Before Midnight (A Nero Wolfe Mystery Book 25)

It is April 1955 and a clever advertising campaign has caught the imagination of the country, even piquing the attention of Nero Wolfe. The campaign for 'Pour Amour' perfume consists of a weekly puzzle, a verse alluding to a real woman. The object is for the participant to identify the woman, and at the end of the first round of the contest submit their list to compete for prizes. Subsequent rounds of increasingly challenging puzzles eventually pared the contestants to five left to compete for the grand prizes. All was going according to plan as the final round began but disaster struck when the mastermind of the whole campaign, an up and coming young star of the advertising agency was found murdered. Even worse the only set of answers to the fiendishly difficult final round of puzzles was missing. The senior members of the agency and their attorney sought out Nero Wolfe for help, specifically to discover who had taken the answers to the puzzles....the murderer's identity was not of particular concern.Wolfe, with some reservations, took on the case and, of course will be ultimately successful although not without some cost to himself - at least to his pride. As always with this series the real interest is more about how Archie, guided by Nero, will unravel the mystery. Fans of the series will be intrigued by the sparring between Nero and Cramer, and delighted to see Nero actually leaving the brownstone to participate in some leg work! Newcomers to the series will get to meet all the regulars and see what makes this series such a perennial favorite.

I'm a little out of step with the other reviewers in that I don't think this is one of Stout's better Nero Wolfe mysteries. It was written in 1955, well after his prime period. For me, Wolfe belongs in the New York of the 1930s and 1940s. There are some good points: Archie Goodwin's narration is well done and he gets off enough good lines that you will have a few chuckles. My main problem is that the mystery and the characters just aren't very interesting. There are nine suspects, most of whom are rather bland. Because there are so many of them, there isn't space for any of them to appear for more than a brief period. Although one of the women suspects is described as being attractive, Stout passes on his frequent gambit of having Archie take a romantic interest in her. The resolution of the mystery is also unsatisfying as it turns out that X had a grudge against Y that would have been difficult for the reader to figure out. In other words, I don't think Stout really plays fair with the reader on this one.This edition contains a brief introduction by Robert Crais that spells out nicely what I guess we all knew: Archie, not Wolfe, is the key to the success of these books. So, if you are Wolfe fan and haven't yet read this one, it's worth picking up. If you are new to Wolfe, go back and get one of the earlier books from the 1930s or 1940s. Bantam has recently begun to reissue those in a new format that combines two books in one volume. They are definitely more of a bargain than these somewhat pricey "Rex Stout Library" editions.

Generally I am always entertained by Rex Stout's stories. However, while the challenge was to stay attentive to various clues, there were too many distractions for me in this read. It didn't help that there was hardly a likeable character in the cast--except for Archie Goodwin and Fritz, of course. But, the construct of Wolfe's commission seemed an implausible scenario for him to agree to, and so made the entire story difficult to attach to, or enjoy. I have read many of Nero Wolfe mysteries, and they are enjoyable excursions. I have given this 4 stars since even this story holds interest and a different perspective on what drives people to crime.

I am a Nero Wolfe/Rex Stout fan and have decided to read all of the books in order, even though I have read most of them before. This means that I am on a second reading of a good many of them -- or maybe even a third! I never tire of these mysteries and have enjoyed all but two (they happened to include an unusual amount of violence). I enjoy working out the mysteries as best I can but I have to admit Nero Wolfe outsmarts me more often than not. I have come to know all the regular characters who inhabit Nero Wolfe's world and I have made them part of mine. I will continue to do so.

Wolfe is hired by an advertising agency to save a contest that has been threatened by the murder of the man who devised the contest. The first prize was to be five hundred thousand dollars with the top five equally impressive. His job was never to expose the murderer, but he was still caught up in the investigation. When the contestants receive answers to the final questions in the contest Wolfe feels he has an advantage to fulfil the job he was hired for, but another murder occurs. Wolfe feels humiliated by that murder in his own house and is therefore compelled to solve that one. Of course he accomplished both jobs. I enjoyed this book and highly recommend it.

Clever. Comical. Crisp. Here is Archie on Saul Panzer, “Saul is not a natural for Mr. America. His nose is twice as big as he needs, he never looks as if he had just shaved, one shoulder is half an inch higher than the other and they both slope, and his coat sleeves are too short. But if and when I find myself up a tree with a circle of man-eating tigers crouching on the ground below, and a squad of beavers starting to gnaw at the trunk of the tree, the sight of Saul approaching would be absolutely beautiful. I have never seen him fazed.” I agree with Robert Crais’ assessment of the Nero Wolfe series, “They are…rollicking good yarns.”

What I liked best is that the contest answers that figure so prominently in the plot were not all immediately obvious to Wolfe. Even the brilliant Nero has to do a little research on some of them. Of course, most of the questions are slanted toward female historical figures, and Wolfe's characteristic response to any female is to make a face. Wolfe books are always excellent. I wish Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin were here to handle the Corona Virus!

enjoyed reading the books.

When there is a murder to investigate, you expect Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin to take charge but in this great story, they spend their time trying to discover who stole a wallet instead. An added complication of a deadline helps to keep you reading. Once again, I failed to figure out the identity of the villain until it was revealed in the final chapter. I especially love the scenes between Wolfe and Inspector Cramer. The two characters bounce off each other beautifully and it is hard to figure out who has the worse temper. I loved this book and you will too.

Great stuff as always, and also as usual the highlight is the banter between Wolfe and Goodwin. The plot is absolutely nonsensical, but Stout's prose rises above that and the reader is carried along.

Another great tale from the master!

I do love it

I am a diehard Nero Wolfe fan. I am in the process of collecting all the Nero Wolfe books for my Kindle, and I want to say that the series available for Kindle is very well done - the editing is great, the proofreading is good, they are easy to read. The stories, of course, are superlative. If you are unfamiliar with the Nero Wolfe mystery series, you have delights in store.However, I want to post an objection to the introductions. Over and over, the distinguished authors who claim to be Wolfe fans write that they read these books because they are actually Archie Goodwin fans. The one for this book actually says, "I never gave a damn about Nero Wolfe," and goes on to call him a lot of derogatory names. "No one," he claims, "could identify with Wolfe."Well, I have news for him and, evidently, for the editor of this series. Almost any autistic person could identify with Nero Wolfe. I, personally, have made him one of my role models for life. Here you have a brainy, logical, sensitive, passionate person forced to live in an intolerable world, who has made his own microclimate in which to live and flourish. What could be more admirable?I like Archie Goodwin. He's an okay guy, and he has brains enough to be Nero Wolfe's true and loyal friend. I would go further and claim that, in his own way, he loves Nero Wolfe. He would gladly die for him if the necessity arose. The introducer did acknowledge that, and say that the friendship between the two men is one of the great appeals of these novels.But I will read no more introductions, and I will not be reading any novels written by someone stupid enough to write such an introduction to a Nero Wolfe novel for Nero Wolfe fans. If the hope was to introduce readers to other mystery authors, it was a poorly executed ploy.