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HTML:The aging millionairess has a problem: where is her young playboy husband getting all his money? To help find the answer, Archie infiltrates a party at her palatial estate. But her late-night murder ruins the festive mood . . . and a letter bomb from a powerful crime boss makes Nero Wolfe do the unthinkable—run for his life. Suddenly Archie finds himself on his own, trying to find a killer without the help of his old mentor. For to all appearances, Wolfe has vanished. The career of show more the world’s most famous detective has ended in cowardice and disgrace . . . or has it?Introduction by Patricia Sprinkle
“It is always a treat to read a Nero Wolfe mystery. The man has entered our folklore.”—The New York Times Book Review
A grand master of the form, Rex Stout is one of America’s greatest mystery writers, and his literary creation Nero Wolfe is one of the greatest fictional detectives of all time. Together, Stout and Wolfe have entertained—and puzzled—millions of mystery fans around the world. Now, with his perambulatory man-about-town, Archie Goodwin, the arrogant, gourmandizing, sedentary sleuth is back in the original seventy-three cases of crime and detection written by the inimitable master himself, Rex Stout. Suspense. Thriller. Fiction. Mystery. show less
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One of my favorite by Stout as it shows Wolfe and Archie out of their normal element. Wolfe, the detective who never leaves his house, disappears in the face of threats from some kind of mafia boss. Archie is, as ever, the stalwart trusty sidekick, who presses on despite feeling abandoned by Wolfe. His devotion and the lengths that Wolfe goes to to try to resolve things is truly remarkable. Archie's narration is filled with humor and his borderline transgressive attitude with the clients and the authorities makes this into a fun-filled romp. Archie shows us what it means to "not suffer fools."
You have to love it when Wolfe spends three or four paragraphs excoriating someone for murdering a dog!
It all starts when Nero Wolfe is contacted by Mrs. Barry Rackham for a case. She wants to hire him to find out where her husband is getting all of his spending cash. She holds the purse strings in the marriage and has admitted to doling out less than he asks for each month; sometimes giving him nothing at all. Since Mrs. Rackham doesn't want her husband to know she is aware of his spending habits she tells Wolfe he is needed to investigate the death of one of her dogs as cover. Of course it is up to Archie Goodwin to travel to Westchester to investigate the dogs and the money. Of course it wouldn't be a Nero Wolfe mystery without a murder, but that comes later.
For those of you who love Archie Goodwin's sarcasm, wit and humor, fear not! show more Archie continues to make his audiences chuckle. Here is an example: he needed to look up the word "handsome" after a female character used the word to describe Nero Wolfe. Surely there was some kind of mistake? Nero handsome? But no, handsome can also mean "moderately large." When Archie learned this he was sufficiently placated. Needless to say, it is always funny when Archie tries to get a rise out of his boss. Sometimes he is successful. Other times, not so much.
The biggest twist in In the Best Families is Nero leaving his beloved brownstone. Everyone knows Nero is loathe to leave the confines of his abode. He takes some drastic measures this time around. There are some other surprising twists that break away from the typical formulaic Stout mystery.
It is always a great joy when there is continuity between books in a series. I especially love when characters come back again and again. Arnold Zeck, first seen in And Be a Villain came back in Second Confession and reappeared in In the Best Families. show less
For those of you who love Archie Goodwin's sarcasm, wit and humor, fear not! show more Archie continues to make his audiences chuckle. Here is an example: he needed to look up the word "handsome" after a female character used the word to describe Nero Wolfe. Surely there was some kind of mistake? Nero handsome? But no, handsome can also mean "moderately large." When Archie learned this he was sufficiently placated. Needless to say, it is always funny when Archie tries to get a rise out of his boss. Sometimes he is successful. Other times, not so much.
The biggest twist in In the Best Families is Nero leaving his beloved brownstone. Everyone knows Nero is loathe to leave the confines of his abode. He takes some drastic measures this time around. There are some other surprising twists that break away from the typical formulaic Stout mystery.
It is always a great joy when there is continuity between books in a series. I especially love when characters come back again and again. Arnold Zeck, first seen in And Be a Villain came back in Second Confession and reappeared in In the Best Families. show less
Yes, In the Best Families, by Rex Stout, is another Nero Wolfe novel - I'm working my way through them slowly. This is the 17th, published in 1950, and features a largely missing Wolfe! Early on, a very rich woman comes to Wolfe to ask him to find out how her husband of three years always seems to have lots of money even though she cut him off following too many requests for money from her. The woman's cousin, who lives on her property and raises Dobermans for a living, happened to have an instance of someone poisoning one of his dogs (the dog survived) about a month earlier, and it is decided that Archie Goodwin will travel to Westchester County to visit the cousin in his role of detective, looking into the poisoning incident; that show more way, Archie can get a look at the husband and find out what he can. Things take a turn for the (much) worse when that night, the rich woman is murdered, along with her dog. Before Wolfe can even begin to investigate, however, a rigged package sent to his home leads him to go into hiding; no one, not Archie and not even his good friend Marko, knows where he is. Because Nero Wolfe is determined to do something much more dangerous than finding a murderer, and he needs time and secrecy for his plan to ripen....This is one of the best Nero Wolfe novels I've read, albeit also one of the most melodramatic. There's action, there's intrigue, there's all sorts of surprises; and even Lily Rowan shows up, in a cameo. Highly recommended. show less
Nero Wolfe finally has a showdown with the master criminal he encountered twice previously, in And Be a Villain and The Second Confession. It all starts with a wealthy woman who wants to hire Wolfe to investigate her younger husband. Wolfe’s assistant, Archie Goodwin, has a cover story that will allow him to ask questions of the woman’s family, employees, and friends. Before he can make any progress, the woman is murdered, and then Wolfe disappears.
