Where There's a Will

by Rex Stout

Ebook, 2010

Library's rating

Library's review

The three Hawthorne sisters — April, May, and June in reverse age order — are disconcerted when their millionaire brother, Noel, dies and bequeaths to a peach, a pear, and an apple to each of them, respectively. The bulk of his estate goes not to his wife but his mistress. The sisters say they

don't mind being cut out but are alarmed that sister-in-law Daisy intends to fight the will in court, thereby bringing them the short of publicity they can do without. They want Nero Wolfe to convince the mistress to give the widow half the money to prevent the lawsuit, but they soon have even bigger problems when Noel's apparently accidental death is found to be murder.

Set in 1939, this ninth series entry has possibly the most eclectic set of guest characters ever to grace Wolfe's office. The Hawthorne sisters seem to be intended as a sort of low-key colonies version of the Mitford sisters: The oldest is married to the U.S. Secretary of State; the middle sister is a brilliant scientist and college president; and the youngest is taking the Broadway stage by storm. Toss in a widow who wears a veil after a devastating archery accident left her permanently disfigured and a next-generation young female whose own mother calls her "a professional fiend," and you've got a bunch of women custom-made for getting on Wolfe's nerves.

Adding insult to injury is the distasteful aspect of a family fight about money; Wolfe has previously proclaimed that he would never take such a case since it would inevitably become "a game of tug-of-war using a dead man's guts for a rope." But it's the Depression and those orchids won't breed themselves. Thankfully, a good juicy murder soon pops up to make the whole puzzle more palatable for our finicky friend. Wolfe's discomfort also provides leg man Archie Goodwin plenty of opportunity for quips and scoldings, handed out as needed to all and sundry, but especially the boss. I enjoy this one more now than when I first read it, as my appreciation for Stout's masterful command of dialogue and repartee has increased over the years.

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Description

Why did the late multimillionaire Noel Hawthorne leave his sisters, April, May, and June, a peach, a pear, and an apple? Why did he will the bulk of his considerable estate to a woman who was most definitely not his wife? Now Nero Wolfe, able, astute, and unscrupulous detective that he is, must get to the bottom of a will that's left a whirlpool of menace . . . and a legacy of murder that's about to be fulfilled. Introduction by Dean R. Koontz "It is always a treat to read a Nero Wolfe mystery. The man has entered our folklore."--The New York Times Book Review A grand master of the form, Rex Stout is one of America's greatest mystery writers, and his literary creation Nero Wolfe is one of the greatest fictional detectives of all time. Together, Stout and Wolfe have entertained--and puzzled--millions of mystery fans around the world. Now, with his perambulatory man-about-town, Archie Goodwin, the arrogant, gourmandizing, sedentary sleuth is back in the original seventy-three cases of crime and detection written by the inimitable master himself, Rex Stout.… (more)