The Doorbell Rang

Name: The Doorbell Rang
Author: Rex Stout

Rex Stout

— 1965 —

“

Nero Wolfe, orchid-growing, beer-drinking genius who never leaves his brownstone, takes on the FBI itself.

The record

Time
An eveningA season
182 pages, about 4 hours: half the length of a typical book on the shelf.
Getting in
Walk right inSteep climb
Two reviewers report the FBI-dodging chapters dragging before the murder investigation takes hold.
What it gives
Plot and actionIdeas to live by
In 11 reviews from critics and book blogs, 5 credit the plot and one credits the ideas or a change in how they live.
One of a kind
Others do thisNothing else does
Two reviewers place Wolfe in the line of Holmes and Poirot.

on the FBI showdown
“Woweee! What a challenge: What a villain! What a book!”
Kirkus Reviews, 1965
on the plotting
“the fanciful and richly inventive plotting of Wolfe and his assistant, Archie Goodwin”
Caskie Stinnett · New York Herald Tribune, 10 October 1965
on Wolfe and Archie
“Each character comes alive in his interaction with the other.”
a book blog
on the duo
“Those two would make almost any book worth reading.”
a book blog

on the suspects
“There are barely any suspects.”
a book blog
on Archie’s wit
“Archie’s trademark wit is largely absent.”
a book blog
on the middle stretch
“does drag a bit in the middle”
a book blog
on the politics
“the politics (of the day) didn’t appeal to me at all”
four stars · a book blog