Over My Dead Body (Nero Wolfe Mysteries)

When a Balkan beauty gets in trouble over some missing diamonds, whom else can she turn to but the world-famous Nero Wolfe? Especially since she claims to be Wolfe's long lost daughter! The stakes are suddenly raised when a student at this woman's fencing school ends up dead after a pointed lesson. As Wolfe and his sidekick, Archie, thrust and parry into a tangle of documents, identities and international intrigue, another student body turns up, expertly skewered through the heart. Is Wolfe's long lost daughter the black sheep of the family, a hot-blooded mistress of murder? From the Paperback edition.

Customer Reviews:

Classic Nero Wolfe

By David Kudler - November 13, 2003

Having read just about all of the Nero Wolfe series, I have to say, this one contains all of the elements that make Rex Stout's detective novels wildly entertaining, without most of the elements that make some of them maddening

In this mystery, the utterly unswashbuckling Wolfe is revealed, in his younger, svelter days, to have been quite a romantic. Not only did he fight on the anti-Imperial side in Montenegro during the Great War, but he adopted and may even have actually sired a young girl.

To his shock, this young Yugoslav maiden--whom he had lost track of--reappears in his life, up to her neck in a particularly messy, intricate affair that may or may not include missing diamonds, a dead body or two, international intrigue, and a bellboy's uniform. For all of the peeks into Wolfe's previously unsuspected soul, he remains as crumudgeonly and as immovable as ever. Archie Goodwin, of course, remains the wisecracking, milk-drinking sidekick, flirting with... read more

Presenting...Wolfe's Daughter???

By A. Wolverton - April 9, 2002

'Over My Dead Body' finds a young lady who arrives at Wolfe's door claiming to be Wolfe's daughter. Wow! What a way to start the book! Things begin to heat up even more when the young lady is suspected of a murder in a fencing studio. This is the seventh entry in the Wolfe series, and it is an entertaining one. Wolfe is in his usual beer-drinking, orchid-loving form, using that brilliant mind of his to sort out any difficulty. In this book, we begin to see a little more depth in two of the recurring minor characters in Wolfe's employ: First, Fred Durkin, the lumbering, bumbling guy who is not too bright, but is always there when Wolfe needs him. Second, Saul Panzer, who is probably just as good a detective as Archie (well, almost), but is completely no-nonsense. (And Archie thinks he's better looking than Saul.)I'd give the book 4.5 stars if I could. The only problem is Wolfe says a few words and lines that really aren't in character for him. This would only distract... read more