The Mother Hunt: Rex Stout

Rich at Past Offences proposed a challenge during the month of June: to blog about books from 1963. It turns out I had several books published that year. I reviewed Horse Under Water by Len Deighton here. The Mother Hunt by Rex Stout is my second book of 1963.

One of the many things I love about the Nero Wolfe novels is the beginnings. Usually the first paragraph or two provides a very good introduction.

When the doorbell rang a little after eleven that Tuesday morning in early June and I went to the hall and took a look through the one-way glass panel in the front door, I saw what, or whom, I expected to see: a face a little too narrow, gray eyes a little too big, and a figure a little too thin for the best curves. I knew who it was because she had phoned Monday afternoon for an appointment, and I knew what she looked like because I had seen her a few times at theaters or restaurants.

Also I had known enough about her, part public record and part hearsay, to brief Nero Wolfe without doing any research. She was the widow of Richard Valdon, the novelist, who had died some nine months ago drowned in somebody's swimming pool in Westchester and since four of his books had been best sellers and one of them, Never Dream Again, had topped a million copies at $5.95, she should have no trouble paying a bill from a private detective if and when she got one. After reading Never Dream Again, five or six years ago, Wolfe had chucked it by giving it to a library, but he had thought better of a later one, His Own Image, and it had a place on the shelves. Presumably that was why he took the trouble to lift his bulk from the chair when I ushered her to the office, and to stand until she was seated in the red leather chair near the end of his desk. As I went to my desk and sat I was not agog. She had said on the phone that she wanted to consult Wolfe about something very personal and confidential, but she didn't look as if she were being pinched where it hurt. It would probably be something routine like an anonymous letter or a missing relative.

In this case, in two paragraphs we know a good bit about the client, and have learned about Wolfe's reading habits and his "bulk." And the paragraphs illustrate another thing I love about the books, which is Archie Goodwin's narration of the story.

I know I am not alone in my love of Archie, having seen many reviews with the same views. Yvette at In So Many Words has a post celebrating Archie: The Wit and Wisdom of Archie Goodwin.

Lucy Valdon, the woman described above, has been caring, temporarily, for a baby that has been left in her vestibule. She has approached Wolfe to find the identity of the mother and determine if her husband was the father of the child. The hunt for the mother starts a series of events leading to a murder that Wolfe must solve.

This story is unusual in that Archie gets involved with the client. As far as I can remember, she is the only woman other than Lily Rowan that he gets involved with. He is attracted to a lot of women but it never goes far. The story also seems to me to be more complex than some of the novels. I have read all of the novels multiple times, and this one is in my list of top Nero Wolfe novels.

Since I am an unabashed, hard-core fan of Rex Stout and his creations Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin, I can only say that this book is highly recommended. If you have already tried a few of the Rex Stout books, you will probably already know if you like the series. If not, you should try at least one of the books.

The other Nero Wolfe novels that I have reviewed:
Fer-de-Lance (the first Nero Wolfe mystery)
The Golden Spiders

I give more background on the series in those posts so I will not repeat it here.

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Publisher: Viking Press, 1963.
Length:    182 pages
Format:    Hardcover
Series:     Nero Wolfe
Setting:    New York City
Genre:     Mystery