Book Discussions

(see the chart below for the dates by book for all geographic areas)

The Metro NYC Book Discussion

  • Separate Checks, no minimum, no RSVP required
  • January (4th Monday of the Month due to M. L. King Birthday holiday)
  • March (3rd Monday except when St. Patrick's Day is on a Monday)
  • May (3rd Monday)
  • September (3rd Monday) except when Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur occur at that time)
  • December (Friday preceding the 1st Saturday of December, as part of the annual Black Orchid Weekend; the timing of the Banquet is the Saturday in December closest to Rex Stout's birthday, December 1.)
  • In addition there may be a special summer book discussion in NYC. Check here in early May or June.

Buffalo-Niagara Area

Clarence Public Library
3 Town Place, Clarence, NY
6:30 PM
 718-741-2650

Walk-ins welcome - no registration needed
 [Please let them know if you need a copy of any of the books.]
An updated schedule will be posted soon
 For additional information, make contact with the Raceme Coordinator, Pam:  WesternNYBkDisc@nerowolfe.org

Mid-Atlantic & Chesapeake Area Book Raceme
(MACABRe)
Serving the Baltimore & Annapolis Areas

Alternating between Donnelly's Dockside Restaurant (Arnold, MD) & Victoria's Gastro Pub (Columbia, MD)

[Click herefor the full 2019--2020 schedule of upcoming MACABRe book discussions.]

For additional information, make contact with the Raceme Coordinator, Elizabeth:  MACABRE@nerowolfe.org

Facebook Book Discussion Group

https://www.facebook.com/groups/147145745963114

DISCUSSIONS ARE HELD THE FOURTH WEDNESDAY OF EACH MONTH (except on holidays or other events) AT 7:00 PM CENTRAL TIME

ALSO, visit our Facebook general discussion page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/140970269281661

(You must request to join (no charge) the Facebook Group and the Facebook Book Discussion Group in order to participate)

Southern New England Book Discussion Raceme (CT & RI) 

Prosser Public Library, 1 Tunxis Avenue, Bloomfield, CT
Last Discussion of the Wolfe books, Death Times Three, was held on March 5, 2018

General Book Discussion Guidelines

  • Be sure to review the Book Discussion Guidelines prior to attending (or moderating) a discussion.
  • The moderator will lead the conversation, which can range from a discussion of the ridiculous to the subtle. Bring your opinions, but with an open mind, and join us for interesting, and perhaps even heated, discussion.
  • Click a title below, or any title on the Corpus Page/Alphabetical or Corpus Page/Chronological for further information regarding novel and novella reviews, quotations, any interesting background data, publication history, plus links to great cover art.
  • Read Les Blatt's blog, Classic Mysteries: Of Dinner, Discussion and a Doxy, about the July, 2010, book discussion.

INTERESTED IN HELPING ORGANIZE A RACEME* IN YOUR AREA?
Click here for more information.

The kind with Wolfe on the Pistil?
Click here for some cool ideas for getting started with a local chapter of The Wolfe Pack and holding your own Book Discussions locally.

*A raceme, as Mr. Wolfe could tell you, is an elongated cluster of flowers along the main stem in which the flowers at the base open first, as with orchids, snapdragons, etc.

The Wolfe Pack Book Discussion Schedule
for New York City and Regional Racemes

(check back periodically for schedule revisions)

Books are listed in publication date order.

Scroll through the column of your local raceme to review its book discussion schedule.
BE SURE TO CONFIRM THE DATE/VENUE shortly before the event date.
Book titles are listed in chronological (book publication date) order.

