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bel017's review against another edition
Another solid edition in the series. The intro to this one wasn't too bad, and I liked the (real) letter at the end about the lawyers making sure there weren't any perfume companies who could sue Stout.
ssejig's review
4.0
This was actually an audiobook. Not that it makes a difference but still, it's good to remind myself of what I actually listened to.
Thebook opens with Archie talking to Wolfe about a contest currently being run by a makeup company. It was dreamed up by an enthusiastic young ad man who is now dead. The contest consisted of lines of verse being written about famous women in history. It ran for a number of weeks and the people who could identify every one were given five more verses. After that weeded the field a bit, the top five were flown to New York where the now deceased ad man gave them five more. As he was handing out the envelopes, he spilled the contents of his pockets and joked that he need to make sure one particular envelope went back in because it contained the answers to the final five questions. The prize? First place is $500,000, second is $250,000, third $100,000 and two runners-up get $10,000. So there's a bunch of cash on the table here.
A lawyer for the makeup firm and the three partners show up on Nero's front porch in order to hire him. Not to solve the murder. No. They want him to figure out where the envelope with the final five names went. Of course, they suspect one of the women killed the ad man to get the money but they don't want it to get out that their contest might be in jeopardy. They would rather find the thief and present him or her to the world to show that they were continuing with their contest in good faith.
Thebook opens with Archie talking to Wolfe about a contest currently being run by a makeup company. It was dreamed up by an enthusiastic young ad man who is now dead. The contest consisted of lines of verse being written about famous women in history. It ran for a number of weeks and the people who could identify every one were given five more verses. After that weeded the field a bit, the top five were flown to New York where the now deceased ad man gave them five more. As he was handing out the envelopes, he spilled the contents of his pockets and joked that he need to make sure one particular envelope went back in because it contained the answers to the final five questions. The prize? First place is $500,000, second is $250,000, third $100,000 and two runners-up get $10,000. So there's a bunch of cash on the table here.
A lawyer for the makeup firm and the three partners show up on Nero's front porch in order to hire him. Not to solve the murder. No. They want him to figure out where the envelope with the final five names went. Of course, they suspect one of the women killed the ad man to get the money but they don't want it to get out that their contest might be in jeopardy. They would rather find the thief and present him or her to the world to show that they were continuing with their contest in good faith.
thefourthvine's review
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
This is one of the Wolfe books that I have sort of an unreasoning affection for. It's not the best in terms of plot (especially the resolution), but it does have some amazing character interactions, and several scenes I truly love. It's one of my more frequent rereads, even if I'd never label it one of the classics of the series.
seano's review
4.0
A pretty good Nero Wolfe mystery. It’s the mid 50s, so they watch television. Bizarre.
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