Carson's Storytime

Carson Chittom finished reading Not Quite Dead Enough by Rex Stout (Nero Wolfe, #10)

Rex Stout: Not Quite Dead Enough (EBook, 2010, Bantam)

Not Quite Dead Enough by Rex Stout (Nero Wolfe, #10)

Carson Chittom rated Piranesi: 5 stars

Susanna Clarke: Piranesi (Hardcover, 2020, Bloomsbury)

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

Piranesi’s house is no ordinary building: its rooms are infinite, its corridors endless, its walls are lined with thousands upon …

Carson Chittom wants to read Green Grass, Running Water by Thomas King

Thomas King: Green Grass, Running Water (2010, Harper Perennial)

Green Grass, Running Water by Thomas King

Carson Chittom started reading Not Quite Dead Enough by Rex Stout (Nero Wolfe, #10)

Not Quite Dead Enough by Rex Stout (Nero Wolfe, #10)

Carson Chittom finished reading Where There's a Will by Rex Stout (Nero Wolfe, #8)

Rex Stout: Where There's a Will (EBook, 2010, Bantam)

Where There's a Will by Rex Stout (Nero Wolfe, #8)

Where There's a Will is the eighth Nero Wolfe detective novel by Rex Stout. Prior to its publication in 1940 …

Carson Chittom started reading Where There's a Will by Rex Stout (Nero Wolfe, #8)

Where There's a Will by Rex Stout (Nero Wolfe, #8)

Where There's a Will is the eighth Nero Wolfe detective novel by Rex Stout. Prior to its publication in 1940 …

Carson Chittom finished reading Over My Dead Body by Rex Stout (Nero Wolfe, #7)

Rex Stout: Over My Dead Body (EBook, 2010, Wonder Publishing Group)

Over My Dead Body by Rex Stout (Nero Wolfe, #7)

Carson Chittom wants to read Golden Rhinoceros by François-Xavier Fauvelle

François-Xavier Fauvelle, Troy Tice: Golden Rhinoceros (2018, Princeton University Press)

Golden Rhinoceros by François-Xavier Fauvelle, Troy Tice

Carson Chittom started reading Over My Dead Body by Rex Stout (Nero Wolfe, #7)

Over My Dead Body by Rex Stout (Nero Wolfe, #7)

Carson Chittom finished reading Some Buried Caesar by Rex Stout (Nero Wolfe, #6)

Rex Stout: Some Buried Caesar (EBook, 2010, Crimeline)

Some Buried Caesar by Rex Stout (Nero Wolfe, #6)

Carson Chittom started reading Some Buried Caesar by Rex Stout (Nero Wolfe, #6)

Some Buried Caesar by Rex Stout (Nero Wolfe, #6)

Carson Chittom reviewed Too Many Cooks by Rex Stout (Nero Wolfe, #5)

Rex Stout: Too Many Cooks (EBook, 2010, Bantam)

Nero Wolfe leaves his Manhattan brownstone to travel to the resort of Kanawha Spa, in …

Not one of the best

3 stars

You can absolutely tell that this book was published in 1938. It is not one of Stout's best.

Part of Stout's aim here was undoubtedly to highlight for his readers the way racial prejudice operated in the American South in the late 1930s. Despite this good intention, I don't feel like those sections really stand up very well in terms of story. (Having a luxury spa in 30s West Virginia seems a little forced, for starters.)

Stout's characterization of the victim's wife is straight out of femme fatale noir.

For those who wish to totally avoid racial slurs: this book does contain them. They are to the best of my recollection "appropriately" used—I mean the characters who use them would use them—and Nero Wolfe does not.

Still, in my opinion even "not the best" Nero Wolfe stories are worth reading. But maybe just move on to the next one when …

You can absolutely tell that this book was published in 1938. It is not one of Stout's best.

Part of Stout's aim here was undoubtedly to highlight for his readers the way racial prejudice operated in the American South in the late 1930s. Despite this good intention, I don't feel like those sections really stand up very well in terms of story. (Having a luxury spa in 30s West Virginia seems a little forced, for starters.)

Stout's characterization of the victim's wife is straight out of femme fatale noir.

For those who wish to totally avoid racial slurs: this book does contain them. They are to the best of my recollection "appropriately" used—I mean the characters who use them would use them—and Nero Wolfe does not.

Still, in my opinion even "not the best" Nero Wolfe stories are worth reading. But maybe just move on to the next one when you're done.