This is a bibliography of fiction by and works about the American writer Rex Stout (December 1, 1886 – October 27, 1975), an American writer noted for his detective fiction. He began his literary career in the 1910s, writing more than 40 stories that appeared primarily in pulp magazines between 1912 and 1918. He then wrote no fiction for more than a decade, until the late 1920s, when he had saved enough money through his business activities to write when and what he pleased. In 1929, he wrote his first published book, How Like a God, an unusual psychological story written in the second person. He wrote a pioneering political thriller, The President Vanishes (1934), before specializing in detective fiction. His 1934 novel Fer-de-Lance introduced his best-known characters, detective Nero Wolfe and his assistant Archie Goodwin, who were featured in 33 novels and 39 novellas and short stories between 1934 and 1975. In 1959, Stout received the Mystery Writers of America's Grand Master Award. The Nero Wolfe corpus was nominated as Best Mystery Series of the Century at Bouchercon XXXI, the world's largest mystery convention, and Rex Stout was nominated as Best Mystery Writer of the Century.
In addition to writing fiction, Stout was a prominent public intellectual for decades. He was active in the early years of the American Civil Liberties Union and a founder of the Vanguard Press. Stout served as head of the Writers' War Board during World War II, became a radio celebrity through his numerous broadcasts, and was later active in promoting World Federalism. He was the longtime president of the Authors Guild and served a term as president of the Mystery Writers of America.
Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe books (novels and collections of novellas and short stories) are listed in order of publication. For specific publication history, including original magazine appearances, see entries for individual titles. Years link to year-in-literature articles.
| Year | Title | Publisher | Publication date | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1934 | Fer-de-Lance | Farrar & Rinehart | October 24, 1934 | Abridged as "Point of Death" in The American Magazine (November 1934) | |
| 1935 | Farrar & Rinehart | August 14, 1935 | Serialized as "The Frightened Men" in six issues of The Saturday Evening Post (June 15–July 20, 1935) | ||
| 1936 | Farrar & Rinehart | April 9, 1936 | Serialized in six issues of The Saturday Evening Post (February 29–April 4, 1936) | ||
| 1937 | Farrar & Rinehart | April 15, 1937 | Serialized in five issues of The American Magazine (December 1936 – April 1937) | ||
| 1938 | Too Many Cooks | Farrar & Rinehart | August 17, 1938 | Serialized in six issues of The American Magazine (March–August 1938) | |
| 1939 | Some Buried Caesar | Farrar & Rinehart | February 2, 1939 | Abridged as "The Red Bull" in The American Magazine (December 1938) | |
| 1940 | Over My Dead Body | Farrar & Rinehart | January 3, 1940 | Abridged in The American Magazine (September 1939) | |
| 1940 | Where There's a Will | Farrar & Rinehart | June 10, 1940 | Abridged as "Sisters in Trouble" in The American Magazine (May 1940) | |
| 1942 | Black Orchids | Farrar & Rinehart | May 21, 1942 | Contains the novellas "Black Orchids" and "Cordially Invited to Meet Death" | |
| 1944 | Not Quite Dead Enough | Farrar & Rinehart | September 7, 1944 | Contains the novellas "Not Quite Dead Enough" and "Booby Trap" | |
| 1946 | Viking Press | October 21, 1946 | |||
| 1947 | Too Many Women | Viking Press | October 20, 1947 | ||
| 1948 | And Be a Villain | Viking Press | September 27, 1948 | British title More Deaths Than One; first novel in the Zeck Trilogy | |
| 1949 | Trouble in Triplicate | Viking Press | February 11, 1949 | Contains the short stories "Before I Die", "Help Wanted, Male" and "Instead of Evidence" | |
| 1949 | Viking Press | September 6, 1949 | Second novel in the Zeck Trilogy | ||