Book Title

Year

No. New England
(Have completed a book discussion for each book)

So. New England

(Have completed a book discussion for each book)

MACABRe (see sched. for locations)

Buffalo-Niagara Area (see sched for details of Classic Mystery evenings)

NYC Metro
(the 3rd round of book discussions)

Facebook Group*
Radio Interview "The Detective Story: Writer of Rex Stout Discusses the 'Art' of His Medium" Host: Clifton Fadiman; Guests Jacquest Barsun & Rex Stout         10/4/16 (5:30 PM) followed by the Clarence Libr. Classic Mystery Club discussion of The Maltese Falcon    
The President Vanishes (the William Wellman movie, 1934)         1/5/17**    
Fer-de-Lance 1934 11/11 5/14/13 4/27/13 9/15/15 & 11/9/15 & 1/11/16 2/1/16 8/27/14
League of Frightened Men, The 1935 1/12 6/25/13 6/22/13 1/11/16 3/21/16 10/15/14
Rubber Band, The 1936 3/12 7/30/13 8/24/13   5/16/16 1/28/15
Red Box, The 1937 5/12 9/9/13 10/26/13   9/19/16 2/25//15
Too Many Cooks 1938 7/12 10/7/13 11/16/13 8/9/2018 12/2/16 (at Honors Bridge Club, 133 E. 58 Street)4/22/15
Some Buried Caesar 1939 9/12 11/4/13 2/22/14   3/20/17
 5/27/15
Over My Dead Body 1940 11/12 12/9/13 4/26/14 4/11/2016**
10/4/2018		 5/15/17 8/26/15
Where There's a Will 1940 3/13 2/10/14 8/23/14 12/6/2018 9/18/17
Tout Va Bien, 311 W. 51 St., NYC		 9/30/15

Black Orchids:  ("Black Orchids" / "Cordially Invited to Meet Death")

 1942 3/24/13 3/10/14 10/25/14 4/4/17 1/22/18 10/28/15
Not Quite Dead Enough: (Booby Trap / Not Quite Dead Enough) 1944 5/19/13 4/7/14 11/15/14   3/19/18

11/18/15 (nqde)
1/27/16 (booby)
Silent Speaker, The 1946 7/14/13 5/7/14 2/28/15 1/4/2018 5/21/18 2/24/16
Too Many Women 1947 9/15/13 6/2/14 4/25/15   9/17/18 3/20/16
Trouble in Triplicate : (Before I Die / Help Wanted, Male / Instead of Evidence) 1949 5/18/14 ** 8/25/14 6/27/15 7/14/2016*** ("Help Wanted, Male")

4/5/2018 "Instead of Evidence"		 12/1/17: "Before I Die"
(2 different versions -- from the book Trouble in Triplicate and from The American Magazine. printing)
11/30/18: "Help Wanted, Male" & "Instead of Evidence"
(with a video presentation of the A&E TV Series Episode of "Help Wanted, Male")
6/22/2016: Before I Die
7/27/16: Help Wanted, Male
8/24/2016: Instead of Evidence
And Be A Villain 1948 11/10/13 7/31/14 8/22/15 2/8/2018 1/28/19 4/27/16
Second Confession, The 1949 1/19/14 9/29/14 10/24/15 3/8/2018 3/25/19 5/25/16
In the Best Families 1950 3/30/14 11/17/14 11/21/15
(NB: date change)		 5/17/2018 5/20/19 9/28/16
Three Doors to Death: (Door to Death / Man Alive / Omit Flowers 1950 7/13/14 ** 10/27/14 2/27/2016 2/8/2016**
(Door)		 9/16/19
10/26/15 "Man Alive"
Curtains for Three : (Bullet for One / Disguise for Murder / Gun with Wings, The) 1951 9/21/14 12/15/14 4/23/2016   12/6/19  
Murder by the Book 1951 11/9/14 3/23/15 6/25/2016      
Triple Jeopardy : (Cop Killer, The / Home to Roost / Squirt and the Monkey, The) 1952 1/11/15 ** 4/20/15 8/27/2016 6/13/2016*** (The Cop Killer))    
Prisoner's Base 1952 3/22/15 5/11/15 10/22/2016 2/7/2017    
Golden Spiders, The 1953 5/24/15 **
(Host: Katherine Hesse)		 6/29/15 1/11/16 5/2/2017   
Three Men Out
(Invitation to Murder / This Won't Kill You / Zero Clue, The)		 1954 7/19/15
(Host: Marion Maxwell)		   2/25/17 (Baltimore) 9/12/16 ("Invit. to Murder")    
Black Mountain, The 1954 9/20/15
 (Host: Colleen Meller) 		9/1/15 4/22/17 (Arnold) 9/4/2018    
Before Midnight 1955 11/15/15
(Host: Janet Levy & Bill Sconce)		 10/6/15 6/24/17 (Ellicott City)      
Three Witnesses: (Die Like a Dog / Next Witness, The / When a Man Murders) 1956 3/13/2016 (Acton, MA at Miriam's) 11/3/15 10/28/17
(Arnold)		 12/6/16 "The Next Witness" (5:30 PM)    
Might As Well Be Dead 1956 1/17/2016 (Acton, MA at Alan & Ruth's) 12/8/15 11/18/2017
(Ellicott City)		      
Three for the Chair: (Immune to Murder / Too Many Detectives / Window for Death, A 1957 7/17/2016 Acton, MA at Marion's / maxwell.house1@verizon.net 2/2/2016
(6--8 PM)		 2/24/2018      
If Death Ever Slept 1957 5/15/2016 [Acton, MA at Colleen's / fmh411@comcast.net] 3/1/2016
(6:30--8 PM)		 4/28/2018      
And Four to Go 
A Christmas Party
Easter Parade / Fourth of July Picnic / Murder is No Joke 		1958 9/18/2016 [Acton, MA at Diane's / dianeschaumburg6@gmail.com 4/5/2016
(6 PM)		 6/23/2018     12/17/14
(ONLY A Christmas Party")
7:00 PM CST

