Rex Stout

Born 1886 · Died 1975

From Noblesville, Indiana, United States · Nationality: United States · Writes fiction

Rex Todhunter Stout (December 1, 1886 – October 27, 1975) was an American writer noted for his detective fiction. His best-known characters are the detective Nero Wolfe and his assistant Archie Goodwin, who were featured in 33 novels and 39 novellas or short stories between 1934 and 1975.

Quotes

“There are various ways to call a man a liar. One way is just to scream it at him, which doesn’t prove anything. Another is to establish facts by long and patient investigation. Still another way is not to call him a liar at all – let him do it himself.”
On his work on Our Secret Weapon, as quoted in "Mystery Story Writer Turns Detec
“The incredible thing happens at the beginning of the story always, you notice, not the end. A Sherlock Holmes story is never a trick story.”
Invitation to Learning, p. 246
“A person who does not read cannot think. He may have good mental processes, but he has nothing to think about. You can feel for people or natural phenomena and react to them, but they are not ideas. You cannot think about them.”
"Author Rex Stout vs. the F.B.I."
“You watch a good second baseman digging for a badly thrown ball without letting his foot leave base and it’s the same beautiful impossibility as a good pas de deux in Swan Lake.”
"Author Rex Stout vs. the F.B.I."
“There are two kinds of characters in all fiction, the born and the synthetic. If the writer has to ask himself questions – is he tall, is he short? – he had better quit.”
"Talk with Rex Stout"