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Loading... Kings Full of Aces: A Nero Wolfe Omnibus (original 1969; edition 1969)by Rex Stout
Work InformationKings Full of Aces: A Nero Wolfe Omnibus by Rex Stout (1969)
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Belongs to SeriesNero Wolfe (omnibus 5, 21, 32) ContainsHome to Roost by Rex Stout (indirect) The Cop-Killer by Rex Stout (indirect) The Squirt and the Monkey [novella] by Rex Stout (indirect)
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.5Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th CenturyLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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Too Many Cooks: As always, very enjoyable. This particular edition has bonus recipes at the end of it! All of them particular ones mentioned in the story. Even Saucisse Minuit, along with a lengthy explanation as to why it is okay to publish it now. I won't be making most of them any time too soon. This one in particular calls for "pork, goose and pheasant." Other recipes call for things like terrapin, opossum, lamb kidneys, snapper turtle, lobster, shad roe; you get the picture. :)
Plot it Yourself: In the first paragraph of the first chapter, Archie outlines his method for rating the books Nero Wolfe reads. This reminds me of the discussions on the "star" rating systems people use for their books on LibraryThing. Someone is scamming authors by accusing them of plagiarism, and Wolfe has been hired to find out who they are and make them stop. The body count rises as this clever killer tries to cover their tracks, and we see Wolfe admit that he bungled something. I love the discussions of writing styles and reading in this story.
Triple Jeopardy: Of these three stories, "Home to Roost," "The Cop-Killer," and "The Squirt and the Monkey," I favor the middle tale. The others are hardly memorable. In "The Cop Killer," Archie is at his best in quips, and also his worst. To modern day ears, he can sound racist and uncaring. I think Stout does a good job of showing Archie change his prejudices within a story, if not to love and caring, at least to acceptance and helping the underdog.To me, this is an accurate portrayal of good men from that era who were not enlightened, but not willingly evil, either. ( )