"Bullet for One" is a 68-page novella in the Nero Wolfe series, and was first published in The American Magazine in July 1948, the year of my birth. It is one of three stories in Curtains for Three, published in 1950.
As usual, Archie Goodwin, Nero Wolfe's assistant, narrates the story. Some semi-regular characters are included: Saul Panzer and Orrie Cather, freelance detectives; and Inspector Cramer of the NYC police. Lily Rowan, Archie's sometimes female companion, makes a brief appearance.
This story features five people who are suspected of murdering Sigmund Keyes, an industrial designer who was shot while riding horseback in New York's Central Park. These five people gather at Nero Wolfe's office to hire him to prove that another person, Victor Talbott, is guilty. Victor Talbott was Keyes' sales agent, and is in love with his daughter. He also has the best alibi of all of the suspects. The five suspects that Wolfe is working for are three people who worked in the same office with Keyes, plus his daughter, Dorothy Keyes, and a stable hand at the Riding Academy near Central Park.
This was a funny story, and I think it was more humorous because it included some of the regular characters in addition to Archie and Wolfe. Archie gets his feeling hurt because Wolfe assigns all the interesting jobs to Saul and Orrie. Wolfe is mainly concerned with food and his orchids while he sends others off to do research. Although some of the facts are hidden from the reader until close to the end, it was a clever ending.
I read another story in the book recently also, but it is a hard one for me to review. It may be my favorite story in this book.
"The Gun with Wings" is about two lovers who come to Wolfe with a problem. They know that the woman's husband was killed and they haven't told anyone what they know, because each of them is afraid that the other might be the murderer. (Her husband was a piece of work.) They want Wolfe to find out who the murderer is so that they can get married. Now that is an unusual problem.
I reviewed "Disguise for Murder," the third story in Curtains for Three, in April of this year.
15 comments:
It's funny, Tracy. I was just talking to someone yesterday about Rex Stout's short stories, and now here you are discussing one! I think Stout ought to get more recognition for his novellas and short stories; they're well-written and can, as you say, be funny.
Both these stories sound like a lot of fun, particularly the last one you mentioned. I seem to like short stories more and more. I just read a sci-fi one by Damon Knight in a book of weird stories, the ending of which took me so much by surprise that it was a delight. I should've expected it as he was one of my favourite authors as a teenager.
Indeed, Knight as well as Stout were dependable (though Knight wrote good-to-brilliantly from vignettes to long novellas, but didn't write a fully-impressive novel till several at the end of his career). Wolfe indeed depends on the data-gathering of his associates, and pulls all the threads together...though it's also fun on the rare occasion that Wolfe, despite war-driven agoraphobia, goes out, against his better judgment. And things can get very serious indeed in the Wolfe stories.
I've only started reading classic/golden age crime in recent years and haven't read any by Rex Stout. Do you find his stories have aged well?
Margot, some of Rex Stout's fans don't like the novellas as well as the novels (or at all), but I am a fan of both. I guess I want all I can get of Archie and Nero Wolfe.
Cath, I have read a good number of science fiction short stories in the last few years and I was surprised that I enjoyed most of them. One of them was by Damon Knight ("Stranger Station") and I liked it a lot. Otherwise, I haven't read anything by Knight. Some science fiction short stories I have read have been weird and confusing but even those are usually a good read.
You are right, Todd, the Nero Wolfe stories (long or short) are more often serious although never too dark. I read an article somewhere that noted that Nero Wolfe goes out of his house more often that one would expect since he is know to be an armchair detective. One of my favorite novellas is about Wolfe going with Archie to an estate outside of New York City to persuade a gardener to work for him while Theodore Horstman takes an extended leave.
Tracy--among my Damon Knight recommendations: https://socialistjazz.blogspot.com/2020/10/the-short-stories-by-damon-knight-he.html
Kelly, that is a good question and hard to answer. For the most part, I do think that they have aged well. Throughout the thirty years that Stout was writing the series, some social and political issues were addressed. Racism is addressed in Too Many Cooks (1938) and A Right to Die (1964). In The Doorbell Rang (1965) there are unflattering portrayals of the FBI and J. Edgar Hoover.
I started reading the Nero Wolfe series when I was in my teens, and it wasn't until I was reading the books again in my forties that I noticed that Archie was sexist. And Nero Wolfe is not complimentary about women. However there are often intelligent, strong female characters in the novels.
I don't find his books offensive but I am also a big fan so not the best judge. But they are a reflection of the times. And I think it depends on which books you read as to whether issue comes up much.
The interesting thing is that although Wolfe and Archie do not age throughout the stories, the setting is always appropriate to the time the book was written.
Is there *any* work that isn't narrated by Archie? Or any shifting points of view?
I don't know when this short story collection/edition was put together but I see Judith Kelman wrote the introduction (or at least her name is on it). That brought back a memory of reading a book by her - I think it must have been Someone's Watching, although it left no impression (and I never read another). It is a common practice when building up a new author to find other ways to get her name out there. So while it is possible Kelman wrote the introduction and is a big fan, it's also possible someone else at Bantam did.
I just finished The Briar Club by Kate Quinn, set in the 1950s, and one of the characters is quite critical of J. Edgar Hoover. I wondered if that was accurate or if people really learned about his quirks after his death.
Tracy, I have a number of friends who have read all of the Nero Wolfe books...50 times each! I think the Wolfes hold up because of Rex Stout's brilliant tactic of rarely having Wolfe leave his brownstone.
I have a copy of Fer De Lance which I first read many years ago and I need to give it another try because I enjoyed it the first time and I want to get back to Nero Wolfe and Archie. The two stories you read sound interesting and I am kind of hoping that neither of the lovers killed the husband.
Constance, all of the books and stories in the Nero Wolfe series have first person narration by Archie Goodwin throughout the entire book. No other points of view. Other books he wrote may have shifting points of view, it has been a good while since I read others. The first person narration is pretty common in private investigator novels at that time.
The majority of the Nero Wolfe series books have come out in that edition with introductions and the ones I have read are clearly by Nero Wolfe fans very knowledgeable about the series. I could not say for certain about that one. It sounded legit to me.
George, people that can do that must be able to read very fast or not read much else besides Stout's. I would be happy reading through all them every 4-5 years, though. I like the books where Wolfe leaves his home, but if the rest of the secondary characters are not there, I miss them.
Kathy, Fer de Lance is my favorite book of all time, although many people who read it are not as enamored as I am.
In that story with the lovers, I was rooting for them too, and so was Archie.
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