The Doorbell Rang

Nero Wolfe alias William Conrad habe ich früher gern gesehen, diesen wohlbeleibten, orchideenliebenden Gourmet, der immer wieder die New Yorker Mordkommission düpierte, indem er Fälle auf seine unnachahmliche Weise deutlich schneller als diese löste. Nun wurde eines der Bücher dieser Reihe in einer neuen Übersetzung wieder herausgegeben und ich muss sagen, ja, auch das Lesen lohnt sich.
In diesem Fall erhält er von einer sehr vermögenden Klientin den Auftrag, ihre Überwachung durch das FBI zu beenden. Dass sich das FBI von einem Privatdetektiv sicherlich nicht vorschreiben lässt, wen es überwachen darf und wen nicht, ist sowohl Wolfes Klientin klar wie auch ihm selbst. Seine Zweifel, diesen praktisch unlösbaren Auftrag show more anzunehmen, verschwinden, als ihm ein 100.000 $ Scheck als Vorschuss übergeben wird, den er in jedem Fall nicht zurückzahlen muss und die Aussicht, ein Honorar zu bekommen, dass er selbst festlegen darf, wenn er Erfolg hat. Wolfe nimmt an und beginnt mit der Arbeit in diesem offenbar aussichtlosen Fall ...
Erzählt wird die Geschichte von Archie, dem Assistenten von Nero Wolfe, der für diesen die Aussenaufgaben übernimmt. Denn Wolfe ist bequem, er liebt gutes Essen und Trinken, seine Orchideen und das Lesen, während er sein Zuhause nur in seltenen Fällen verlässt. Ansonsten ist es aber wohl das typische Szenario der Krimis dieser Zeit, der 60er Jahre. Coole Männer, lässig eine Zigarette rauchend und schönen jungen Frauen hinterherblickend, die meist nur als schmückendes Beiwerk, Zeugin oder Klientin dienen. Dazu eine in gewisser Weise etwas umständliche Sprache, die mich jedoch immer wieder zum Grinsen brachte. "Als sie mich aus blauen Augen betrachtete, wies ich meine an, sämtliche Aspekte zu ignorieren, die für die anstehenden Aufgaben ohne Belang waren." Auch eventuelle Beleidigungen sind eher subtil, die ich stellenweise recht originell und amüsant finde: "Von der Grösse her war er eine Erdnuss, aber eine elegante." Überhaupt ist der gesamte Umgangsstil in diesem Privatdetektivmilieu ungewöhnlich gehoben: Es werden Bücher gelesen ;-) Diners serviert wie 'Täubchen à la Moscovite, Pilze Polonaise, Salade Béatrice und Soufflé Armenonville' und das wohl schlimmste Unmut ausdrückende Wort ist 'Pfui'. Der Fall selbst ist recht verworren, denn um das gewünschte Ziel zu erreichen, sind zahlreiche Umwege vonnöten, die sich erst nach und nach als zielführend erweisen. Wolfe löst diese Angelegenheit (wie auch eine Menge andere) durch reines Nachdenken, nachdem er durch seinen 'Aussendienstmitarbeiter' mit den entsprechenden Informationen versorgt wurde.
Es ist ein ruhiger, stellenweise amüsanter Krimi ohne Blutvergießen und große Action, der zudem auch Gewicht auf das Drumherum der handelnden Personen legt. Ob die Neuübersetzung nun schlechter oder besser gelungen ist, kann ich nicht beurteilen. Gehe ich jedoch vom früheren Titel aus "Per Adresse Mörder X", ist der neue auf jeden Fall deutlich gelungener (im Original: "The Doorbell Rang"). Auch wenn es ein typischer Krimi seiner Zeit ist: Das Thema ist hochaktuell. Darf der Staat um der Sicherheit willen einfach Alles? Jede/n zu jeder Zeit und überall überwachen und abhören? Manche Probleme scheinen sich nie zu ändern... show less

Re-reading Nero Wolfe, starting with a (surprisingly short) novel that I better remember as an episode from the TV adaptation. Another wealthy widow - reminding me that I had a kink about Archie and older women - pays Wolfe to trip up the FBI, and he succeeds, via a murder investigation. Or in Friends parlance, The one where Saul, Fred, Orrie and two body doubles for Wolfe and Archie are crated into the brownstone. Not a bad book, but not the best fuel to reignite my Nero Wolfe fire.

By 1965 Rex Stout was at the height of his powers with the Nero Wolfe series. Having dispatched any number of nefarious bad guys over the previous 30 years, Stout turned his rotund detective's attention to the nation's top law enforcement officer, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover. It's one of the rare instances when Stout featured a real person, though Hoover himself doesn't have a speaking role in the book.

The plot unfolds when wealthy widow Rachel Bruner hires Wolfe to stop FBI surveillance on her and her family and staff. She attracted the unwanted attention when she bought 10,000 copies of Fred Cook's exposé on unethical FBI activities, The FBI Nobody Knows (a real book, by the way), and sent them to prominent Americans around the show more country. Woilfe doesn't disapprove of her actions, having read the book himself, but he thinks she should have known the kind of reaction she would get and that, in any case, trying to stop the FBI from doing something is futile. He's compelled to try when she offers him a $100,000 retainer (that's more than three-quarters of a million in 2018 dollars), to be paid whether he succeeds or not.

