More Stout Wordsmithing
"She was forty and looked it, and she was not an eyestopper in any obvious way, but everything about her, the way she walked, the way she stood, her eyes and mouth and whole face, seemed to be saying, without trying or intending to, that if you happened to be hers, and she yours, life would be full of pleasant and interesting surprises."
That is from "Omit Flowers" (1948) by Rex Stout. It is the noir Watson, Archie Goodwin, sizing up a suspect at first glance. I continue to be impressed by the wordcraft in these Nero Wolfe stories, though as they are very much serial stories in the old sense, and therefore the main characters will never grow or change, I imagine they will pall quickly if they are not spaced and staggered.
That is from "Omit Flowers" (1948) by Rex Stout. It is the noir Watson, Archie Goodwin, sizing up a suspect at first glance. I continue to be impressed by the wordcraft in these Nero Wolfe stories, though as they are very much serial stories in the old sense, and therefore the main characters will never grow or change, I imagine they will pall quickly if they are not spaced and staggered.