Golden Age of Detective Fiction

Goodreads synopsis:

Thirty men, the targets of terror, one crippled poet who killed in verse, and a series of assorted assaults — these were enigmas enough to intrigue the Herculeaen mind of the pre-eminent Nero Wolfe. For two men were dead, another had vanished, and thirty more lived in complete fear of a hate-twisted genius who celebrated his murders in verse – and promised more to come! The thirty frightened men hired Wolfe for the strangest case of his career — because Wolfe knew the killer, and knew the crimes could never be proved!

Goodreads synopsis:

On the way to an agricultural fair north of Manhattan, Wolfe’s car runs into a tree, stranding Wolfe and Archie at the home of the owner of a chain of fast-food cafés. A neighbor is later found gored to death; the authorities rule the death an accident but Wolfe deduces that it was murder. Lily Rowan, Archie’s longtime girlfriend, makes her first appearance. This is one of several Wolfe plots that break one of Wolfe’s cardinal rules, to never conduct business away from the Manhattan brownstone. It involves minor characters who appear in several other Wolfe novels, under different names and in different the self-important police officer who tries to intimidate Archie, and the occasionally bumbling but politically attuned district attorney. The book’s title is from The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

Goodreads synopsis:

THE SWORDSMAN WAS A GIRL—and a girl in bad trouble. The lovely fencing instructor was accused of stealing diamonds—she was in the country illegally—and, just to make things more messy, she seemed to be Nero Wolfe’s daughter.

Goodreads synopsis:

Aging millionairess Mrs. Rackham asks Nero Wolfe to find out where her penniless husband has suddenly been obtaining mysteriously large sums of money, a request that leads to murder and to threats against the master detective himself.

Goodreads synopsis:

Nero Wolfe was almost as famous for his wealthy clients and extravagant fees as for his genius at detection. So why has he accepted a case for $4.30? And why have the last two people to hire him been ruthlessly murdered? Wolfe suspects the answers may lie in the story of a twelve-year-old boy who turns up at the door of his West Thirty-fifth Street Brownstone. In short order, Wolfe finds himself confronted by one of his most perplexing and pressing cases, involving a curious set of earrings shaped like spiders dipped in gold. The case is all boiling down to a strange taste of greed—and a grumpy gourmand’s unappeasable appetite for truth.

Goodreads synopsis:

Murder lurks in the wings of the sprawling Fifth Avenue penthouse of multimillionaire Otis Jarrell, who has just retained the incomparable Nero Wolfe on a case of the utmost confidentiality. But even the master detective cannot prevent tragedy when it inevitably arrives wielding Jarrell’s missing revolver.

Soon a second victim meets his maker, and Wolfe must piece together the truth behind Jarrell’s scandalously ill-behaved family. And for one member of that charmed circle—a two-time killer sleeping the fitful sleep of the guilty—it could prove a deadly awakening.

Goodreads synopsis:

The ransom note said—“We have your Jimmy safe and sound. You can have him back all in one piece for $500,000 if you play it right…” The lady was upset. She didn’t care about the money, but she loved her husband and she wanted him back. So she took the ransom note to Nero Wolfe. Imperturbable as ever, Wolfe kept police and clients waiting while he made sure he earned his fee—enough to keep him in orchids forever!

Goodreads synopsis:

When an old acquaintance and fellow P.I. is accused of murdering a kept woman, Nero Wolfe investigates and finds several suspects in a mystery blackmailer, a sexy lounge singer, and a cold-blooded lady-killer.

Goodreads synopsis:

Hired to help society widow Rachel Bruner foil bothersome Feds, Nero Wolfe and his able assistant Archie get in over their heads with highly trained G-men who are adept at bugs, tails, and threats.

Goodreads synopsis:

A brilliant Rex Stout murder mystery featuring Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin
 
A bomb explodes in the desk drawer of a top TV executive. Was it intended for him or the man who opened the drawer? They each had enemies enough to die a dozen times over. Was it the jealous wife or the ambitious partner? The secretary who got passed around like an inter-office memo? Or the man who couldn’t wash the blood off his hands? Nero Wolfe didn’t want any part of it—but he was up to his neck in the toughest case of his career!

Goodreads synopsis:

When a wealthy man is clubbed to death at his Cherokee wife’s tomb, Inspector Cramer must retrace the steps that led the victim from Oklahoma to Wall Street to a bizarre death by Indian war club. The cigar-chomping cop’s only clue–the piece of red thread the dead man was grasping.

Goodreads synopsis:

It was spring, and one young woman’s fancy turned to thoughts of murder…

Delia Brand talked too much. She had publicly announced her intention to kill a man, and had even asked her lawyer how to go about it.

No one took Delia seriously until they found the man dead—a bullet in his chest and the gun in her hand. Who would believe she was innocent? And was she?

Goodreads synopsis:

Tecumseh Fox thinks that he is seeing double when financier Ridley Thorpe is shot twice, two gorgeous suspects appear, two very good motives are revealed, and two murder weapons surface.

Goodreads synopsis:

Someone was doctoring cans of Tingley’s Tidbits right in the factory. The doses weren’t lethal to the customers–but they would be to Tingley’s reputation if the sabotage didn’t stop. It looked like a case of cutthroat competition when private detective Tecumseh Fox took on the job–

–and then a throat was cut!

With his own client the prime suspect, Fox hunts a killer through a maze of murder, scandal and blackmail.

Goodreads synopsis:

When Private Detective ‘Tex’ Fox helps to buy an antique violin for the young prodigy, Jan Tusar, he doesn’t expect the boy to play so badly at his Carnegie Hall debut. And when Jan subsequently commits suicide, and the violin disappears, Fox investigates, discovering that a great many people had special claims on Jan.