I titled this a review of “Christmas Party” by Rex Stout, instead of a book review, because it’s a short story and might even qualify as a novella. So I can’t really call it a book review. But even in its short form, it’s one of my favorite Christmas stories because it’s from my all-time favorite mystery series, the Nero Wolfe mysteries. Never heard of him? Allow me to introduce you.
Armchair Detective Meets Hard-boiled P.I.
Nero Wolfe and his faithful, often exasperated, bodyguard-secretary Archie Goodwin, debuted in 1934. Mr. Stout brilliantly combined the two main styles of mystery fiction of the time: the intellectual detective, like Sherlock Holmes, and the tough-guy private investigator, like Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe. Nero Wolfe is the Sherlock Homes side. Weighting a seventh of a ton, he rarely leaves his brownstone home in New York City and never for the detective work that supports his luxurious lifestyle. The exorbitant fees he charges pays for his gourmet tastes, voracious reading, and the ten thousand orchids he grows in a greenhouse on the fourth floor.
While Wolfe sits back and uses his genius, Archie Goodwin is the two-fisted assistant with a terrific sense of humor who carries out his boss’s instructions. It could be anything from cajoling a witness to come to the brownstone for an interview with Wolfe to collecting evidence and heckling cops.
When Mr. Stout died in 1975, the series, according to Wikipedia, consisted of 33 novels and 41 short stories and novellas.
Christmas and Nero Wolfe
“Christmas Party” is one of my favorite Nero Wolfe stories because it shows a more human side to the genius detective. Archie informs Wolfe that he can’t take Wolfe to meet another orchid grower on Long Island because he’s been invited to an office Christmas party. When Wolfe tells him he’ll have to cancel his plans, Archie produces a marriage certificate and say he has to go because his fiancee has invited him.
At the party, Archie chats with Margot Dickey, the woman who invited him to the party, and her colleagues at the interior design firm where she works. When the owner, Kurt Bottweil is poisoned, the cops are sure the guilty party is the man dressed as Santa who was hired to tend bar. No one knows who Santa was because Kurt hired him, and Santa disappeared during all the commotion when Kurt collapsed.
When Archie returns to the brownstone, it becomes clear that he and Wolfe have to figure out who actually killed Kurt.
And Four to Go is the book in which “Christmas Party” originally appeared, but it’s a popular Christmas mystery and can be found in many anthologies, like The Big Book of Christmas Mysteries.
What kind of detective do you prefer: the armchair detective or the hard-boiled one?
