Rating: 
Summary: Sleuthing out a Snake in the Grass
Review: A prominent businessman drops dead of an apparent heart attack while playing golf. A few days later an out-of-work machinist disappears and is found murdered. Wolfe "links" the two incidents, demonstrates the first death to be a murder, and undertakes to collect the $50,000.00 reward posted for identifying the killer. In the process he tampers with witnesses, conceals evidence, and otherwise places himself and his assistant Archie Goodwin in danger of arrest. He turns in a dazzling display of deductive ability without leaving his home and without getting arrested in the process.Most series begin at a beginning and work chronologically to an end. The characters grow and mature, and supporting cast comes and goes. So we have it with Horace Rumpole and Hercule Poirot. Other series skip about, giving stories from various stages of the star's career in a manner which perplexes would-be biographers. Sherlock Holmes is the classic example of this type series. The Nero Wolfe series is a singular exception. Wolfe never ages, never changes. His supporting cast remains constant, and life in the brownstone is pretty much the same in the first book as it is throughout the series. "Fer-de-Lance" is the first book in the series, and the ensemble cast is almost fully in place. Archie, Theodore, Fritz, Saul, and the others all play much the same role as they will throughout the series. Only the irascible Inspector Cramer is missing. I came to "Fer-de-Lance" after having read several later Wolfe books. The differed only in quality. "Fer-de-Lance" is much better-written than most of the later stuff I've read. The book reveals Stout to be an accomplished wordsmith and a crafter of ingenious plots. Although his craftsmanship as a deviser of plots remained strong throughout the series, his ability to turn a phrase diminished. I sometimes jot down artful phrases from books I read, hoping to possibly incorporate them into jury arguments in appropriate cases. "Fer-de-Lance" was the first Nero Wolfe book to send me scurrying for pen and notebook. I particularly liked one observation Wolfe made on detecting homicides: "No man can commit so complex a deed as murder and leave no vulnerable points. The best he can do is render them inaccessible save to patience and ingenuity."
Rating:
Summary: This Book Started It All
Review: As a mystery author with my first novel in initial release, I must admit to admiring the work of Rex Stout. His Nero Wolfe series shows us all how a master works. FER-DE-LANCE was the first book in Stout's lengthy series, and he had all the elements of his series in place when he wrote this excellent mystery. He combined the softer classic tradition, personified by Nero Wolfe, with the tougher hardboiled tradition, personified by Archie Goodwin. They work together in this novel to solve this homicide, as they will in dozens of future novels. His famous list of suspects with their lists of peculiarities are introduced in this novel as are the tensions between Wolfe and Goodwin that will play out for decades. FER-DE-LANCE is a classic of American mystery fiction.
Rating:
Summary: A Classic American Mystery
Review: As a voracious reader in my youth I devoured books at an alarming rate, with never a backward glance. As I aged I began to spend more time selecting books and less time reading them, becoming more selective about how I spend my hard won reading time. One of the great joys in life is reading a really good book, but even the heftiest novels are all too fleetingly enjoyed, and all too soon their passing mourned. Rex Stout is the antidote for this 'readers remorse' in that he has created a world that rarely changes. His Nero Wolfe series is truly a literary time capsule. FER-DE-LANCE was the first book in Stout's lengthy series, and he had all the elements of his series in place when he wrote this excellent mystery. He deliberately mentions prior cases to establish their world as a constant presence. We aren't there for the beginning of the Archie/Nero relationship, if indeed there ever was one, but we are invited to stop by and visit whenever we wish. Having established the comfortable and familiar brownstone background against which all of his cases will play out, Mr. Stout then combined the softer classic deductive reasoning tradition, embodied in Nero Wolfe, with the tougher hardboiled action tradition, embodied in Archie Goodwin. They work together in this novel and dozens to follow, solving the homicide in a style all their own. His famous list of suspects with their lists of peculiarities are introduced in this novel as are, with the noted exception of Inspector Cramer, their comrades in arms. The characters ebb and flow throughout the series, but never seem to age or tire. This creates a span of thousands of well written pages to share with our new friends. FER-DE-LANCE is a unique and timeless classic of American mystery fiction.
