The Rex Stout reader

Her Forbidden Knight Prefiguring the devices and charades of the celebrated Nero Wolfe mysteries, Rex Stout's first detective novel follows the fortunes of the pretty, young Lila Williams, a telegraph operator at New York's swank Lamartine Hotel, as she becomes unwittingly enmeshed in the operations of a counterfeiting ring. For nothing here is quite what it seems, not even the safety Lila thinks she finds in the arms of the man who quickens the beat of her heart. A Prize for Princes Aline Solini has a face that men remember, and a demon's soul they strive to forget. A woman created for intrigue, the exquisitely beautiful Aline captivates a wealthy young American, Richard Stetton, who rescues her from a Balkan convent under attack by marauding Turks. Stetton also enables her to escape Vasili Petrovicch, the husband she has tried to poison, and introduces her into society's highest circles. There Aline proves her talents for deceit among men of power to be no less resistible or deadly than her seductive charm.