Rex Stout

"Wolfe talks in a way that no human being on the face of the earth has ever spoken, with the possible exception of Rex Stout after he had a gin and tonic."

"Rex Stout is one of the half-dozen major figures in the development of the American detective novel. With great wit and cunning, he devised a form which combined the traditional virtues of Sherlock Holmes and the English school with the fast-moving vernacular narrative of Dashiell Hammett."

"When Stout is on top of his game, which is most of the time, his diabolically clever plotting and his storytelling ability exceed that of any other mystery writer you can name, including Agatha Christie, who invented her own eccentric genius detective, Hercule Poirot."

"Stout was almost as witty as Raymond Chandler. His detective had splendid putdown lines almost as good as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. And his mysteries were constructed a lot more smoothly than Agatha Christies. But you do not expect Chandlerian wit from Conan Doyle, or Conan Doyles superbly breathless sense of atmosphere and melodrama from Christie, or Christies scathingly clear, unblinking vision of the monstrous crimes that average human nature is capable of all from the same pen. Stout gives you all of it. He is the Willie Mays or Derek Jeter of the mystery genre: a brilliant all-rounder more talented in each area than any single writer should ever dream of being."

"There are various ways to call a man a liar. One way is just to scream it at him, which doesnt 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."

"There are only two kinds of books which you can write and be pretty sure youre going to make a living – cook books and detective stories."

"Bosh. I find a rival – but no, I wont flatter myself that Tecumseh Fox would consider himself a rival of Dol Bonner – I find an eminent detective in your apartment, and that alone is enough, without adding that he is concealed in your bedroom while I am discussing my business with you..."

"If he had done nothing more than to create Archie Goodwin, Rex Stout would deserve the gratitude of whatever assessors watch over the prosperity of American literature."

"Rex is a perfect writer – economical, rapid, free of cliché. Epigrammatic, intelligent, charming. What else? Thats enough."