Black Orchids


Black Orchids is a Nero Wolfe double mystery by Rex Stout published in 1942 by Farrar & Rinehart, Inc. Stout's first short story collection, the volume is composed of two novellas that had appeared in abridged form in The American Magazine:
  • "Black Orchids"
  • "Cordially Invited to Meet Death"

    Reviews and commentary

  • Jacques Barzun and Wendell Hertig Taylor, A Catalogue of Crime — In the first, Wolfe and Archie are in fine form, and murder at a flower show provides a suitable background for Wolfe's talents and predatory instincts. Archie himself innocently pulls the trigger. The second story is less satisfactory, involving as it does a highly debatable move by the murderer to disarm suspicion. Besides, too many animals.
  • Time, "Murder in May" — Nero Wolfe and his ebullient amanuensis Archie Goodwin are here at top form in two "novellas" — "Black Orchids" and "Cordially Invited to Meet Death." The first concerns a cleverly contrived murder at New York's annual Flower Show. The second features an adroit bit of poisoning in the fantastic Riverdale ménage — and menagerie — of a successful party-arranger for Manhattan society. First-class entertainment.

    Publication history

  • 1942, New York: Farrar & Rinehart, May 21, 1942, hardcover
  • 1942, Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1942, hardcover
  • 1942, New York: Detective Book Club #5, August 1942, hardcover
  • 1943, London: Collins Crime Club, July 5, 1943, hardcover
  • 1943, New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1943, hardcover
  • 1945, Cleveland, Ohio: World Publishing Company, a Tower Book, March 1945, hardcover
  • 1946, New York: Avon #95, 1946, paperback
  • 1956, New York: Avon #714, 1956, paperback
  • 1963, New York: Pyramid #R-917, September 1963, paperback
  • 1992, New York: Bantam Crimeline May 1992, trade paperback
  • 1996, Burlington, Ontario: Durkin Hayes Publishing, DH Audio, "Black Orchids" December 1996, audio cassette
  • 1998, Burlington, Ontario: Durkin Hayes Publishing, DH Audio August 1998, audio cassette, "Cordially Invited to Meet Death"
  • 2009, New York: Bantam Dell Publishing Group August 25, 2009, trade paperback
  • 2010, New York: Bantam Crimeline June 30, 2010, e-book