Three Witnesses

Books in the Nero Wolfe series are either full-length novels or a collection of three novellas. The word “three” in the title signals that this is one of the novella collections. In “The Next Witness,” Nero Wolfe is scheduled to testify for the prosecution in the case of a man he had turned down as a client. When he hears enough in the court room to convince him of reasonable doubt of the accused man’s guilt, Wolfe and Archie go AWOL and conduct their own investigation into the death. In “When a Man Murders…”, Wolfe is consulted by a couple who had married after the wife’s first husband had been killed in military service, only for the first husband to show up very much alive, until someone murdered him. It’s up to show more Wolfe to clear his clients of murder. In “Die Like a Dog,” Wolfe solves a murder and acquires the dead man’s black labrador. The first of the three has the best crafted mystery plot, but the last story is my favorite because of my fondness for dogs. show less

Three Witnesses (1956) (Nero Wolfe #26) by Rex Stout. Here are three novellas, each centered about a witness in a murder case. Or the absence of one.
First we have “The Next Witness” which was supposed to be Wolfe himself. That is until he dragged Goodwin from the murder trial where they were acting as witnesses. Wolfe didn’t like the smell of his neighbor’s perfume so he decided to go find the real murderer of the telephone answering service’s switchboard operator. If you don’t know what that is,go ask your grandmother.
In “When A Man Murders…” a dead man comes home unexpectedly from the Korean war (pub. date 1956) only to end up dead shortly thereafter.
Lastly is a real howler called “Die Like A Dog”. It features show more the wrong raincoat and a little dog. And a dead guy just for fun.
All three have the usual banter tween Wolfe and Goodwin, Saul Panzer makes an appearance as do the homicide crew, and in all Wolfe leads us by our little noses into the sweetest solutions. Why didn’t I think of that I’ll say to myself as the logic is unfurled. show less

I found these 3 novellas or short stories quite pleasurable. However the second story (When a Man Murders) left me puzzled - I had guessed the correct person as the murderer but couldn't figure out what made it clear to Wolfe, even after the denouement!

3.5☆

I found these 3 novellas or short stories quite pleasurable. However the second story (When a Man Murders) left me puzzled - I had guessed the correct person as the murderer but couldn't figure out what made it clear to Wolfe, even after the denouement!

This book includes three stories, all of which I like. The Next Witness involves an ingenious way of using a phone-answering service for a blackmail racket. When a Man Murders is about a man who is believed killed in the Korean War; his supposed widow marries another man; when her first husband turns up alive, and is then murdered, the second husband is a natural suspect, but it turns out the dead mam's will had been tampered with; the third story, Die Like a Dog, involves a dog as the only witness to a murder; the story reveals that Nero Wolfe had a dog he loved when he was young, and he apparently is planning to keep the dog who is a witness in this story, but the dog never reappears in the series as far as I know.

I really do enjoy these collections of short stories. They always seem to come along at just the right time in the reading order to provide a break from the novels.

Good solid Wolfe; "The Next Witness" is best; Wolfe a dog-lover in "Die Like a Dog"