A review by jdcorley
Death of a Doxy by Rex Stout, Sandra West Prowell

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

5.0

This is the 42nd Nero Wolfe novel and perhaps the most incisive one into an element of Wolfe's character that's often remarked on inside and outside the books: his apparent loathing of women. You can have your critiques of the racial politics of Wolfe's novels but, to me, there was never any doubt that Rex Stout did not agree with Wolfe's position on women and, as the reader was also intended to do, found it a point of ridicule.  Ridiculing Wolfe is one of the things that makes Wolfe a unique classic mystery protagonist.  Only Poirot's vanity comes in for more teasing from the author than Wolfe's misogyny.  But faced with an undeniable force in the form of hepcat nightclub singer Julie Jacquette, Wolfe just can't hold to it, and we like him a little more because he can't, and he goes out of his way to do her a good turn.  The mystery itself is an interesting question of respectability and wealth, as many classic mysteries are. Jacquette isn't a "respectable" woman; she lounges around until eleven, eats breakfast in bed at a hotel she lives in, but she can count to two and say the alphabet backwards.  In the end it's her bravery that solves the case.
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