Might As Well Be Dead: Rex Stout

Might As Well Be Dead by Rex Stout is a Nero Wolfe novel, published in 1956. In some ways, this novel fits the (somewhat) standard formula of the mysteries featuring Archie Goodwin and Nero Wolfe. The case starts as a search for a missing person, then later turns into a hunt for murderer. The setting is New York and we spend plenty of time in the brownstone, following the investigation. Wolfe's standard group of freelance investigators are called in to help.

The missing person is the son of a businessman from Omaha, Nebraska; the well-to-do business man, James R. Herold, has discovered that he wrongly accused his son of theft eleven years earlier and wants to re-establish contact with him. The New York police have had no success finding him and they suggested Nero Wolfe might be able to do more on the case. Soon Archie and Nero are wondering if the man they are searching for is a man recently convicted of murder. That leads to Wolfe trying to prove that the convicted man was not the murderer and this becomes one of the more complex cases that Wolfe has dealt with.


There are many interesting characters. The father is a real cold fish, but he is trying to do right by his son. And he keeps mentioning how his wife as getting impatient about the search.

The convicted man's lawyer is certain the man did not commit murder, but doesn't have the resources to do the required research to prove it. And thus Wolfe gets involved, taking the risk that if he can prove the man is innocent, he will reap some benefits. Wolfe and Archie are both at their best in this story. Archie is again bewitched by a woman who is central to the story. And it works very well here.

Wolfe's lawyer, Nathaniel Parker, has a bigger role than usual. Inspector Cramer and Sergeant Purley Stebbins are not happy at all to hear that Wolfe is trying to prove that they made a mistake in charging the convicted man.

I always love the descriptions of Wolfe's band of investigators who work for him when needed. Archie is narrating, of course.

WHEN I GOT BACK to 35th Street it was half-past six and the conference was in full swing.

I was pleased to see that Saul Panzer was in the red leather chair. Unquestionably Johnny Keems had made a go for it, and Wolfe himself must have shooed him off. Johnny, who at one time, under delusions of grandeur, had decided my job would look better on him or he would look better on it, no matter which, but had found it necessary to abandon the idea, was a pretty good operative but had to be handled. Fred Durkin, big and burly and bald, knows exactly what he can expect of his brains and what he can’t, which is more than you can say for a lot of people with a bigger supply. Orrie Cather is smart, both in action and in appearance. As for Saul Panzer, I thoroughly approve of his preference for free-lancing, since if he decided he wanted my job he would get it–or anybody else’s.

Any Nero Wolfe novel by Rex Stout has a lot to offer, and this one is no different. This was a reread, and it did not disappoint me.

See Yvette's review at In so many words.


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Publisher:  Fontana, 1980. Orig. pub. 1956.
Length:     192 pages
Format:     Paperback
Series:      Nero Wolfe
Setting:     New York City
Genre:      Mystery
Source:     I purchased this book.