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| A Right to Die | 
 enlarge | Author: Rex Stout
Publisher: Anchor Books,U.S.
Category: Book
List Price: £3.50
Buy Used: £0.32
You Save: £3.18 (91%)
New (13) from £0.98
Avg. Customer Rating:  3 reviews
Sales Rank: 200570
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Edition: Reissue
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 208
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.7
ISBN: 0553240323
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.52
EAN: 9780553240320
ASIN: 0553240323
Publication Date: November 1, 1994
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Wolfe and Archie fight racism October 5, 2007
Paul Whipple doesn't want his son to marry outside of his race. It's not that he doesn't like white people, but a black man marrying a white woman in 1964 is trouble. Whipple wants Nero Wolfe to help him find a way to break up their engagement. Wolfe would normally reject job like this but he owes a debt to Whipple because of an incident that had occurred in the distant past when Whipple helped him solve a case.
So off Archie goes to Racine, Wisconsin to dig up some dirt on Susan Brooke but after a fruitless search that finds not a trace of scandal, Archie gets a call from Wolfe. Return to New York... Susan Brooke has been found beaten to death in her apartment. And when Whipple's son is arrested for the crime, the case changes into a hunt for the real killer.
The book was written in 1964 at the same time the debate over the Civil Rights Act was going on. Stout covers what was controversial material at the time, reminding us that attitudes in 1964 were not the same as they are today. But this book also reminds us that we haven't come as far as we might like to think. The n-word is used in the book, but only in dialog when Stout uses it to reveal something about the character of the person who says it. Wolfe and Archie never use it, and as Archie says, "I have felt superior to plenty of people but never because of the color of my skin."
As to the the mystery itself, it is one of the best I have read so far. I didn't have the slightest idea who the killer might be and yet when it was revealed I wanted to smack myself for not getting it.
Wolfe on Race August 3, 1999
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This comes from the golden period of Wolfe stories, alongside Too Many Clients, Gambit, The Doorbell Rang etc. The household on 35th Street, with its regular outriders, is fully developed and faces the brave new world (in this case, our topical theme is civil rights) with wit and equanimity. A typical Wolfe solution of this period, spotting the odd little fact no-one else considers. Strong plot.
 Good story but with revolting protagonist May 23, 1998
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
In some ways, this is a very well-written mystery. It holds the reader's interest and the ending is anything but predictable. But, there are some facets that are insultingly unrealistic. Most notably, the great Nero Wolfe can summon all of the potential suspects to his home for interrogation, and they all willingly come! My biggest problem, though, is with Wolfe himself. He is pompous, obtuse, ungreatful, arrogant. I can only marginally enjoy a mystery if I dislike the investigator; that is the case with this book. In fact, knowing now how the Wolfe character is developed, it is highly probable that I will not read any more of the series. But, if you can get past the traits of Wolfe that I describe, I feel confident that you would enjoy this book, and probably all entries in the series. END
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