Through more than ten thousand pages which comprise the Nero Wolfe corpus, Rex Stout established a famed fictive home -- the world of Wolfe's Thirty-fifth Street Brownstone, a world characterized by the great gourmet detective's beloved eccentricities.

It is a world we see through the eyes of Wolfe's confidential assistant, Archie Goodwin, whose matchless wit and endless legwork propel the stories along.

A world we can almost taste through the efforts of Fritz Brenner, chef par excellence, who prepares for Wolfe the most tempting meals in the annals of detective fiction (most of which Stout prepared himself, and many of which were later published in cookbook form).

A world longtime fans can now reenter with fresh delight -- Bantam Books proudly presents for the first time in book form this collection of three new Nero Wolfe novellas.

[Bitter End:
On the poisoned Tidbits] "I had never heard his tone more menacing. 'I am not impressed with your failure to understand this abominable outrage. I might bring myself to tolerate it if some frightened or vindictive person shot me to death, but this is insupportable.' He made the growling noise again. 'My food. You know my attitude toward food.' He aimed a rigid finger at the jar, and his voice trembled with ferocity. 'Whoever put that in there is going to regret it.'" (P. 4-5)

Frame Up for Murder: 
"'Your name is Flora Gallant?' he growled. The growl implied that he strongly doubted it and wouldn't be surprised if she had no name at all." (P.85)

Assault on a Brownstone: 
"My house has been invaded, my privacy has been outraged, and my belongings have been pawed." (P. 179).

Publishedposthumously in December, 1985 by Bantam books. A strange collection of "alternative" stories, most interesting to the truly dedicated fan.

Bitter End:
First published in the November 1940 issue of The American Magazine, and then in book form in the ther posthumously publication, 1977's Corsage: A Bouquet of Rex Stout and Nero Wolfe by J. A. Rock & Co. Before its publication as a Wolfe story, Bitter End was a Tecumseh Fox novel, Bad for Business. Stout converted BFB into a Wolfe novella at the request of The American Magazine. He had curtailed his Wolfe output to concentrate his efforts on various war-related (or propaganda) activities, so the re-write was a quick way make a sale. Reading the two stories back to back demonstrates the vast superiority of the Wolfe stories to those featuring Tecumseh Fox... Opens with Wolfe's evil experience with a poisoned jar of Tingley's Tidbits.

Frame Up for Murder: Published in The Saturday Evening Post, in three installments, on June 21, June 28, and July 5, 1958. An expanded version of Murder is No Joke, written expressly for publication in TSEP, with Flora Gallant substantially younger and sexier than in the original. Neither story impressed me particularly, and the two are virtually identical in plot.

Assault on a Brownstone: The vastly inferior original for Counterfeit for Murder, one of my favorite stories. In Assault on a Brownstone, the wonderful character of Hattie Annis is killed off in a hit-and-run within the first few pages, and Tammy Baxter is played up as a romantic lead.