An innocent young telegraph operator becomes a counterfeiter's target Once, the Lamartine Hotel was a quiet refuge for New York's stuffy fashionable set. But by the 1890s, fashion has moved uptown, and the lobby of the Lamartine has been overtaken by natty young sports, who pass their afternoons with billiards or shows of noisy derring-do. Their preferred damsel is Lila Williams, a delicate young telegraph operator whose shyness so charms them that...

A collection of early stories from the man who created Nero Wolfe Bill Farden is an experienced burglar. He gains entry to the house without effort, and his ears tell him the inhabitants are asleep. He pockets the silver and moves to the kitchen, to fill his stomach with strawberry shortcake. When the cook tiptoes downstairs, Bill disables her with chloroform. Upstairs, he ties the man of the house to his bedframe. In the next room he finds a little...

An invaluable sample of the early work of one of America's finest mystery writers Decades before detective Nero Wolfe and his sidekick, Archie Goodwin, first struck fear into the hearts of Manhattan's criminals, Rex Stout wrote fiction for All-Stories Magazine. By the time the Wolfe series brought him fame, Stout had put his early work behind him, and made no effort to preserve it. At the time of his death, these early mysteries and suspense stories...

One woman, four men, countless temptations on the streets of New York. This lost novel from legendary "Nero Wolfe" creator Rex Stout—unpublished for more than 90 years—presents a gripping psychological puzzle and a heroine you’ll never forget.WHO WAS THE FIFTH MAN?The lawyer, the jeweler, the art critic, and the oil-company man…self-possessed, independent Lora Winter has had a child with each of them. But when one of these men drives up to...

Under the Andes is an intriguing precursor to Rex Stout's scores of marvelous Nero Wolfe mysteries. Desiree Le Mire ran into the cave, anxious to explore, tempted by the legends of Inca gold. Harry Lamar and his brother Paul had no choice but to follow. After all, they could not let the beautiful dancer enter the black depths alone. Others lived there, however, protecting the gold of their ancestors, others now misshapen after generations of living...

An art hoarder s suspicious death paints a nasty picture for Nero Wolfe. No matter how fabulously he s being courted, infamously dour art hog Arthur Wordell isn t keen on favoring the new Guggenheim Museum with his extensive collection. Even at the urging of his beloved daughter, Nadia. Then, the night after the museum s f te, Arthur takes a twenty-story plunge from the window of his Times Square office. Nadia thinks it s no mere coincidence. Eccentric,...