thinking about nero wolfe a lot right now, because i'm so used to early 20th century detective novelists being a particular way, and rex stout occasionally throws me for a loop
as much as i love old timey mystery novels, i've come to terms with the fact that they have a lot wrong with them; the expected sexism and homophobia and so on of the time, the victorian colonialist background of agatha christie, the almost comically vile uber-racism of raymond chandler, and so on
and like, stout had his own issues for sure; he was a warhawk who supported fdr's japanese interment camps and the vietnam war, he was hardcore anti-commie, archie goodwin is hard up to describe a woman in anything other than attractiveness levels and nero wolfe would be happy if he never had to see or speak to another woman for the rest of his life (never has a character been more aro/ace and in denial about how deep in the closet he is)
but stout was also a leftist who worked with the aclu in its early days and was critical of the fbi complete with anti-fbi nero wolfe novel, to the point that said fbi had a big fat file on him, and when not in warhawk mode he was surprisingly not racist for the time period and for being a detective novelist
i've mentioned before, but too many cooks has always been a fascinating detective novel for me, because it came out in 1938 and featured black characters who were written as actual human beings with complicated thoughts and emotions who were savvy about their place in society, and their involvement in the resort where the murder took place and the racist cops around them plays a big part in the plot; there's also an asian american woman who expresses frustration at always being seen as an exotic outsider despite being born and raised in california
and i started thinking about all this again because i just read a right to die, which i went into blind not realising it's a sequel to too many cooks; it's a novel set during the '60s civil rights movement where the son of a black character from the first book is suspected of murdering his white fiancée, and the both of them were working in a civil rights committee at the time
archie goodwin had previously been written as fairly racist himself in the past, but one of the interesting things about nero wolfe is that, for all his many flaws and dislikes and things, he is explicitly not racist? he addresses people of color as his equals, he donates to civil rights funds, and to the point of being outright naive in that area; he's an intellectual who feels racism is so idiotic that no decently intelligent human being could possibly be so, and that people of color don't have to worry about consequences or being blamed for a crime when it's so clear that they're innocent in the situation
and said people of color look at him in fascinated confusion, and the whole reason wolfe takes on the case in a right to die is not just because he owed the father from the previous book a favor, but because he went 'you're innocent you have nothing to fear and don't need my help' to the son, who was then promptly arrested; wolfe was so surprised and offended at the development that he was determined to right it
and the black characters are all actual characters with differing personalities and concerns, racist characters are firmly belittled and manipulated, archie goodwin goes gaga over how pretty one of the women they interview is, it's a complex situation because the black parents couldn't understand why a white woman would want to marry their son, and spoilers for the reveal at the ending - the murderer is a white woman, whose son killed himself when the murder victim had previously rejected him; she is a racist woman who was enraged when she discovered that her perfect white son was rejected by the white girl, but a black man was accepted? a black man? the woman was so outraged by this that she becomes a murderer and ruins multiple lives, and does not repent even an iota when found out
sure it's dated in several ways, how could it not be, but overall it's a very surprising novel to have read, that was written by a white man well into his seventies in the early '60s; there's a lot of subtlety and racial/social awareness in both too many cooks and a right to die that are so rare for the time periods, and that you just never see in the genre, period; raymond chandler can't tell you fast enough how every black person smells and talks like a minstrel parody, rex stout will say that it's dangerous for black people to involve themselves with the police even in the name of good, that just because you're not in the south it doesn't mean that extensive systematic racism doesn't exist, and that even the nicest, most supportive-seeming white people have dark thoughts and slurs deep in their heart where they might not know it