Rating:
Summary: Nero and Archie are always worth a visit
Review: Compose yourself, Archie. Why taunt me? Why upbraid me? I am merely a genius, not a god. -Nero Wolfe Rex Stout was in the midst of an unusually interesting life (including being a child math prodigy and serving on President Theodore Roosevelt's yacht) when he created one of the great detective series of all time, introducing Nero Wolfe for the first of 72 adventures in Fer-de-Lance. The brilliance of Stout's creation lies in the blending of Wolfe--an eccentric, elephantine, misanthropic, misogynistic, beer guzzling, gourmand--and his footman, Archie Goodwin--a classic, wise cracking, hard boiled dick. The combination, sort of like teaming Mycroft Holmes and Sam Spade, allowed him to use the best elements of both the British drawing room mystery and the American private eye novel. The result has enchanted readers for almost 70 years. Fans include everyone from Oliver Wendell Holmes to PG Wodehouse, James M. Cain to Kingsley Amis. Nero Wolfe, logging in around 280 lbs and quaffing 6 quarts of beer a day, rarely leaves his 35th Street brownstone in Manhattan, preferring to tend his orchids and worry over the exquisite meals prepared by his butler/chef Fritz. To support his high living, Wolfe takes on investigations in a very unofficial capacity, relying on Goodwin to do the physical work and periodically summoning the principals in a case to his home for an exhibition of his deductive genius. His arrogant manner is nicely captured in the following admonition to a sporting goods salesman who has condescendingly demonstrated the proper use of golf clubs: You know, Mr. Townsend, it is our good fortune that the exigencies of birth and training furnish all of us with opportunities for snobbery. My ignorance of this special nomenclature provided yours; your innocence of the elementary processes provides mine. Meanwhile, Archie narrates the stories in the familiar sardonic banter of the great noir novels: When I consider the different kinds I've seen it seems silly to say it, but somehow to me all lawyers look alike. It's a sort of mixture of a scared look and a satisfied look, as if they were crossing a traffic-filled street where they expect to get run over any minute but they know exactly what kind of paper to hand the driver if they get killed and they've got one right in their pocket. This sets up an amusing dramatic tension between the two, as when Nero tells Archie: Sit down. I would prefer to have you here, idle and useless...As I have remarked before, to have you with me like this is always refreshing because it constantly reminds me how distressing it would be to have someone present--a wife, for instance--whom I could not dismiss at will. Lest it seem that Wolfe is to much of an egomaniac to be tolerated, Archie makes it clear that he stays around just for the sheer joy of watching the elephantine savant in action and Wolfe himself acknowledges that much of his facade is mere pretense when a District Attorney commands his presence in Westchester, he tells Archie to refuse, saying "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." And Wolfe sometimes lets slip his admiration for Archie, telling a witness in the case, "Mr. Goodwin is a man of discretion, common decency and immeasurable valor." It has long been a theory of mine that if you create characters of sufficient interest to enrapture your audience, you can get away with not always cranking out a top flight story, we'll show up just to spend some time with familiar friends (this carried Magnum PI and Cheers through some mighty lean episodes & even whole seasons). Nero and Archie are always worth a visit, never more so than in this their inaugural case. GRADE: A
Rating: 
Summary: Classic period writing and unmatched Stout charm
Review: Fer-de-lance remains the source one of Stout's greatest creations: Nero Wolfe. Not so much becuase Wolfe himself is such a great character but rather he provides so much for Archie to talk about. For anyone who missed out on the unmitigated energy, charm and social manipulations of depression era New York will enjoy the book merely as a period peice. THe dialog remains some of the best in mystery writing and those stuck in British cozies have something to move on to.
Rating:
Summary: The first Wolfe stands up with the best of them.
Review: Having recently made the acquaintance of Rex Stout's eccentric sleuth, Nero Wolfe, I have been devouring the (thankfully numerous)items in the canon as I find them. One of the endearing things about Nero Wolfe's world is its consistency and solidity. The characters are clearly drawn and clearly themselves. I must admit, however, that I was surprised to discover, when I ran into FER DE LANCE in the course of my explorations, that this is actually the first Wolfe novel. Archie and Wolfe, Theodore and Fritz, and the brownstone on 35th are as notably themselves in this, the first of the series, as they are anywhere in the series. If you read attentively, you may pick up a few clues here and there that show that the author was not completely polished, not totally settled into the world of Nero Wolfe yet - but there's nothing obvious, and that is quite an achievement. This is one strong first book, and an original twist on the murder mystery to boot!
