Rex Stout
Born
December 1, 1886. Died October 27, 1975. Rex Stout was born in
Noblesville, Indiana to John and Lucetta Todhunter Stout. He spent some
time in the navy, then devised and implemented a school banking system that gave
him enough money to focus on his writing. His first novel in book form was
How Like a God, though several were serialized in magazines prior to that.
We include the novels in the order they were published in book form.
Rex Stout is best known as the creator of Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin, one of the best detective teams in all of fiction. Wolfe would insist that he was the best, of course, but there you go. The first Nero Wolfe mystery appeared in 1934. The final novel in the series was published a month before Stout died.
Stout also wrote three novels about Tecumseh Fox.
In 1959, he received the Mystery Writers of America's Grandmaster Award.
Nero Wolfe series
Fer-De-Lance (1934)
r. Royal Flush (1965)
The League of Frightened Men (1935) (serialized in the Saturday Evening Post as “The Frightened Men”)
r. The Nero Wolfe Omnibus (1944)
r. Full House (1955)
r. Great Tales of Mystery and Suspense Volume 2 (1974)
The Rubber Band (1936)
r. Five of a Kind (1961)
The Red Box (1937)
r. The Nero Wolfe Omnibus (1944)
Too Many Cooks (1938)
r. Kings Full of Aces (1969)
Some Buried Caesar (1939) aka The Red Bull
r. All Aces (1958)
Over My Dead Body (1939)
Where There’s a Will (1940)
Black Orchids (1942) (collection of two stories)
r. The Nero Wolfe Primer (2002)
Not Quite Dead Enough (1944) (collection of two stories)
r. Detective Book Club 3-in-1 #33 (December 1944)
The Silent Speaker (1946)
r. Seven Complete Nero Wolfe Novels (1975)
Too Many Women (1947)
r. All Aces (1958)
And Be a Villain (1948)
r. Full House (1955)
r. Triple Zeck (1974)
r. as More Deaths Than One in The First Rex Stout Omnibus (1975)
r. The Nero Wolfe Primer (2002)
Trouble in Triplicate (1949) (collection of three stories)
r. All Aces (1958)
The Second Confession (1949)
r. Triple Zeck (1974)
r. The First Rex Stout Omnibus (1975)
Three Doors to Death (1950) (collection of three stories)
r. Five of a Kind (1961)
In the Best Families (1950)
r. Five of a Kind (1961)
r. Triple Zeck (1974)
Curtains for Three (1950) (collection of three stories)
r. Full House (1955)
Murder By the Book (1951)
r. Royal Flush (1965)
Triple Jeopardy (1952) (collection of three stories)
r. Kings Full of Aces (1969)
Prisoner’s Base (1952)
The Golden Spiders (1953)
Three Men Out (1954) (collection of three stories)
The Black Mountain (1954)
r. Three Trumps (1973)
Before Midnight (1955)
r. Three Trumps (1973)
Three Witnesses (1956) (collection of three stories)
r. Royal Flush (1965)
Might as Well Be Dead (1956)
r. Three Aces (1971)
r. Seven Complete Nero Wolfe Novels (1975)
Three for the Chair (1957) (collection of three stories)
If Death Ever Slept (1957)
r. Three Trumps (1973)
r. Seven Complete Nero Wolfe Novels (1975)
And Four to Go (1958) (collection of four stories)
Champagne for One (1958)
r. The Nero Wolfe Primer (2002)
Plot It Yourself (1959)
r. Kings Full of Aces (1969)
Three At Wolfe’s Door (1960) (collection of three stories)
r. Seven Complete Nero Wolfe Novels (1975)
Too Many Clients (1960)
r. Three Aces (1971)
The Final Deduction (1961)
r. Three Aces (1971)
Gambit (1962)
r. Seven Complete Nero Wolfe Novels (1975)
Homicide Trinity (1962) (collection of three stories)
The Mother Hunt (1963)
Trio for Blunt Instruments (1964) (collection of three stories)
A Right to Die (1964)
The Doorbell Rang (1965)
r. The First Rex Stout Omnibus (1975)
Death of a Doxy (1966)
The Father Hunt (1968)
Death of a Dude (1969)
Please Pass the Guilt (1973)
r. Seven Complete Nero Wolfe Novels (1975)