| 1950 | Three Doors to Death | Viking Press | April 21, 1950 | Contains the short stories "Man Alive", "Omit Flowers" and "Door to Death" | |
| 1950 | In the Best Families | Viking Press | September 29, 1950 | British title Even in the Best Families; third novel in the Zeck Trilogy | |
| 1951 | Curtains for Three | Viking Press | February 23, 1951 | Contains the short stories "The Gun with Wings", "Bullet for One" and "Disguise for Murder" | |
| 1951 | Murder by the Book | Viking Press | October 12, 1951 | ||
| 1952 | Triple Jeopardy | Viking Press | March 21, 1952 | Contains the short stories "Home to Roost", "The Cop-Killer" and "The Squirt and the Monkey" | |
| 1952 | Prisoner's Base | Viking Press | October 24, 1952 | British title Out Goes She | |
| 1953 | Viking Press | October 26, 1953 | |||
| 1954 | Three Men Out | Viking Press | March 26, 1954 | Contains the short stories "Invitation to Murder", "The Zero Clue" and "This Won't Kill You" | |
| 1954 | Viking Press | October 14, 1954 | |||
| 1955 | Before Midnight | Viking Press | October 27, 1955 | ||
| 1956 | Three Witnesses | Viking Press | March 10, 1956 | Contains the short stories "The Next Witness", "When a Man Murders" and "Die Like a Dog" | |
| 1956 | Might as Well Be Dead | Viking Press | October 26, 1956 | ||
| 1957 | Three for the Chair | Viking Press | May 3, 1957 | Contains the short stories "A Window for Death", "Immune to Murder" and "Too Many Detectives" | |
| 1957 | If Death Ever Slept | Viking Press | October 25, 1957 | ||
| 1958 | And Four to Go | Viking Press | February 14, 1958 | British title Crime and Again Contains the short stories "Christmas Party", "Easter Parade," "Fourth of July Picnic," and "Murder Is No Joke" | |
| 1958 | Champagne for One | Viking Press | November 24, 1958 | ||
| 1959 | Plot It Yourself | Viking Press | October 30, 1959 | British title Murder in Style | |
| 1960 | Three at Wolfe's Door | Viking Press | April 29, 1960 | Contains the short stories "Poison à la Carte", "Method Three for Murder" and "The Rodeo Murder" | |
| 1960 | Too Many Clients | Viking Press | October 28, 1960 | ||
| 1961 | Viking Press | October 13, 1961 | |||
| 1962 | Homicide Trinity | Viking Press | April 26, 1962 | Contains the short stories "Eeny Meeny Murder Mo", "Death of a Demon" and "Counterfeit for Murder" | |
| 1962 | Gambit | Viking Press | October 12, 1962 | ||
| 1963 | Viking Press | July 18, 1963 | |||
| 1964 | Trio for Blunt Instruments | Viking Press | April 24, 1964 | Contains the short stories "Kill Now—Pay Later", "Murder Is Corny" and "Blood Will Tell" | |
| 1964 | Viking Press | October 22, 1964 | |||
| 1965 | Viking Press | October 8, 1965 | |||
| 1966 | Death of a Doxy | Viking Press | August 19, 1966 | ||
| 1968 | Viking Press | May 28, 1968 | |||
| 1969 | Death of a Dude | Viking Press | August 20, 1969 | ||
| 1973 | Please Pass the Guilt | Viking Press | September 1973 | ||
| 1975 | Viking Press | May 1975 | |||
| 1985 | Death Times Three | Bantam Books | December 1985 | Posthumous; contains the novella "Bitter End" and the short stories "Frame-Up for Murder" and "Assault on a Brownstone" |
| Year | Title | Publisher | Publication date | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1935 | "Apologia Pro Vita Sua" | The New York Times | August 21, 1935 | Stout responds in verse after a review of The League of Frightened Men states "the fact that Rex Stout was a legitimate novelist before he took up the trade of mystery monger"[1] | |
| 1963 | "Why Nero Wolfe Likes Orchids" | Life | April 19, 1963 | Concluding a feature story titled "The Orchid" that was photographed by Alfred Eisenstaedt, Archie Goodwin "investigates and explains the deep satisfactions of his boss's orchid-fixation."[2] | |
| 1966 | "The Case of the Spies Who Weren't" | Ramparts | January 1966 | Archie Goodwin reports that the previous evening Nero Wolfe and "Rex Stout, my literary agent" filled 27 pages in his notebook with their discussion of Invitation to an Inquest by Walter and Miriam Schneir, a recently published book regarding the case against Julius and Ethel Rosenberg that they are reviewing for Ramparts magazine | |
