Bob's first love in fiction has always been science fiction. He's been a fan of SF ever since he read Strange Adventures, Mystery in Space, and Blackhawk comic books back in the 1950's, when he was seven and eight years old. He really got involved in SF when his family moved to Hillside, New Jersey when he was eleven and they were only six blocks away from a well-stocked library. It was at the Hillside Library that Bob discovered the joys of Andre Norton and the Winston Juvenile SF series. He's been hooked on science fiction ever since. At present, his favorite author is Peter Hamilton, though he also enjoys the hard-SF of Alaistair Reynolds and space/time pyrotechnics of Dan Simmons.

       Still, while Bob is a hardcore SF fan, he also loves a good mystery. In particular, he enjoys the mental gymnastics of a well-constructed locked-room murder in the tradition of John Dickson Carr. And, he's devoted to the exploits of William Marshall's "Yellowthread Street" detectives and the historical adventures of "Judge Dee" as related by Robert van Gulik. But, despite his love for all those great books, Bob's favorite mystery series has to be the Nero Wolfe stories by Rex Stout. Though the mysteries are not as complicated or baffling as those of Carr, nor as funny as those by Marshall, Stout's stories feature a character than no one else can match. Nero Wolfe, the 1/7th of a ton detective who drinks beer, rarely leaves his home, and raises orchids on the roof, is a true genius. And, as every Nero Wolfe fan can tell you, Wolfe actually talks and acts like one.

       Bob started reading Nero Wolfe in college. He was given a beat-up copy of one of the later Wolfe novels by a friend who suggested Bob read it because "it featured some sharp dialogue." It sure did. One book was all it took and Bob was hooked. Fortunately, living those days close to New York City, Bob was able to search the inventories of dozens and dozens of used book stores in the New York/New Jersey metropolitan area. In a few short months, he found the entire Stout series in paperback and shortly afterwards, had read them all.

       It was then that Bob discovered that collecting mystery hardcovers was a lot more expensive than collecting science fiction. While even the most expensive science fiction hardcover first editions (at the time - the late 1960's) might run a few hundred dollars; mystery hardcover first editions cost ten times that or more. And, many of the more desirable first editions, like the early books of a popular series, might not be available at any price. Collecting Nero Wolfe, whose early adventures were published in the 1930's, was not going to be easy. Especially since Bob wanted to own the first editions in good condition and in nice dust jackets.

       Leap forward forty years. Bob is in his early sixties (62 at the time of this writing) and he still collects hardcover first editions, both in the science fiction and mystery fields. He's been pretty lucky and has a quite nice SF and fantasy book collection. There are still plenty of books he desires (take a look at the Rare Books section of this website. In particular, look at the discussion of the Creeps series.) . His mystery collection is no where near as fine. He doesn't have a run of John Dickson Carr hardcovers. Nor does he own most of the William Irish short story collections. Not even all of Raymond Chandler in first edition. Though he did have many of these books over the years for sale, in his role as a rare book dealer. In most cases he just couldn't afford to keep them. But, Bob does have most of the Nero Wolfe series. In dust jacket, nice copies. Because the books were so special that whenever Bob obtained a very nice copy of a Rex Stout first edition in jacket, he kept it. The novels are that good.

       Here, then, for those collectors not lucky enough to own the Nero Wolfe series in hardcover, are the first ten books in dust jacket. I must admit that the first book in the series, FER-DE-LANCE is an Otto Penzler facsimile reprint of the original 1934 book. Sorry, but even after forty years of collecting, that book in jacket is still out of my price range. I'm happy to own the rest.

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Fer-de-Lance	The League of Frightened Men	The Rubber Band	The Red Box	Too Many Cooks
Some Buried Caesar	Over My Dead Body	Where There's a Will	Black Orchids	Not Quite Dead Enough

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