Might as Well Be Dead

A murder conviction; a missing person; a beautiful woman; even a distraught family - but Nero Wolfe puts the pieces together and again solves the mystery puzzle. One of Rex Stout's most complicated and satisfying Nero Wolfe mysteries.

This is my second Nero Wolfe book, and I'm getting the message. Wolfe's an eccentric; Archie is someone I'd love to meet; the stories carry me along. The denouement in this book is not exactly shocking, but I'm getting into the rhythm of Stout's writing and plan to keep going with more stories until I'm hooked -- or not.

The CD edition of this just came out, and leaves us all begging for more. Michael Pritchard's restrained but agile style once again makes this one of the best stories from Rex Stout. You can tell it's the 1950s, and that to some extent Stout is reacting to Mickey Spillane's popularity. He has Archie and Saul doing some things here that are downright over-the-top - perhaps more so than in any other Wolfe story. A nice transition: the beneficiaries of Wolfe's services here are actually rather depressed. You sure do wish we had Prozac back in the early 50s. However, Wolfe serves up a happy ending which restores all our optimistic expectations. What if your client fires you? Nero simply says, well, pay me a fee of $50,000.00 and we'll call it square. Of course, when the client balks, Wolfe then enumerates all the equitable theories of why Wolfe earned the fee and is not blackmailing the reluctant client into paying. One constant element of Wolfe: he believes in earning his fees, regardless of his immobility. And he earns it here, for sure. You'll love this one...

James R. Herrold threw his son Paul out of the family business 11 years ago - unjustly, it turns out, and he now wishes to set the account straight. When Wolfe and Archie begin advertising for a P.H. who's now known to be innocent, though, it attracts Purley Stebbins, wanting to know why they're interested in Peter Hays, who's on trial for 1st degree murder. Archie opts to look at Hays, just on the chance - and seeing his face in defiance at the jury's guilty verdict, with life in it, sees the kid in Herrold's college photo.Albert Freyer, Hays' attorney, comes to Wolfe, who breaks his rule of discretion and makes common cause with him. Freyer's never seen Hays with any life in his face, and knew nothing of his past; when they first met, Hays had said he might as well be dead, being given over to despair. Archie, Wolfe, and Freyer believe he's innocent (partly because *somebody* followed Archie to court, and it sure wasn't Hays).Hays is supposed to have shot Michael Molloy, the husband of the woman he loved, but he's been standing mute. Mrs. Molloy couldn't divorce him (this was 1956) even though he was maltreating her. An anonymous man had called Hays up with a tale of Molloy starting to beat up Selma, and the cops were tipped off to the shooting by an anonymous caller. Hmm.Hays hasn't got enough of a personal life for the frameup to be personal, and Selma Malloy appears to have no outside interest (as well as an alibi). Archie, therefore, goes to work questioning her, partly because she used to be Molloy's secretary, and can give them a line on any interesting business dealings he may have had. (The current secretary is far less appealing to him.) The first scrap is a safe deposit box, location unknown, in the name of Richard Randall - if they can find it.The usual supporting players are deployed to the fullest: Saul, Fred, and Orrie (naturally), and even the more rare Johnny Keems. They have the joyous task of sorting through Molloy's associates and poking into holes, trying to stir something up without being bitten.

Peter Hays has been convicted of murdering the husband of Selma Molloy, the woman he loves. Both Peter and Selma feel, "I might as well be dead." Luckily for them, Nero Wolfe and Archie are not convinced that Peter Hays is guilty. But if Peter Hays is innocent, who killed Michael Molloy? Who else had a motive? As Wolfe looks into Molloy's affairs, it becomes apparent that the victim's life was hardly on the up and up, although you'll have to wait for the climactic unveiling of the killer to find out what was really going on.There will be more murders before that unveiling, as well as a judicious sprinkling of red herrings (which I blush to admit I fell for). So who did kill Molloy? His lovely widow's alibi seems pretty solid, but could she have been part of a plot? What about the Irwins or the Arkoffs, friends on whose word Selma's alibi rests? What about her other friend, Peter Degan? Was Molloy's secretary really innocent of fooling around with her boss? She's engaged to a hothead -- did he kill Molloy?In case Inspector Cramer's complaint about Mrs. Alice Bolt at the beginning of chapter 16 makes no sense, there's an old song called "Ben Bolt", the first line of which is "Oh don't you remember sweet Alice, Ben Bolt". As usual, Archie makes amusingly insulting remarks about the obnoxious genius who employs him. My personal favorite for this book is borrowed from Aesop's Fables. You'll find it in chapter 17.I like other entries in the series better, but MIGHT AS WELL BE DEAD is certainly worth your while.