First Nero Wolfe I've read. Archie Goodwin is in Montana at a Dude Ranch he frequents, when a guest at the dance is murdered, and apparently the wrong person is blamed. Goodwin is hired to find the real murderer, which of course he does. Stout does a good job describing the locality and the characters are well drawn. I don't know, but I think that the trope of getting Nero Wolfe to locations where he is out of place (given his peculiarities and his size), is a common one to these books. An enjoyable book, and I think maybe it is also known for its trout recipe -- the Montana Trout Deal. ( )

The only Nero Wolfe book I couldn't finish; Stout took him out of environment and routine and it seemed awkward and uncomfortable at every turn. Didn't like new characters, storyline didn't flow, everything just plodded along until I was ready to burn the book 2/3 of the way through.

Not one of Stout's best efforts. Although I really like Archie (far more than I do Wolfe), the emphasis on his romance with Lily was too much for a whole novel.
The puzzle itself was not as memorable as some, and the novelty is primarily the presence of Nero Wolfe at a Montana ranch.
According to the jacket blurb, Stout was an avid Western outdoorsman, which shows in the authentic setting.
It's just not the right place for our New Yorkers. ( )

3.5*
While Archie is vacationing with Lily Rowan on her ranch in Montana, he becomes involved in a murder. Wolfe decides to travel to Montana to assist in order to get Archie back to New York more quickly!

While I liked the Montana setting, I felt that the mystery was not as good as I expect from Rex Stout. ( )

I've read all of Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe mysteries over and over again, and while I may like some more than others, I don't dislike any of them. Having said that, this has always been one of my very favorites.

Death of a Dude finds Archie Goodwin on vacation in Montana with his paramour Lily Rowan. When a guest at a neighboring dude ranch is found murdered, and Lily's ranch foreman is pegged as the culprit, Archie is duty bound to investigate. His prolonged absence drags Nero Wolfe from the comfortable confines of the brownstone on West 35th Street. Wolfe knows if he wants his right-hand man back on the job, he'll have to help Archie solve the case.

One of the charms of the Wolfe mysteries is that while the characters never age, the time period stays current. Stout's plot gives a nod to the 1960s by dealing in an out-of-wedlock teen pregnancy, but the decade didn't truly come into full flower in Wolfe's world until Death of a Doxy.

There's so much going on in this little book. Wolfe is a fish out of water in Montana, and the colorful Western dialect practically requires a glossary at the back of the book. Still, the murder is solved, the innocent cleared and the guilty caught, arrogant law enforcement is given a severe comeuppance, and Nero and Archie escape thankfully back to New York City, where the wilderness is a little more to their liking. ( )