Been trying to read all of the Nero Wolfe this summer and it is interesting/amusing/occasionally disappointing to see how the tone and characters sometimes shift around. Archie is a bit nihilist in this one.

It is not good for a business of a PI to have his clients murdered shortly after they leave his office. Not only does it bring bad reputation, but it is also very damaging to self-esteem, something Nero Wolfe values highly. Thus this time it is personal. The detective who charges such high fees that only millionaires can afford his services most of the time now only has $4.30 to show for his troubles with not a single penny more on the horizon. It still does not matter as the reputation is at st...

Twelve year old Pete Drossos, who lives in Nero Wolfe's neighborhood, saw something strange as he was trying to earn money by washing car windshields at a corner. He brought the information to the great detective. Just a couple days later the boy is run down in the street. While dying in the ambulance the boy tells his mother to take his savings to Wolfe and to ask him to solve the crime. It's only $4.30, but perhaps because the kid ate at Wolfe's table and it is thus a matter of honor, he's wil...

Nero Wolfe mysteries are among my favorites for light hearted yet relatively complex plots. This was a weaker entry, but well written even so. I found the characters difficult to connect with and there seemed to be less interplay between Archie and Nero than usual. The entire story seemed to have been written more formulaically than previous entries in this much loved series. Good, but well short of great.

Rex Stout didn't disappoint once again. Nero Wolf and his side kick Archy Goodwin solve a triple homoside which includes a child. Lots and lots of twists and turns, lots of greed and side dealing and a very enjoyable read.I recommend this to all.Enjoy and Be Blessed.Steven

I needed a relief from Aaron Elkins and the rain forest. New York City is better in this weather. Avenging the murder of a 9-year old boy, immigration issues. Who knew he did social issues?

This novel begins promisingly. A street kid who works the corner as a windshield-cleaner sees something suspicious, comes to Wolfe for help, and is found dead the next day. The resolution, however. is rather conventional, and the suspects not particularly interesting. As always, though, Wolfe and Archie are wonderful.

Nero Wolfe finds himself working for a twelve year old boy for the princely sum of $4.30 after the lad shows up on his doorstep with an interesting case. The case centers around a mysterious woman, spider shaped golden earrings, and a mysterious car. This is a great vintage detective story.

“Cramer regarded him. He took the cigar from his mouth, held it half a minute, and put it back between his teeth. ‘I would have thought,’ he said, not positively, ‘that I have seen you work all the dodges there are, but this is new. I’m damned if I get it.’” Inspector Cramer, as most well know, is Nero Wolfe’s foil. He is usually one step behind.It takes a significant force to motivate Nero Wolfe (the immovable object) and money is often the factor but, here, it isn’t the primary one.A neighborh...

Suspects in Nero Wolfe books aren't particularly interesting. There, I said it. But that said, who cares? Archie, Wolfe, Kramer, Fritz, Saul, Stebbins, and so on are beautifully created, and their confrontations with business people, lawyers, and each other are always readable and fun. Nothing really needs to happen to make this work; but in this particular one, so much happens (even a scene of torture) it's almost distracting. Still, Wolfe gets to hold forth, Archie gets to wisecrack, and I wil...

When Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin have a spat over Wolfe’s rudeness, Archie tries to get back at Wolfe by permitting a 12 year old street kid who shows up with a “case” for Wolfe to join them at dinner, Wolfe uses the arrival to get back at Archie, making him take notes and treat the interview as a serious case. Both men are shocked a couple of days later when the boy is killed—probably by the man he came to get Wolfe’s help regarding. To make matters worse, the boy’s mother arrives and gives W...

One of My Favorite Nero Wolfe MysteriesIn Rex Stout’s “The Golden Spiders,” a petty snit over dinner preparations lead brilliant, high-priced detective Nero Wolfe and his irreverent legman Archie Goodwin to admitting a twelve-year-old boy for a consultation on a case involving a mysterious woman wearing gold spider earrings. Before long, a $4.30 retainer and two brutal deaths that hit close to home for Wolfe and Goodwin involve them in one of their darkest, most personal cases, involving undocum...

The title of this book refers to a pair of earrings. A twelve year old boy is washing windshields on a street corner when a car stops at the light. The boy hustles to wash the windows when he notices the woman driving the car turn to him and mouth the words "Help" and "Call the police". The woman wore gold earrings shaped like spiders. There was a man in the passenger seat. The light turned green and the car took off. It had a Connecticut license.Pete Drossos lives in the neighborhood and he kno...

The atmosphere in the brownstone is a bit unpleasant at the beginning of the book. Once a year, Wolfe receives about 20 starlings from an upstate farmer. Fritz seasons them with salt, brushes them with melted butter, wraps them in sage leaves, grills them and serves them with polenta. [Historically, many small birds were eaten, mostly out of necessity.]Anyway, Fritz decided all by himself to cook them differently this year, with saffron and tarragon. Wolfe has a hissy fit and refuses to eat them...

Another solid tale of mystery! I 💘 this series!

Stout's prose is at its sweetest in this 1953 novel. The opening is classic, as a squabble between Wolfe and Archie gives an opportunity for a 12-year-old boy windscreen cleaner, Pete, to make his way into the brownstone. He asks Wolfe to help solve a mystery. Why did a woman in a car, wearing earrings like golden spiders, mouth a silent plea to Pete to call the police?The case gets increasingly personal for Wolfe as several people who have asked for his help end up dead. I enjoyed most of the b...

Actually, this is a rather lame book. So we have Nero sitting in his house and Archie who does the work. At the end we have all suspects in a room and Nero gives us the solution. End. It is not badly written and maybe there are people who find Stout funny. I am not one of them.So this would not deserve more than two stars. Except for a small brilliant observation at the beginning. There is this little kid who wants to hire Mr. Wolfe. They are chatting and the the kid does not understand a word a...

"The Golden Spiders" by Rex Stout.Listened to on CD performed by Michael Pritchard. Nero & Archie at their best.A young man arrives at Nero's door with a case. The case, he explains, began when he was attempting to wash the windshields of cars as they stopped for a red light. This particular case had a woman driving with a man in the passenger seat. Just as the young man glances towards the woman she moves her lips to mouth to say HELP and to call the police. Then the light turns green and they

I love the characters in these books but find the language is a little...odd to me and it can be distracting and take longer than it should to read. Interesting plot on this one.

Nero Wolfe is hooked into a mystery because he was in a bad mood. He was taking out his grumpiness on the other residents of the house including Archie, so when Archie got a chance to get back at Nero by bringing in a neighborhood boy with a problem he took it. That incident lead to several murders including the neighborhood boy and his Mother pays Nero $4.30, all that the boy had saved, to solve the murder. Nero is, of course, known for running an extravagant household requiring something "nort...