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| Plot Summary of The League of Frightened Men |
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"Murder mystery."
Pam Welsh, Resident Scholar
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"Nero Wolfe, a genius private investigator, is approached by a group of men (The League of Atonement) who complain of being persecuted by the writer Paul Chapin. During a hazing incident at Harvard years ago, Chapin was crippled, and the group has been supporting him financially ever since and putting up with his scorn and contempt. But a couple of members of the group have died mysteriously, and Chapin seems to be sending anonymous notes taking responsibility for the murders. Since Wolfe never leaves his home, his right-hand man, the snappy Archie Goodwin, is the first-person narrator and does all the interaction with suspects and sources of information outside Wolfe's office. There is another murder that seems to be connected with one of the League having married a woman with whom Chapin was in love; Chapin weirdly marries her ugly maid so as to be closer to her. The woman's husband is killed and Chapin is the prime suspect. Wolfe, with Archie's legwork, works out what really happened, and assigns all the blame for all the deaths to where it belongs. "
Noah Stewart, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of The League of Frightened Men |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Composition of Book
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 60%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 15%
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 20%
Tone of story
- Dry-cynical
- very upbeat
How difficult to spot villain?
- Difficult, but some clues given
Time/era of story:
- 1930's-1950's
What % of story relates directly
to the mystery, not the subplot?
- 80%
Special suspect?
- chronically deranged person
Kind of investigator
- hard boiled/private eye
Kid or adult book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Crime Thriller
Yes
Murder Mystery (killer unknown)
Yes
Main Character
Gender
- Male
- Female
Profession/status:
- student
- private investigator
Age:
- 20's-30's
- 40's-50's
Eccentric/Mental:
Yes
Eccentric:
- eccentric
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
How much violence does he/she use?
- none
- a little
Ethnicity/Race
- White/American
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
- mean, arrogant
Sense of humor
- Cynical sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
- Genius (really!)
Physique
- average physique
- quite fatty
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Male
Age:
- 20's-30's
Profession/status:
- writer
Eccentric:
Yes
- obsessed
- eccentric
- emotionally unstable
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- a substantial amount
Motive of antagonist
- revenge
How sensitive is this character?
- hard edged
- mean, arrogant
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
- Very much smarter than other characters
Physique
- average physique
- missing body parts/abilities
Setting
United States
Yes
The US:
- Northeast
Style
Part of a series?
Yes
Person
- mostly 1st
Accounts of torture and death?
- generic/vague references to death/punishment
- moderately detailed references to deaths
How many deaths?
- 2
- 3-4
Amount of dialog
- significantly more dialog than descript
- roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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