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Author: Rex Stout
Publication: Bantam paperback, 1992 (originally published in 1934)
Genre: Mystery series
Setting: Mid-20th century New York
My Impression: Long ago, when I worked at Bantam, this series was being repackaged (the print seems much smaller now, haha) and I am surprised my interest wasn’t piqued then; I recall manually filling out title cards for these books which the chain bookstores needed to add an ISBN to their systems. However, the first time I remember really being conscious of Rex Stout was when a college acquaintance wrote an article for the New York Times about literary groups. She came to a Betsy-Tacy meeting at Shakespeare & Co. on the Upper West Side, where I was then living. The article also described the Wolfe Pack, obsessive Rex Stout fans, who also meet regularly. We teased my friend Mary about being part of two such different groups. It wasn’t until recently when Tracy of Bitter Tea and Mystery mentioned that this was her favorite series that I decided if two people with taste I respect like these books so much I had to try one!
There is a lot of world-building that goes on in a series launch, as I discussed in great detail in a paper I wrote for graduate school last year on Nancy Drew. Accordingly, it is probably not surprising that I found this first in the series to be a little slow. The introduction to this edition, written by writer Loren Estleman, discusses how most readers do not read a series in order (something I recognize but never recommend) and that Stout chose to minimize such confusion by not varying his characters or setting. Of course, reading this nearly 100 years after it was written, my initial reaction was that he needed some strong female characters! (Incidentally, although I am not an obsessive Nancy Drew fan, I do think The Secret of the Old Clock is a great beginning to one of the most popular series of all time – Nancy’s intrepid personality shines through and the mystery is appealing with its heroes and villains.)
I had no idea what it was that had happened to make her feel like opening up, but if it was my blue shirt and tan tie I hadn’t wasted the money I had spent on them.and
The girl at the desk threw me a smile when I went up to her, and I liked that; when the time comes that they stop remembering you it means that your pan is losing its shine.Mary told me last week that Rex Stout lived near the New York/Connecticut line so knew Westchester well. Family members still live in his Danbury house, and Mary has actually visited the house and seen where the books were written. She said many people consider his best book to be The Doorbell Rang, his 41st, in which he takes on the FBI. I might have to skip a few to reach that one!
This is my fourteenth book for the Cloak and Dagger Challenge.
Have you read Rex Stout? And if so, do you have a favorite?
This is a great post, Constance. You have hit on my favorite thing about the series, the way Archie tells each story. When I first read the series in my teens, I could not read the series in order, I read it as I could find copies at the library. And I think a lot of series written back in that time were written so that they could be read out of order. There is one set of three books, published in the late 1940s, that are related and together they are called the Zeck trilogy. But even those I read out of order. And the last book should be read last if possible.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't bothered by the female characters (or Archie and Wolfe's attitudes towards women) back then but when I reread the books and was in my forties I noticed it more and thought Archie should mend his sexist ways. Since the books were written over 4 decades, the attitudes improved with the times and there were some strong female characters later. In my second favorite Rex Stout book, The Silent Speaker, Phoebe Gunther is a fantastic character, strong, confident, a career woman who believes in her job. Lily Rowan, who Archie goes out with (dancing usually) off and on throughout the series, is a strong woman, although being rich does help. And there are other examples.
I envy your friend being a part of the Wolfe Pack and being able to visit Rex Stout's home.
I did get the email from Follow.it. How did you choose Follow.it and was it easy to work with?
Thank you for encouraging me to read this! I will say that the first post I wrote (the one that disappeared) seemed more insightful and I was determined to reconstruct it but couldn't quite recapture what I had been thinking, except about Archie, who really grows on the reader as a character.
ReplyDeleteI had been receiving emails about Feedburner and ignoring them because I did not remember ever having used it! But then I got one from Follow.It that told me (a) that I was using Feedburner and (b) they would walk me through the transfer process. So I googled them to make sure they were legit and decided to try it. I had a couple frustrating moments but I think it was my impatience as their directions were pretty clear. One thing that really surprised me was I had about 900 fake subscribers, all of whom had Outlook emails. Weird spammers, I suppose. But I said to the Follow.It help desk just to delete them all. I will send you the email so you can inspect it.
If I have the energy, I'd like to change my widget for other blogs to include their most current blog post (not just the title) the way yours does.
Nancy Drew -- another old favorite. I used to gobble up the Nancy Drew books, I think my favorite was The Secret of the 99 Steps (I'm guessing that's the right title). As for Rex/ Archie -- I never read the books, but I've watched the show and truly did not like it. At best, I would say "Phooey!" to the series, they weren't for me! ~Lex
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