Sun 8 May 2016
Stories I’m Reading: REX STOUT “Man Alive.”
Posted by Steve under Reviews , Stories I'm Reading[3] Comments
REX STOUT “Man Alive.” First published in The American Magazine, December 1947. Included in the collection Three Doors to Death (Viking, 1950; Dell #626, 1952; Bantam, 1966).
It’s been too long, far too long, since I’ve read one of Rex Stout’s tales of Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin on a case together, and if I can, I’m going to make a point of going back and re-reading as many of them this summer as I’m able to, with a special point of emphasis on the few that I’ve never gotten around to read. Shame on me.
It is difficult to say exactly why it is so, but the stories are very much timeless. I had no difficulty at all in slipping back in a time bubble to the insular world of a Manhattan brownstone office and home, picking up when I left off, with another case at Wolfe’s door. It is difficult to believe that this story was written in 1947. The few references to the outside world are Archie’s new Cadillac and the fashion show that Archie attends in hopes of spotting the father of their new client, female and the about to become the new owner of the firm.
Why, you may ask. It so happens that the girl’s father is dead, having committed suicide by jumping naked into a geyser at Yellowstone Park. This being a Nero Wolfe mystery, of course he is not dead, and although he was in disguise, the girl knows she saw him at a previous show.
Also, because this is a Nero Wolfe mystery, it is no surprise to the reader when her father turns up dead for real, and Wolfe’s client is suspected of the murder. This is also one of those affairs in which Wolfe gathers all of the possible suspects in his office, police in presence, to determine the real killer.
He is flummoxed, though, when all of the suspects alibi each other. None of them could have done it, save perhaps his client. Although taken aback, Wolfe probes further, digs deeper, and after some pursing of his lips, is able to steer the conversation around to the only solution there could be to the crime.
It’s a very good detective story, but even better was the company and familiar surroundings.
May 8th, 2016 at 2:44 pm
The best detective fiction does has a sort of timeless quality to it, either it instantly transports you to a time and place like the Holmes stories, or it seems to take place out of time like the Wolfe stories.
I’ve always thought Stout’s best work, despite some terrific novels, was in the novellas about Wolfe. It is the ideal length for most detective fiction also well used by Leslie Charteris.
May 8th, 2016 at 3:33 pm
I also love the Nero Wolfe series. AMERICAN MAGAZINE was a high paying slick market and Rex Stout appeared there 30 times with novellas. He would have appeared more but the magazine ceased publication in the late 1950’s, one of the first signs that the fiction market was in trouble.
An excellent collection is AMERICAN MURDERS edited by Jon L. Breen and Rita Breen. It has an index of the crime novellas published in each issue during 1934-1956. There also is an introduction talking about the rates paid. The average was $3500 which was a big sum of money back then. Rex Stout as their most popular writer must have received more. The mystery writing team The Gordons reported that they received $4500 for one novella and didn’t even have enough money in their pockets to go out and celebrate the big sale.
May 8th, 2016 at 11:36 pm
George Harmon Coxe would write one version of a novelette for The American Magazine and then use the same story, expanded, as a book. He claimed he sometimes would have a different solution for each version.