I was introduced to Nero Wolfe through the amazing Nero Wolfe A&E series, so I see Maury Chaykin as Nero Wolfe and Timothy Hutton as Archie Goodwin, et al. So, after a hiatus of several years, I got a hold of And Be a Villain and liked it, so I decided to get them all so I could read them in order (from 1934 to 1975).

This one is number 14: Trouble in Triplicate, three short stories: "Before I Die," "Help Wanted, Male," and "Instead of Evidence." Bouncing around the end of World War II, this one includes a story where Wolfe takes a case for the opportunity to get some classy, black-market meat. He doesn't get any. The coincidences and incidences in "Help Wanted, Male" are a tad far-fetched, But, all-in-all, all in good fun. Good mysteries, well-told, with entertaining characters. Though the tendency for the Hawksian ingenue to get offed is starting to get trope-ical. ( )

Trouble In Triplicate (1949) (Nero Wolfe #14) by Rex Stout. Here are three short stories of murder. Each is a gem in itself.
The first is Before I Die. This is a rather complicated matter of a major dealer in the blackmarket wanting to have a pesky blackmailer stopped. He can’t do it himself, or have it done for him because the blackmailer is his “daughter”. Afraid of having his real but estranged daughter being the victim of violence as a lever on him he went out west and found a woman near enough to his daughter’s age and set her up in his penthouse. She was being paid a hundred a month but got greedy. Then she got greedier until he couldn’t take it anymore, so he turned to Wolfe to fix the situation.
Wolfe gets the girl to come talk with him and he informs her that he is blackmailing her now. Pay up most of what you get from your “daddy” and Wolfe will stay mum. Don’t and he has no qualms about contacting the police out west and sending back to serve her due time. He gives her time to think it over and sends Archie to see her home.
She is gunned down by a passing car on her doorstep with Archie as witness.
After several hours with the cops he returns to the Wolfe’s brownstone only to be met by “daddy” and his heavy muscle. Those two are in turn mown down by bullets from a passing car, just missing Archie.
There is more but that’s enough of the puzzle for now. To find out more, read the book.
Next is Help Wanted. Male. A death threat is sent to a man Wolfe had been working with during the war and the man is soon thereafter murdered. The next day Wolfe receives the same threat. Archie has to go to Washington on military matters (he rose to the rank of Major during the war and they still insist they have control over his actions) and is gone a few days. When he returns he finds an imposter sitting in Wolfe’s chair.
The fill-n is part of Wolfe’s plan to lure the killer out and capturing him. All goes well until there is a pistol fired during a visit by the son of the other man who was killed, and a young woman who is involved in the situation. Seems the shot was fired from the front room, not in Wolfe’s office, and they were the only two possible as having fired the shot. Wolfe himself was busy getting set up to spy on the coming conference in the office and Archie had just left the pair in the front room and had only begun to speak with Wolfe. The sacrificial lamb had his eyes closed when the shot was fired, thus not seeing who did it. Blood on his ear and a hole in the headrest of his chair told the story of the angle of the shot, but not who pulled the trigger.
It is up to Wolfe to figure out exactly who tried to kill him.
The last is titled Instead of Evidence. Mr. and Mrs. Poor come to see Wolfe. He is the executive side of a two man partnership in the novelty gag business. He says his partner is going to kill him to gain complete control of the business. The partner has offered to buy him out at about 10% of what his half should be valued at and Mr. Poor said no. Reluctantly Wolfe takes the job of finding the killer and proving it in the off chance that Mr. Poor is killed within the year.
Later that day the police are all over the Poor’s apartment after the husband is found dead due to a trick exploding cigar.
This is a nice collection showing that Mr. Stout was just as adept in the short form as in the long. It makes for a nice day’s reading at the beach or on the train. Well worth finding in the used book aisles. ( )

If you like Nero Wolfe stories (like I do), this is a solid set of three stories. ( )

A collection of three novellas featuring rotund detecting genius Nero Wolfe and my literary boyfriend Archie Goodwin.

Before I Die — World War II is raging, and Archie is restless. He's enlisted and is a major in the U.S. Army, but he's been assigned to help Wolfe work on top-secret cases for the government instead of going off to fight Germans. Compounding the problem is a rationing crisis that has gourmand Wolfe desperate to get his hands and teeth on some real meat. When one of New York City's most notorious gangsters shows up at the door needing help with his daughter, the promise of black-market access in return makes Wolfe throw caution to the wind, leaving Archie to try to keep house, home, and body together long enough to solve the case.

Help Wanted, Male — The war is over and Archie is back in civvies, but one of the cases Wolfe solved for the U.S. Army comes back to haunt him. A publisher involved in that case is murdered, and the killer sends Wolfe a message saying he's next. Deciding he can't detect properly with his head on a swivel waiting for attack, he hires a lookalike to impersonate him and serve as bait. You can imagine how much fun Archie has with that.

Instead of Evidence — A man and his wife come to Wolfe, claiming his business partner is going to kill him. Oddly, the man doesn't want Wolfe to try to stop him; he just wants him to promise that after he's killed Wolfe will make sure his partner doesn't get away with the crime. Bonus points for a novel murder method.

I enjoyed each of the 3 novellas in this volume. Details to come... ( )