A Family Affair (1975)
r. Seven Complete Nero Wolfe Novels (1975)
Death Times Three (1985) (collection of three stories)
Nero Wolfe Omnibus editions
The Nero Wolfe Omnibus (1944)
Full House (1955)
All Aces (1958)
Five of a Kind (1961)
Royal Flush (1965)
Kings Full of Aces (1969)
Three Aces (1971)
Three Trumps (1973)
Triple Zeck (1974)
The First Rex Stout Omnibus (1975) (first from Penguin, anyway)
Seven Complete Nero Wolfe Novels (1983) (not really--only six are novels)
The Nero Wolfe Primer (2002)
Tecumseh Fox trilogy
Double for Death (1939) (serialized in the Saturday Evening Post)
Bad for Business (1940)
The Broken Vase (1941)
Novels
How Like a God (1929)
Seed on the Wind (1930)
Golden Remedy (1931)
Forest Fire (1933)
The President Vanishes (1934)
O Careless Love (1935)
The Hand in the Glove (1937)
Mr. Cinderella (1938)
The Mountain Cat Murders (1939)
Red Threads (1939) (features Inspector Cramer from the Nero Wolfe series)
Alphabet Hicks (1941) aka The Sound of Murder
Under the Andes (1985) (originally published as a novella in All-Story back in 1914)
A Prize for Princes (1997) (originally serialized in The Cavalier back in 1914)
The Great Legend (1997) (originally serialized in All-Story Weekly back in 1916)
Her Forbidden Knight (1997) (originally serialized in All-Story back in 1913)
The Rex Stout Reader (2006) (omnibus of Her Forbidden Knight & A Prize for Princes)
Collections
Justice Ends at Home and Other Stories (1977)
Corsage: a Bouquet of Rex Stout and Nero Wolfe (1977) (includes a story, interview and more)
Target Practice (1998)
An Officer and a Lady and Other Stories (2000)
Note that the Nero Wolfe collections are all listed under the Nero Wolfe series above.
Editor
The Illustrious Dunderheads (1942)
Rue Morgue No. 1 (with Louis Greenfield) (1946)
Eat Drink and Be Buried (1956)
Associational Non-fiction
The Nero Wolfe Cookbook (1973)
Short fiction
“Excess Baggage” Short Stories (October 1912)
r. An Officer and a Lady and Other Stories (2000)
“The Infernal Feminine” Short Stories (November 1912)
r. An Officer and a Lady and Other Stories (2000)
“A Professional Recall” The Black Cat (December 1912)
r. Justice Ends at Home and Other Stories (1977)
“Pamfret and Peace” The Black Cat (January 1913)
r. Justice Ends at Home and Other Stories (1977)
r. An Officer and a Lady and Other Stories (2000)
“A Companion of Fortune” Short Stories (April 1913)
r. An Officer and a Lady and Other Stories (2000)
“A White Precipitate” Lippincott’s (June 1913)
r. An Officer and a Lady and Other Stories (2000)
“The Pickled Picnic” The Black Cat (June 1913)
“The Mother of Invention” The Black Cat (August 1913)
r. Justice Ends at Home and Other Stories (1977)
r. An Officer and a Lady and Other Stories (2000)
“Her Forbidden Knight” The All-Story (serialized August – December 1913)
“Methode Americaine” The Smart Set (November 1913)
r. Justice Ends at Home and Other Stories (1977)
r. An Officer and a Lady and Other Stories (2000)
“The Pay Yeoman” The All-Story (January 1914)
r. Justice Ends at Home and Other Stories (1977)
r. Target Practice (1998)
“A Tyrant Abdicates” Lippincott’s (January 1914)
r. Justice Ends at Home and Other Stories (1977)
“Under the Andes” The All-Story (February 1914)
“Secrets” All-Story Weekly (March 7, 1914)
r. Justice Ends at Home and Other Stories (1977)
r. Target Practice (1998)
“Rose Orchid” All-Story Weekly (March 29, 1914)
r. Justice Ends at Home and Other Stories (1977)
r. Target Practice (1998)
“An Agacella Or” Lippincott’s (April 1914)
r. Justice Ends at Home and Other Stories (1977)
r. An Officer and a Lady and Other Stories (2000)
“The Inevitable Third” All-Story Weekly (April 25, 1914)
r. Target Practice (1998)
“A Prize for Princes” All-Star Cavalier Weekly (serialized May 2-9, 1914)
