Fer-De-Lance and The League of Frightened Men (LARGE PRINT)

The first Nero Wolfe mystery opens with a scene showing Nero Wolfe deciding to give up bootleg beer, and sending out Fritz to purchase every beer that can be purchased legally for him to select a replacement. Maria Maffei, a family friend of one of his sometime employees Fred Durkin, appeals to Wolfe to locate her missing brother Carlo, a metalworker. Wolfe, affected by the Depression, decides to take the job, although it is unappealing to him. Archie locates Anna Fiore, a girl who listened in on a phone call Carlo received at his boarding-house. Wolfe learns from her that Carlo had clipped a story from a copy of the New York Times about the sudden death (apparently by stroke) of Peter Oliver Barstow, president of Holland College. Before Wolfe makes any more progress, Carlo Maffei is found stabbed in the back in the countryside. His sister says she will pay Wolfe to find his killer, so he keeps working.

The League of Frightened Men is the second Nero Wolfe detective novel by Rex Stout. An author, Paul Chapin, is on trial for alleged obscenity in his popular novel, and Archie is telling Wolfe the scurrilous details as found in the newspaper. Wolfe and Archie have an argument about obscenity law, and its upshot is that Wolfe tells Archie to have the book sent over in the morning. Wolfe reads the book, then tells Archie that Andrew Hibbard, a potential client, had visited while Archie was away on another case, and that Hibbard had asked Wolfe to arrange to protect him from a man whose name he would not disclose.