Vintage Friday: 13 Bullets for The Silent Speaker 1946

THE SILENT SPEAKER

Author – Rex Stout
First Published – 1946
Genre – Mystery
Setting – Nero Wolfe’s brownstone and New York City
Protagonists – Nero Wolfe, detective extraordinaire and tender of 10,000 orchids, and Archie Goodwin, gumshoe and Wolfe’s right-hand man.
Murdered Man – Cheney Boone, Director of Price Regulation.
Key Female – Phoebe Gunther, bright, bold, beautiful. As usual, Archie is smitten.
Most Irritating Character – Inspector Ash, Inspector Cramer’s replacement, who puts his hands on Wolfe and gets slapped in return.
Key Helper – The Widow Boone, who sheds some light for Wolfe.
Star of the Book – Fritz, Wolfe’s live-in chef who can cook up a storm even when nervous about murderous goings on and who can find a certain hidden something when Wolfe sets him to the task.
Favorite Walk On Character – Inspector Cramer, who shows he has a grateful, sentimental side.
Fun Tidbit – Reference to old technology — central to the plot is a missing wax cylinder recorded by the murdered man via Dictaphone.
Favorite Lines – “He’s sick.”
                              “With what?”
                              “Sitzenlust. Chronic. The opposite of wanderlust.”

Cheers & Happy Reading!
Flossie Benton Rogers, Conjuring the Magic in Romance