Reviews

Not Quite Dead Enough by John Lutz, Rex Stout

majolo57's review against another edition

4.0

This was, I suppose, a bad choice for my first Nero Wolfe book. Being set (and written) during World War II, the characters’ usual routines are heavily disrupted (Archie Goodwin is a major! Nero Wolfe is going outside!), but nevertheless they manage to get to the business of mystery solving. Another nonstandard aspect of this book is that it consists of two novelettes (“Not Quite Dead Enough” and “Booby Trap”) rather than a single novel. Its non-standard features aside, I very much enjoyed this book. The Goodwin/Wolfe pair already feels like a classic mystery duo. Nero Wolfe is the cerebral armchair detective, and Archie Goodwin is the legman. Writing from Archie’s POV gives the prose just enough snappy gumshoe quality. The mysteries are tightly crafted (I assume the plots have a bit more room to breathe in books where they don’t have to be condensed to fit two stories like this). Wish I had started reading Rex Stout earlier, and looking forward to more.

shawnbilodeau's review

adventurous dark funny mysterious sad fast-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

This book is made up of two Nero Wolfe/Archie Goodwin short stories, and takes place shortly after the start of World War II.  Interesting take on Army Intelligence (or the lack there of) in the second story.  Very enjoyable read.