Not Quite Dead Enough

Nero Wolfe is in training for the Army and Archie is already in the service when they are called upon to solve a murder. Before they can do that, though, Archie has to convince Nero that his brain would better suit the military effort than his physique. Essentially, the reader gets two murder mysteries in one short book!

For a number of reasons, Not Quite Dead Enough, comprised of two novellas published under a single title, is probably the most fascinating Nero Wolfe book that I’ve read. The first of the two novellas, Not Quite Dead Enough, was originally published in 1942 in an abridged format in the December edition of The American Magazine, and the second, Booby Trap, was abridged for the same magazine in August 1944. But the most fun thing about the novellas is that, because they were written and published in the midst of World War II, Stout decides to remove Wolfe from his NYC apartment cocoon and force him to cope (which he does rather effectively) in the real world.Not Quite Dead Enough begins with Archie Goodwin, now a newly promoted Army major, tasked with convincing his old boss Nero Wolfe that Wolfe should apply his investigatory talents to furthering America’s war efforts — free of charge, of course. Archie agrees to give it a try, but receives the shock of his life when he attempts to surprise Wolfe by showing up at Wolfe’s apartment unannounced. Neither Wolfe nor Fritz (the cook) are anywhere to be seen; every surface in the apartment is dusty, piles of unopened mail are on Wolfe’s desk, and even Wolfe’s beloved orchids are being ignored. Are the two men dead or have they been kidnapped? Neither, as it turns out. Even more amazingly, Wolfe (a World War I veteran) and Fritz are getting themselves in shape to join the army so that, as Wolfe puts it, they can “kill Germans.” Archie, though, has the perfect way to get Wolfe back in the game: a dead woman who moves around even after she quits breathing. By the time that novella number two, Booby Trap, begins, Wolfe has agreed to help the army investigate the murder of an officer who may have been involved in a plan to profit from advanced weapons technology being readied for battlefield deployment. Either the dead colonel was in the middle of the scheme or he knew too much about it to be allowed to live another minute. Either way, Wolfe considers everyone involved to be traitors to the country during a time of war, and he badly wants to nail them. Bottom Line: The two novellas in Not Quite Dead Enough give Nero Wolfe the chance to show a different side of his personality. In both novellas, readers get a glimpse of a patriotic, much less self-absorbed, and much more ruthless Nero Wolfe than they expected ever to see. Wolfe has always been willing to be both “judge and jury” during his investigations. Now the question is whether he is also willing to be “executioner.”

This is two Nero Wolfe novellas combined into one book. Neither episode has the full Wolfe/Goodwin true experience, but there is enough to make the stories entertaining. I enjoyed the first novella more as it was more in line with the Nero Wolfe stories I was used to reading. Plus I loved how Archie set himself up as a murder suspect to force Wolfe into taking action. The second novella was okay, but I didn't like how Nero resolved the situation. That ending kind of confused me. But they were quick listens that gave a taste of characters I enjoy reading about.

I wasn't particular taken with either of the stories in this collection. In "Not Quite Dead Enough," Archie's longtime friend Lily is suspected of the murder of an old woman. In "Booby Trap," Archie's superior officer (Archie is in the army in both of these WW II-era stories) is killed in a grenade blast. The stories seem rushed, and I wasn't happy with how Wolfe came to the ultimate conclusion in each of the stories. In the latter story, it's more of a case of theatrics and trickery rather than logic (something that Wolfe admits). In the former, it wasn't really clear from the writing how the fatal bit of evidence happened. There's much to enjoy in this series, so give this collection a pass.

Kind of a bare bones Nero Wolfe mystery. If this had been the first one I read, I'd never read another one. Very disappointed. It was missing any detail about the usual trappings that Nero Wolfe is concerned with -- food, orchids, etc. The mystery wasn't all that mysterious although I thought the way Stout got the the murderer to to take care of the problem was interesting but also revolting. Not recommended.

Another entry in the Nero Wolfe series which is actually two novellas rather than a single novel.In both, Archie is now in the military (WW2). In "Not Quite Dead Enough", Archie is taken from his normal duties and assigned to the task of getting Wolfe to agree to take a case for the army. Lily Rowan is chasing Archie and inadvertently provides Archie with the lever he needs to complete his assignment.In "Boobytrap", Archie is now permanently assigned to Wolfe and Wolfe is regularly consulted by the military.

