::READERS REVIEWS::

Lies, death and sponsors... - When somebody dies, live on the air, while drinking one of the radio shows sponsors' product, you can guess there is hell to pay. But when everybody connected to the case decides to lie Nero Wolfe almost decides to give the whole mess over to the police. This book has so much going for it - the plot, the interaction between Archie and Nero, and the most powerful and dangerous villain of all. And it is set in a world where radio is still king. How wonderful, how delightful, how cool.
Buy it, read it, enjoy it, pass it on.

"Pfui. As you know, I never leave this house on business." - Some folks have called Arnold Zeck Wolfe's Moriarty, and this is the first book in the three books that feature him as a villain.

The book starts as Wolfe books often do-- he needs money to feed his habits, and he sends Archie to go get it for him. In this case, a bookie has dropped dead on the set of a popular radio show. Wolfe makes an offer to Madeline Fraser, the show's host, to take the case on a no-cure-no-pay basis. It's an offer that they can't refuse, and soon Archie is in the thick of things. When their investigation leads them to some shady newsletters, Wolfe gets a warning call from the mysterious Zeck.

This is a classic early Wolfe (1948), with some great one-liners from Archie. High entertainment value and a good set-up for The Second Confession)and In the Best Families.

Recommended.

Desparate Times - Desparate Measures - It is March 13, 1948. Archie is hard at work preparing the income tax forms that will all too soon be due, forms that will need to be accompanied by a hefty check that greatly exceeds the firm's bank account. Driven by the necessity of raising a large amount of cash quickly Wolfe is forced to put down his book and actually call a potential client. A few days earlier a guest on a popular live radio program was poisoned on the air. Soon Wolfe found himself with a roomful of clients who all profess to be anxious to solve the crime, the only problem is that one of them is almost certainly the murderer. Before Wolfe collects his check there will be two more murders, bringing the total to not three but four.

As always with this series the attraction is as much the adventures of Wolfe and Archie as the murder, although this one is quite challenging and will probably catch the reader by surprise at least a few times. The verbal sparring between Archie and Wolfe is as always hilarious, as is their combined effort to harass NYPD. Nero Wolfe attempting to decipher the utterances of a rather dramatic young bobby soxer is also sure to bring a smile to the reader. Fans of this series will definitely not want to miss this one, those who are new to the series will not go wrong beginning here. It is also notable as the introduction of Wolfe's archenemy, Zeck, who will return in later stories.

Fun Dialog Makes the Story - Nero Wolfe needs a case and fortunately a murder occurs right on the radio for Wolfe to solve. One of the guests on the Madeline Fraser radio program has been poisoned. At first it looks like the murderer may have killed the wrong person but Wolfe isn't so sure. So he offers the host, the station, and the sponsors (the victim was killed with poison placed in a sample of the soda of one of the sponsors) for the opportunity to hire him to solve the case and they all jump at the chance.

In a big case like this, Inspector Cramer is involved and he is very unhappy. His investigation is going nowhere and when Wolfe starts looking into the case he quickly discovers that everyone is lying, even those it would seem have no reason to lie. I'll admit that I was left spinning with no clue as to who the culprit could be. But I also admit that figuring out who did it wasn't what kept me reading.

As always, it is the dialog that makes the story. Whether it is between Archie and Wolfe, Archie and the suspects, or Archie and the police, it is always fun.

The victim (Cyril Orchard) has been killed by cyanide in a bottle of a soda called Hi-Spot. Wolfe and Archie are working out the mechanics of the killing with samples of Hi-Spot.

Archie starts:

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"If Orchard had never never drunk Hi-Spot before he wouldn't know whether it tasted right or not, and even if he didn't like it, they were on the air and just for politeness he would have gulped some down. Anyway he drank enough to kill him, so what does it matter what we think?"

"He may have drunk it before. Anyway, the murderer would have had to assume that he might have. Would the difference in taste be too great a hazard?"

"I see." I sipped. "Not so bad." I sipped again. "The only way to really tell is to drink this and then drink some cyanide. Have you got some?"

"Don't bubble, Archie."
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Even Fritz gets into the act in this one:

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Wolfe put his glass down after two little tastes [of Hi-Spot]. "Good heavens. What the devil is in it, Fritz?"

Fritz shook his head. "Ipecac?" He guessed. "Horehound?"
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The truth is that Stout knew how to make his characters unique and interesting and the actual mystery is almost irrelevant.

Outstanding Nero Wolfe Novel - And Be a Villain starts off with Archie doing something truly odious... namely writing the check for Nero Wolfe's annual tax return. The emotional pain this gives them and the damage it does to the bank account spurs Wolfe to do something unprecedented. He becomes an "ambulance chaser." Specifically, he sends Archie to offer his services to a radio personality who recently had a guest murdered by poison while on the air with her. As usual, the suspects are less than candid during the interviews and the case turns out to be far more complex than it seemed on the surface.

Rex Stout was in top form when he wrote this book. The story moves along very well, it is one of the funnier Wolfe novels, and the characters are interesting. And Be a Villain also marks the first appearance by a Mr. Arnold Zeck, who is basically Wolfe's Moriarty. Zeck makes only a cameo appearance in this novel but he has far more significant appearances in The Second Confession (The Rex Stout Library: a Nero Wolfe Mystery) and In the Best Families (Crime Line). I would certainly recommend this book to either Wolfe fans or newcomers. In fact, I loaned it to my wife (she had never read a Nero Wolfe novel) and she immediately wanted to read another.