Gambit

By: Rex Stout

Narrated by: Michael Prichard

Length: 5 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's summary

Jerin is a mental freak - a man capable of successfully playing a dozen simultaneous chess games against first-rate players while he himself is out of sight of any of the boards. It is while thus engaged that he is killed. A millionaire - his opponent in more realms than chess - is accused, and Nero Wolfe is given what appears to be the most hopeless case he and Archie Goodwin have ever tackled.

You need to know nothing about chess to follow this tale, but some understanding of beautiful mothers and daughters will help.

“It is always a treat to read a Nero Wolfe mystery. The man has entered our folklore.” (The New York Times Book Review)

A grand master of the form, Rex Stout is one of America’s greatest mystery writers, and his literary creation Nero Wolfe is one of the greatest fictional detectives of all time. Together, Stout and Wolfe have entertained - and puzzled - millions of mystery fans around the world. Now, with his perambulatory man-about-town, Archie Goodwin, the arrogant, gourmandizing, sedentary sleuth is back in the original 73 cases of crime and detection written by the inimitable master himself, Rex Stout.

Stout fellow: listen to all of our Nero Wolfe mysteries, including classic radio programs!

©1962 Rex Stout (P)1996 Books on Tape Inc.

Critic reviews

"Witty, urbane, conversational." (Publishers Weekly)
"The masterful Michael Prichard gives his all, raising the audio to a tier-one selection." (AudioFile)

Favorite Wolfe mystery so far

This was my favorite Wolfe mystery so far. Perhaps it's because of my love for chess that made it all the more enjoyable. It's a great story with some fun twists at the end.

fun but missing pauses

Great narrator, fast-paced story, but the natural and necessary pauses between chapters has been so completely edited out by software that it sounds like Mr. Prichard speaks over himself.

Another great Nero Wolfe story

Another great story that Nero Wolfe solves. As smart as Wolfe is Goodwin carries the intrigue. I love this series.

Brilliant

Super story. Fantastic narrator. You won't be disappointed. A wonderful character creation. Excellent. 15 words

Great work, editing isn’t so great.

The story is great, the performance is great, the editing is clumsy. This was originally on cassette and the A-B side changes are really abrupt.

I wish we could get all on Audible

Every Nero Wolfe story by Rex Stout —— who was the originator and only author to capture the full characters color and produce so many surprise endings— is worth reading. The narrative by Michael Pritchard is superb but were made in the 1990s and we don’t have all the stories recorded. So go read the ones that aren’t on Audible. They are unique, with minimal corpses and no need for more blood or guns or TV-style ridiculous scenes.

Nero Wolfe: One of my favorite series of all time.

Rex Stout fails to disappoint once again. His characters, whitty dialogue, plots, and humor always delight me. When Michael Prichard narrates he is Nero, Archie, Cramer....

It Takes A Genius

The carefully crafted personalities of all the regulars in Rex Stout’s books, as well as the unpredictable outcomes, are especially impressive because he devised each story in his head, then wrote it down perfectly the first time. The one exception, I believe, was the one he wrote the year of his death. ALSO, Michael Prichard’s reading cannot be surpassed.

Stout, late in his career, but still at his best!

Because Rex Stout, & his creation of Nero Wolfe, & more importantly Archie Goodwin, has been around for so long (Stout died in the 1970s), Reviews are not all that necessary, except for those who have not picked up one of his Nero Wolfe mysteries.

If you have not read a Nero Wolfe mystery, do yourself a favor and try one. The first and longest is "Fer-de-lance" published in 1934. Just about any of his full length stories will do. His short stories are just as good, but you don't get the full atmosphere of the Wolfe household of characters:

Archie, Wolfe's leg man. Fritz the world class chef. Theodore, the Orcard nurse that helps care for the 10,000 plants in the nursery on the top of Wolfe's double wide Brownstone in New York City.

It's all in how you play the game

No matter how many good mysteries I read there are still just a few that I always come back to. These books about Nero Wolfe and Archie are exemplary friends. Both the stories and the characters hold a special place! In Gambit there are underlying actions going on. There are sly moves and real murder being carried out but not directly...humm better read it! I am not Rex Stout and only he could present such a series of happenings. only Nero could untangle this! Enjoy.