Word: stoutness
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Died. Rex Todhunter Stout, 88, premier American whodunit writer, whose corpulent orchidologist-detective, Nero Wolfe, with the help of his faithful legman Archie Goodwin, solved crimes in 46 books that were translated into 22 languages and sold more than 45 million copies; at his home in Danbury, Conn. As sinewy and energetic as his protagonist was fat and lethargic, Stout would work out the story line for such mystery novels as The Doorbell Rang and Too Many Cooks while puttering about his daily cooking or gardening chores, then sit down and type out a complete mystery in 38 days...
...STOUT...
...West: gone, all gone with the recent deaths of their creators. Of the old breed, only Nero Wolfe is still doing business at the same old stand, his orchidaceous town house in Manhattan, backed and fronted as always by the ineffable Archie Goodwin. Like his corpulent hero, Author Rex Stout, 89, continues to confound the actuarial tables-and his followers. In this latest outing, Stout ups the stakes of the game he plays with readers. Three-quarters of the way through, Narrator Archie realizes the identity of the criminal and concedes, "You probably knew a while back...
...Stout relishes such topical references; they are an octogenarian's way of exhibiting an elastic, contemporary mind. Indeed, a few years after entering his eighth decade he wrote a Jesuit priest friend, signing himself Rex Stout, S.J.-for "still jaunty." So is Wolfe, who this time even goes to jail and gets his license suspended rather than tell the police anything about his own highly personal family affair. When the master detective has finally cracked the case, he settles back to "read books, drink beer, discuss food...logomachize with Archie." He asks a listener, "Shall I iterate and reiterate...
...getting into show biz, contracting out for guest appearances and bickering over billing. (Would the Queen get first billing over the title because of royal privilege, or would Steiger outrank her because he won an Oscar?) Hennessy, the matter at hand, turns out to be a reasonably stout if rather unoriginal thriller about an Irish demolitions expert who swears vengeance on the British Empire...