Rex Stout, Homicide Trinity

Rex Stout, Homicide Trinity
Bantam Crimeline reprint of 1962 original
© 1962 Rex Stout
ISBN 978-0553234466
Also available as an ebook

Three novellas: "Eeny, Meeny, Murder, Mo;" "Death of a Demon; "Counterfeit for Murder."  Three of the stronger of the short mysteries, and Hattie Annis, Wolfe's client in "Counterfeit for Murder" (which closes the book) is a magnificent achievement.  One thing I liked especially was, when she was asked what she would like for luncheon, she responds:  "How about some lamb kidneys bourguignonne?"  As if, of course lamb kidneys would be available...and, of course they are.  A truly nice bit involves the efforts of a U.S. Treasury agent and Inspector Cramer to gain possession of $10,000 in brand new (in every sense of the word) $20s. The identity of the murderer is not hard to figure out, though.  [Stout had used the surname “Annis” in a previous novella, “Poison ala Carte” (1960), continuing a practice of re-using names.]

In "Eeny, Meeny, Murder, Mo," the first entry in the book and least of these three, Wolfe gets a spot of barbecue sauce on his tie at lunch, and leaves it on his desk when he leaves for the afternoon orchid session.  While he's up on the roof, a legal secretary at a prestigious law firm arrives with an interesting legal problem--but it involves a divorce case.  Wolfe, on principal, refuses to handle anything dealing with divorce.  But Archie undertakes to talk him into it, and ascends to the greenhouse.  While he's upstairs, the potential client is murdered--strangled with the tie.  There is one aspect of the plot that strikes me as extraordinarily unlikely. 

And in "Death of a Demon," a PR "expert" is murdered and an identical gun winds up in his wife's possession (and, through her, Wolfe's).  The twists with the guns provides the main interest in the plot; the evidence Wolfe can provide about the murderer is somewhat speculative.  But Archie shines as a tough-guy detective.

As a whole, this is vintage Stout and vintage Wolfe.  Archie’s narrative voice is one of the finest things I know of in mystery fiction.  Well worth the money and the time.