A review by hannahstohelit
The League of Frightened Men by Rex Stout

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

I don't think I actually enjoyed this one less than Fer-de-lance, but at the same time I WAS slightly spoiled by the foreword in the edition that I read, so I did read the book with the suspicion in the back of my mind that

Paul Chapin was in fact innocent

. And then, the more I thought about it, the more I felt like

the dramatic arc of the story would kind of be spoiled if he WASN'T

, and so the intrigue in the book was more about what would happen to everyone than any real question in that regard. The concept was really interesting, though there were perhaps a few too many characters, and the

actual murder

ended up coming late enough that it was a bit of an anticlimax to

be involved in all the new case so late

. But these overall are real nitpicks and I did enjoy this a lot. Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin never let things be boring. It's not just about the details of the mystery, it's about Wolfe's scheming, and that is extremely fun in this one.