Rex Stout Books

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Rex Stout was an American author born in 1886 and best known for creating the Nero Wolfe detective series. The sixth child amongst nine, Rex was born in Noblesville, Indiana. The family eventually moved to Kansas before finally settling down on a farm near Wakarusa in 1889. There, Rex had nothing else to do besides chores and reading voraciously.

With their father’s work as superintendent of the schools in Shawnee County eventually forcing them to move, Rex Stout took to reading with fervor. The author also stood out because of his talent in math, spelling and reading. And even though he was only thirteen, Rex Stout was shepherded into Topeka high school.

Rex’s writing career, which seemed so promising, appeared to die when he was seventeen. Rex Stout wrote a poem and he even managed to get it sold. However, The Smart Set, the magazine that bought it never published it, and this left Rex feeling infuriated and disgusted with the field of writing. He destroyed everything he had ever written and gave up on writing altogether.

A stint in the university did little to give Rex any direction. He quickly found that he knew more than his peers, so he dropped out of college and traversed the various states doing odd jobs. Writing did not come back into the picture until 1911. Rex reached out to The Smart Set and trusted them with another poem, and this one they published.

While this development left Rex elated, he wouldn’t go into the writing field just yet. Instead, Rex Stout decided that he would take a bookkeeping job until he made enough money to survive while writing full-time. Financial independence came in 1926 after the author developed a school savings program.

With his money problems settled, Rex Stout took some time to visit Europe. He only sat down to do some serious writing when he got to Paris. How Like a God was Rex’s first novel and it was received well by the critics. In fact, almost all the books Rex ever wrote were critically acclaimed works.

However, they never made any money, and that was problematic because Rex’ finances eventually fell apart, this along with his first marriage to Faye Kennedy. After concluding that his psychological works simply held no appeal for most readers, Rex changed tact and began to produce more mainstream books. In this, Rex succeeded. His marriage to his second wife Pola Weinbach Hoffman also produced fruit.

Rex Stout died in 1975.

Rex Stout Awards

Rex received many accolades for his work during his lifetime, with the most prominent including the Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America and a Crime Writers Association Silver Dagger Award.

Rex’s Nero Wolfe books also received nominations for Best Mystery Series of the Century and Best Mystery Writer of the Century.

Rex Stout Books into Movies/TV

Fer-de-Lance and The League of Frightened Men were Rex’s first and second Nero Wolfe novels and they were turned into two movies by Columbia Pictures, namely: Meet Nero Wolfe and The League of Frightened Men in 1936 and 1937 respectively.

CBS toyed with the idea of making a television series based on Nero Wolfe in 1959. They even made a highly successful pilot episode. However, the project never went anywhere.

Another plan by Paramount Television to produce a Nero Wolf TV show in 1967 failed to take off, though they eventually produced a Television movie titled Nero Wolfe in 1981.

A successful Television show did not manifest until 2000 with A New Wolfe Mystery. The show lasted two years.

Lesser known adaptations include a German TV Miniseries in 1961, an Italian Television series in 1969, a Russian TV series between 2001 and 2005, and another Italian TV series in 2012.

Best Rex Stout Books

Rex Stout is considered by many to have created the greatest literary detective of all time, with some of the best books from the author including the following:

Fer-de-Lance: After an immigrant and a college president are murdered, Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin only realize that certain parties might not want them to solve the case when someone sends Nero Wolfe one of the deadliest snakes in the world.

But Nero Wolfe isn’t afraid, not even in the face of a killer with a deadly bite.

The League of Frightened Men: Paul Chapin and his friends did a bad thing. During their college days, the gang pulled a prank that left a friend of theirs crippled. Paul hoped that he had left that particular sin in the past. But then a class reunion brought with it sudden death and Nero Wolfe was drawn into a deadly game that would test his brilliance.

When Does The Next Rex Stout book come out?

Rex Stout doesn't seem to have an upcoming book. Their newest book is Eeny, Meeny, Miney, Mo, and FLO! / Eeny Meeny Murder Mo and was released on June, 9th 2015. It is the newest book in the Nero Wolfe Short Stories/Novellas.

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