| 1973 | The Nero Wolfe Cook Book | Viking Press | August 8, 1973 | Edited by Rex Stout and the editors of the Viking Press Recipes and pertinent quotes from the corpus illustrated by vintage New York City photographs by John Muller, Andreas Feininger and others Chapters include "Breakfast in the Old Brownstone", "Luncheon in the Dining Room", "Warm-Weather Dinners", "Cold-Weather Dinners", "Desserts", "The Perfect Dinner for the Perfect Detective", "The Relapse", "Snacks", "Guests, Male and Female", "Associates for Dinner", "Fritz Brenner", "Dishes Cooked by Others", "Rusterman's Restaurant", "Nero Wolfe Cooks", and "The Kanawha Spa Dinner"[3] |
| Year | Title | Publisher | Publication date | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1937 | Farrar & Rinehart | September 16, 1937 | Murder mystery featuring Dol Bonner | ||
| 1939 | Double for Death | Farrar & Rinehart | October 3, 1939 | First of three novels featuring detective Tecumseh Fox | |
| 1939 | Red Threads | Farrar & Rinehart | December 1, 1939 | First published in the anthology The Mystery Book; featuring Inspector Cramer | |
| 1940 | Bad for Business | Farrar & Rinehart | November 28, 1940 | Tecumseh Fox mystery first published in the anthology The Second Mystery Book; later rewritten as a Nero Wolfe novella, "Bitter End" | |
| 1941 | Farrar & Rinehart | January 23, 1941 | Tecumseh Fox mystery | ||
| 1941 | Alphabet Hicks | Farrar & Rinehart | December 8, 1941 | Mystery republished as The Sound of Murder | |
| 1955 | "His Own Hand" | Manhunt | April 1955 | Short story featuring Alphabet Hicks, plus Nero Wolfe recurring character Sergeant Purley Stebbins; also titled "By His Own Hand" and "Curtain Line" in anthology reprintings |
| Year | Title | Publisher | Publication date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1913 | Her Forbidden Knight | The All-Story | August–December 1913 | Crime story about counterfeiting with no continuing characters, set in New York City; serialized in five issues[4] |
| 1914 | Under the Andes | The All-Story | February 1914 | A "scientific romance" and a "lost race" fantasy novel[5] |
| 1914 | All-Story [Cavalier] Weekly | May 2–30, 1914 | A novel of Balkan intrigue and murder about a very dangerous woman; serialized in five parts, in All-Story Weekly and The Cavalier (May 2–9, 1914) and All-Story Cavalier Weekly (May 16–30, 1914)[6] | |
| 1916 | All-Story Weekly | January 1–29, 1916 | A historical novel set during the siege of Troy; serialized in five issues[7] | |
| 1916 | Golfers Magazine | July–December 1916 | Mystery with a murder method that foreshadows that used in Fer-de-Lance; serialized in six issues[8] [9] | |
| 1929 | How Like a God | Vanguard Press | 1929 | Psychological thriller |
| 1930 | Seed on the Wind | Vanguard Press | August 21, 1930 | Psychological thriller |
| 1931 | Golden Remedy | Vanguard Press | August 27, 1931 | Psychological thriller |
| 1933 | Forest Fire | Farrar & Rinehart | April 13, 1933 | Psychological thriller |
| 1934 | Farrar & Rinehart | September 17, 1934 | Political thriller
| |
| 1935 | O Careless Love! | Farrar & Rinehart | November 4, 1935 | Romance novel; serialized in five issues of The Saturday Evening Post (September 21–October 19, 1935) |
| 1938 | Mr. Cinderella | Farrar & Rinehart | December 1, 1938 | Romance novel; Stout's last non-mystery fiction |
| 1939 | Mountain Cat | Farrar & Rinehart | July 27, 1939 | Abridged as "Dark Vengeance" in The American Magazine (June 1939); republished as The Mountain Cat Murders |
| Year | Title | Publication | Publication date | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1912 | "Their Lady" | Reportedly 1912; unlocated | Stout's authorized biographer John McAleer describes this as Stout's first published story[10] | ||
| 1912 | "Excess Baggage" | Short Stories | October 1912 | [11] | |
| 1912 | "" | Short Stories | November 1912 | ||
