Rex Stout stories

Following is my list of Rex Stout stories so I can keep track of which I have.  All except the last eight are Nero Wolfe stories.

Title	Own?	Read?	Rating	Component stories	Comment
1934: Fer-de-Lance	Y	Y
1935: The League of Frightened Men	N	N
1936: The Rubber Band	Y	Y			In Five of a Kind
1937: The Red Box	Y	Y	5
1938: Too Many Cooks	N	Y	5
1939: Some Buried Caesar	Y	Y
1940: Over My Dead Body	Y	Y
1940: Where There’s a Will	Y	Y
1942: Black Orchids	Y	Y	5
1944: Not Quite Dead Enough	Y	Y
1946: The Silent Speaker	Y	Y
1947: Too Many Women	Y	Y
1948: And Be a Villain (British title More Deaths Than One)	N	Y
1949: Trouble in Triplicate	Y	Y		Help Wanted, Male / Instead of Evidence / Murder on Tuesday
1949: The Second Confession	N	Y	5
1950: Three Doors to Death	Y	Y		Door to Death / Man Alive / Omit Flowers	In Five of a Kind
1950: In the Best Families (British title Even in the Best Families)	Y	Y			In Five of a Kind
1951: Curtains for Three	Y	Y			In Full House
1951: Murder by the Book	N	Y
1952: Triple Jeopardy	Y	Y		Home to Roost / The Cop-Killer / The Squirt and the Monkey	In Five of a Kind
1952: Prisoner’s Base (British title Out Goes She)	Don’t	Y	1
1953: The Golden Spiders	N	Y
1954: Three Men Out	N	Y		Invitation to Murder / The Zero Clue / This Won’t Kill You
1954: The Black Mountain	N	Y	2		No mystery
1955: Before Midnight	Y	Y
1956: Three Witnesses	Y	Y		The Next Witness / When a Man Murders / Die Like a Dog / The Body in the Hall
1956: Might as Well Be Dead	N	N			In Three Aces
1957: Three for the Chair	Y	Y		A Window for Death / Immune to Murder / Too Many Detectives
1957: If Death Ever Slept	Y	Y
1958: And Four to Go	Y	Y		Christmas Party / Easter Parade / Fourth of July Picnic / Murder is No Joke
1958: Champagne for One	Y	Y	5
1959: Plot It Yourself (British title Murder in Style)	Y	Y	5
1960: Three at Wolfe’s Door	Y	Y		Poison a la Carte / Method Three for Murder / The Rodeo Murder
1960: Too Many Clients	N	Y
1961: The Final Deduction	Y	Y
1962: Homicide Trinity	Y	Y		Eeny Meeny Murder Mo / Death of a Demon / Counterfeit for Murder
1962: Gambit	Y	Y	5
1963: The Mother Hunt	N	Y
1964: Trio for Blunt Instruments	Y	Y		Kill Now, Pay Later / Murder is Corny / Blood Will Tell
1964: A Right to Die	N	Y	5
1965: The Doorbell Rang	N	Y	5
1966: Death of a Doxy	Y	Y
1968: The Father Hunt	Y	Y			Spoilers for Death of a Doxy
1969: Death of a Dude	Y	Y			Spoilers for Death of a Doxy?
1973: Please Pass the Guilt	Y	Y	2		Spoilers for Death of a Doxy
1975: A Family Affair	Y	Y
1985: Death Times Three (posthumous)	N	N		Assault on a Brownstone / Frame-Up for Murder / Bitter End
The Hand in the Glove	N	Y			Dol Bonner
Double for Death	N	N
Bad for Business	Y	?
The Broken Vase	N	N
The Sound of Murder	Y	Y			Alphabet Hicks
Red Threads	Y	Y
The Mountain Cat Murders	Y	Y
The President Vanishes	Y	Y

Ruth Chew books

I always loved Ruth Chew books growing up but they have gone out of print.  So I can keep track of which ones I have re-read, here is a list with ratings etc.

Title	Own?	Read?	Rating	Comment
The Wednesday Witch				A favorite
Baked Beans for Breakfast / The Secret Summer
No Such Thing As A Witch
Magic in the Park
The Hidden Cave / The Magic Cave
What the Witch Left				A favorite
The Secret Tree House
The Witch’s Buttons
Witch in the House
The Trouble with Magic	Y
The Would-Be Witch
Summer Magic	Y
Witch’s Broom	Y			A favorite
The Witch’s Garden	Y	2011	2+
Earthstar Magic
The Wishing Tree		2011	3
Second Hand Magic
Mostly Magic
The Magic Coin
The Witch at the Window
Trapped in Time
Do It Yourself Magic
The Witch and the Ring
Magic of the Black Mirror
Royal Magic
Wrong Way Around Magic
Witch’s Cat
Last Chance for Magic
The Enchanted Book

The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency

This book has been so popular that I thought I would try it.  Unfortunately, I found it to be basically an “atmosphere” book, with the mysteries distinctly secondary and pretty unsatisfying (especially the main one, which was “solved” by coincidence).  Worse, there was far too much domestic violence onstage for my taste.  I do not recommend it and will not be reading further in the series.

