (Rex Stout Library, intro by John Jakes) — A fencing school murder and a revelation about Wolfe's past make this one of the most personal cases in the series.
11. Double for Death — Rex Stout (Rex Stout Library, intro by Rita Mae Brown) — A Tecumseh Fox mystery rather than Wolfe — Stout's other detective in an energetic, plot-driven thriller.
12. Prisoner's Base — Rex Stout (Rex Stout Library, intro by William DeAndrea) — A woman seeks shelter in the brownstone and turns up dead the next morning — a case that arrived literally on Wolfe's doorstep.
13. The Golden Spiders — Rex Stout — A young boy spots something suspicious, and the case ends in surprisingly dark territory — one of the series's more moving entries.
14. Three for the Chair — Rex Stout — Three Wolfe novellas in one volume, showing Stout's plotting at its most compressed and efficient.
15. Death of a Dude — Rex Stout — Wolfe travels west — always a significant event — when Archie gets mixed up in a murder on a Montana ranch.
16. Champagne for One — Rex Stout — A young woman dies at a charity party for unmarried mothers, champagne glass in hand — Wolfe pursues the question of murder or suicide with characteristic deliberation.
17. The Mother Hunt — Rex Stout (Rex Stout Library, intro by Marilyn Wallace) — An abandoned baby, a dead man's widow, and a question of paternity — Stout at his most human.
18. Black Orchids — Rex Stout (Rex Stout Library, intro by Lawrence Block) — Two novellas, the first set at a flower show that lets Stout indulge Wolfe's orchid passion before the murders begin.