Target Practice

An invaluable sample of the early work of one of America's finest mystery writers Decades before detective Nero Wolfe and his sidekick, Archie Goodwin, first struck fear into the hearts of Manhattan's criminals, Rex Stout wrote fiction for All-Stories Magazine. By the time the Wolfe series brought him fame, Stout had put his early work behind him, and made no effort to preserve it. At the time of his death, these early mysteries and suspense stories were thought to be lost forever, but deep in the Library of Congress lay copies of the original magazine. Published for the first time in 1997, these early gems show a writer deploying all the humor, style, and clever plotting that would make Nero Wolfe a star. Included here are "Secrets," Stout's first mystery, "Target Practice," a story of World War I, and "Justice Ends at Home," whose main characters will look very familiar to fans of Nero and Archie.

About the Author :
Rex Stout (1886-1975) was one of the most beloved mystery novelists of all time, best known for creating the corpulent genius Nero Wolfe. Born in Indiana, Stout was a child arithmetic prodigy who spent his leisure time reading every book in his father's 1,200-volume library. After two years in the navy--which he passed playing whist on Theodore Roosevelt's yacht--Stout began organizing children's field trips to banks, where he was paid a commission for every student who opened a savings account. He made a fortune, and in the late 1920s retired to write serious fiction. After the Depression wiped out his savings, Stout began writing detective stories. Fer-de-Lance (1934) introduced Nero Wolfe, master of deduction, and his indefatigable assistant, Archie Goodwin. Over the next four decades, Stout published dozens of stories and novels starring the quirky pair, earning him a place in the mystery novelist's pantheon alongside Agatha Christie and Erle Stanley Gardner. He died in Connecticut in 1975.

Review :
"[Stout continues] to enchant readers of both sexes and all political persuasions." --Susan Conant, author of the Dog Lover's Mysteries series "[Stout's] narrative and dialogue could not be improved, and he passes the supreme test of being rereadable. I don't know how many times I have reread the Nero Wolfe stories, but plenty. I know exactly what is coming and how it is all going to end, but it doesn't matter. That's writing." --P. G. Wodehouse "[Stout] raised detective fiction to the level of art. He gave us genius of at least two kinds, and a strong realist voice that was shot through with hope." --Walter Mosley, creator of the Easy Rawlins series