4/9/22

This is a variant from the Nero Wolfe mysteries, since Wolfe is absent and their usual police foil, Inspector Cramer, is the detective who solves the mystery. While he is not so individual as Wolfe or Goodwin, he is a solid character and comes across in this as intelligent and honest. In the Wolfe stories, he sometimes varies from intelligent and cooperative (with Wolfe) to less wise and more hostile, but it it is nice to have a case where he can demonstrate he is by no means stupid. The case itself, like several Wolfe stories, involves the clothing business (in which Stout's wife worked). A rich man devoted to the memory of his first (Native American) wife is consulting her tomb to decide if he should marry again, when he is murdered (and scalped). His son by his first marriage is the obvious suspect; he is also the love interest for a young woman who has become a success in the clothing business --a leading clue is a pieceshe made for him from a piece of Native blanket with the valuable old bayete thread in it. ( )

Rex Stout and Nero Wolf - it doesn't get any better! ( )

I like Cramer. He makes a good detective on his own without Wolfe, he just doesn't have Archie. ( )