Over My Dead Body
by Rex Stout
I had seen an adaptation of this book as part of the Timothy Hutton Nero Wolfe Mysteries series before I read it. That is both good and bad.
Seeing it first meant I knew the plot and whodunit before I read the book so the denouement was not as surprising as it would have been otherwise. But it also meant I could pick out the parts the adaptation chose not to include. And I understand that tv adaptations cannot include every minute point in the book, but the parts that were left out or adjusted left me scratching my head.
Seeing it before reading it meant that I had someone's idea of what the characters should look like before I could meet them and imagine them on my own. Having seen the Timothy Hutton productions before we started reading the series did influence my mental image of Archie and Saul, though my image of Nero Wolfe and other other characters does not necessarily match the casting director's.
Anyway, about the book. Over My Dead Body filled in some background on Nero Wolfe before the reader meets him in Fer-de-Lance. That portion of the story is interesting but secondary, or even tertiary, to the main plot. That teaser bit of information just serves as the impetus to get the story moving. I am hopeful that it will come back around in future books, but I am not sure it does.
The mystery was quite interesting, and if I had not already seen the production, it would have been clever. But knowing the ending going in meant I read it on the lookout for information that led to the ending, rather than trying to solve it along with Nero and Archie.
On the whole it was an enjoyable read, and much better than the television production made it seem that it would be. Nero Wolfe mysteries are always worth a read (or a watch), and this one is no different.
One Bear's Opinion: Five Bottles of Beer and followed by one of Fritz's dinners, including a chocolate cake
Happy Reading Everyone,
Oliver
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