3/25/15
(ONLY Easter Parade")
Champagne for One 1958 11/13/2016 / NH at Janet's & Bill's / levy@in-spec-inc.com 5/3/2016
(6:30 PM)		 8/25/2018 8/8/2016***    
Plot It Yourself 1959   7/11/2016
 (6:30 PM)		   11/1/16 (5:30 PM)    
Rebecca Stout Bradbury presents "Memories of  Rex Stout & Pola Stout" 6/7/2016
6:30 PM
Three at Wolfe's Door 
Poison a la Carte
Method Three for Murder / Rodeo Murder, The		 1960   9/6/2016
(6:00 PM)		        
Too Many Clients 1960   10/4/2016
(6:30 PM)		        
Final Deduction, The 1961   11/2016        
Homicide Trinity Counterfeit for Murder / Death of a Demon / Eeny, Meeny, Murder, Mo
********
Death Times Three / Assault on a Brownstone (a reworking of Counterfeit for Murder)		 1962   March 5, 2018 Aug. 31, 2019      
Gambit 1962   2/6/2017 Oct. 26, 2019      
Mother Hunt, The 1963   3/7/2017 Nov. 16, 2019      
Right To Die, A 1964   5/1/2017 4/25/2020 7/12/2018    
Trio for Blunt Instruments 
Murder is Corny with showing of A&E Episode
Blood Will Tell / Kill Now, Pay Later /		 1965   4/3/2017 2/22/2020      
Doorbell Rang, The 1965   6/5/2017 6/27/2020 6/7/2018 5/19/14  
Death of a Doxy 1966   7/10/2017     7/19/10*
(featuring "Imagination & Invention" from the A&E TV series production)		  
Father Hunt, The 1968   10/2//2017     9/15/14  
Death of a Dude 1969   11/6/2017     3/16/15  
Please Pass the Guilt 1973   12/11/2017   9/15/15 & 11/9/15 & 1/11/165/18/15  
Family Affair, A 1975   2/5/2018   2/6/2017 9/21/15  

* Wolfe Pack Facebook (Group Page) Book Discussion: Starting at 7PM Central Time on the fourth Wednesday of each month at https://www.facebook.com/groups/140970269281661/ (REQUEST MEMBERSHIP in advance; discussion lasts for two hours, but may be reviewed and commented upon later.)

** with screening of a movie or a video from A&E TV Series
*** with audio presentation from a radio broadcast or audio book