Title: Fer-de-Lance
Author: Rex Stout
Published Date: October 1934
Publishing Co.: Bantam Crimeline
Pages: 285
Synopsis link to GR: Read Here
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
This is a series/author I had never heard of until my Secret Santa from work plopped this little book in my tiny greedy hands. Every once in a while I enjoy your good old fashion murder mystery and this delivered.
What makes this stand apart from others is that one of the main protagonists (and detective) is a large peculiar man who does everything without leaving his house. Twice daily Nero Wolfe attends his rare orchids and refuses to see anyone for any matter. He is not to be disturbed at these times. In between you may catch him eating food or making phone calls and solving crimes. His trusty assistant detective, Archie Goodwin, is the man who runs all the errands to help get things done. He does it in good humor and sometimes bad tempers, but he does them nonetheless. Working for an eccentric genius has it’s trials.
I really enjoyed the odd quirks of both detectives but mostly Wolfe’s. Archie Goodwin’s humor and attitude helped to balance things out. This was one murder mystery where I couldn’t keep up half the time. Even if I had a guess at who the murderer was, I couldn’t figure out how they had done it. I had some reservations about how the crime was handled in the end by the detectives but it was explained in the very last chapter. I don’t know that I agree with it but it was a solid enough ending.
This is a large series. While I don’t know that I’ll read every book, I know I will at least continue to try out more.
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