"The Rodeo Murder" is a Nero Wolfe mystery novella by Rex Stout, first published in April 1960 in the short-story collection Three at Wolfe's Door (Viking Press).
A party at Lily Rowan's Park Avenue penthouse includes a roping contest between some cowboy friends, with a silver-trimmed saddle as the prize. One of the contestants is at a disadvantage when his rope is missing. When it is found wound more than a dozen times around the neck of the chief backer of the World Series Rodeo, Lily asks Nero Wolfe to sort out the murder.
1961, Argosy, January 1961 (as "The Penthouse Murder")
1968, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, September 1968
1973, Ellery Queen's Anthology, Fall–Winter 1973
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
