Stout, Rex. Not Quite Dead Enough. Pyramid Books, 1944.
Reason read: to continue the series started in November.
Rex Stout likes to throw his readers a curve ball now and again. When we rejoin Archie and Nero in Not Quite Dead Enough, Archie has been in military service in Washington D.C. for two months. There is a war going on and he is trying to do his part. Meanwhile back in Manhattan, Nero Wolfe wants to do his part for the war effort as well. Comically, he and Fritz have been training to be soldiers by exercising and eating better (ha!). When Archive returns he is horrified by the change.
A welcome surprise for readers is the fact that Lily Rowan is back. We first met Archie’s crush back in Some Buried Caesar. This time Archie has set his sights on a new girl, Ann Armory, who works for the National Bird League. Only…she ends up dead. Of course she does. Since Wolfe is not interested in solving crime anymore Archie has to make matters into his own hands by becoming suspect number one. He is last seen with the pretty girl at a dance. His hair is found in her dead fist. Will Archie convince Nero to take the case and clear his name?
Book trivia: this is another one of those “double mysteries” where two novellas are combined.
BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe: Too Good To Miss” (p 226).
~*LunaSea*~ 