Where There's a Will by Rex Stout 258 pages

When strong, influential sisters, April, May and June call on Wolfe, he prepares himself for the worst.  After all, he does not play well with women.  Their main complaint is that their bother's will is bizarre.  He left his sisters a piece of fruit each, an oddly small amount to his wife and a whopping $700,000 to his mistress.  Something sure doesn't seem right in all of it.  The sisters don't care about money, they all have plenty of their own.  However, there were some legacies that were promised and it seems unlikely that their brother would have completely ignored them.  This was a tricky one that even got Wolfe not only out of his chair, but out of the house!  Read by Michael Prichard, it was a treat as always.

Too Many Women by Rex Stout 192 pages

A Wall Street employee well on his way up in his firm is run down by a car.  The police have it down as simply a hit and run.  So why has the director of his department listed him as murdered?  That's what the man who visits Nero Wolfe wants to know.  It will mean sending Archie in undercover to learn what he can at the firm.  Poor Archie...when he arrives, he discovers that the office is staffed by hundreds of women, all of them put together just the way he likes.  It's a tough case, even without all the distractions.  Leave it to Wolfe and Archie, though and you're likely to get there in the end.  Read by Michael Prichard.

A Family Affair by Rex Stout 152 pages

When a bomb kills his favorite waiter from his favorite restaurant, sedentary sleuth and gourmand Nero Wolfe is determined to go to any length to find the killer.  This is a bit hairier than he'd like, though.  Some suspects are people he admires.  The answer hits closer to home than anyone would ever have dreamed.  Cherchez la femme...look for the woman...you'll usually find the key to the problem, or at least that is what the moral of this story was.  It had one of the most surprising endings I have ever encountered in a Nero Wolfe mystery and listening to it read by Michael Prichard was wonderful!

Gambit by Rex Stout 225 pages

A private club is the setting for murder when Paul Jerim, playing chess with twelve opponents, is poisoned. When her father is accused of the murder, beautiful Sally Blount calls on Nero Wolfe to find the real killer.  This is a little tricky, because all the evidence really does point to her father.  Nero and Archie will have to exercise all their creative thinking muscles to get to the bottom of this one!  Read by Michael Prichard, this was a very enjoyable story.

The Silent Speaker by Rex Stout 271 pages

When a powerful government official scheduled to speak to a group of millionaires turns up dead, the business world clamors for a solution and Nero Wolfe takes the case.  There’s really not a lot more to tell…Archie is irresistibly charming, as always.  Wolfe gets sick of having too many clients and warring agencies constantly crashing his office calm.  Another fantastic Nero Wolfe mystery read by Michael Prichard!

Over My Dead Body by Rex Stout 293 pages

When a Balkan beauty gets in trouble over some missing diamonds, whom else can she turn to but the world-famous Nero Wolfe?  Especially since she claims to be Wolfe's long lost daughter!  The stakes are suddenly raised when a student at this woman's fencing school ends up dead after a pointed lesson.  As Wolfe and his sidekick, Archie, thrust and parry into a tangle of documents, identities and international intrigue, another student body turns up, expertly skewered through the heart.  Is Wolfe's long lost daughter the black sheep of the family, a hot-blooded mistress of murder? 
Another fantastic Nero Wolfe mystery read by Michael Prichard, but I've yet to meet one I didn't love!

The Father Hunt by Rex Stout 193 pages

Archie Goodwin and Nero Wolfe are at it again.  A young woman, Amy Denovo, asks them to find out who her father is.  Her mother is recently deceased, the victim of an unsolved hit and run, and leaves Amy a box full of money and a note that reads "This money is from your father."  The problems are numerous.  To begin with, her mother's name wasn't really Denovo.  She knows virtually nothing about her mother, except where she was working before she died.  Amy knows her own birthday and birthplace, but little more.  Of course, she has the best team working to unravel her mystery, but will they be in time to also save her life?

I listened to this title read by Michael Prichard.  It was very enjoyable.

The Red Box by Rex Stout 189 pages

Continuing with my Nero Wolfe infatuation, I listened to this one read by Michael Prichard.  Archie and Nero are confronted by a young man who insists that Wolfe leave the comfort of his office and his orchids to investigate a murder at a leading design house.  A clever trick is used to get the rotund detective out of the only chair he feels comfortable in and down to the design firm.  It seems a young model has eaten a poisoned piece of candy.  The problem is that the candy wasn't hers.  The police are stumped, and the client is worried about his cousin who also models there.  Who was the intended victim and how many more will die before the truth is discovered?

This was a really well woven, enjoyable mystery.  Archie's sarcastic, cocksure voice was as entertaining as ever.  I highly recommend this series.

The Rubber Band by Rex Stout 189 pages

This book in the Nero Wolf mystery series is a really fun one.  I think it has some of the best banter between Archie and Nero of any of them.  Clara Fox has a problem.  A very interesting problem.  40+ years ago, her father, along with several other men in a Nevada mining town, helped a man escape a hanging.  They did this with the understanding that this man would make them rich when he got home to England.  The real tricky part was that two of the main players were using aliases or nicknames and not many of the original group were still around.  Clara's father was killed in the war, but wrote all the details down in a letter to his wife, telling her that he hopes she can collect on the debt and help support herself and their daughter.  Now, Clara's mother has died and passed the letter on to her.  Clara is convinced that Nero Wolf is the only man who could possibly untangle this mystery and get her father's due.  As soon as he starts investigating, though, another of the original group is murdered...a few block's from Wolf's residence and only a few minutes after receiving a phone call there.  Wolf's genius is certainly needed for this one, but it will be Archie's quick wit and sparkling comebacks that keep you laughing till the end.  I listened to this one read by Michael Prichard...the best Nero Wolf audiobook reader.

The Doorbell Rang by Rex Stout 178 pages

Finding myself without an audiobook to listen to while I did dishes, I turned to recent purchases from our library book sale.  Hooray!  I found a Nero Wolf book I had forgotten I'd purchased.  This one was not read by Michael Pritchard, who is my favorite reader of these books, but it was still very good.  Nero is hired by a woman to get J. Edgar Hoover's FBI men to leave her alone.  Her crime is that she bought many copies of a book called The FBI Nobody Knows and distributing them to people she thought should read it.  Wolf's ego can't turn the job down and the massive payment check piques his interest, as well.  It turns out that he may be able to accomplish the job for his client and solve a murder in the process.  Only a genius like Wolf would be able to bully the FBI into doing as he wished, but he couldn't be the effective genius he is without wise-cracking Archie Goodwin doing all the legwork.  As always, an enjoyable book from the Nero Wolf series!