Rex Stout Books In Order

Publication Order of Nero Wolfe by Rex Stout Books

Publication Order of Nero Wolfe Short Stories/Novellas

Publication Order of Tecumseh Fox Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Short Story Collections

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

Rex Stout was a popular American author who used to write crime novels based on the mystery and thriller genres. He was born on December 1, 1886 in Noblesville, Indiana, United States. His full name was Rex Todhunter Stout, but he used the shortened form of his name for writing his popular novels. Rex is particularly famous for creating the fictional character of detective Nero Wolfe. The series featuring this character has been described as the largest mystery convention of the world and it was nominated for the Best Mystery Series of the Century award in the year 2000 as well as Rex was nominated for an award in the best mystery writer category. The detective fiction series featuring Nero Wolfe and his assistant Archie Goodwin consisted a total of 33 books and around 40 novellas, which were published between the years 1934 and 1975. The series allowed Rex to have a prosperous writing career and also win many prestigious awards and nominations. Apart from being a prominent author of fiction, Rex was also a public intellectual for many years. He founded the Vanguard Press and was active in the initial years of the Civil Liberties Union of America.

During the Second World War, he served as the head of the War Board of Writers and later, through his numerous radio broadcasts became a celebrity. Rex also promoted the world federalism. During his time as the president of the association of the Authors Guild, Rex tried to benefit the authors by striving for reforms in the copyright laws. He also served as the president of one of the other popular writing associations. The family of Rex comprised of a total of 9 siblings and right after his birth in Noblesville, Indiana, his family moved to Kansas. Rex’s father, John Wallace Stout was a teacher, who used to encourage him a lot to read books. It was because of him that Rex was able to finish reading the Bible twice at the age of four. And at the age of 13, he had become the spelling bee champion of his state. As a child, Rex attended the Topeka High School in Kansas and then went on to enroll himself in the University of Kansas. He was accompanied by his sister, Ruth Stout, who co-authored several books with Rex.

Between the years 1906 and 1908, Rex served in the US Navy and after that he worked at several jobs in 6 states in the span of 4 years, including a job as a clerk in a cigar-store. By that time, he had started writing several novels and short stories, three of which were sold in 1910-11. From the year 1912 up to 1918, Rex was able to publish a total of 40 works of fiction in a number of magazines. Although, he was able to earn some money through his writings, it was his invention of the school banking system in the year 1916 that made him earn enough amount of money to travel extensively in Europe. This invention of Rex benefitted about 400 schools, which adopted it to track the money saved by the school children in their school accounts. Rex was some amount of money as royalty by the schools. He married fay Kennedy in the year 1916 and eventually divorced her in 1932. Then, in the same year, Rex married a designer named Pola Weinbach Hoffman from Vienna. He died on October 27, 1975 in Danbury, Connecticut, United States at the age of 88, leaving behind a couple of daughters named Barbara Stout Selleck and Rebecca Stout Bradbury.

The Nero Wolfe series of novels written by Rex Stout consists of a total of 33 novels and 39 short stories, many of which are set in the New York City. The main character of the series, detective Nero Wolfe is said to be living in a luxurious house on West 35th Street and is always assisted by Archie Goodwin, who gives the narration of the mysterious cases and Wolfe’s detective genius in the novels of the series. The character of Nero Wolfe has been adapted into a number of television series’, films and radio adaptations. The first novel of the series was published by the Farrar and Rinehart publishers in the year 1934. It was titled ‘Fer-de-Lance’ and introduced the main characters of Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin for the first time in the series. In the opening plot of the novel, Archie narrates about the murder case of a college president and an immigrant, in which Nero is involved as a detective. She also explains from her herpetologist knowledge that the Fer-de-Lance is one of the most deadly snakes known to humans. One such snake is sent to Nero Wolfe as a present, which makes Archie believe that Wolfe was very close to solving the case of the brutal murders.

Without the fear of losing his life, Wolfe plays the role of the snake charmer as the case appears to have more twists and turns than a huge anaconda. He keeps on whistling a seductive tune in order to make the killer come out of his den, before he takes other people’s lives with the poison present in his heart. The success of the novel because of its intriguing plot and interesting characters, allowed it to be adapted into a movie named Meet Nero Wolfe in the year 1936, featuring Edward Arnold as Wolfe and Lionel Stander as Archie. The novel was also included in a seminal work of historian Howard Haycraft in the year 1941 as one of the most influential mystery fiction works. Other than these, the novel was also adapted into a radio series named Nero Wolfe, starring Pietro Sermonti as Archie Goodwin and Francesco Pannofino as Nero Wolfe. The second novel of the series was published under the title ‘The League of Frightened Men’. It was published by the Farrar and Rinehart publishers in the year 1935. The plot of the novel deals with a mysterious case involving a character named Paul Chaplin and his college cronies at the Harvard University. The college friends of Paul Chaplin had played a deadly prank on him, which ended in crippling him for the rest of his life. His friends seemed to be very disgraced of themselves for playing the ill prank and could not forgive themselves for their act. However, after the college days were over, they thought that they were forgiven and that the incident no longer made them ashamed of themselves. All of them had moved ahead in their lives. But, during a class reunion, the event turns into a fatal fall. Frightened of what they had witnessed at the reunion event, the college friends turn to Wolfe for his help in saving them from a brutal killer. They think that his brilliance along with Archie’s tenacity will help them to outwit the cunning killer. The novel went on to be adapted into a movie of the same name by the Columbia Pictures in the year 1937. It starred Walter Connolly as Wolfe and Lionel Stander once again as Archie Goodwin.

3 Responses to “Rex Stout”

1. Sergey: 3 years ago

   Where is:
   1. The Hand in the Glove, 1937.
   2. Red Threads, 1939.
   3. The Sound of murder, 1941.

   I couldn’t find them in the list.

   Reply
   • Graeme: 3 years ago

     They are all on there under standalone novels. If you do a CTRL+F in your browser you should see them.

     Reply
2. Bill Babcock: 3 years ago

   Thank you for the most interesting biographical sketch of Rex Stout. I have read the Nero Wolfe books many, many times. They are always fresh and entertaining no matter how often they are read. My books are getting pretty worn and tattered after so many years of reading, (60 or more), and most have glued-together spines, dog ears and food stains, but are still readable and still enjoyable.
   Thanks, BB

   Reply