Death of a Dude

By: Rex Stout

Narrated by: Michael Prichard

The mountain couldn't come to Wolfe, so the great detective came to the mountain - to Lame Horse, Montana, to be exact. Here a city slicker got a country girl pregnant and then took a bullet in the back. Wolfe's job was to get an innocent man exonerated of the crime and catch a killer in the process. But when he packed his silk pajamas and headed west, he found himself embroiled in a case rife with local cynicism, slipshod police work, and unpleasant political ramifications.

In fact, Nero Wolfe was buffaloed until the real killer struck again, underestimating the dandified dude with an unerring instinct for detection.

Introduction by Don Coldsmith.

“It is always a treat to read a Nero Wolfe mystery. The man has entered our folklore.” (The New York Times Book Review)

A grand master of the form, Rex Stout is one of America’s greatest mystery writers, and his literary creation Nero Wolfe is one of the greatest fictional detectives of all time. Together, Stout and Wolfe have entertained - and puzzled - millions of mystery fans around the world. Now, with his perambulatory man-about-town, Archie Goodwin, the arrogant, gourmandizing, sedentary sleuth is back in the original 73 cases of crime and detection written by the inimitable master himself, Rex Stout.

Stout fellow: listen to all of our Nero Wolfe mysteries, including classic radio programs!©1997 Rex Stout (P)2000 Books on Tape Inc.

Wolf and Archie in the Wild West

Would you consider the audio edition of Death of a Dude to be better than the print version?

Both audio and print versions are excellent

What was one of the most memorable moments of Death of a Dude?

Wolf's arrival in Montana

What does Michael Prichard bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Prichard makes the characters' voices take on their personality.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I already knew the story pretty well, so I was not as compelled to keep listening to get to the end in a hurry. Instead, I savor the setting and the characters.

Any additional comments?

I love Archie, Nero, Fritz, Inspector Cramer, Saul, Fred, Orrie (sort of), Sgt. Stebbins, Lily, and all the regular characters in the Wolf stories. Most of them are absent in this one, but the local characters that were introduced were great fun.

1 of rare Wolfe-leaves-home books

And even more rare, he leaves the state of New York.

Another one of those greatest of Archie & Nero books, wherein, The satisfaction is not so much in the solving of the mystery, as in the comeuppance of a jerk cop.

This is a classic example once again, of how the murder mystery is truly a McGuffin, merely to propel the story forward to give some people who need it a slap in the face. But there's never as satisfying a slap in the face as when Nero Wolfe delivers it.

I typically great performance from Michael Prichard. Here, since other then Archie, Lily Rowan, and Nero Wolfe, we have none of our other usual cast of characters, Michael Prichard gets to perform some interesting local color residing in the state of Montana.

One of the greats among the greatest.

Highest recommendation.

A great Nero Wolfe novel

I enjoy Nero Wolfe mystery books. This was an excellent read. Although some parts were a bit hard to follow.

Wonderful!

Beautifully narrated. Nero Wolfe in Montana. Archie is staying at Lily's ranch when murder occurs and Nero has to fly out from New York to solve it.

Wolfe Leaves The Brownstone For Big Sky Country!!!

Where does Death of a Dude rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Nero Wolfe remains one of my all-time favorite characters; and Michael Prichard's interpretation of Rex Stout's immortal detective & his faithful (if uber-glib) side-kick, Archie Goodwin remains my all-time favorite!
However, this particular episode left me slightly disappointed overall; the ease with which Stout causes New York's streets to materialize in one's mind doesn't seem to transfer to less-familiar environs.
Good as a stand-alone read, tho-- seemed to be fewer-than-normal references to previous episodes...

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

If This Is The Only Wolfe Story Left For You, Might As Well Complete The Set...Right?

An excellent story and VERY SATISFACTORY. :)

I enjoyed it the first time I listened to and the second time too, but even more so the third that I just heard the final word of it one more time. Thank you Mr. Stout wherever you are.

Weakest Entry in This Series

There is no doubting Rex Stout''s stature among American mystery writers, but in my opinion, Death of a Dude is a weak entry in the Nero Wolfe canon. In it, Stout uproots Wolfe and Goodwin and plunks them down in an environment polar opposite to their own. The first half of the book seems to exist solely to point out how awkward and ineffectual Goodwin is as a dude in small-town Montana. It's not a good look on him, and I was close to giving up on the book when Nero finally walked through the door. Even then there was virtually no plot except Archie getting thrown in jail for no good reason. There is no complex mystery, no wiley deductions, just Saul Panzer going to St. Louis with a handful of pictures, one of which gets identified. End of novel. If you are budgeting your credits, you can safely give this one a miss.

Unusual Just OK Nero Wolfe

This is a very OK Nero Wolfe, but far from one of my favorites. It is unusual in a number of ways. The mystery takes place in Montana not New York and the details of the event don’t come out until half way through; indeed Nero Wolfe has a much smaller role than usual. Although the story specific characters are nicely developed there is not a lot of interplay between the regular series characters. I rarely have a quibble with the characterizations of story specific characters in Nero Wolfe novels, but in this one there were a few cases where the regional vernacular seemed overly contrived. For example there was a comment of a local comparing people to a herd of cattle. This was colorful, but did not ring true. There are some interesting scenes, events, and twists, but overall I was left unsatisfied.