Wolfe’s head-to-head with Arnold Zeck is the culmination of a plot developed over the course of two previous Wolfe novels. Stout gives readers enough of the background so that this book could be enjoyed as a standalone, but I think most readers would find more satisfaction in reading show more the whole Arnold Zeck trilogy in order. show less
Wolfe’s head-to-head with Arnold Zeck is the culmination of a plot developed over the course of two previous Wolfe novels. Stout gives readers enough of the background so that this book could be enjoyed as a standalone, but I think most readers would find more satisfaction in reading show more the whole Arnold Zeck trilogy in order. show less
I was introduced to Nero Wolfe through the amazing Nero Wolfe A&E series, so I see Maury Chaykin as Nero Wolfe and Timothy Hutton as Archie Goodwin, et al. So, after a hiatus of several years, I got a hold of And Be a Villain and liked it, so I decided to get them all so I could read them in order (from 1934 to 1975).
This one is number 16: In the Best Families. Here is the culmination of the Zeck drama and it is a stunning and astonishing set of circumstances and events. A mystery well-told, with good characters, and a good story. Once more the supposedly-never-leaves-the-house-Wolfe leaves the house. Good fun and a good mystery, I didn't guess it, but I was close. Archie is always a hoot.
This one is number 16: In the Best Families. Here is the culmination of the Zeck drama and it is a stunning and astonishing set of circumstances and events. A mystery well-told, with good characters, and a good story. Once more the supposedly-never-leaves-the-house-Wolfe leaves the house. Good fun and a good mystery, I didn't guess it, but I was close. Archie is always a hoot.
Nero Wolfe is hired by Sarah Rackham to find out where here husband is getting money from. Then a can of tear gas is sent to Wolfe by the evil Arnold Zeck and while Archie is attending a gathering at the clients house their client is murdered. Wolfe then disappears and quits the detective business. The main amusement in these books for me is Archie and Wolfe's interactions which there wasn't a lot of in this book. It was interesting seeing what Archie did on his own. I love this series.
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Author Rex Stout was born on December 1, 1886. A child prodigy with a gift for mathematics, Stout drifted as he became an adult, holding odd jobs in many places---cook, cabinetmaker, bellhop, hotel manager, salesman, bookkeeper, and even a guide in a pueblo. But his true talent lay in storytelling; he sold his first story, about William Howard show more Taft, in 1912. His most famous creation is Nero Wolfe, a 286-pound detective genius who, with sidekick Archie Goodwin, can often solve a case without leaving his room. It is the way in which the puzzle is solved that intrigues Nero Wolfe, who is much like Sherlock Holmes in his ability to use deductive reasoning. More than 60 million copies (in 24 languages) of Stout's books have been sold. Stout writes quickly, drawing upon a lifetime of impressions. He neither uses an outline nor revises; he lets his characters take over as the story develops. The classy, erudite Nero Wolfe presents for readers an alternative to the hard-boiled branch of the genre. He died on October 27, 1975 (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Rex Stout has a Legacy Library. Legacy libraries are the personal libraries of famous readers, entered by LibraryThing members from the Legacy Libraries group.
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- Canonical title
- In the Best Families
- Original title
- In the Best Families, 1950
- Alternate titles
- Even in the Best Families
- Original publication date
- 1950
- People/Characters
- Cleveland Archer (District Attorney); Fritz Brenner; Lionel T. Cramer (Inspector); Lina Darrow; Annabel Frey; Archie Goodwin (show all 18); Dana Hammond; Theodore Horstmann; Calvin Leeds; Con Noonan (Lieutenant); Saul Panzer; Oliver A. Pierce; Barry Rackham; Sarah Rackham; Lily Rowan; Marko Vukcic; Nero Wolfe; Arnold Zeck
- Important places
- New York, USA; New York, New York, USA; Westchester County, New York, USA
- First words
- It was nothing out of the ordinary that Mrs. Barry Rackham had made the appointment with her finger pressed to her lips.
- Quotations
- "Look, Theodore," I said, "I don't give a good goddam what you like or don't like. Mr Wolfe has always pampered you because you're the best orchid nurse alive. This is as good a time as any to tell you that you remind me of s... (show all)our milk. I do not know where Mr Wolfe is nor if or when he's coming back. To you he sent his regards. To me he sent his very best regards and wishes. Now shut up."
"Your chief trouble," he said, not offensively, "is that you think you've got a sense of humor. It confuses people, and you ought to get over it. Things strike you as funny. You thought it would be funny to have a talk with R... (show all)ackham, and it may be all right this time, but someday something that you think is funny will blow your goddam head right off your shoulders." Only after he had gone did it occur to me that that wouldn't prove it wasn't funny. - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)"You're the only woman that ever got close enough to him, at least in my time, to make him smell of perfume."
- Disambiguation notice
- The "of" sometimes found in both forms of the title appears to be an apocryphal hypercorrection.
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