{{Short description|Collection of novellas by Rex Stout}} {{Infobox book| <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Novels or Wikipedia:WikiProject_Books --> | name = Three Men Out | image = Stout-TMO-1.jpg <!--prefer 1st edition--> | author = Rex Stout | cover_artist = Bill English | country = United States | language = English | series = Nero Wolfe | genre = Detective fiction | publisher = Viking Press | release_date = March 26, 1954 | media_type = Print (hardcover) | pages = 181 pp. (first edition) | oclc = 5743510 | preceded_by = The Golden Spiders | followed_by = The Black Mountain }}
'''''Three Men Out''''' is a collection of Nero Wolfe mystery novellas by Rex Stout, published by the Viking Press in 1954. The book comprises three stories that first appeared in ''The American Magazine'':
* "Invitation to Murder" (August 1953, as "Will to Murder") * "The Zero Clue" (December 1953, as "Scared to Death") * "This Won't Kill You" (September 1952, as "This Will Kill You")
==Publication history== *1954, New York: The Viking Press, March 26, 1954, hardcover<ref name="Townsend">Townsend, Guy M., ''Rex Stout: An Annotated Primary and Secondary Bibliography''. New York: Garland Publishing, {{ISBN|0-8240-9479-4}}, 1980. John McAleer, Judson Sapp and Arriean Schemer are associate editors of this definitive publication history.</ref>{{Rp|83|date=October 2012}} :In his limited-edition pamphlet, ''Collecting Mystery Fiction #9, Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe Part I'', Otto Penzler describes the first edition of ''Three Men Out'': "Red boards, front cover blank. Issued in a red, black and white dust wrapper. … The binding of this title was a textured cardboard designed to resemble cloth; the book club edition has a smoother texture."<ref>Penzler, Otto, ''Collecting Mystery Fiction #9, Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe Part I'' (2001, New York: The Mysterious Bookshop, limited edition of 250 copies), p. 30</ref> :In April 2006, ''Firsts: The Book Collector's Magazine'' estimated that the first edition of ''Three Men Out'' had a value of between $200 and $350. The estimate is for a copy in very good to fine condition in a like dustjacket.<ref>Smiley, Robin H., "Rex Stout: A Checklist of Primary First Editions." ''Firsts: The Book Collector's Magazine'' (Volume 16, Number 4), April 2006, p. 34</ref> *1954, New York: Viking (Mystery Guild), June 1954, hardcover :The far less valuable Viking book club edition may be distinguished from the first edition in three ways: ::* The dust jacket has "Book Club Edition" printed on the inside front flap, and the price is absent (first editions may be price clipped if they were given as gifts). ::* Book club editions are sometimes thinner and always taller (usually a quarter of an inch) than first editions. ::* Book club editions are bound in cardboard, and first editions are bound in cloth (or have at least a cloth spine).<ref>Penzler, Otto, ''Collecting Mystery Fiction #9, Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe Part I'', pp. 19–20</ref> *1955, London: Collins Crime Club, January 17, 1955, hardcover *1955, Toronto: Macmillan, 1955, hardcover *1955, New York: Bantam #1388, November 1955, paperback *1980, New York: Bantam Crimeline {{ISBN|0-553-13666-6}} August 1980, seventh printing, paperback *1991, New York: Bantam Crimeline {{ISBN|0-553-24547-3}} June 1, 1991, paperback *1994, New York: Bantam Crimeline {{ISBN|0-553-24547-3}} May 1994, paperback, Rex Stout Library edition with introduction by Linda Ellerbee *1997, Newport Beach, California: Books on Tape, Inc. {{ISBN|0-7366-3749-4}} July 21, 1997, audio cassette (unabridged, read by Michael Prichard) *2011, New York: Bantam Crimeline {{ISBN|978-0-307-76816-2}} August 17, 2011, e-book
==References== {{reflist|2}}
{{Nero Wolfe}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:1954 short story collections Category:Nero Wolfe short story collections Category:English-language books Category:Viking Press books