“Out of the Line” All-Star Cavalier Weekly (June 13, 1914)
r. Her Forbidden Knight (1997)
“The Lie” All-Story Cavalier Weekly (July 4, 1914)
r. Justice Ends at Home and Other Stories (1977)
r. Target Practice (1998)
“Target Practice” All-Story Cavalier Weekly (December 26, 1914)
r. Target Practice (1998)
“If He Be Married” All-Story Cavalier Weekly (January 16, 1915)
r. Target Practice (1998)
“Baba” All-Story Cavalier Weekly (January 30, 1915)
r. Target Practice (1998)
“Warner and Wife” All-Story Cavalier Weekly (February 27, 1915)
r. Justice Ends at Home and Other Stories (1977)
r. The Best of Argosy Annual #2 (1976)
r. Target Practice (1998)
“A Little Love Affair” Smith’s Magazine (July 1915)
r. An Officer and a Lady and Other Stories (2000)
“Art for Art’s Sake” Smith’s Magazine (August 1915)
r. An Officer and a Lady and Other Stories (2000)
“Another Little Love Affair” Smith’s Magazine (September 1915)
r. An Officer and a Lady and Other Stories (2000)
“Jonathan Stannard’s Secret Vice” All-Story Weekly (September 11, 1915)
r. Justice Ends at Home and Other Stories (1977)
r. Target Practice (1998)
“Sanetomo” All-Story Weekly (September 25, 1915)
r. Target Practice (1998)
“Justice Ends at Home” All-Story Weekly (December 4, 1915)
r. Justice Ends at Home and Other Stories (1977)
r.
Target Practice (1998)“The Great Legend” All-Story Weekly (serialized January 1-29, 1916)
“It’s Science That Counts” All-Story Weekly (April 1, 1916)
r. Target Practice (1998)
“The Rope Dance” All-Story Weekly (June 24, 1916)
r. Justice Ends at Home and Other Stories (1977)
r. Target Practice (1998)
“It Happened Last Night” The Black Cat (January 1917)
r. The Canadian Magazine (March 1936)
“An Officer and a Lady” All-Story Weekly (January 13, 1917)
r. Justice Ends at Home and Other Stories (1977)
r. Target Practice (1998)
r. An Officer and a Lady and Other Stories (2000)
“Heels of Fate” All-Story Weekly (November 17, 1917)
r. Justice Ends at Home and Other Stories (1977)
r. Best of Argosy Annual #1 (1976)
r. Target Practice (1998)
“How Like a God” published first as a novel (1929)
r. Triple Detective (Winter 1949)
“Point of Death” The American Magazine (November 1934) (condensed version of Fer-De-Lance)
“The Frightened Men” The Saturday Evening Post (serialized June 15 – July 20, 1935)
“O Careless Love” The Saturday Evening Post (serialized Oct 5-12, 1935)
“The Rubber Band” The Saturday Evening Post (serialized March 7 – April 4, 1936)
“The Red Box” The American Magazine (serialized December 1936 – April 1937)
“Too Many Cooks” The American Magazine (serialized March – August 1938)
“The Red Bull” The American Magazine (December 1938) (reprinted in book form as Some Buried Caesar)
“Dark Revenge” The American Magazine (June 1939)
“Double for Death” The Saturday Evening Post (serialized August 19 – September 30, 1939)
“Sisters in Trouble” The American Magazine (May 1940) (reprinted in book form as Where There’s a Will)
“Bitter End” The American Magazine (November 1940)
r. Corsage: a Bouquet of Rex Stout and Nero Wolfe (1977)
r. Death Times Three (1985)
“Death Wears an Orchid” The American Magazine (August 1941)
r. as “Black Orchids” Black Orchids (1942)
r. as "Black Orchids" The Nero Wolfe Primer (2002)
“Cordially Invited to Meet Death” The American Magazine (April 1942)
r. Black Orchids (1942)
r. The Nero Wolfe Primer (2002)
“Not Quite Dead Enough” The American Magazine (December 1942)
r. Not Quite Dead Enough (1944)
r. Detective Book Club 3-in-1 #33 (December 1944)
r. Nero Wolfe Mystery Magazine (June 1954)
“Booby Trap” The American Magazine (August 1944)
r. Not Quite Dead Enough (1944)
r. Detective Book Club 3-in-1 #33 (December 1944)
“Help Wanted, Male” The American Magazine (August 1945)
r. Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine (February 1948)
r. Trouble in Triplicate (1949)
r. All Aces (1958)
r. Masterpieces of Mystery and Suspense edited by Martin H. Greenberg (1988)
“Murder on Tuesday” The American Magazine (May 1946)
r. as “Instead of Evidence” Trouble in Triplicate (1949)
r. MacKill’s Mystery Magazine (October 1952)
r. as “Instead of Evidence” Treasury of Great Mysteries Volume 2 edited by Howard Haycraft and John Beecroft (1957)
r. as “Instead of Evidence” All Aces (1958)
“Before I Die” The American Magazine (April 1947)
r. Trouble in Triplicate (1949)
r. MacKill’s Mystery Magazine (April 1953)
r. All Aces (1958)
“Man Alive” The American Magazine (December 1947)
r. Three Doors to Death (1950)
r. Five of a Kind (1961)
“Bullet for One” The American Magazine (July 1948)
r. Curtains for Three (1950)
r. Full House (1955)
“Omit Flowers” The American Magazine (November 1948)
r. Three Doors to Death (1950)
r. Five of a Kind (1961)
“Door to Death” The American Magazine (June 1949)
r. Three Doors to Death (1950)
r. Five of a Kind (1961)
“The Gun With Wings” The American Magazine (December 1949)
r. Curtains for Three (1950)
r. Full House (1955)
r. Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine (March 1965)
“The Twisted Scarf” The American Magazine (September 1950)
r. as “Disguise for Murder” Curtains for Three (1950)
r. as “Disguise for Murder” Full House (1955)
r. as “Affair of the Twisted Scarf” Murderous Schemes edited by Donald E. Westlake (1996)
“The Cop Killer” The American Magazine (February 1951)
r. Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine (March 1952)
r. Triple Jeopardy (1952)
r. Ellery Queen’s Anthology Volume 1 edited by Ellery Queen (1959)
r. Kings Full of Aces (1969)
“See No Evil” The American Magazine (1951)
r. as “The Squirt and the Monkey” Triple Jeopardy (1952)
r. as “The Dazzle Dan Murder Case” Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine (July 1966)
r. as “The Squirt and the Monkey” Kings Full of Aces (1969)
“Nero Wolfe and the Communist Killer” The American Magazine (January 1952)
r. as “Home to Roost” Triple Jeopardy (1952)
r. as "Home to Roost" Kings Full of Aces (1969)
r. as “Nero Wolfe Devises a Stratagem” Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine (January 1970)
r. as “Nero Wolfe Devises a Stratagem” The Best Short Novels by Masters of Mystery edited by Ellery Queen (1987)
“This Will Kill You” The American Magazine (September 1952)
r. Three Men Out (1954)
r. as “The World Series Murder” Great Tales of Crime and Detection edited by Peter Haining (1993)
r. as “The World Series Murder” The Television Detectives’ Omnibus edited by Peter Haining (1994)
“Will to Murder” The American Magazine (1953)
r. as “Invitation to Murder” Three Men Out (1954)
r. as “Invitation to Murder” Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine (September 1979)
“Scared to Death” The American Magazine ( December 1953)
r. “The Zero Clue” Three Men Out (1954)
“Tough Cop’s Gift” What’s New (December 1953)
r. as “Santa Claus Beat” Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine (January 1956)
r. as “Santa Claus Beat” Mystery for Christmas edited by Cynthia Manson (1990)
r. as “Santa Claus Beat” Merry Murder edited by Cynthia Manson (1994)
r. as “Santa Claus Beat” Murder Most Merry edited by Abigail Browning (2002)
“When a Man Murders” The American Magazine (May 1954)
r. Three Witnesses (1956)
r. Royal Flush (1965)
“The Body in the Hall” The American Magazine (December 1954)
r. Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine (February 1956)
r. as “Die Like a Dog” Three Witnesses (1956)
r. as "Die Like a Dog" Royal Flush (1965)
r. Canine Crimes edited by Cynthia Manson (1993)
