Vintage Friday: 12 Bullets for Too Many Women 1947

TOO MANY WOMEN

Author – Rex Stout
First Published – 1947; newer cover 1985
Genre – Mystery
Setting – New York City
Protagonist – Archie Goodwin – gumshoe and Nero Wolfe’s right-hand man.
Main Women –
   Hester Livsey – Men drop like flies around her, including her dead fiancé. Miss Livsey captivates Archie by giving him the impression that she has troubles only he can fix.
   Rosa Bendini – Also known as “the curves,” Miss Bendini’s two favorite past times are dancing and kissing. Her estranged husband disapproves.
   Gwynne Ferris – With golden hair and the clear blue eyes of an angel, Miss Ferris longs for a job where she doesn’t have to spell.
Antagonist – All I can say is you won’t guess the murderer.
Star of the Book – Nero Wolfe, the greatest detective in the world. He likes to sit in his red leather chair and read. To avoid Archie’s pestering him to go to work because the bank balance is getting low, he flummoxes Archie into going undercover at a Wall Street firm where the bosses are all men and the hundreds of employees are mostly women.
Murdered Guy – Waldo Moore – He is the first but not the last.
Favorite Walk On Character – Harold Anthony, Rosa’s husband. He is lovesick and forlorn over her leaving and manages to land a few punches on ace brawler Archie Goodwin.
Fun Tidbit – Kerr Naylor is a sneaky runt of a man with no pigment in his skin and colorless eyes that display a “sharp dancing glint” from deep within.
Favorite Line – I told him I was Archie Goodwin, the heart, liver, lungs, and gizzard of the private detective business of Nero Wolfe, Wolfe being merely the brains.

Cheers & Happy Reading!
Flossie Benton Rogers, Conjuring the Magic with Paranormal Fantasy Romance