I began my career in broadcast journalism many years ago as a news writer and producer for a radio network - yes, I am that old. That early experience might explain why I'm particularly fond of one of Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe mysteries. And Be a Villain was originally published in 1948 (even before my radio news days), and, as it deals with a murder during a live radio broadcast, I'm sure you will understand why I've always enjoyed it. But there's more to enjoy in this book, for it was the book in which Stout introduced the one "super-villain" ever to darken Wolfe's doorstep, a particularly evil man named Arnold Zeck. Zeck and Wolfe would cross paths three times, escalating from a minor skirmish in And Be a Villain to out-and-out warfare before it ended. At the same time, the book is also a very good mystery on its own - Arnold Zeck is merely the rather unpleasant icing on the cake. I reviewed this book a decade ago (and realize, with some chagrin, that I haven't written up either of Zeck's other two appearances; I really will have to review The Second Confession and In the Best Families in the near future). In any case, here's what I had to say about And Be a Villain on the Classic Mysteries podcast nearly a decade ago:
- 0 -
Having spent much of my life working in broadcasting, you can take my word for this: it does not help your relationship with your sponsor if a guest on your live radio talk show drinks some of the sponsor’s product on-air – and promptly dies of cyanide poisoning. It’s a thoroughly unpleasant situation, just made to order for Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin in Rex Stout’s And Be a Villain. As the book opens, Nero Wolfe has a problem – and it’s one that some of us have experienced: he is about to have to pay a whopping tax bill. And his bank account is running dangerously low. His assistant, Archie Goodwin, who keeps the books for Wolfe, figures that it’s time to prod Wolfe to do some work and take a case. He does so – with typical Archie ingenuity – and, as a result, Wolfe is hired to find out who poisoned a guest on Madeline Fraser’s radio show. After all, the police have already been working on it for quite some time – with nothing to show for it.
So Wolfe gets himself hired – and he immediately runs into a problem: it seems that just about everyone is lying to him. And it is only when he can figure out why they are lying – and where the truth lies – that he is able to crack open a very difficult case.
In a nutshell, that’s the basic outline of the plot of And Be a Villain – but this book is about more than this murder case. It also marks the first appearance of a character named Arnold Zeck, who is, to Nero Wolfe, what Professor Moriarty was to Sherlock Holmes. Zeck is a super-criminal, little known to the public, a truly evil individual who apparently is behind a great many of the more ingenious crimes committed in the city and beyond. He may or may not be involved in some way in the Fraser murder case – and he warns Wolfe not to pursue certain lines of inquiry.
Unlike Sherlock Holmes, Wolfe feels no moral obligation to put Arnold Zeck out of business. On the other hand, Wolfe will not allow anyone to dictate what he may, and may not, investigate. And so, for the first time, he crosses swords with Zeck, who will appear in two more novels before we reach a final – and quite satisfying – confrontation.
As always, the events of And Be a Villain are told by Archie Goodwin, with that marvelous dry wit that, for me, is what makes the Nero Wolfe books so much fun to read and re-read. And as for Nero Wolfe himself…well, here is what he has to say on the subject of taxes, in a book first published 69 years ago:
A man condemning the income tax because of the annoyance it gives him or the expense it puts him to is merely a dog baring its teeth, and he forfeits the privileges of civilized discourse. But it is permissible to criticize it on other and impersonal grounds. A government, like an individual, spends money for any or all of three reasons: because it needs to, because it wants to, or simply because it has it to spend. The last is much the shabbiest. It is arguable, if not manifest, that a substantial proportion of this great spring flood of billions pouring into the Treasury will in effect get spent for that last shabby reason.
That was Nero Wolfe, speaking in 1948. Some things never change.
Another high point in this excellent book comes when the district attorney, frustrated by the progress of the case, orders the arrest of Archie Goodwin as a material witness. Without spoiling it, let me assure you that Wolfe’s solution to that problem is absolutely delightful and enormously satisfying.
Rex Stout’s books really hold a unique place in American mystery fiction, because they lie somewhere between the classic cerebral super detective – Nero Wolfe – and the two-fisted man of action, Archie Goodwin. The result is a series of books where there’s usually not a huge amount of violence on-stage, so to speak, but that have an edge and attitude – and humor – not always present in Golden Age fiction. Some of the Nero Wolfe books have gone out of print recently, but And Be a Villain is still quite readily available, and your favorite bookstore should be able to get a copy for you.
- 0 -
You can listen to the original podcast review by clicking here.
Next week: Corpse in a Gilded Cage, by Robert Barnard.
Comments