Rating:
Summary: Nero Wolfe in general.
Review: I do not know if my opinion is what you are looking for. I qwn all of the Nero Wolfe books and have read and reread every one of them numerous times.
I evidently like the way they are written because ,from a purely personal stand point, I do not like either of the two main characters, and in real life would want no part of them.
This may be a reason for someone else to love and admire them but I think you have to love New York and it's style of living and attitudes. I don't.
Never the less because, in my opinion, the stories are so well told and the characters are so well defined, they over come my personal dislike of the people. I admire the talent of the man writing the stories.
Wolfe is a self centered, Opinionated egomaniac with no sense of humorand a total diregard for convention.He uses words that are only useful to the curious because they will look them up and increase their vocabulary which in turn may increase their ability to work cross word puzzles, because those words ane not useed in normal discourse.
The thing that constantly amazes me is , that with so many things about the two lead characters that I don't like, I continue to read the stories over and over again.
The technical aspects are not my concern , mostly I read for relaxation and enjoyment I am not looking for education, morals or religion , just enjoyment, and Rex Stout, with whom I disagree in most philosophical areas, particularly politics,has the ability to enchant me with something that makes me forget that I don't like him and read another of his tales, again.
I am 85 years old and somewhat of a puritan, I know all the dirty words and have used them to good effect at times ,but not in mixed company and not in print, so If you want the tough talking ,hard boiled wiseguy who has a vocabulary of nothing but four letter words, Nero Wolfe is not your meat. These stories are squeaky clean. There also are some regular characters such as Fritz,Saul and Durkin who are as kind, thoughtful and caring as Wolfe and Goodwin are abrasive. I love all of them.
Rating: 
Summary: A half-baked and little plausible story
Review: In Rex Stout`s first Nero-Wolfe story the ample private investigator is asked by a friend of his legman Fred Durkin to find her brother Carlo Maffei, who has disappeared. Shortly afterwards the latter is found murdered. Wolfe`s inquiries reveal a connection with the sudden death of university president Barstow on the links, which turns out to be a murder. Barstow's widow then offers a reward for identifying the perpetrator and Wolfe undertakes to collect the money. Eventually, a ball boy from the golf course provides the crucial hint that leads to the killer, who attempts to silence Wolfe by means of a highly poisonous snake called fer-de-lance yet fails.
How the suspects respond to the questions they are asked, is being noticed in psychological detail. Wolfe's conclusions are immediately revealed to the reader and not withheld until the end as in so many other Wolfe-stories. However, the end is utterly disappointing. Wolfe stage-manages a mugging to obtain evidence. Instead of handing it over to the D.A., he sends the evidence to the killer, anticipating that the same will commit another murder and flee from justice. Moreover, he thus deceives the D.A. who paid $ 10.000 to him for being handed over the culprit. This behavior is not at all like Wolfe, who is a stickler for the rules and never acts outside the law. In real life he would certainly end up in the dock if he behaved like this.
Also, there is a discrepancy between Stouts lengthy descriptions of routine interviews and his silence when it comes to explaining the background: the motive and the particulars of the murders remain in the dark and Stout fails to explain why the killer saddles himself with lots of difficulties and risks to have a sophisticated murder weapon constructed instead of simply firing a shot from a hidden place. All in all, this crime story leaves mixed impressions and is certainly one of Stout's worse ones.
Rating:
Summary: First recorded success for great Nero Wolfe
Review: In their first recorded enterprise, the Big Bad Wolfe and his sidekick Archie Goodwin apply their wits and charms to unravel a strange case of announced death... Vintage Stout with some memorable scenes, Fer-de-lance deserves a special place on your bookshelf.This particular edition is quite good for a paperback, including as it does an introduction and some memorabilia from the private world of great Rex Stout. Definitely an excellent choice for the lover of classic mystery fiction.
Rating: 
Summary: Average
Review: Maybe this type of book just isn't my cup of tea. It wasn't a bad book in itself, but just not for me.
|