| 1912 | "" | Young's Magazine | November 1912 | [12] | |
| 1912 | "Billy Du Mont, Reporter" | Young's Magazine | December 1912 | ||
| 1912 | "" | The Black Cat | December 1912 | ||
| 1913 | "Barnacles" | Young's Magazine | January 1913 | ||
| 1913 | "Pamfret and Peace" | The Black Cat | January 1913 | ||
| 1913 | "" | Short Stories | April 1913 | ||
| 1913 | "" | Lippincott's Monthly Magazine | June 1913 | ||
| 1913 | "" | The Black Cat | June 1913 | ||
| 1913 | "" | The Black Cat | August 1913 | ||
| 1913 | "Méthode Américaine" | The Smart Set | November 1913 | ||
| 1914 | "" | Lippincott's Monthly Magazine | January 1914 | [13] | |
| 1914 | "" | The All-Story | January 1914 | ||
| 1914 | "Secrets" | All-Story Weekly | March 7, 1914 | Stout's first detective story | |
| 1914 | "Rose Orchid" | All-Story Weekly | March 28, 1914 | As by Evans Day | |
| 1914 | "" | Lippincott's Monthly Magazine | April 1914 | ||
| 1914 | "" | All-Story Weekly | April 25, 1914 | As by Evans Day | |
| 1914 | "Out of the Line" | All-Story Cavalier Weekly | June 13, 1914 | [14] | |
| 1914 | "" | All-Story Cavalier Weekly | July 4, 1914 | [15] | |
| 1914 | "Target Practise" | All-Story Cavalier Weekly | December 26, 1914 | [16] | |
| 1915 | "If He Be Married" | All-Story Cavalier Weekly | January 16, 1915 | ||
| 1915 | "Baba" | All-Story Cavalier Weekly | January 30, 1915 | ||
| 1915 | "Warner & Wife" | All-Story Cavalier Weekly | February 27, 1915 | ||
| 1915 | "" | Smith's Magazine | July 1915 | ||
| 1915 | "Art for Art's Sake" | Smith's Magazine | August 1915 | ||
| 1915 | "Another Little Love Affair" | Smith's Magazine | September 1915 | ||
| 1915 | "Jonathan Stannard's Secret Vice" | All-Story Weekly | September 11, 1915 | ||
| 1915 | "Sanétomo" | All-Story Weekly | September 25, 1915 | ||
| 1915 | "" | Young's Magazine | November 1915 | ||
| 1915 | "Justice Ends at Home" | All-Story Weekly | December 4, 1915 | ||
| 1916 | "Two Kisses" | Breezy Stories | January 1916 | ||
| 1916 | "Ask the Egyptians" | Golfers Magazine | March 1916 | [17] | |
| 1916 | "This Is My Wife" | Snappy Stories | March 1916 | ||
| 1916 | "Second Edition" | Young's Magazine | April 1916 | ||
| 1916 | "It's Science That Counts" | All-Story Weekly | April 1, 1916 | ||
| 1916 | "" | All-Story Weekly | June 24, 1916 | ||
| 1917 | "It Happened Last Night" | The Black Cat | January 1917 | ||
| 1917 | "" | All-Story Weekly | January 13, 1917 | [18] | |
| 1917 | "Heels of Fate" | All-Story Weekly | November 17, 1917 | ||
| 1918 | "Old Fools and Young" | Young's Magazine | April 1918 | ||
| 1936 | "" | The New Masses | December 15, 1936 | ||
| 1953 | "Tough Cop's Gift" | What's New: Abbott Laboratories Christmas Annual | 1953 | Also titled "Santa Claus Beat," "Cop's Gift" "Christmas Beat" and "Nobody Deserved Justice" in magazine and anthology reprintings |
| Year | Title | Publisher | Publication date | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1942 | The Illustrious Dunderheads | Alfred A. Knopf | September 21, 1942 | A collection of isolationist, anti-WWII and pro-Nazi statements and votes by sitting Members of Congress | |
| 1946 | Rue Morgue No. 1 | Creative Age Press | 1946 | Anthology of 19 stories chosen by Louis Greenfield | |
| 1956 | Eat, Drink and Be Buried | Viking Press | 1956 | Mystery Writers of America anthology; British edition titled For Tomorrow We Die (1958) omitted three stories |
| Year | Title | Publisher | Publication date | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1910 | "In Cupid's Family" | The Smart Set | November 1910 | [19] | |
| 1911 | "Cupid's Revenge" | Pensacola Journal | 18 May 1911 | ||
| 1911 | "The Victory of Love" | The Smart Set | October 1911 | [20] | |
| 1935 | "On My Bashfulness (With No Apologies to Milton)" | Farrar & Rinehart | 1935 | Included in The Bedroom Companion, a humorous collection of risque stories, cartoons, essays, ditties, short plays and poems contributed by authors including Ogden Nash, Marc Connelly, Philip Wylie and Mark Hellinger[21] |