But how can an agoraphobic private detective, even one with a crackerjack man of action like Archie Goodwin to do his leg work, supposed to get the FBI to cry uncle? Wolfe initially sets out to find evidence of FBI wrongdoing in another case and use that to persuade the FBI to leave Bruner alone. But when he learns of the murder of a journalist who was investigating the FBI, and that the FBI believe one of their agents is the killer, he comes up with a better plan that involves one of the intricate stunts that Wolfe is so fond of.

The dialogue is crackling, and the interplay between Archie (who is adamantly opposed to trying to trap the FBI out of an abundance of self-interest) and Wolfe (who has his eye on that gigantic fee and an ego that admits no shortcomings in his abilities). The espionage shenanigans — spy-nanigans? — are elaborately farcical, as when Archie briefs their client on how to avoid wiretaps:

"There's absolutely no telling what's going to happen. It's even possible that Mr. Wolfe and I will have to leave his house and hole up somewhere. If you get a message, by phone or otherwise, no matter how, that the pizza is sour, go at once to the Churchill Hotel and find a man named William Coffey. He's a house dick there — an assistant security officer. You can do that openly. He'll have something for you, either to tell you or give you. Pizza is sour. Churchill Hotel, William Coffey. Remember it. Don't write it down."
"I won't." She was frowning. "I suppose you're sure we can trust him?"
"Yes. If you knew Mr. Wolfe better, and me, you wouldn't ask that. Have you got it?"
"Yes." She pulled the collar of her coat, not the sable, something else, closer.
"Okay. Now your getting us if you have to, for something not to be spilled. Go to a phone booth and ring Mr. Wolfe's number and tell whoever answers that Fido is sick, just that, and hang up. Wait two hours and go to the Churchill and William Coffey. Of course this is just for something they are not to know. For anything they have done or already know about, just ring us. Fido is sick."
She was still frowning. "But they'll know about William Coffey after the first time if I go to him openly."
"We may use him only once. Leave that to us. What is sour?"
"The pizza."
"Who is sick?"
"Fido."
"What's his name?"
"William Coffey. At the Churchill."
"Good enough. You'd better get back in, your ears are red." show less

Of all the Wolfe books I've reread in the last month, this was the least familiar -- I read it once when I was galloping through every Wolfe I could find, didn't like it, and never read it again. I can absolutely recommend keeping one book from a favorite series in reserve; reading this was almost like reading a new Wolfe after all this time, so I loved it.

I also am no longer the person who was irritated by this on first reading. Back then, it seemed like an unrealistic wish-fulfillment fantasy for Stout, and I was embarrassed for him for showing his id to the world. But I'm now a big fan of id-driven wish-fulfillment fantasies. The world sucks! We are allowed to dream of a better one! And that's what Stout is doing here.

This is often show more listed as one of Stout's best, but it will never make my personal best list -- the mystery is almost an afterthought, and the Wolfe-Archie interaction is only average. But it is good. And it's a fascinating look at another time. show less

Nero Wolfe takes on the FBI.

I have read the whole series of Nero Wolfe books at least twice before. Every time I read one of these stories I plan to take it slow, pay attention to nuance and history, and each time by the end of the first chapter I am gobbling it down; immersed in the joy of being with Wolfe and Goodwin. Stout writes with perfection; nary a stumble for the brain. The word usage is perfect. Satisfactory.

Ah, Nero Wolfe. The fat gourmand and orchid enthusiast who solves many a mystery without leaving his well-appointed NYC brownstone. He who does all his best thinking by closing his eyes, ignoring the world and pushing his lips in and out. It has been twenty-five years since I read about you...and I picked up this book to see if an adult can enjoy your adventures as much as a fourth-grader.

The Doorbell Rang (which I grabbed off the library shelf at random) turns out to be a significant work in the career of Rex Stout. This tale pits Nero Wolfe against the privacy-invading goons of the FBI in a case that his legman/narrator Archie Goodwin frankly tells him is impossible. "Pfui," says Wolfe, and takes the case anyway. And though Wolfe must show more undergo the hardship of visiting the basement and speaking while the television blares, the rotund logician does indeed outwit the bureau.

Now, the real J. Edgar Hoover (who at the time was busy bugging Martin Luther King and other people he personally didn't like) took exception to seeing his agency treated with something less than reverence. Rex Stout's FBI file grew thick, and said that "any questions concerning the book should be forwarded to the Crime Records Division." I don't think I could have properly appreciated the delicious irony of all this back in the fourth grade.

Anyway, I enjoyed the company of Archie Goodwin (a breezy gumshoe who wears his Wolfe-acquired cultural lacquer lightly) and Wolfe, who is endearing despite often behaving like a tetchy overgrown baby. One forgives a genius...and envies his lifestyle. show less

Rachel Bruner is on a mission: to expose the shortcomings of the FBI. She’s done this by mailing 10,000 copies of a book critical of the Feds to influential people around the country. And now she has the FBI on her tail. Wolfe and Archie are brought in to investigate a murder in her circle that she is convinced has FBI involvement, and they get sucked into the web of espionage too.

This is an action-packed installment of the series, and told extremely efficiently, in only about 125 pages in my edition. No familiarity with the established characters is required; Archie Goodwin, our humble narrator, gives us enough information to let us know who’s who without bogging down the story. This was my first Nero Wolfe and I would definitely show more recommend it as an introduction to the series. show less