Might as Well Be Dead by Rex Stout
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

"'I've never seen him like that, with any life in him. The first time I saw him he said he might as well be dead. He had nothing but despair, and he never has had.'"

Might as Well Be Dead is the 27th novel in Rex Stout's monumental series featuring Nero Wolfe, the obese genius of detection, and his intrepid and suave helper, right hand, and amanuensis, Archie Goodwin. A Mr. Herold, a well-to-do businessman from Nebraska wants to hire Wolfe to find his son Paul. Paul was once accused of stealing money from his father's company, which estranged him from the family, but it has now become known that he was in fact innocent: the father wants to make amends.

Nero Wolfe takes the job despite instant dislike for Mr. Herold: the client uses the word "contact" as a verb. Pfui! Naturally, Archie does most of the work and Wolfe does most of the thinking. The case almost instantaneously gets intertwined with a currently ongoing murder trial of a certain Peter Hays (note the initials). The jury is just about to deliver the verdict and the lawyer handling Hays' defense wants to consult Nero Wolfe.

In addition to Wolfe and Goodwin, four Wolfe's operatives are involved in the complicated investigation. Two more people die before Wolfe and Goodwin solve the case during the usual, cliché denouement that takes place in Wolfe's office. Uncharacteristically for Rex Stout novels, there is a fairly brutal scene near the end of the book: the way the scene is written reads a little jarring. I do not mind; after all, brutality is natural in novels that focus on murder. Also, I love when authors break their own conventions and go against the reader's expectations. I am just wondering why the author decided to go against the usual style in this particular instance.

Readers who enjoy Nero Wolfe books for the prose will find some nice passages like

"She was in a dressing gown or house gown or negligee or dishabille - anyway, it was soft and long and loose and lemon-colored - and without make-up. Without lipstick her mouth was even better than with. A habit of observation of minor details is an absolute must for a detective."

Also, just for fun, I counted the occurrences of the phrase "might as well be dead" in the text of the novel. Seven times!

Overall, not one of the better installments in the series, but not one of the weakest either.

Two-and-a-half stars.


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