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Curtains for Three Rex Stout Series: Nero Wolfe [18] Published: 1995 Tags: Vintage Mystery

Vintage Mysteryttt

SUMMARY:

In these three baffling mysteries of motive and murder, even the great Nero Wolfe finds himself stumped. First there is the case of the two passionate lovebirds who want to make sure that neither is a cold-blooded killer. Then it's off to the races, where Wolfe must choose from a stable of five likely suspects to corral a killer on horseback. And finally the detective finds himself the confidant of a distraught, self-described grifter who claims a murderer is stalking Wolfe's own brownstone. Through brilliant deduction and inspired perseverance, the master of detection is determined to expose the truth behind the veils of illusion - and bring down the curtain on three all-too-clever murderers.

Curtains for ThreeRex StoutSeries: Nero Wolfe [18] Published: 1995 Tags: Vintage Mystery

Vintage Mysteryttt

SUMMARY:

In these three baffling mysteries of motive and murder, even the great Nero Wolfe finds himself stumped. First there is the case of the two passionate lovebirds who want to make sure that neither is a cold-blooded killer. Then it's off to the races, where Wolfe must choose from a stable of five likely suspects to corral a killer on horseback. And finally the detective finds himself the confidant of a distraught, self-described grifter who claims a murderer is stalking Wolfe's own brownstone. Through brilliant deduction and inspired perseverance, the master of detection is determined to expose the truth behind the veils of illusion - and bring down the curtain on three all-too-clever murderers.

THE REX STOUT LIBRARY

Ferde-Lance

The League of

Frightened Men

The Rubber Band

Where There's aWill

The Final Deduction

The Hand in the Glove

Black Orchids

The Doorbell Rang

If Death Ever Slept

Murder by the Book

Not Quite Dead Enough

Prisoner's Base

And Four to Go

Might as Well Be Dead

A Family Affair

Please Pass the Guilt

Triple jeopardy

The Mother Hunt

The Father Hunt

Trouble in Triplicate

Homicide Trinity

The Black Mountain

Too Many Cooks

Before Midnight

Over My Dead Body

The Mountain Cat Murders

The Silent Speaker

And Be aVillain Too Many Clients

Three Men Out

A Right to Die

Curtains for Three

Available from Bantam Books

Rex Stout

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, the creator of Nero Wolfe, was born in Noblesville, in 1886, the sixth of nine children of John and Todhunter Stout, both Quakers. Shortly after his the family moved to Wakarusa, Kansas. He was edu I bi a country school, but, by the age of nine, he was throughout the state as a prodigy in arithmetic. t briefly attended the University of Kansas, but left to I in the Navy and spent the next two years as a warrant g&n board President Theodore Roosevelt's yacht. When I Navy in 1908, Rex Stout began to write freelance ; worked as a sightseeing guide and as an itinerant r. Later he devised and implemented a school system which was installed in four hundred cities \ throughout the country. In 1927 Mr. Stout retired s world of finance and, with the proceeds of his bank left for Paris to write serious fiction. He wrote els that received favorable reviews before turning to fiction. His first Nero Wolfe novel, Ferde-Lance, ift 1934. It was followed by many others, among Jlfbo Many Cooks, The Silent Speaker, If Death Ever Ifffce Doorbell Rang, and Please Pass the Guilt, which i Nero Wolfe as a leading character on a par with Gardner's famous protagonist, Perry Mason, ^world War n, Rex Stout waged a personal campaign t Nazism as chairman of the War Writers' Board, roaster of the radio program "Speaking of Liberty," , member of several national committees. After the turned his attention to mobilizing public opinion t the wartime use of thermonuclear devices, was an te leader in the Authors' Guild and resumed writing his iffjpjtfe novels. Rex Stout died in 1975 at the age of e. A month before his death, he published his sev I Nero Wolfe mystery, A Family Affair. Ten years S�e*enty-third Nero Wolfe mystery was discovered and t in Death Times Three.

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The Rex Stout Library

Fer-de-Lance

The League of Frightened Men

The Rubber Band

The Red Box

Too Many Cooks

Some Buried Caesar

Ov.er My Dead Body

Where There's a VW11

Black Orchids

Not Quite Dead Enough

The Silent Speaker

Too Many Women

And Be a Villain

The Second Confession

Trouble in Triplicate

In the Best Families

Three Doors to Death

Murder by the Book

Curtains for Three

Prisoner's Base

Triple Jeopardy

The Golden Spiders

The Black Mountain

Three Men Out

Before Midnight

Might As Well Be Dead

Three Witnesses**-^'-�

.<? If Death Ever Slept Three for the Chair Champagne for One And Four to Go Plot It Yourself Too Many Clients Three at Wolfe's Door The Final Deduction Gambit

Homicide Trinity The Mother Hunt A Right to Die Trio for Blunt Instruments The Doorbell Rang Death of a Doxy The Father Hunt Death of a Dude Please Pass the Guilt A Family Affair Death Times Three The Hand in the Glove Double for Death Bad for Business The Broken Vase The Sound of Murder Red Threads rfne Mountain Cat Murders

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EX STOUT

Curtains or Three

Introduction by Judith Kelman

H

BANTAM BOOKS ifflBW YORK TORONTO LONDON SYDNEY AUCKLAND

A NERO W O L F E ** M Y S T E R Y

CURTAINS FOR THREE

A Bantam Crime Line Book / published by arrangement with Viking Penguin, Inc.

PUBLISHING HISTORY

Viking edition published December 1950

Bantam edition / June 1955 Bantam reissue edition / December 1994

Acknowledgment is made to the american magazine in which these three short

novels originally appeared: Bullet for One, July 1948; The Gun with Wings,

December 1949; and Disguise for Murder, under the title The Twisted Scarf,

'September 1950.

crime une and the portrayal of a boxed "cl" are trademarks of Bantam Books, a division of Bantam Doubleday Den Publishing Group, Inc.

An rights reserved.

Copyright � 1948, 1949, 1950 by Rex Stout Introduction copyright � 1994 by Judith Kelman.

Cover art copyright � 1994 by Tom HaBman.

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by

any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or

by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in

writing from the publisher.

For information address: Viking Press, Penguin USA, 375 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014.

If you purchased this book without a cover you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as "unsold and destroyed" to the publisher and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this "stripped book."

ISBN 0-55a-24498l Published simultaneously in the United States and Canada

Bantam Books are published by Bantam Books, a division of Bantam Double day Dell Publishing Group, Inc. Its trademark, consisting of the words "Bantam Books" and the portrayal of a rooster, is Registered in U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and in other countries. Marca Registrada. Bantam Books, 1540 Broadway, New York, New York 10036.

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

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Introduction