If you are paying attention to the context and clues you can figure out who the villain is pretty early in the book. But even if you do figure out the central mystery you won't find the book disappointing. The biggest item of interest in this book is the introduction of a new character, Nero's arch enemy. Until I amassed a collection of these books I didn't even know Nero had an arch enemy. His name is mentioned only once and Archie is ordered by Nero to forget the name and never approach or inv...

Nero Wolfe needs money yet again. I know I sound like a broken record, but this is how the majority of the series' books start. He sends Archie Goodwin to see a popular radio talk show host Madeline Fraser (think Oprah Winfrey before the era of TV) to accept his services in investigating a sensational murder which happened recently right in the middle of the show: a guest drank some soft drink from the show sponsors and fell dead. The murder seems to be completely random as there was no way to i...

A man is poisoned during a live radio soft drink commercial, and Wolfe dispatches Goodwin to persuade the popular talk show host to hire Wolfe to solve this notorious crime, thus ending the bad publicity. (For once, he is eager for work: he has a large income tax bill to pay.)This 1948 Rex Stout classic features Wolfe's first encounter with master criminal Arnold Zeck, Wolfe's Moriarty. If you have not read any of Nero Wolfe's adventures, this, followed by the other two books featuring Zeck--The...

While solving the murders in this book, Wolfe crosses paths with a master criminal, who figures in the next two books as well as this one. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens next.

This is one of the earliest Wolfe books that truly feels like a Wolfe book, and that definitely factors in to my rating. Honestly, this isn't a perfect book. Like most of the early corpus, the sexism pretty much shrieks off the page here, and neither Archie nor Wolfe comes out looking like an untarnished hero (but then, that is not the point of either character, and especially not of Wolfe). But. But. There's some solid Wolfe-Archie interplay, Cramer plays a fairly substantial role, and we get t...

Never have I downgraded a book 2 stars for ONE sentence before; but:Archie: "I am not incapable of using force on a woman, since after all men have never found anything else to use on them with any great success when it comes right down to it..." -- Really, Rex? Really? This sentence was so offensive, that I would have downgraded any other book automatically to 1 star. It is, however, Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe series and as such I can't go below a 3 as much as I am turned off by the violent misogyn...

One of the finest Nero Wolfe cases, considered as a mystery. The motive and method for murder are very believable, and yet the distractions grow out of that motive and method so naturally it couldn't have been any other way. Archie performs splendidly in his sphere, Wolfe in his, as they always do. Also, the only arch-criminal in the canon is introduced in this book. Not one to miss if you like reading Archie-Wolfe stories.

This book was the perfect antidote to readers malaise. After finishing a Nobel Prize winner's dense (and seemingly endless) novel, I knew I needed to return to an old friend and that was a Nero Wolfe mystery.I have probably read this book five times, but I never tire of Nero Wolfe's grumpiness, Archie's cheekiness, and Fritz's cuisine (I am now absolutely longing for corn fritters!). Stout's Arnold Zeck novels are among my favorites of the many Nero Wolfe mysteries; he is akin to Sherlock Holmes...

Rex Stout did it again. This is a detective novel featuring one of the best detectives Nero Wolfe who is an arm chair detective who never leaves his home to solve a case. All of the foot work is done by his brash, wise guy side kick Archy Goodwin. I recommend all of Rex Stout's books very highly.Enjoy and Be Blessed.Diamond

Another fun read from Rex Stout. It's not much of a mystery, but that's not really why one reads a Nero Wolfe book, is it? The cameo by Arnold Zeck was interesting. I've heard he appears in other books as a kind of nemesis for Wolfe.

Was recommended to me as witty, but I didn't it find it particularly so. It was my first Rex Stout and it was OK, but I don't really see what the whole underlying Nero Wolfe set-up adds to the genre.

My first Nero Wolfe mystery! Listened to the audiobook and I’m hooked. Nero Wolfe makes me laugh and cringe; Archie does too, but for very different reasons. Wonderful mystery and interesting characters!

Radio talk show host Madeline Fraser's worst nightmare comes true when one of her on-air guests collapses at the mike after drinking a glass of the sponsor's beverage.Review,Dear readers,I reviewed at least one of the books from this series at DA before and as I am sure I mentioned I am a big fan of Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin. I don't reread these books too often, but since I first read these books in Russian over two decades ago, I can safely say that I reread them all at least once, maybe t...

I give this one five Nero Wolfe sized stars. I love this series and I'm savoring them as my "go to" when I need a guarantee of a book that will keep my rapt attention and bring me out loud laughs. Solid, all the way around! We also get a teaser of Zeck- Nero's nemesis! You can read Rex Stouts books in any order, but I heard that you would want to read 13-15 sequentially, for this reason.

A radio show guest is murdered live on the air, poisoned after drinking some of the sponsor's beverage. Was the guest the intended victim or did the bottle end up in the wrong person's hand? What was the motive? While there were a few places the plot bogged down, it rarely did so while Nero Wolfe was in the detecting mode. We listened to this on audiobook downloaded from Overdrive and were amused every time it told us to change the cassette or to flip the cassette or hit reverse. Could these dir...

In the previous book in this series, Rex Stout hit the bottom of his barrel. In this novel, he’s back at the top of his game, pulling me into the story immediately and never relinquishing his hold on my interest. It’s time to pay the IRS and Nero Wolfe needs cash to foot the bill. So he goes looking for work, focusing on a popular radio program in which a guest died from poison on the air. Right from the initial bargaining over whether or not it was in the show’s interest to pay him to find the

"Usually when you hire a man to do something he thinks you're the boss. When you hire Wolfe he thinks he's the boss."I cannot remember when I first read a Nero Wolfe book. I remember browsing in a local bookstore and I would have been in high school. The bookstore is long gone and I am getting close to retirement age so it has been a few decades. Despite the passage of time I still enjoy picking up one of Rex Stout's books and being transported back. To enter Wolfe's brownstone on West 35th Stre...

Ok, even fun, for the first half, then got blah — especially at the end towards the wrap up.

First, let me just say that when I was 16 and read this I never even registered that Archie Goodwin is ageist. At 29, his comments about no women over 30 being worth a look gave me a strong desire to give him a good "talking to." Anyway, on to the book. Honestly, And Be a Villian: A Nero Wolfe Novel disappointed me. I will re-read at least one more of Rex Stout's books, but I have a terrible suspicion that the Nero Wolfe series will go on the list of things that didn't hold up for me over time.

The title of this one is quite apt; the full quote is: O most pernicious woman!O villain, villain, smiling, damnèd villain!My tables—meet it is I set it downThat one may smile, and smile, and be a villain—At least I am sure it may be so in Denmark.The book involves show business, or at least an important media of entertainment in the first half of the 20th century - radio. Margaret Fraser is a radio personality/actress, and during a live promo of a soft drink, the product of one of her show’s sp...