Fore-Shadowed: Where Rex Stout Got the Idea for Fer-De-Lance

Abstract:     
Researchers describing the discovery of something they are not equipped to fully understand run the risk that their reach will exceed their grasp. And so, as mere enthusiastic newcomers to the study of author Rex Stout, we will limit ourselves to: (1) reporting that we have run across an early (1916) detective story written by Stout and (2) sharing a few thoughts that would likely occur on first reading to anyone - and especially a lawyer - familiar with Stout’s later (beginning in 1934) detective stories featuring his Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin characters.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 65

Keywords: Agatha Christie, Canby Rankin, Colonel Carson Phillips, copyright, crime, detectives, Fraser Mawson, golf, Golfers Magazine, intellectual property, investigation, John McAleer, Last Drive, law, Library of Congress, links, literature, murder, mysteries, poison dart, police, Ronald Knox, viaduct

JEL Classification: A20, C15, C80, C93, D01, D03, D23, D71, D72, D80, D81, D83, D87, K00, K2, K21, K23, K40

Accepted Paper Series