“His Own Hand” Manhunt (April 1955)
r. as “Curtain Line” Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine (May 1964)
r. as “By His Own Hand” chapbook (2001)
“The Last Witness” The American Magazine (May 1955)
r. as “The Next Witness” Three Witnesses (1956)
r. as “The Next Witness” Royal Flush (1965)
r. as “The Next Witness” Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine (February 11, 1980)
r. as “The Next Witness” Sleuths of the Century edited by Jon L. Breen and Ed Gorman (2000)
“Immune to Murder” The American Magazine (November 1955)
r. Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine UK edition (February 1957)
r. Three for the Chair (1957)
“Nero Wolfe and the Vanishing Clue” The American Magazine (May 1956)
r. as “A Window for Death” Three for the Chair (1957)
“Too Many Detectives” Colliers (September 14, 1956)
r. Three for the Chair (1957)
r. Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine (Australia edition) (December 1958)
“The Christmas Party Murder” Colliers (January 4, 1957)
r. And Four to Go (1958)
r. as “Christmas Party” The Oxford Book of American Detective Stories edited by Tony Hillerman and Rosemary Herbert (1996)
“Easter Parade” Look (April 19, 1957)
r. And Four to Go (1958)
“The Labor Union Murder” Look (July 9, 1957)
r. as “Fourth of July Picnic” And Four to Go (1958)
r. as “Fourth of July Picnic” Detective Duos edited by Marcia Muller and Bill Pronzini (1997)
r. as "Fourth of July Picnic" A Century of Great Suspense Stories edited by Jeffrey Deaver (2001)
“Murder is No Joke” And Four to Go (1958)
r. expanded as “Frame-Up for Murder” The Saturday Evening Post (serialized June 21 - July 5 1958)
r. Delights of Detection edited by Jacques Barzun (1961)
r. revised version as “Frame-Up for Murder” in Death Times Three (1985)
“Method Three for Murder” The Saturday Evening Post (serialized January 30 – February 13, 1960)
r. Three at Wolfe’s Door (1960)
r. Seven Complete Nero Wolfe Novels (1975)
“Poison a la Carte” Three at Wolfe’s Door (1960)
r. Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine (April 1968)
r. Seven Complete Nero Wolfe Novels (1975)
r. Murder on the Menu edited by Peter Haining (1992)
r. Murder Most Delectable edited by Martin H. Greenberg (2000)
“The Rodeo Murder” Three at Wolfe’s Door (1960)
r. as “The Penthouse Murder” Argosy (January 1961)
r. Seven Complete Nero Wolfe Novels (1975)
“The Counterfeiter’s Knife” The Saturday Evening Post (serialized January 14-28, 1961)
r. as “Counterfeit for Murder” Homicide Trinity (1962)
r. as “Assault on a Brownstone” Death Times Three (1985) (revised version)
“Death of a Demon” The Saturday Evening Post (serialized June 10 - 24 of 1961)
r. Homicide Trinity (1962)
r. as “The Gun Puzzle” Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine (October 1974)
r. as “The Gun Puzzle” Ellery Queen’s Faces of Mystery edited by Ellery Queen (1992)
“Kill Now – Pay Later” The Saturday Evening Post (December 9-23, 1961)
r. Trio for Blunt Instruments (1964)
“Eeny Meany Murder Mo” Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine (March 1962)
r. Homicide Trinity (1962)
r. Ellery Queen’s Anthology Volume 39 (1980)
“Murder is Corny” The Saturday Evening Post (1962)
r. Trio for Blunt Instruments (1964)
r. as “The Sweet Corn Murder” Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine (January 1978)
“Blood Will Tell” Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine (December 1963)
r. Trio for Blunt Instruments (1964)
not sure where these first appeared
“Annuncio’s Violin”
r. An Officer and a Lady and Other Stories (2000)
“The Strong Man”
r. An Officer and a Lady and Other Stories (2000)
|
|
|
|
Get the latest news about Rex Stout and other fiction writers on our blog
