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Points of interest (or at least I found them interesting) from Fer-de-Lance (Bantam edition, if you're interested in looking up the page numbers):
Fritz calls the office “the library” (page 1).
Fritz drives the roadster to go out and buy beer for Wolfe, who, now that Prohibition has ended, is switching from barrels of bootleg beer (six quarts a day) to bottled beer (five quarts a day...or so he keeps promising) if he can find a brand he likes (page 1, 3).
Many characters are introduced and primarily referred to by their last names, such as Fred Durkin (page 3) and Theodore Horstmann, who doesn’t get his first name until page 83 (Fritz is an exception; he receives his last name at the same time Theodore gets his first).
Wolfe has been hit by the Depression, having to cut Archie’s weekly pay as well as that of Saul (who apparently receives a regular paycheck from Wolfe (a retainer?) regardless of whether his services are required) (page 4).
Fred also previously received a weekly paycheck from Wolfe, but Wolfe can no longer afford to do so due to the Depression and so Fred only gets paid when his services are required (page 4).
Wolfe has lived at the brownstone for twenty years and Archie a third of that (page 16); Archie later specifies that he’s been living there for seven years (page 25) (by The Rubber Band, the number is updated to eight years (page 21)).
Book #28 of 2026:
Fer-de-Lance by Rex Stout (Nero Wolfe #1)
This 1934 novel introduces the character of Nero Wolfe, as well as his assistant Archie Goodwin and a few other members of their inner circle. The former is a genius consulting detective in the style of Hercule Poirot (who had debuted in 1920) or especially Sherlock Holmes (1887), sharing with each of those predecessors not only a profession but also the presence of an outside narrator there to marvel at his brilliance. The key difference between a Hastings or a Watson and our protagonist in this series is that he’s additionally his employer’s main means of interacting with the world, the investigator himself being an agoraphobe who rarely leaves his luxurious New York City brownstone.
Wolfe is, hands down, the most interesting thing about this story. He represents a more nuanced depiction of neurodivergence than I was honestly expecting for the era, displaying eccentricities like an insistence on a familiar daily schedule that read as classic behaviors for someone on the autism spectrum. He also suffers from bouts of depression during which he has to set all work aside, and yet none of these qualities are viewed negatively by the cast around him, merely as elements that must be factored into their business arrangements. The narrative does occasionally stray into judgmental territory over his weight, but it’s generally a pretty refreshing tale for a book soon approaching a century in age.
I am less sold on this initial mystery, which involves a convoluted plot around a poison dart concealed in a golf club and some accordingly silly levels of insight from the wealthy recluse, not to mention an overly-long endgame after he’s correctly identified the culprit. Odd too is just how cavalier he is about his riches, at one point wagering $10,000 — almost $250,000 in today’s dollars — that an exhumed body will show the cause of death he’s deduced, in order to pressure the local authorities into digging up the corpse to conduct a new autopsy. But the overall concept and the droll humor has solid enough potential for me to check out the next few sequels, at least.
[Content warning for gun violence, suicide, and gore.]
★★★☆☆
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Have you read Fer-de-Lance by Rex Stout (1934)?
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Fer-de-Lance by Rex Stout (The First Nero Wolfe Mystery)
If you like murder mysteries that are well-plotted, revealed by degrees and involve eccentric and lively characters, Nero Wolfe is for you!
This was my introduction to a new author and new detective, courtesy of my good friend on Vocal, John Cox, who recommended Stout’s books. He was right to as well, as I thoroughly enjoyed it. I do love a good detective murder mystery and this was particularly quirky, mainly because of the character of Nero Wolfe but also because of the narration of Archie Goodwin, who is our guide through this…
Fer-de-lance
Fer-de-lances are pit vipers from Central and South America.
(Image credit: Paul Franklin
"I understand the technique of eccentricity; it would be futile for a man to labor at establishing a reputation for oddity if he were ready at the slightest provocation to revert to normal action."
-Nero Wolfe in Fer-de-Lance by Rex Stout
I've reached the point in my journey through All the Agatha Christie Audiobooks where I need a break, so I'm listening to the first Nero Wolfe novel instead - I've read it before, but it's been a while.
I had forgotten exactly how much of Archie's narration is "Let me minutely describe Wolfe's physical appearance and presence and the way he moves. No really, it's necessary for the story that I talk extensively about his body all the time. And also his microexpressions, which I am constantly extremely tuned into. Yes, especially the movement of his lips. That's very important. No one else notices that like I do, because I know him better than anyone and I spend a lot of time staring at him, which is incredibly normal. I'm going to be really sarcastic about all of this so that I can pretend it's not important to me. (It's very important to me.) Anyway, gotta go, he's instructed me to do something so it's time to show off so he can tell me I did a good job."
ARCHIE. It is chapter one. Oh my god, rein it in a little.