If there's anything I like better than a good Nero Wolfe mystery, it would have to be three good Nero Wolfe mysteries. That's what we get in Rex Stout's "Three Witnesses," which is the subject of this week's review on the Classic Mysteries podcast. You can listen to the full review here.
"Three Witnesses" contains three Nero Wolfe novellas, "The Next Witness," "When a Man Murders..." and "Die Like a Dog." The last is one of my favorite novellas. The "witness" in this case is a Black Labrador Receiver. No, he doesn't do human detective work - he behaves as a normal dog would behave - and, by doing so, helps Nero Wolfe find conclusive proof against a murderer.
In "The Next Witness," Nero Wolfe himself is called as a witness in a murder case - but flees the courtroom in order to find the real killer. As for "When a Man Murders..." it's the story of a man who apparently comes back from the dead, only to be murdered - and, once again, the testimony of a key witness is central to the solution.
Rex Stout was the master of the novella form, the short novel, and "Three Witnesses" is an excellent collection. It's highly recommended.
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