"Method Three for Murder" is a Nero Wolfe mystery novella by Rex Stout, first serialized in three issues of The Saturday Evening Post (January 30–February 13, 1960). It first appeared in book form in the short-story collection Three at Wolfe's Door, published by the Viking Press in 1960.
After discovering a body in the back seat, Mira Holt drives the taxi she has borrowed for the evening to 918 West 35th Street. She walks up the front steps of the brownstone just as Archie Goodwin is walking down — having just told Nero Wolfe that he's quit.
1960, The Saturday Evening Post, January 30 + February 6 + February 13, 1960
1970, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, July 1970
1976, Ellery Queen's Anthology, Spring–Summer 1970
1976, Giants of Mystery: Ellery Queen's Anthology, New York: Davis Publications, 1976, hardcover
1960, New York: The Viking Press, April 29, 1960, hardcover
Contents include "Poison à la Carte", "Method Three for Murder" and "The Rodeo Murder"
In his limited-edition pamphlet,
Collecting Mystery Fiction #10, Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe Part II, Otto Penzler describes the first edition of
Three at Wolfe's Door: "Orange cloth, front cover and spine printed with dark brown. Issued in a mainly green-brown dust wrapper."
In April 2006,
Firsts: The Book Collector's Magazine estimated that the first edition of
Three at Wolfe's Door had a value of between $200 and $350. The estimate is for a copy in very good to fine condition in a like dustjacket.
1960, New York: Viking (Mystery Guild), July 1960, hardcover
The far less valuable Viking book club edition may be distinguished from the first edition in three ways:
1961, London: Collins Crime Club, January 20, 1961, hardcover
1961, New York: Bantam #A-2276, August 1961
1995, New York: Bantam Crime Line ISBN 0-553-23803-5 September 1995, paperback, Rex Stout Library edition with introduction by Margaret Maron
1997, Newport Beach, California: Books on Tape, Inc. ISBN 0-7366-4060-6 October 31, 1997, audio cassette (unabridged, read by Michael Prichard)
2010, New York: Bantam Crimeline ISBN 978-0-307-75622-0 June 9, 2010, e-book
