::READERS REVIEWS::

A worthy adversary for Wolfe -

Wolfe gets a worthy adversary in this take on the mystery convention of proving a clever murderer guilty without much evidence. A group of college men end up crippling another in a stupid fraternity prank and then they start to die. The victim of the fraternity prank claims his responsibility in an indirect manner and this "League of Frightened Men" hire Wolfe to solve the murders. Wolfe does so in a manner that is quite unexpected and makes this early Wolfe story interesting more for the mystery than the characters, which is a departure from the norm.

Wolfe to the rescue - Nero Wolfe had been approached by Andrew Hibbard who was seeking Wolfe's protection from a man that Hibbard and a group of his friends had inadvertently crippled years before during a college prank. Recently various members of the group had met untimely ends, and their long ago victim was claiming responsibility for their deaths. Hibbard was afraid that he would be next but he put so many restrictions on Wolfe about the case that Wolfe turned it down. A few weeks later though when Hibbard disappeared, presumably at the hands of the man he had approached Wolfe about, and probably fatally Wolfe felt compelled to act.

There were many twists and turns to this case, as often happens in Stout's novels. What sets this one apart is that Archie finds himself in need of rescuing and it is Wolfe who sails forth from the confines of the brownstone to provide it! Fans of the series will delight into once again joining Wolfe's little household as Nero and Archie solve the case of THE LEAGUE OF FRIGHTENED MEN.

All the Nero Wolfe books are gems ... - I don't understand someone who would think that any of the Nero Wolfe boosk were not good. Of course some are better than others, but frankly, his worst is better than the best of just about anyone (well, Raymond Chandler is an example of someone who you may prefer, but for gods sake, he's a legend).

The man deserved the Nobel Prize. Oliver Wendell Holmes considered him the best of all the detective writers. I agree.

Excellent entertainment - I love Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin! This book was definitely up to their standards!

Top Form - I really loved this book even before I read "Stout Fellow" by "O.E.McBride." Her insightful analysis of all of Rex Stout's work confirms what I already suspected: Rex Stout's earliest books were his best.

This one can be forgiven some narrative excesses (the pink tie and soup, for example) in fair exchange for some of Wolfe's best Wolfeisms. The one about membership in the Hardvard Club is in this book.

And finally, Paul Chapin is a much better "Moriarty" than Arnold Zeck. He's much deeper and more complex, in fact, than virtually any other of Stout's other characters, doubly subtle by the way in which his villainy is propounded.

Fetishism, kinky stuff - all here more so that in anything else of Wolfe's that comes to mind. And it is expertly read in audio.