Status
Available
Call number
Series
Genres
Publication
Bantam Books (1970)
Description
Fiction. Mystery. Suspense. Thriller. HTML:The mountain couldn�??t come to Wolfe, so the great detective came to the mountain�??to Lame Horse, Montana, to be exact. Here a city slicker got a country girl pregnant and then took a bullet in the back. Wolfe�??s job was to get an innocent man exonerated of the crime and catch a killer in the process. But when he packed his silk pajamas and headed west, he found himself embroiled in a case rife with local cynicism, slipshod police work, and unpleasant political ramifications. In fact, Nero Wolfe was buffaloed until the real killer struck again, underestimating the dandified dude with an unerring instinct for detection. Introduction by Don Coldsmith �??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… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member LeslieHolm
This was always one of my favorite Nero Wolfe's, for a couple of reasons. First, the big man had to actually leave his home and travel, via car AND plane, around 2,000 miles to a ranch where he endured massive discomfort. True sign that his affection for Archie, despite his protests to the
Stout also introduced a character that I found nearly as fun as the famous Julie Jaquette. Woody owns a building that houses the town's only movie theater (open on Saturday evenings), dance hall (open after the movie ends) and museum of curiosities. Wolfe found him interesting and so did I.
On a side note, I've been re-reading some of the older mysteries that enthralled me as a girl, to see how they have held up through the years, and if they can still stand proud (the one Ellery Queen - written in the thirties, I recall - I found was unable to pass any kind of moral or ethical test, with casual sexism and racism abounding.) I am so pleased that even today, Rex Stout's mysteries shine as examples of what human reaction/behavior should be.
"Woody asked him what they would regard as a greater sentence and Wolfe said, 'I could suggest a dozen or more, but the most likely one is also displayed on your wall.' He pointed to the Declaration of Independence. 'All men are created equal.'"
My hero.
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contrary, really does know no bounds. Stout also introduced a character that I found nearly as fun as the famous Julie Jaquette. Woody owns a building that houses the town's only movie theater (open on Saturday evenings), dance hall (open after the movie ends) and museum of curiosities. Wolfe found him interesting and so did I.
On a side note, I've been re-reading some of the older mysteries that enthralled me as a girl, to see how they have held up through the years, and if they can still stand proud (the one Ellery Queen - written in the thirties, I recall - I found was unable to pass any kind of moral or ethical test, with casual sexism and racism abounding.) I am so pleased that even today, Rex Stout's mysteries shine as examples of what human reaction/behavior should be.
"Woody asked him what they would regard as a greater sentence and Wolfe said, 'I could suggest a dozen or more, but the most likely one is also displayed on your wall.' He pointed to the Declaration of Independence. 'All men are created equal.'"
My hero.
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LibraryThing member MrsLee
Not my favorite, though I love the idea of eating the food mentioned in this story. Still, you can't skip this and read all the others. It won't hurt you.
LibraryThing member Bjace
Wolfe and Archie find themselves far from West 35th Street when a murder near Lily Rowan's Montana ranch threatens a friend. One of the better late entries in the series.
LibraryThing member MusicMom41
This was one of two Wolfe novels I had never heard of (the other was Death of a Doxy, which I read in February)—luckily both were available for the Nook so I could get them easily and quickly. In this one Lily Rowan plays a large part because the action takes place in Montana where she has a
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summer “cabin.” I always find the Nero Wolfe books relaxing and entertaining and this one was no exception. Show Less
LibraryThing member JeffreyMarks
I always enjoy an adventure with Wolfe and Archie, but Death of a Dude takes place entirely in Montana without a single scene in the old brownstone. So while we have Lily, Archie and Nero, there's no Saul, Orrie or Fred, no Fritz, Theodore or Inspector Cramer. Just not quite the same.
LibraryThing member tgraettinger
Eh. Not one of his best.
LibraryThing member dbsovereign
Just getting Wolfe out of his house and out to Montana is a major triumph! The mutually-dependent duo get a chance to rough it.
LibraryThing member antiquary
This is one of the last of the Nero Wolfe series, but at this point (unlike Family Affair) Stout was still going strong. Harvey Greve, a cowboy who appeared in another Wolfe story involving a roping contest in Manhattan, is now the manager of Lily Rowan's ranch in Montana, and charged with shooting
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a young man who had gotten his daughter pregnant the summer before. Archie Goodwin (who is visiting Lily) believes he is innocent but is stymied on finding the real killer, so Wolfe himself comes out to Montana to take the case. Spoilier comment: the killer turns out to be a historian, but to make up for that, there is a really nice old high school history teacher in the story too. Show Less
LibraryThing member leslie.98
While Archie is vacationing with Lily Rowan on her ranch in Montana, he becomes involved in a murder. Wolfe decides to travel to Montana to assist in order to get Archie back to New York more quickly!
While I liked the Montana setting, I felt that the mystery was not as good as I expect from Rex
While I liked the Montana setting, I felt that the mystery was not as good as I expect from Rex
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Stout. Show Less
LibraryThing member TomDonaghey
Death Of A Dude (1969) (Nero Wolfe #44) by Rex Stout. Mr. Stout must have gone on vacation out to a ranch, probably in Montana or thereabouts, just before he wrote this mystery. Here Archie is on a ranch owned by a friend of his, Lily rowan. A nice place, big house and there are several guests
A man, a dude, has been killed. Shot from behind. The local sheriff has pulled in Harvey Greve, foreman at Lily’s Bar JR Ranch. The dead dude had managed to get Harvey’s daughter pregnant the year prior, fled the state and for some reason returned a few days prior to Archie’s arrival.