This is two stories, both set shortly after the U.S. entered World War 2. In the first one,"Not Quite Dead Enough" Archie Goodwin has become a major in the U.S, Army,. but his mission is to persuade Wolfe to work for Army intelligence --Wolfe has reacted to the war by deciding he didn't personally kill enough Germans in World War I, so he is going into rigorous training to get into fighting trim. Goodwin snaps him out of it by neatly framing himself for the murder of a young woman who had come to him for help because she suspected her fiance of something terrible. As soon as Wolfe agrees to cooperate with the Army, Archie unframes himself, but Wolfe still has to solve the young woman's death, which involves a complex rivalry including pigeon-raising and hawk-hunting . The second story, "Booby Trap" is the case the Army wanted Wolfe's brains for, An Army intelligence officer has been murdered while investigating a plot for unscrupulous manufacturers seeing to gain trade secrets (for post-war use) which have been entrusted to the military for war production. After Wolfe meets with the officers involved in the case, and a politician who seems to belong to a fictional equivalent of Truman's war committee in Congress, one of the officers is blown up by grenade. Eventually Wolfe persuades the murderer to blow himself up with another to preserve his reputation.

This is a Nero Wolfe book set during World War II. It has two stories in it the first one with the same title as the book.The story begins with Lily Rowan of escamillo fame chasing down Archie who is now a Major in Army Intelligence. Ann Amory, a friend of Lily's has troubles and Lily wants Wolfe to look into the situation. Archie goes to find Wolfe and gets a big surprise. Wolfe and Fritz are training for the army. Not only does Wolfe leave the house he and Fritz are running all over New York.Archie finds Amory murdered and then comes up with a pretty clever trick to get Wolfe involved in solving the murder. The story is going along fine and then it ends very quickly. It's as if the author was told he only had three pages left for the book and he just made up an ending. Minus one point.The book gives a flavor of how serious everyone was about hating the Germans and winning the war. Having grown up in America the superpower it is hard to imagine how it must have been to really be afraid the enemy would destroy us.Booby TrapThis is the second story and there is no double entendre involved. Many of the characters carry over from the Army Intelligence group from the first story. It begins with Wolfe insisting that Archie return a super hand grenade to the Army. He was given one for his intelligence work around it. The grenade later blows up in the office of Colonel Ryder killing the Colonel. At the time Ryder dies they are looking into the suspicious death of Captain Cross another member of the group. Before Ryder dies John Bell Shattuck, a highly placed civilian, had brought the group an anonymous letter he received about the death of Captain Cross.Wolfe is working as a consultant with the Army and starts an investigation of Ryder's death. Ryder's secretary, Sergeant Dorothy Bruce, is the mystery lady of the story. She caught Archie's eye from the first time he met her. They get to know each other better during the story with perhaps more to come. The ending is a little better than the first story but not much. Fewer pages means less story.This is my least favorite Nero Wolfe out of the eleven I have read so far. I don't like the novellas and the author's treatment of the war situation did not ring true.

Neither a novel nor a collection of short stories Not Quite Dead Enough is made up of two novelettes: Not quite dead enough and Booby Trap. Neither has the tight writing of a short story and yet both feel rather bloated. Stout needs to explain what Wolfe and Goodwin do during the war. The first story explains how their wartime setup comes to be and the second shows them at work. Both suffer from extremely obvious solutions and in neither case is the denouement satisfactory. The first requires Lily Rowan to carry the idiot ball and the second requires members of the military to do so.

This was another duo—two novellas. The first one, Not Quite Dead Enough has Archie a major in the Army during WWII being assigned the task of persuading Wolfe to work on a case for the Army. This one has the second appearance of Lily Rowan in the series. It’s fun to watch the early Lily—“poor little rich girl” who is obsessed with Archie. One thing about reading these in order is I’m anxious to see if the difference in personality of the later Lily Rowan happens by development or if there is a sudden change. The case involves a girl who has asked Lily for help because she is afraid about something to do with her fiancée. The second story, Booby Trap, is the actual case that the army wanted Nero Wolfe to work on. He is called in to find out why a special agent for the Army was murdered. Both cases are interesting, but I still prefer the full length stories. This one, however, did keep me guessing.

Sometimes the title is enough on a Stout book. This story isn't memorable, but I know I never disliked a Nero Wolfe novel.