The Doorbell Rang

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The Doorbell Rang (a Nero Wolfe mystery)

Book Review:

 

When I started as librarian here at SSS, one of the first things I did was to search the database for Nero Wolfe books. The results? Zero! No titles!! Not even one!!! What an intolerable situation. A library with none of Rex Stout’s 46 iconic mysteries is like a baseball game with no hotdogs, or a wedding banquet with no wine. Needless to say, I spent a little of my budget on several of these sparky who-dun-its, one of which I highlight here.

“The Doorbell Rang” is Nero Wolfe at his super-sleuthing best. Eccentric, lazy, corpulently gluttonous, and stunningly brilliant, the private detective who rarely leaves home and never on business takes on the seemingly impossible job of forcing the FBI to heel like an unruly dog on behalf of a fabulously rich client who can afford to pay… a lot! And of course, the brash, energetic confidential assistant Archie Goodwin is on hand to do all the real work so Wolfe is free to eat, tend his orchids, read, and think.

The puzzle is only half the pleasure of reading a Rex Stout mystery. Perhaps even more engaging is the humorously dysfunctional relationship between Nero and Archie. Are they friends who can barely stand each other? Are they work associates who have hopelessly blurred the lines of their private and professional lives? Or do they secretly enjoy needling, bickering, and verbally abusing each other? Whatever the answer, the fact remains; they are a heck of a lot of fun to go through a case with, and The Doorbell Rang is one of their best.

Recommendation: Part hardboiled detective, part cozy mystery, and all fun. If classic private eye fiction with an American flavor interests you, give The Doorbell Rang a try.

Mr. Wedel

 

Author - Rex Stout

Publishing - 1965/1966/1971/1992, Bantam Books

Genre - Mystery

Pages - 178



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