Sat 16 May 2020
PI Stories I’m Reading: REX STOUT “Immune to Murder.â€
Posted by Steve under Stories I'm Reading[6] Comments
REX STOUT “Immune to Murder.†Novelette. Nero Wolfe. First published in The American Magazine, November 1955. Reprinted in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, February 1957, and Ellery Queen’s Anthology #12 (Davis Publications, 1967). Collected in Three for the Chair (Viking, hardcover, 1957).
I think that Nero Wolfe left his Manhattan brownstone on business more often than Rex Stout wanted us to believe, and when it happened, a big deal was made of it. Strangely enough, though, when Archie and Wolfe make a trip in “Immune to Murder†of over 300 miles by automobile to a fishing camp somewhere up in the Adirondacks, the latter shows only a minor annoyance rather than his usual petulance at being away from home.
That may be because he’s doing it out of some loyalty to his country, as what he’s been asked to do is cook some fish for lunch at a meeting of ambassadors and various high level financiers. Which he does, but it wouldn’t be a Nero Wolfe story if one of the high level financiers isn’t found dead in the water, having been hit over the head with a heavy stick of firewood.
Brought in on the case are an Attorney General, a district attorney, a sheriff and three state troopers, all of whom badger Wolfe no end, thinking (improbably) that he, as the only “outsider,†had something to do with it. In his defense, Wolfe consults his own lawyer, some law books, and places a telephone call to the Secretary of State in Washington to make sure he’s on safe ground before identifying the killer.
The story is fine, but I don’t think it was as much fun to read as those that take place in Wolfe’s own bailiwick. Archie, on the other hand, is Archie, no matter where Wolfe’s cases take them.
May 16th, 2020 at 7:15 pm
Having established Wolfe is a creature of routine Stout then found as many ways to upset that routine that he could so that we get Wolfe in Montenegro, Wolfe facing an angry bull, Wolfe disguised as Santa at a party, Wolfe going undercover and losing weight, and at the start of WW II on a diet planning to enlist.
Yes, the best of Wolfe is often Wolfe being Wolfe in his lair, but Stout knew that a fish out of water is interesting in and of itself and goes out of his way to make Wolfe uncomfortable for our — and Archie’s — entertainment. Anyway, it is fun to see Wolfe pulling strings and out maneuvering the powerful as he does here another familiar trope of the novels.
May 16th, 2020 at 7:59 pm
Yes, all those instances you mention in your first paragraph only prove the point that I was trying to make at the beginning of my review, but with the examples you provided, you made it better.
If I sounded a little down on this story, it’s because, truthfully, I found it a little dull. Stout set up a good out-of-his-comfort zone setting for Wolfe to find himself in, but when all’s said and done, hedidn’t play around with it as much as I thought he could have.
May 16th, 2020 at 10:21 pm
I really like “Immune to Murder”.
But other readers tend to find it on the dull side, not first rate, etc.
Don’t know why – I’ve enjoyed it a lot reading it a few times over the years.
My web site article points out all the parallels between “Immune to Murder” and “Too Many Cooks”.
Neither one is really a fish-out-of-water tale. Instead, they feature Wolfe as a food expert at a fancy resort. Wolfe is actually within his element in such a role and setting. Which is fine with me!
May 17th, 2020 at 1:03 pm
I’m sure I’ve read this one, but I remember nothing of it, so maybe I didn’t? I’ll have to go look to see if I even have Three For the Chair. Hmm.
May 17th, 2020 at 1:14 pm
I bought this one when I was in my teens, as a member of the Dollar Mystery Guild, and I still have it. Along with Gardner and Christie, the Rex Stout book club editions made me the mystery reader I have been ever since.
May 17th, 2020 at 7:37 pm
As Mike Grost alludes to Stout like Chandler sometimes cannibalized a story for a later work or at least the basic idea, especially the novellas he wrote for AMERICAN MAGAZINE which probably had word limits he chaffed a bit under in some cases.