Not Quite Dead Enough by Rex Stout
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

"There was that little twist to a corner of her mouth, so slight that it had taken me a year to get onto it, that was there when she was betting the stack on four spades with nothing but a six of clubs in the hole."

Even if I have read all Nero Wolfe mysteries, most of them more than once, I still have fun reading them; nothing has changed since the mid-1960s when I first met the sedentary genius of detection and his intrepid and debonair sidekick Archie. The novels have many features that I like: solid and engaging prose, interesting secondary, non-recurring characters, and small volume. Yes, Mr. Wolfe is a caricature, basically a cartoonish character, and the setup of the usual denouement in the detective's office is a heavy cliché, yet Archie's persona and the overall charm of the stories compensate for the weaknesses.

Not Quite Dead Enough (1942) is one of the earlier installments in the series. Uncharacteristically, the volume combines just two novellas (usually there are three). The events in both of them happen during World War II and Archie Goodwin is in fact Major Goodwin in the U.S. Army. The first novella begins when Major Goodwin is called to report to the Chief of Army Intelligence. The military needs the great detective's help and Archie is supposed to persuade him to agree. Meanwhile Mr. Wolfe and Fritz (the live-in cook) are exercising, dieting (!!!) and preparing to join the Army to help the war effort.

If the hilarious premise of Mr. Wolfe dieting is not enough, we have more: the story involves pigeons, squirrels, and there is even a mention of "dead hawk business." And to top the craziness, Archie has to try hard to get arrested in a murder case. Clever denouement nicely rounds up this charming novella.

The second novella, titled Booby Trap, is no match in quirkiness, but also has its good points. The story begins when Archie is carrying a live grenade out of Mr. Wolfe's brownstone. I hope this is not much of a spoiler even if we all know the "Chekhov's Gun" principle, with which the author toys here. In a continuation of the first novella, Nero Wolfe is helping the military intelligence officers investigate the death of one of their own. Perhaps the most interesting element of the story is the presence of Sergeant Dorothy Bruce, a member of the Women's Army Corps. 77 years ago women in the military were not that commonplace yet the author considers it completely normal (as opposed to Mr. Wolfe). An uncharacteristically brutal denouement concludes the story.

Good first story and satisfactory second one combine to provide a nice read.

Three stars.


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