Thereby has come but Grandpa is in the slammer facing murder charges. Almost everyone believes he did it, he meant to it, but that he’ll get off because of the circumstances. Lily doesn’t think that will happen, talks Archie into investigating, and he ends up stonewalled, just another dude asking questions.
Things look dim until Nero Wolfe arrives. I’d like to say he was kitted out in buckskins and spurs, but you wouldn’t believe it and neither would I. He does wade into the investigation and solve it, but along the way there is another death and Mr. Goodwin ends up in jail.
The only thing missing here is a big “How-dee Pardner” and a spit of tobacco. Mr. Stout is quite liberal in his usage of cowboy terms, but rather than distract, usually, they add to the sense that Archie and the cast are really acting their parts in this rodeo.
I was disappointed with the ending, with the solution. I do not like when the author pulls in information from outside sources to secure the arrest. It feels as if the author didn’t have a great way to end the story, no blazing insights from Wolfe as usual, and settled for a milked down ending.
I do know he’ll do better “his next go round.
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staying there also.A man, a dude, has been killed. Shot from behind. The local sheriff has pulled in Harvey Greve, foreman at Lily’s Bar JR Ranch. The dead dude had managed to get Harvey’s daughter pregnant the year prior, fled the state and for some reason returned a few days prior to Archie’s arrival.
Thereby has come but Grandpa is in the slammer facing murder charges. Almost everyone believes he did it, he meant to it, but that he’ll get off because of the circumstances. Lily doesn’t think that will happen, talks Archie into investigating, and he ends up stonewalled, just another dude asking questions.
Things look dim until Nero Wolfe arrives. I’d like to say he was kitted out in buckskins and spurs, but you wouldn’t believe it and neither would I. He does wade into the investigation and solve it, but along the way there is another death and Mr. Goodwin ends up in jail.
The only thing missing here is a big “How-dee Pardner” and a spit of tobacco. Mr. Stout is quite liberal in his usage of cowboy terms, but rather than distract, usually, they add to the sense that Archie and the cast are really acting their parts in this rodeo.
I was disappointed with the ending, with the solution. I do not like when the author pulls in information from outside sources to secure the arrest. It feels as if the author didn’t have a great way to end the story, no blazing insights from Wolfe as usual, and settled for a milked down ending.
I do know he’ll do better “his next go round.
Show Less
LibraryThing member rosalita
I've read all of Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe mysteries over and over again, and while I may like some more than others, I don't dislike any of them. Having said that, this has always been one of my very favorites.
Death of a Dude finds Archie Goodwin on vacation in Montana with his paramour Lily Rowan.
One of the charms of the Wolfe mysteries is that while the characters never age, the time period stays current. Stout's plot gives a nod to the 1960s by dealing in an out-of-wedlock teen pregnancy, but the decade didn't truly come into full flower in Wolfe's world until Death of a Doxy.
There's so much going on in this little book. Wolfe is a fish out of water in Montana, and the colorful Western dialect practically requires a glossary at the back of the book. Still, the murder is solved, the innocent cleared and the guilty caught, arrogant law enforcement is given a severe comeuppance, and Nero and Archie escape thankfully back to New York City, where the wilderness is a little more to their liking.
Death of a Dude finds Archie Goodwin on vacation in Montana with his paramour Lily Rowan.
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When a guest at a neighboring dude ranch is found murdered, and Lily's ranch foreman is pegged as the culprit, Archie is duty bound to investigate. His prolonged absence drags Nero Wolfe from the comfortable confines of the brownstone on West 35th Street. Wolfe knows if he wants his right-hand man back on the job, he'll have to help Archie solve the case.One of the charms of the Wolfe mysteries is that while the characters never age, the time period stays current. Stout's plot gives a nod to the 1960s by dealing in an out-of-wedlock teen pregnancy, but the decade didn't truly come into full flower in Wolfe's world until Death of a Doxy.
There's so much going on in this little book. Wolfe is a fish out of water in Montana, and the colorful Western dialect practically requires a glossary at the back of the book. Still, the murder is solved, the innocent cleared and the guilty caught, arrogant law enforcement is given a severe comeuppance, and Nero and Archie escape thankfully back to New York City, where the wilderness is a little more to their liking.
Show Less
LibraryThing member leslie.98
3.5*
While Archie is vacationing with Lily Rowan on her ranch in Montana, he becomes involved in a murder. Wolfe decides to travel to Montana to assist in order to get Archie back to New York more quickly!
While I liked the Montana setting, I felt that the mystery was not as good as I expect from Rex
While Archie is vacationing with Lily Rowan on her ranch in Montana, he becomes involved in a murder. Wolfe decides to travel to Montana to assist in order to get Archie back to New York more quickly!
While I liked the Montana setting, I felt that the mystery was not as good as I expect from Rex
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Stout. Show Less
LibraryThing member librisissimo
Not one of Stout's best efforts. Although I really like Archie (far more than I do Wolfe), the emphasis on his romance with Lily was too much for a whole novel.
The puzzle itself was not as memorable as some, and the novelty is primarily the presence of Nero Wolfe at a Montana ranch.
According to the
It's just not the right place for our New Yorkers.
The puzzle itself was not as memorable as some, and the novelty is primarily the presence of Nero Wolfe at a Montana ranch.
According to the
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jacket blurb, Stout was an avid Western outdoorsman, which shows in the authentic setting.It's just not the right place for our New Yorkers.
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Subjects
Language
Original publication date
1969-08