Three Men Out
Collection of novellas by Rex Stout
Author | Rex Stout |
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Cover artist | Bill English |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Series | Nero Wolfe |
Genre | Detective fiction |
Publisher | Viking Press |
Publication date | March 26, 1954 |
Media type | Print (hardcover) |
Pages | 181 pp. (first edition) |
OCLC | 5743510 |
Preceded by | The Golden Spiders |
Followed by | The Black Mountain |
Three Men Out is a collection of Nero Wolfe mystery novellas by Rex Stout, published by the Viking Press in 1954. The book comprises three stories that first appeared in The American Magazine:
- "Invitation to Murder" (August 1953, as "Will to Murder")
- "The Zero Clue" (December 1953, as "Scared to Death")
- "This Won't Kill You" (September 1952, as "This Will Kill You")
Publication history
- 1954, New York: The Viking Press, March 26, 1954, hardcover[1]: 83
- In his limited-edition pamphlet, Collecting Mystery Fiction #9, Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe Part I, Otto Penzler describes the first edition of Three Men Out: "Red boards, front cover blank. Issued in a red, black and white dust wrapper. … The binding of this title was a textured cardboard designed to resemble cloth; the book club edition has a smoother texture."[2]
- In April 2006, Firsts: The Book Collector's Magazine estimated that the first edition of Three Men Out had a value of between $200 and $350. The estimate is for a copy in very good to fine condition in a like dustjacket.[3]
- 1954, New York: Viking (Mystery Guild), June 1954, hardcover
- The far less valuable Viking book club edition may be distinguished from the first edition in three ways:
- The dust jacket has "Book Club Edition" printed on the inside front flap, and the price is absent (first editions may be price clipped if they were given as gifts).
- Book club editions are sometimes thinner and always taller (usually a quarter of an inch) than first editions.
- Book club editions are bound in cardboard, and first editions are bound in cloth (or have at least a cloth spine).[4]
- 1955, London: Collins Crime Club, January 17, 1955, hardcover
- 1955, Toronto: Macmillan, 1955, hardcover
- 1955, New York: Bantam #1388, November 1955, paperback
- 1980, New York: Bantam Crimeline ISBN 0-553-13666-6 August 1980, seventh printing, paperback
- 1991, New York: Bantam Crimeline ISBN 0-553-24547-3 June 1, 1991, paperback
- 1994, New York: Bantam Crimeline ISBN 0-553-24547-3 May 1994, paperback, Rex Stout Library edition with introduction by Linda Ellerbee
- 1997, Newport Beach, California: Books on Tape, Inc. ISBN 0-7366-3749-4 July 21, 1997, audio cassette (unabridged, read by Michael Prichard)
- 2011, New York: Bantam Crimeline ISBN 978-0-307-76816-2 August 17, 2011, e-book
References
- ^ Townsend, Guy M., Rex Stout: An Annotated Primary and Secondary Bibliography. New York: Garland Publishing, ISBN 0-8240-9479-4, 1980. John McAleer, Judson Sapp and Arriean Schemer are associate editors of this definitive publication history.
- ^ Penzler, Otto, Collecting Mystery Fiction #9, Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe Part I (2001, New York: The Mysterious Bookshop, limited edition of 250 copies), p. 30
- ^ Smiley, Robin H., "Rex Stout: A Checklist of Primary First Editions." Firsts: The Book Collector's Magazine (Volume 16, Number 4), April 2006, p. 34
- ^ Penzler, Otto, Collecting Mystery Fiction #9, Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe Part I, pp. 19–20
- v
- t
- e
- Nero Wolfe
- Archie Goodwin
- Nero Wolfe supporting characters
- Fer-de-Lance (1934)
- The League of Frightened Men (1935)
- The Rubber Band (1936)
- The Red Box (1937)
- Too Many Cooks (1938)
- Some Buried Caesar (1939)
- Over My Dead Body (1940)
- Where There's a Will (1940)
- The Silent Speaker (1946)
- Too Many Women (1947)
- And Be a Villain (1948)
- The Second Confession (1949)
- In the Best Families (1950)
- Murder by the Book (1951)
- Prisoner's Base (1952)
- The Golden Spiders (1953)
- The Black Mountain (1954)
- Before Midnight (1955)
- Might as Well Be Dead (1956)
- If Death Ever Slept (1957)
- Champagne for One (1958)
- Plot It Yourself (1959)
- Too Many Clients (1960)
- The Final Deduction (1961)
- Gambit (1962)
- The Mother Hunt (1963)
- A Right to Die (1964)
- The Doorbell Rang (1965)
- Death of a Doxy (1966)
- The Father Hunt (1968)
- Death of a Dude (1969)
- Please Pass the Guilt (1973)
- A Family Affair (1975)
short stories
- "Bitter End" (1940)
- "Black Orchids" (1941)
- "Cordially Invited to Meet Death" (1942)
- "Not Quite Dead Enough" (1942)
- "Booby Trap" (1944)
- "Help Wanted, Male" (1945)
- "Instead of Evidence" (1946)
- "Before I Die" (1947)
- "Man Alive" (1947)
- "Bullet for One" (1948)
- "Omit Flowers" (1948)
- "Door to Death" (1949)
- "The Gun with Wings" (1949)
- "Disguise for Murder" (1950)
- "The Cop-Killer" (1951)
- "The Squirt and the Monkey" (1951)
- "Home to Roost" (1952)
- "This Won't Kill You" (1952)
- "Invitation to Murder" (1953)
- "The Zero Clue" (1953)
- "When a Man Murders" (1954)
- "Die Like a Dog" (1954)
- "The Next Witness" (1955)
- "Immune to Murder" (1955)
- "A Window for Death" (1956)
- "Too Many Detectives" (1956)
- "Christmas Party" (1957)
- "Easter Parade" (1957)
- "Fourth of July Picnic" (1957)
- "Murder Is No Joke" (1958), expanded as "Frame-Up for Murder" (1958)
- "Method Three for Murder" (1960)
- "Poison à la Carte" (1960)
- "The Rodeo Murder" (1960)
- "Counterfeit for Murder" (1961)
- "Death of a Demon" (1961)
- "Kill Now—Pay Later" (1961)
- "Eeny Meeny Murder Mo" (1962)
- "Blood Will Tell" (1963)
- "Murder Is Corny" (1964)
- "Assault on a Brownstone" (1985, posthumously published early draft of "Counterfeit for Murder")
Film |
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Radio |
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Television |
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Robert Goldsborough
- Murder in E Minor (1986)
- Death on Deadline (1987)
- Fade to Black (1990)