Fer-de-Lance (novel)

Fer-de-Lance
The first-edition dust jacket. A painting of a voluptuous pink orchid casts an ominous black shadow on a gold background. The torso and head of a large seated man is in silhouette. Hand-lettered type identifies the book as "Fer-de-Lance, A Nero Wolfe Mystery by Rex Stout."
AuthorRex Stout
LanguageEnglish
SeriesNero Wolfe
GenreDetective fiction
PublisherFarrar & Rinehart
Publication date
October 24, 1934
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (Hardcover)
Pages313 pp. (first edition)
OCLC156155600
Followed byThe League of Frightened Men 

Fer-de-Lance is the first Nero Wolfe detective novel written by Rex Stout, published in 1934 by Farrar & Rinehart, Inc. The novel appeared in abridged form in The American Magazine (November 1934) under the title "Point of Death". The novel was adapted for the 1936 film Meet Nero Wolfe, and it was named after a venomous snake with the same name. In his seminal 1941 work, Murder for Pleasure, crime fiction historian Howard Haycraft included Fer-de-Lance in his definitive list of the most influential works of mystery fiction.[1]

  1. ^ "Haycraft Queen Cornerstones Complete Checklist". Classic Crime Fiction. Retrieved 2016-05-25.