Please welcome author Paula Messina back to the blog today…
Before Midnight
by Paula Messina
I
knew it was my lucky day when I found Before Midnight, a Nero Wolfe
mystery I hadn’t read. I’ve lost count of the Rex Stout mysteries I have read.
He’s an author I often return to. Before Midnight didn’t disappoint.
All the elements that make Rex
Stout a popular mystery writer are here. The crime is so complicated only a
genius of Nero Wolfe’s ilk can solve it. Archie’s as witty and charming as
ever. Nero Wolfe is his stubborn, inflexible self.
It’s
his way or the highway when Attorney Rudolph Hansen, accompanied by Messrs.
Oliver Buff, Patrick O’Garro, and Mr. Vernon Assa, descends on West 35th Street
uninvited and demand Wolfe abort his
eleven o’clock tete-a-tete with the orchids on the brownstone’s top floor.
And what matter is so dire the
orchids should be abandoned? Not the murder of Louis Dahlmann. Oh, no, not
that. It’s Dahlmann’s missing wallet, which contained the answers for a contest
to promote Pour Amour cosmetics, that is the pressing issue.
Hansen
represents Lippert, Buff and Assa, an advertising agency. LBA’s major client is
Heery Products, which sells the Pour Amour cosmetics line. Dahlmann, LBA’s late
wunderkind who conceived the idea for a contest with its million dollars in
prizes, had the audacity to take a bullet to his chest when the contest was in
its waning days.
Dahlmann’s
sins are even greater. The afternoon before his inconvenient demise, he waved
the sheet of paper with the answers in front of the final five contestants.
Now LBA and Heery Products are
in a very sour pickle. Dahlmann’s dead, and no one knows who has the contest’s
answers.
After much wrangling, Wolfe
agrees to undertake a search to discover who removed the wallet from Dahlmann’s
pocket and made away with the contest answers. For once, Wolfe—and
he is absolutely adamant on this point—is not
investigating a murder.
Is
the murderer the wallet thief, or was each crime committed separately? Is the
wallet thief Attorney Hansen? Someone from LBA? Heery Products owner Talbott
Heery? Or one of the final five contestants? The murder scene provides no
clues. Interviewing the lot proves fruitless. With nothing to go on, Wolfe’s
genius is of little value.
Then
a second body drops.
Wolfe
blames himself for the death and takes to his bed. But Wolfe finally puts his
genius to work, earns his substantial fee, and throws in the solution to
Dahlmann’s murder gratis.
As
a reader, characters are important to me. They need to be individuals I’m
willing to spend time with. Archie Goodwin and Nero Wolfe fill that bill. The
introduction to Before Midnight is by Robert Crais, and he lays out a
convincing argument that the power of this mystery series is the friendship
between Nero Wolfe and his chronicler, Archie Goodwin. I concur.
Crais
quotes Rex Stout: “Here are two friends. Here are two people sharing their
lives. As you wish for friendship, share in theirs. As you seek companionship,
share in theirs. As you search for love, search in theirs.”
After
listing many literary couplings, Craig says, “The appeal of friendship is old,
and the pleasures inherent in such fictional pairings are no less valid today
than they were in the days of Holmes and Watson, or in the thirties, forties,
fifties, sixties, and seventies—the incredible five decades
through which Stout published Nero Wolfe.”
In
creating Nero Wolfe, Stout clearly was inspired by Arthur Conan Doyle. Just as
the strength of the Holmes mysteries is the friendship between Sherlock and
John Watson, Archie Goodwin and Nero Wolfe’s relationship is paramount. It
contrasts with that of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson. Goodwin is not a
sidekick. He is Wolfe’s partner in crime solving. The housebound Wolfe
acknowledges that Goodwin is the eyes and legs of the partnership. They’re
equals. Holmes, on the other hand, often acts more as a teacher, lording over
Watson with his superior intellect and vast knowledge.
Archie’s
needling to rouse the lazy Nero to get to work might suggest otherwise, but the
pair share a deep respect and filial love. If you have any doubt, read Death
of a Dude in which Wolfe doesn’t just venture outside into the wilds of New
York, he flies to Montana to assist Archie.
There’s another reason Stout is
admired by so many writers. His simple style is deceiving. His descriptions are
always unique. For example, in Midnight, he doesn’t tell us contestant
Gertrude Frazee has a crooked smile. That would never do.
“When she spoke her lips wanted
to move perpendicular to the slant, but her jaw preferred straight up and down.
You might have thought that after so many years, at least sixty, they would
have come to an understanding, but nothing doing.”
The description is pure Archie
Goodwin. His wit is another reason the series has never gone out of print.
Archie’s intelligence is often overlooked. Maybe he isn’t the genius Wolfe is,
but he’s no slouch when it comes to those gray cells.
For my money, Nero is
misunderstood. Yes, he’s hardly the cuddliest guy in the literary world, but
he’s not callous. While Archie guarantees a fun time whether it’s watching a
Mets game or dancing into the wee hours, Nero is a fantastic host. You might not
want to dine with him every night as Archie does, but you can take this to the
bank: The food would be five-star Michelin and the conversation scintillating.
Just as Arthur Conan Doyle
occasionally drops the veil hiding Sherlock Holmes tender side, Stout gives us
glimpses into Wolfe’s sensitivity. If you doubt this, check out The Golden
Spiders.
I’m in the same camp as Dame Agatha Christie. I
read Stout for Archie, not Wolfe. This is from the Wolfe Pack website: Dame
Agatha Christie was a huge Rex Stout fan. She was known to go to her local
bookstore and enquire after the latest Archie Goodwin novel. The clerk would
gently remind her that they're referred to as Nero Wolfe mysteries, to which
Christie would reply, "Nonsense! Everyone knows that Archie does all the
work!"
Amazon
Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/48OLPag
Puala Messina ©2026
Paula Messina
writes the Donatello Laguardia stories, which are set in Boston’s North End
during the 1940s. They appeared in the Best New England Crime Stories 2024 and 2025 and another Donatello Laguardia short story is scheduled to
appear in Black Cat Weekly. She lives near America’s first public beach.
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