Favorites for Joshua

As I think of them, here are some titles I could potentially lend Joshua, if he hasn’t read them already.  It is entirely possible that some of these were originally his recommendations to me.

Sorcery and Cecilia sequels, by Patricia Wrede and Caroline Stevermer

Mapp and Lucia series by E.F. Benson

Thus Was Adonis Murdered (and others in the Hilary Tamar series) by Sarah Caudwell

At Home with Books (coffee table book)

Asterix series

Joshua favorites

I asked Joshua (via Facebook) to name some favorite titles, and he surprised me with the loan of many of them.  This list is to keep track of which I have already read, and my ratings.

Howl’s Moving Castle (Wynn-Jones)	3	Enjoyable, but probably discovered at wrong point in my life (like Neverending Story)
Silver Pigs (Davis)	3	Lent by Eric.  Interesting but did not resonate.
Strong Poison (Sayers)	4	I have a separate post rating the Lord Peter series.
Three Men in a Boat (Jerome)	3-	Read this in college based on an excerpt from Oxford Book of Humorous Prose.  Somehow just did not catch the glamour of their expedition.
The Great Brain (Fitzgerald)	3-	Lent earlier by Joshua.  Made me question whether to actually become a parent.
Gilded Fly (Crispin)	2+	Had already read based on a Wodehouse society recommendation.  I need to create a posting of the Gervase Fen stories I’ve read so I can keep track of them.  Borrowed Joshua’s copy so I can refresh my memory (I only own some).	(returned)
Hot Rock (Westlake)	4	Turns out I actually borrowed this one from Joshua in the past.  Still enjoyed it the second time around.	(borrowed)
Ethan of Athos (Bujold)		I loved Curse of Chalion and bought my own autographed copy, but haven’t been brave enough to try any of her other titles.	(borrowed)
Pictures of Perfection (Hill)	4	An enjoyable read.  Feel like I’ve read this before but can’t remember any of it except the first chapter.	(borrowed)
Nightmare in Pink (MacDonald)	1	Wish I could unread it.  Too explicit and too disturbing.	(borrowed)
Undead and Unwed (Davidson)	1+	A charismatic main character, but too explicit for me.	(borrowed)
Marvelous Misadventures (Alexander)	3	Like Howl’s Moving Castle — Enjoyable, but probably discovered at the wrong point in my life.	(returned)
Three Cheers for me (Jack)	3	An enjoyable read.  Feel like I’ve read an extract of this somewhere else.	(returned)

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

I couldn’t resist and bought this book at the airport for a recent trip. It was a silly, light read, in some ways more satisfying than the original. I enjoyed it, but honestly I felt it could have used more zombies.

Cool & Lam

After I ran out of Perry Mason books by Erle Stanley Gardner (there are still more but I have not found them in used bookstores yet), I started in on his Cool & Lam stories, written under the pseudonym A. A. Fair.  The premise didn’t sound as good to me — partnership of a skinny little male detective and a big profane female detective – but I figured Gardner was a decent writer so why not give them a try.  After the first book or two they started getting solid 5s from me, so now I am on the lookout for more.  These seem more important to read in chronological order due to mild spoilers referencing past material.

Following is a list of books.  The rated ones are the ones I’ve read.

		Own?
The Bigger They Come (1939)
Turn on the Heat (1940)	3
Gold Comes in Bricks (1940)	5
Spill the Jackpot (1941)	4
Double or Quits (1941)	4
Owls Don’t Blink (1942)
Bats Fly at Dusk (1942)
Cats Prowl at Night (1943)
Give ‘em the Ax (1944)
Crows Can’t Count (1946)	5
Fools Die on Friday (1947)
Bedrooms Have Windows (1949)
Top of the Heap (1952)
Some Women Won’t Wait (1953)	5
Beware the Curves (1956)
You can Die Laughing (1957)
Some Slips Don’t Show (1957)
The Count of Nine (1958)	5
Pass the Gravy (1959)
Kept Women Can’t Quit (1960)
Bachelors Get Lonely (1961)
Shills Can’t Cash Chips (1961)	5
Try Anything Once (1962)
Fish or Cut Bait (1963)
Up for Grabs (1964)
Cut Thin to Win (1965)	3
Widows Wear Weeds (1966)	3
Traps Need Fresh Bait (1967)	5
All Grass isn’t Green (1970)