Plot It Yourself (A Nero Wolfe Mystery Book 32)

This is one of the best Nero Wolfe mysteries. Wolfe and Goodwin attempt to discover who is behind a ring of people asserting that bestsellers were plagiarized. He does so only after three murders are committed. The only clue is obvious in retrospect unless the reader stays alert or rereads the involved passage after being alerted to it containing the clue.

He was called Paul Panzer once. There were & signs at the beginning and ending of words and sentences. Once a word ended with *** So the editing of this ebook was hit or miss. Otherwise an excellent Neto Wolfe novel

Smart and suspenseful. “Plot It Yourself” is Rex Stout at the top of his game, and it is made even better by his experience and knowledge of many organizations of professional writers, such as his long-time presidency of the Author’s Guild. L.G. Offord said, “For writers or anyone who wants to know what goes on in the literary world, this is wonderful stuff….” Some of my favorite passages were when Wolfe was discussing the art of writing. For example, a swindler questions whether Wolfe can prove that she plagiarized simply by his analysis of her style. He replies, “Yes. If you include all the elements of style—vocabularly, syntax, paragraphing. Yes.” This book has the usual amusing repartee, clever plot, and insights into good food, plus the bonus of Stout’s insights into the literary world. One of my favorites. My Kindle edition did misspell Orrie Cather’s name.

It’s a period piece now, of course, but still a wonderful example of whodunnit writing. Clear, clever characters and a neat puzzle. Outstanding dialog combined with Archie’s observations make a great tale.

I can see many reasons why those who made movies or television episodes or the well-done mini series starring Timothy Hutton as Archie Goodwin did not choose to use this novel for their scripts. There is no murder until well into the story, then there are too many. The plot is quite devious, has a large number of characters, and the perp revelation was a total surprise to me (and I love that!). The plot involves writing, publishing, and plagiarism, all subjects of great interest to me, but not I think to many. I can not say some of the reasons that I loved it without giving away too much, and I’d rather that all of you came to this classic mystery novel without spoilers, so that perhaps you can share my pleasure in reading it, if you so choose.

Pretty well done. More exciting than many for the first 3/4. However perhaps too many characters and the end is a bit busy. If you like a smart last line, this one will disappoint. Be aware that the Kindle text for this one has numerous typos and stray &'s. Easier to ignore if you know they are coming.

… as I have done several times. Rex Stout never fails. And I’ve been reading his books over 60 years

The book is interesting in that Nero Wolfe is engaged to investigate claims of plagiarism in a series of novels published by different authors. As the investigation intensifies, the authors are murdered. I just didn't find the characters as engaging as most of the Nero Wolfe novels.

One of the best Wolfe mysteries. Just had you at the end of a string till the end. Loved it.

I absolutely adore Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin and the whole bunch, and this one had been missing from my set. No pressure, then, as I expectantly settled down to read. It completely delivered, Rex Stout was reliably consistent from book one but some are just a little better than others and this was a solid nine, Rex Stout poking a little fun at other writers as he sets his Wolfe on the trail to discover an opportunistic plagiarist. Well, Archie really. Archie does the running about, Wolfe does the thinking. If you are new to the books, this isn't the best starter, but it is pretty good. You'll love or hate them, but they're fascinating even as a social commentary, he was writing in real time, with attention to detail, and as we move further and further from those decades the nicely evoked background takes on a fascination of its own. And if you ARE new to the books - you lucky, lucky person. Mine are beginning to fall apart with re-reading but nothing beats the thrill of reading one for the first time. They are very, very clever.

Classic Nero Wolfe

Most of the books in this Kindle series of Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe are superbly edited. This one is only okay, with occasional typos and odd symbols inserted. In chapter 17, I ran across a mistake that made me want to write to them and say, "Fix this!" but I don't know how to do that. Maybe they read these reviews? One can always hope. The mistake in Chapter 17 occurs several pages in, when Archie refers to the time he "short" (shot) a man in an old border fort in "Alabama"!!! The fort was in Albania. I have read the book in paperback at least three times, and the story that the remark refers to in both paperback and Kindle, and I know it was Albania. I would not refrain from buying the book because of this, but if there are too many mistakes, I might hesitate about buying another. Oh, to be honest, I want all the Nero Wolfe books on my Kindle and I'm not likely to find a better version, am I? But this kind of thing should be taken note of.

This was enjoyable. It’s about the publishing industry and a quite intriguing murderer. Nero Wolfe actually leaves his apartment, for once! Recommended.