The Golden Spiders (1953)

Pretty standard Stout fare, but with a little glimmer of more human feeling near the beginning. ( )

Good lean read.

This is maybe the third Nero Wolfe mystery I've read. Although the characters are of mid 20th Century New York the stories hold up very well. If you're looking for a good, well written mystery without melodrama or Harlequin romance drudgery then, this is the book for you. ( )

This might have been the first time Stout let a child into the story, and while Stout is no great character developer, he still manages to instil some sympathy towards the child in the reader. It is hard to write much about Stout's Nero Wolfe books without adding spoilers, however small, but I do think this is my favourite so far. A bit unexpected since I am otherwise more fond of the earlier ones, with a milk drinking Goodwin. Why doesn't he drink milk anymore?
( )

The Golden Spiders (1953) (Nero Wolfe #22) by Rex Stout. Is it a kidnapping or the fevered dream of a kid? Little Pete Drossos was washing car windows for spare change when he saw a woman being threatened by her passenger while stopped at a red light. He noticed the golden spider earrings she was wearing as she silently asked for help. He gets Archie to let him see Wolfe, which Archie does as a joke on Wolfe. But when Pete is hit and killed by the same car the next day, things don’t look so funny.
An Immigration agent is killed by the same car, but a day before Pete. After Archie puts a notice in the papers, Laura Fromm, rich woman, wearing the earrings, come to see Wolfe. They determine she wasn’t driving the car. She is killed shortly after leaving Wolfe’s office.
All leads point to a local charity for displaced persons.
Further investigation leads to a nest of lies and immoral activity among the directors of the charity, but the secret of the killer’s identity is known only to Wolfe and the killer. Everyone is gathered at the brownstone for the final reveal.
This is one of the more well know of the Wolfe novels and it is darn good. It is fun to see the great detective working for lest than $5, but when his ego is bruised there will be no stopping the man. ( )

2019 reread:
3.5* for this mid-series Nero Wolfe book. ( )